You’re right, lol. I completely forgot. “Smoking or non?” was a completely normal question when entering a restaurant, and bars or whatever didn’t bother asking. A night out meant smelling like cigarette smoke when you got home.
How quickly we forget.
No shit. The question was “what was life like?” Not “what changed everything?”
I’m well aware of the things I mentioned because they’re different than today which is what the question asked for.
Ah, kettling. Wasn’t it the UK’s government that got this started or was it us during the OWS protests?
Everyone’s saying what was better.
Bullshit, lol.
We were still people, and we still had all the people problems. Misogyny was worse, racism was worse, homophobia was really bad still, and “trans” was just a guy who liked wearing women’s clothes. Not that any man would ever admit that. Schools were super clique-ish, bullying was public and not prevented. Rapes were swept under the rug even worse than today. Pollution was really bad. I don’t think anyone born after 1990 has a clue how shitty the air quality was in cities back in the ‘80s and earlier. I can personally vouch for how amazing the environmental laws are and have improved air quality. Want to buy something that wasn’t available at a local store? Plan on waiting a month or more for it to arrive on order. Cars were more unsafe, often only had lap belts, and wtf is an airbag, lol. Car seats for kids were all but nonexistent. Air travel was crazy expensive, too.
All that said, yeah, there were some good things. We weren’t tied to screens all day. If someone stayed in and watched TV all day all the time you thought something might be wrong with them. We weren’t “on-call” 24-7 with cell phones. Basic jobs were easy to get. All my first jobs were walk in and ask if they needed anyone or just word of mouth, show up, and start working. Mass shootings weren’t the thing they are today. You actually owned the music or games you bought. Local stores had a huge variety of stuff and hadn’t been crushed by walmart and big box stores (I actually remember when big box stores were new and touted as sources of better variety for consumers. Lol, that worked out great). Concert tickets to top bands were less than $10. Local radio was great, your DJ told you about local events, and we had Dr Demento and Casey Kasem on weekends. Nobody was forcing you to pay subscriptions for everything, homes and cars were more affordable, so was education, and health care hadn’t gone nuts yet. You could actually talk to your political opponents, you wanted the same things mostly, it was just how you wanted it to happen was different. Crazy wingnuts were just that. Crazy wingnuts and not mainstream. Nobody gave them platforms unless it was “The National Enquirer.”
So yeah. We had plenty of problems. But there was a lot of good shit too.
After “vegetables” it could be “eats potato chips instead.”
Explanation invites argument.
A mod who is an ass is generally obvious, as is a commenter who gets banned/deleted.
I don’t think you understand who data centers serve.
They monetize us and serve profits to their owners.
It’d be great if DDG’s search was actually better rather than just an alternative. I’ve been using DDG for years and I’m still having to use other search engines because DDG’s results aren’t good or it pulls a google and gives you the same results no matter how many different ways you query.
Raised in religious schools from an early age until early teens. Decided it wasn’t for me for multiple reasons, though the idea of the surety offered by religion is still something I miss despite the negatives of that same surety.
Nothing happened after I left. I just stopped associating with people that used religion when I could, and simply just nod and “uh huh” with those that have to talk about it. Me disagreeing with them isn’t going to change their mind. Yes, things are fine with the family, they weren’t fanatically religious to begin with. Nobody tried to drag me back.
They would at MEPS, except the nurse would use a pen.
Yes.
Ran into a person in a random discussion about hand sanitizer. This was well before covid. They completely believed that having clean looking hands was better than having dirty hands. IOW if you’re a mechanic and can’t quite get all the crud out from under your nails but had scrubbed you hands with cleaners and soap as best you could that this was far worse than not washing your hands all day.
No amount of reason would penetrate this stance.
Exactly. They still want a piece of shit to be president, they just want him to be a piece of shit to everyone they disagree with.
How could they not know he didn’t care?
He essentially said so on numerous occasions, but I guess that went through the same “He means what he says but everything he says requires interpretation” mind machine.
But as usual:
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” Crystal Minton told The New York Timesin an article published Monday. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” (2019)
They only care when it hurts themselves. They’re fine with hurting everyone else.
Equal rights means you are given equal access to the tools that will allow you to learn to drive. If you’re too stupid to drive that’s an entirely different matter.
At least English doesn’t have a “she” table, a “he” refrigerator, and a “neutral” lamp gender for everything.
I can’t believe how cheap TVs are. I think I bought a 22” CRT 25 years ago and it was easily over $200.
E: a CPI check says a $220 monitor in 2000 is $435 today.
Maybe AI will finally negatively impact some CEO jobs.
Did it sell out to actual individuals or did scalpers buy up a bunch?
Ah, enshittification, my old friend. Here we go again.