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Old 02-15-2017, 07:24 PM
 
Location: Type 0.73 Kardashev
11,110 posts, read 9,770,079 times
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I've noticed people who think they 'belong' in another time always pick times and places that are fun or romantic or adventurous.

No one ever says "I feel like I should have come of age in Ireland during the Potato Famine" or "A slave in Mississippi in 1855 - that's where & when I was meant to be!".

I also suspect that they would find the reality of the fun/romantic/adventurous times to be a whole less lot fun and romantic and adventurous than imagined from the distant vantage point of the 21st century.
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Old 02-15-2017, 07:56 PM
 
983 posts, read 991,504 times
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I actually ordered the book, "The Good Old Days, They Were Terrible!" A lot of the stuff refers to the later 1800s-early 1900s. There's no way in heck I'd want to live then. I saw that PBS special 1900 House, that place looked like a deathtrap, no way. So many new inventions came out in the early Industrial Revolution, things were dangerous, poisonous, polluted the streets, air, water. Oh God no!

Give me the late 1700s, early 1800s, out in the woods with Daniel Boone. I'll take my chances with my musket and buckskins. Yeah, Fess Parker and the tv show made living on the frontier of Kentucky romantic, but he fought his share of Indians too.
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Old 02-16-2017, 04:02 AM
 
Location: interior Alaska
6,895 posts, read 5,829,033 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner View Post
It was like this when I was young and visited my grandparents...

Home was clean and spartan... never cold even in the dead of winter.

No telephone, no TV and of course no computer... mail required going into town.

Grandmother cooked on a Wedgewood Stove... some of the best meals ever all from scratch and she loved to bake and made the best apple turnovers.

Believe it or not... heat was radiant... there was a big boiler in the basement that would use wood or coal... they used wood because being farmers they had plenty of wood... every Saturday was wash day... no washing machine.

Early to bed and early to rise... in the evening, they were prolific readers... they also had a AM radio for the farm report/weather.

No car, but they did have a very old tractor...

It really was an ideal way to decompress... life was dictated by the seasons and neighbors helped each other...

They lived healthy lives into their 90's and walked everywhere local...

Had plenty of pork, beef and chicken raised on the farm... apples, potatoes, pears, etc... all put up as preserves.

Sew your own clothes... all the furniture in the house was made by my grandfather in his shop during the long winters...

They were proud and simple people and church was a large part of their social life... weddings and funerals.

Water was from a Spring in piped to the house...

Shelter from the elements, hot running water, indoor plumbing and always a warm and inviting kitchen...

I'm grateful I had the chance to experience it...

Heating, Cooking, Hot Water was all wood and no need for electricity... they did have electricity... a single ceiling light bulb in each room and an outlet... still remember always unplugging the radio as lightning could happen anytime in the mountains and too many had damage from lightning.
All of this is still perfectly feasible today...plus the benefits of modern medicine and the like. Sounds fairly similar to a mainstream way of life in my neck of the woods, actually.
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Old 02-16-2017, 04:18 AM
 
Location: interior Alaska
6,895 posts, read 5,829,033 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Unsettomati View Post
I've noticed people who think they 'belong' in another time always pick times and places that are fun or romantic or adventurous.

No one ever says "I feel like I should have come of age in Ireland during the Potato Famine" or "A slave in Mississippi in 1855 - that's where & when I was meant to be!".

I also suspect that they would find the reality of the fun/romantic/adventurous times to be a whole less lot fun and romantic and adventurous than imagined from the distant vantage point of the 21st century.
Haha, yes. "I want to go back in time, where I can die in childbirth while producing my owner's child, which I was impregnated with after he killed my family and seized me as a spoils of war slave! Hot diggity!" "Whee, I've always wanted to see whether I'm tough enough to recover from diptheria without antibiotics!" "Spending a few months in an iron lung would be just ideal for getting away from it all!"
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:12 AM
 
13,631 posts, read 20,722,659 times
Reputation: 7640
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unsettomati View Post
I've noticed people who think they 'belong' in another time always pick times and places that are fun or romantic or adventurous.

No one ever says "I feel like I should have come of age in Ireland during the Potato Famine" or "A slave in Mississippi in 1855 - that's where & when I was meant to be!".

I also suspect that they would find the reality of the fun/romantic/adventurous times to be a whole less lot fun and romantic and adventurous than imagined from the distant vantage point of the 21st century.
As I said, History is a generous editor.

There is a classic Twilight Zone episode where a guy goes back in time by choice and then endlessly complains about the lack of advanced technology. Serling's monologue at the end includes, "Stay in your own time."
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:20 AM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,936 posts, read 12,236,371 times
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I'd like to mesh today's technology with the wholesome values of housewives of the past, lol.. if I can find a nice homebody introvert stay at home type women I'll live happily ever after. My attraction to the more testosterone laden, outgoing, loud, in your face aspects of this culture, hollywood, the complex social lives people have, their promiscuity, meeting tons of people, travelling all over the world, that part is not there for me. I'm pretty simple, but so are a lot of men.

The control of information of the past.. not being able to read, being restricted as to my information source (having the information controlled by the state or big religion) along with constant wars over petty ideologies, etc.. and no antibiotics, medical care, etc? I don't romanticize the past... I accept the culture as it is today, but there's a lot of it that doesn't mesh with my personality. Personally I look forward to genetic engineering, what lies beyond 5 nm or when we finally move beyond silicon processors, self driving cars, etc.. bring on the tech to simplify our lives.

Last edited by sholomar; 02-17-2017 at 07:30 AM..
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