Why were the 70s such a tacky decade?

[2jakes]

:doh: Does it snow there?
$1.46?! 1980s prices all over again. I could live with that.

It snowed once in 1970 but by afternoon the sun came out & ...[huh] "adios amigos" !

As for the "80s" gas prices today....I'm sure it will go up eventually.

 

[MikeKardec]

You got them fancy freeways to maintain. Blow that mess up, go back to nice two-lane roads like the good lord intended.

I can't think of a single problem we have that doesn't track back to over-population, whether you're into air pollution, climate change, violence, war or just general disrespect. I'm all for living sustainably (major advocate in my own way) but these days it's live sustainably so others can breed until it's standing room only, hip deep in S&%$! California was a paradise when there were 10 million people here. If this old world could ease its way back down to 3 or 4 billion without catastrophe (I realize I'm talking Science Fiction here) what a happy place it would be. We'd still have all the same old problems, but the intensity would back off more than a little.

After living in Australia for quite some time I asked myself what in the world was keeping people in Southern California from being so pleasant (there does seem to be some sort of simmering anger in Oz that I can't figure out but it also seems like paradise compared to much of the US) ... anyway, I eventually realized it was that Australians in general just had not seen that one extra person that put them over the edge. In most larger American cities everyone reached that threshold sometime in the 1980s (or whenever) and went into a state of "no, I don't want to talk you or anyone," building walls, cussing at traffic, angry at phone or door to door sales people (who I saw some Australians happy to chat with!). I occasionally discovered that I would park alongside a lonely road and, if I was outside the car, someone would stop to TALK! Just, "hi how are you." I joked with the people at the next table in a restaurant about how bad the service was (back when SLOW service with a smile was sort of common in Oz) and they invited me to dinner, drove 90 min to pick me up and then took me home. They didn't even leave me on ice with a note that they had taken my kidney and I should get to a doctor!

Freaked me out at first. Then I realized, they haven't reached their limit ... the limit where human interaction turns into something to be avoided. So wonderful but it makes me think of the world of my youth or before. In the US even most of the small towns I lived in as a kid seem now to be pits of intolerance. I need to go back!

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you've never read "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart, you need to. The premise of the book is that whenever any species reaches the point of overpopulation there will be a natural correction -- in this particular case, a global plague that wipes out about 95 percent of the human population, leaving the remaining five percent living in a world where the ecosystem is busily repairing the damage wrought by man. Within two generations, the remaining humans have reverted to a peaceful substistence hunter-gatherer culture. There's no zombie legions or cannibal biker gangs -- but when civilization *does* collapse, Stewart shows us exactly what will be left.

 

[jamespowers]

You got them fancy freeways to maintain. Blow that mess up, go back to nice two-lane roads like the good lord intended.

lol lol Riiiigghhtttt....

 

[jamespowers]

It snowed once in 1970 but by afternoon the sun came out & ...[huh] "adios amigos" !

As for the "80s" gas prices today....I'm sure it will go up eventually.

It snowed once here in 1976. It was lousy.

It will go back up again---of that you can be sure.

 

[Harp]

Gee, Granada was just as bad as Vietnam right?

The jump on Point Salines was poorly planned-500ft combat jump over a contested Drop Zone is way too low.

 

[jamespowers]

If you've never read "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart, you need to. The premise of the book is that whenever any species reaches the point of overpopulation there will be a natural correction -- in this particular case, a global plague that wipes out about 95 percent of the human population, leaving the remaining five percent living in a world where the ecosystem is busily repairing the damage wrought by man. Within two generations, the remaining humans have reverted to a peaceful substistence hunter-gatherer culture. There's no zombie legions or cannibal biker gangs -- but when civilization *does* collapse, Stewart shows us exactly what will be left.

Looks like Misogyny would be left---according to Earth Abides, woman is stupid, excitable, and unable of perceiving the same distant concepts and abstract notions that Ish and, indeed, Stewart are. :doh:
That and the whole God thing threw me off it.

 

[jamespowers]

The jump on Point Salines was poorly planned-500ft combat jump over a contested Drop Zone is way too low.

lol lol lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Looks like Misogyny would be left---according to Earth Abides, woman is stupid, excitable, and unable of perceiving the same distant concepts and abstract notions that Ish and, indeed, Stewart are. :doh:
That and the whole God thing threw me off it.

Ah, you missed the most important point of the book. Ish was a self-absorbed jackass who was so busy talking about how he was going to rebuild civilzation that he couldn't ever actually get around to *doing* it. Stewart was critiquing the powerlessness and muddle-headedness of academia by deliberately making his lead character unlikable and basically incompetent. In contrast, Em, Ish's working-class wife, is by far the most powerful, solidly-grounded and practical character in the book.

 

[jamespowers]

Ah, you missed the most important point of the book. Ish was a self-absorbed jackass who was so busy talking about how he was going to rebuild civilzation that he couldn't ever actually get around to *doing* it. Stewart was critiquing the powerlessness and muddle-headedness of academia by deliberately making his lead character unlikable and basically incompetent. In contrast, Em, Ish's working-class wife, is by far the most powerful, solidly-grounded and practical character in the book.

Ish is definitely a jackass that is for sure. Very little redeeming qualities there. lol lol

 

[Stearmen]

Quite true. I forgot to mention they are inflation adjusted figures.
I know how much I pay and am furious about it. Add to that the federal tax and you nearly double the price of gas!

You would complain if we hung you with a new rope! The Federal gas tax has been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. Now California gas tax! :rofl:

 

[Stearmen]

80s in a second. I could get in on the ground floor of a lot of SUPER opportunities I originally missed. It would be GoogleJames now.

Of course, if you put on your polyester bellbottoms suit and went back to October 1970, and invested $5,000 in a little nothing of a company called Walmart, (what a goofy name,) today you would be worth roughly, $65,000,000!

 

[jamespowers]

You would complain if we hung you with a new rope! The Federal gas tax has been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. Now California gas tax! :rofl:

That is still too high.

 

[jamespowers]

Of course, if you put on your polyester bellbottoms suit and went back to October 1970, and invested $5,000 in a little nothing of a company called Walmart, (what a goofy name,) today you would be worth roughly, $65,000,000!

The 70s aren't worth it.

 

[jamespowers]

 

[2jakes]

Jesus...I never knew that long hair was associated with communism.... :eeek:

Does this apply to women with long hair as well [huh] ????

 

[jamespowers]

Jesus...I never knew that long hair was associated with communism.... :eeek:

Close enough.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I laugh at your bourgeois ideas of "long hair."

 

[2jakes]

I laugh at your bourgeois ideas of "long hair."

"Ouch":whip:

 

[jamespowers]

I laugh at your bourgeois ideas of "long hair."

True but I see he got the hippie beard down.

His head is just on upside down.