What from your childhood would be UNTHINKABLE today?

[Caliga]

Who said I *didn't* watch Showtime?

They ran this horribly cheesy softcore called "Blue Movies" like every night at 2 am. 

[Ed Anger]

Speaking of old timey TV, I remember the the day the family got a VCR. IT WAS LIKE A WHOLE NEW WORLD OPENED UP FOR ME.

[katmai]

Speaking of old timey TV, I remember the the day the family got a VCR. IT WAS LIKE A WHOLE NEW WORLD OPENED UP FOR ME.

We were late to the game, it wasn't till like 1986 for xmas.

[Brazen]

Only three TV stations which stopped broadcasting about 11pm and for a large chunk of the daytime. Test card FTW.

For me, it was CBS, NBC, ABC, a UHF station(maybe) and a PBS station. When cable came, it BLEW MY MIND.

I would hear about friends who came back from the States boasting of 200 TV channels and one dedicated entirely to music! That broadcast all night!

[Caliga]

I would hear about friends who came back from the States boasting of 200 TV channels and one dedicated entirely to music! That broadcast all night!

Brazen wanted her MTV

[Grey Fox]

I never had a VHS.

[Malthus]

Wow, being a kid these days in North America sucks

Especially if you suck up to the prevailing orthodoxy.

Hey, a Camper sighting!

What's up? 

[Berkut]

This is a pretty amusing iteration of the crotchety old man bitching about how everything was better when they were kids meme...

[Malthus]

This is a pretty amusing iteration of the crotchety old man bitching about how everything was better when they were kids meme...

Heh, I'm not really sure everything was "better". Some of the stuff we did strikes me as moronically unsafe in hindsight, even at the time I wondered if it was really a good idea to go bouncing down the highway in the back of my dad's pickup truck.

[PDH]

Grumbler used to spar with the older legionnaires when the returned from campaigning against the Gauls - nobody cared about a young boy swinging around a gladius or throwing a practice pila.

[Berkut]

This is a pretty amusing iteration of the crotchety old man bitching about how everything was better when they were kids meme...

Heh, I'm not really sure everything was "better". Some of the stuff we did strikes me as moronically unsafe in hindsight, even at the time I wondered if it was really a good idea to go bouncing down the highway in the back of my dad's pickup truck.

Oh, I agree - in fact, I don't think everything was better at all, and I suspect the vast majority of things that people today think are "over-protective" are actually not.

Look at the water hose thing everyone laughs off. Drinking water from a water hose that is unsafe can literally have 100 times the amount of lead considered dangerous in it. If the hose just sits on the ground full of water for a week, a really alarming amount of lead leeches into it.

Hell, my hoses have been sitting in my garage all winter, full of the same water that was left in them 6 months ago when I brought them in. I wonder how much lead is in that water?

[crazy canuck]

Berkut, normally you would run the water for a while to let it get cold before drinking.  Most of us wouldnt suck the stuck out.

[Berkut]

Berkut, normally you would run the water for a while to let it get cold before drinking.  Most of us wouldnt suck the stuck out.

True, although you are still risking elevated amounts of lead. It isn't like there is some ok amount of lead.

The other concern with standing water is using it to fill up a kiddie pool, for example. Not at all unusual to toss the hose into the pool before turning it on.

[Syt]

Only three TV stations which stopped broadcasting about 11pm and for a large chunk of the daytime. Test card FTW.

I watched "school tv" on the third (i.e. regional) program during pre-school, because nothing else was on. My favorite shows included "German for Foreigners" and "Tele College Chemistry", even though I didn't understand anything of the latter.

I also recall staying up sneakingly till end of broadcast - they'd show a German flag flying in the wind, played the anthem, and then switched to static, or as we called it, ant football.

[crazy canuck]

Given that people have been doing this for generations, is there any study that links hose use with adverse results in any way?

I read your other post about proper hose use but really, do you know anyone that "flushes" their hose before using it?