30 +

[bouche]

People over 35 should be dead.

Here is why...

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were

kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably

shouldn't have survived.

1. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

2. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets,

... and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the

risks we took hitchhiking.)

3. As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special

treat.

4. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We ate

cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we

were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

5. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no

one actually died from this.

6. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then

rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After

running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

7. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we

were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us

all day. NO CELL PHONES! Unthinkable!

8. We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games

at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound,

personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

9. We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge

ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.

10. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there

were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was

to blame but us. Remember accidents?

11. We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and

learned to get over it.

12. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and

although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many

eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

13. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door,

or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

14. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who

didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

15. Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade

and were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not adjusted

for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.

16. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard

of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem

solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion

of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and

responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all...and you're one

of them! Congratulations! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to

grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for

our own good!!! People under 30 are WIMPS!

[Esau]

whew....

I'm one year 3 days under the wire.(well the 35 thing anyway.....)

[CyberHippie]

Nice one, I agree with it all!!

So I don't turn 30 till November, but I totally feel this still applies to me!

[bradm]

You forgot the most impressive thing of all that we survived: Lawn Darts.

Aloha,

Brad

[Esau]

You forgot the most impressive thing of all that we survived: Lawn Darts.

Aloha,

Brad

Classic.

There was those "torpedo" shaped glass pop bottles (pepsi I believe) that used to explode,or were rumored to have too.

One thing I always rememeber as funny, was being able to purchase cigerettes at 12 years old for my father simply with a note from him.LOL

-edit to add-

smokes were $2.10 for 25

I also remember buying beer for $17.85 (or somthing).

[bouche]

Big Wheels and the Green Machine. You don't see many of those things racing around the streets, dodging cars anymore. Ok, so they weren't necessarily 'dangerous', but they are nostalgic as Fu@k.

[Esau]

Rock'em Sock'em Robots...

...the kind we had were metal and they could punch all the way through your hands if you were dumb enough to put them in the ring.Kids used to bleed to death playing this game.

[Super Freak]

People over 35 should be dead.

10. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there

were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was

to blame but us. Remember accidents?

I got hit by a car in '73 and I WISH my dad sued the guy. I got nothing but a childhood full of teasing from the large scar on my face and years of seizures from the head trama. This happened in my driveway, and the guy who hit me was the next door nieghbour. Fackin' 70's. Although I agree with the list for the most part, you have to draw the line somewhere.

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

8. We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games

at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound,

personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms-- I would have to disagree with this, I had a Vic 20. web page

[MarcO]

I remember:

• rotary dial phones
  when my school had all of 2 computers, both in the library, nothing on-line.....
  typewriters.....
  someone sitting me down and saying: "this is the inter-net, this is an e-mail address, this is a URL......" etc.....)
  writing to people for Dead tapes from the Classified ads in Relix..... 5th Gen SBD! Yes!.......
  being amazed when Dead tour was over and we had tapes within a month - so fast!......
  when record stores kept their small selection of CD's behind the counter, not enough out yet to put on the "floor"....
  when said CD's had the "ADD" or "DDD" code on each of them....
  the "Cheers" final episode.....

::

[Velvet]

Yeah, those Pepsi bottles did explode. I hated it - my parents owned a variety store. Every coupla days you'd hear "pop" and have to empty and clean the pop fridge.

My first 6-pack cost me $4.75 and my first pack 'o smokes was about $2.25. Made $2.65 an hour at McDonalds though!

Here's something that can never happen again:

High school assemblies used to happen every Friday and the school spirit guys would pull a stunt almost every week to entertain us all. One Friday mornin' we all sat there listening to the folks and about 15 commandos burst through the doors with their machine guns screaming "Get down on the floor" and stuff like that. It was (of course) the school spirit guys and they were holding the room hostage to convince everybody to go to a football game or something. Everybody thought it was a blast. Nowadays it would make the news.

And remember running around at recess screaming "I'm gonna kill you!" at your buddy who just told Susie Richards that you liked her? Can't do that anymore either.

Finally, remember how none of us were in therapy or on Prozac? We musta been angels.

[CyberHippie]

Pop was so much better back then. Coke came in those little glass bottles that were 15 cents, plus 10 cent deposit (or was it vice versa?) it never tasted better than that. And when you got pepsi in a can it had those little circles that you had to push to open it. When the first generation of video game consoles arrived, "Intelivision" being one of them, Dr. Pepper ran a big promotion. I remember you had to look in the can after you were finished, and there would be an image on the bottom. You had to collect them I think, and could win an intelivision the with the Astrosmash game.

[Esau]

[Velvet]

First time I went into a store with a new $2 bill they wouldn't accept it. It was a Zellers I think.

[CyberHippie]

I also remember saturday morning cartoons! Man you would be so excited and get up at like 6am and watch cartoons till noon! Those were the days... Remember school house rock? I also remember a school house rock kinda thing but it was telling everyone to register at the post office for "selective service". "It's quick, it's easy, and it's the law!" Getting kids brainwashed early...

[CyberHippie]

First time I went into a store with a new $2 bill they wouldn't accept it. It was a Zellers I think.

I used to delivery newspapers back then. I had to collect every week. It was so cool getting all the new bills before everyone else!

[AdamH]

I used to deliver the Toronto Star and collect every week too. Little orange perforated receipts...

I had a woman who always gave me 50 cent pieces that I still have.

[gentlemonkey]

big wheels were the shit! The last one I owned had a hand brake for spinout stops.. coolest shit ever.

dont tell me nobody cherishes their Mon-chichis?! or my little pony?

[Booche]

[paisley]

those original computer football games were the first "racket" I witnessed... kids from school would go steal them from Zeller's (every day!) and sell them at school for $5 or $10

(if I remember correctly - left down up left left up left down shoot - actually, sorry, that was hockey)

[paisley]

Commodore Vic 20

Defender

[SevenSeasJim]

I remember going out for recess (oddly enough called "Nutrition Time" now in some schools) and playing "Murder" Ball all the time (as well as Foot Hockey and Ledgies).

[Guest Low Roller]

I had a Commodore Vic20. That thing was awesome.

I was awed by the amazing power of the Basic programming language. ::

[paisley]

nothing like growing up in a town with an escarpment for playing safe, had my first 80 foot fall before I was 12... thank god they're paving over that beautiful wilderness of danger

apperently treehouses and skating on ponds are illegal now

and yay bike helmets!

[paisley]

I had a Commodore Vic20. That thing was awesome.

I was awed by the amazing power of the Basic programming language. ::

ya, I used to get programming magazines and type in the code for amazing games such as "The Vic Viper" then hack the code... god knows where I'd be if the parents hadn't taken away my computer and banned me from having another for wasting so much time (at 12 years old)