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Interesting question, especially omitting the tech changes, which affect just about every aspect of life.
1 - Education. I went to public schools for the most part, hated it, learned crap that was useless, unlearned it as fast as possible, and in high school I realized I didn't even have to bother learning it. Yeah, I barely graduated.  Conversely, my son went to Waldorf school K-12, learned amazing artistic skills, learned how to be a critical thinker, and had (for the most part) a much more rounded social experience.
2 - D&D. I know you said "ignoring the obvious technology changes" but I played pen & paper D&D, and it was quite fun playing online D&D with my son. Though he also glommed onto the books and did the pen & paper version too.
3 - The Cold War. I grew up thinking about (and having nightmare dreams of) nuclear war. It was different for my son. Let's hope it stays that way.
4 - Climate change / global warming. It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject, the difference is that cc/gw was not in my consciousness (or my parents) as a kid. They were and are as part of my son's.
5 - Recycling. As a kid, say what? As my son growing up, he was very aware of recycling.
6 - Health care. As a kid, you just trusted the doctor knew what he was doing. When I was a parent, the whole world of health changed, from alternative medicines (some legitimate, some obvious quackery), questioning vaccinations, etc.
7 - Food. As a kid, "organic" -- what??? My son grew up eating organic food, grass fed beef, free range chicken (really free range, not the FDA concept of prisoners with one hour a day of outside time.)
That's a few.
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Marc Clifton wrote: 4 - Climate change / global warming. It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject, the difference is that cc/gw was not in my consciousness (or my parents) as a kid. They were and are as part of my son's.
Yeah if you ignore the toxic rivers and lakes, acid rain, over fishing and myriad other environmental problems we had (and yes, still have) back then. The reason why business like global warming is (1) it's a lot harder to follow the stench up stream to an singular source, and (2) with carbon credit bullshit not only they can buy their way out but come out looking like good world citizens.
The thing is dislike (not disagree) with global climate change is that it's making a lot of other very real (and in some cases worse) invisible, OIOW: let's continue dumping sh*t in the sea because everybody's looking up at the sky anyway. (And when they do look down at the dying sea what's the first thing they blame? FFFS)
It's the biggest ever cover up, and more than half the world has bought it. Stupid FiretrUKS.
Signature not found error error: Unable to throw signature not found error.
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You totally missed his f***ing point. He didn't want to harp on it, he just wanted to mention it.
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Yeah, given I had limited time this morning to reply, things like deforestation, extinction, the loss of 50% of large mammals, toxic dumps, pesticides, pollution, 4x (I think) more people on the planet, etc., didn't get on the list.
Nor did things like our further understanding of the cosmos, the last lunar walk, the space shuttles and IIS, the Mars probes, Cassini, etc., all of which differentiate the things I grew up knowing vs. the things my son grew up knowing.
I do suppose though that while I remember all the media coverage of Watergate, my son gets to experience all the media coverage of "Trumpgate", in all the various forms that seems to take place almost daily. 
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Marc Clifton wrote: 4 - Climate change / global warming.
Growing up in the 70s, I was told I had to worry about global cooling.
Then in the 80s it was acid rain.
Then in the 90s it was the ozone layer.
Then in the 2000s it was global warming.
Then in the 2010s that was renamed to climate change, because ultimately it wouldn't get warmer everywhere. It also nicely encapsulates the cooling we were talking about in the 70s, thus ensuring that Al Gore can claim he was correct no matter what happens.
Marc Clifton wrote: It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject,
Based on what I've seen, I'd say this much is correct.
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dandy72 wrote: Then in the 80s it was acid rain.
And they did something about it and the damn forests stopped dying and the crystal clear dead lakes started to have live fish, again. And the buildings and such stopped corroding quite so fast. And the paint on your pickup stopped fading and buckling.
dandy72 wrote: Then in the 2010s that was renamed to climate change, because ultimately it wouldn't get warmer everywhere
Global warming is only the view from space - locally we get climate changes - like we've been seeing. Bigger storms: the warmth warms the seas . . . more rain, bigger hurricanes, more snow.
Worse every year -
Our planet is a test tube. Energy comes in on the sunny side, dissipates on the dark side. It reaches a (dynamic) steady state. We've been changing the contents of the reactants for years now, putting much ancient carbon back into the atmosphere. The contents of the test tube are going to react differently. THAT is for sure. Making fun of Al Gore won't change an ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) about it. So - go to your sources; ask them, or figure out for yourself, how the new reactant will adjust to the new composition, and report back to us.
For, you see, science itself follows natural laws - and all the political arguments in the world have no effect since, well , the universe just isn't listening.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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here we go....
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Really nothing to worry about - another Krakatoa type event and things will cool down really quickly.*
But really - somethings got to happen - so I'm willing to listen to anything rational that takes into account the changes in that test-tube. That search for a balance between heat in and heat out is (from a human point of view) forever. So - in a bird-based analogy, but when determining what the future holds, how does one avoid being Chicken Little without, instead, becoming an Ostrich?
* I decided to opt out of "nuclear winter", although it's starting to look like no one cares.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I'm not disagreeing with any of that. I just get a little irked whenever I hear we're threatened with extinction, while the global population is actually still very much on the rise. And if we just let things continue the way they are, well, it seems to me it's being portrayed as a problem that will solve itself in the long run without any input from us. 
(Studying geology while in university really made me a cynic on this topic)
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W∴ Balboos wrote: And they did something about it and the damn forests stopped dying and the crystal clear dead lakes started to have live fish, again. And the buildings and such stopped corroding quite so fast. And the paint on your pickup stopped fading and buckling.
What?
What about taking the entire family down to the river to watch it burn? Precious memories gone forever!
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Marc Clifton wrote: Recycling. As a kid, say what?
I'd have to disagree there: we recycled bottles (1d deposit on each one!), cardboard boxes (no bags from the supermarket in those days - you packed your goods into boxes that the product arrived at the shop in).
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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My mother had a wheeled box-like bag a bit like modern travelling luggage that we towed behind us to the supermarket (empty) and back home (full and wobbly). If you said "shopping bag", that's what came to mind.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I remember those! Weren't they always Tartan for no obvious reason?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Marc Clifton wrote: not the FDA concept of prisoners with one hour a day of outside time.
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Everything!
I could play outside for hours with friends or on my own. I put thousands of miles on my bicycle, sometimes going 50 miles away from home just to see the countryside and get fresh air - often with my elder brother but later entirely by myself or with a couple of friends. My mother didn't seem to worry as long as I made it home for meals. We had no TV until I was 10 and that was rented especially to watch the moon landing.
A stick made a great toy. Now it has to be something named and marketed as something "cool". D&D came along when I was in college (pen and paper only; there were only two rule books). AD&D came later.
I wasn't restricted in my internet use because home computers didn't exist and neither did the internet! Computers were large things with spinning tapes and banks of flashing lights (in the movies only).
Men had not yet walked on the moon but I looked forward to my chance to work on one of the many future moon-bases! I *knew* that when I grew up I would have my own flying car and/or possibly a personal jet-pack to get around in.
I could go on for hundreds of pages about the differences...
Was it better back then? Hmmm.... Not sure, really.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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AD&D? We always translated that as Absolut Dumm & Dämlich.
I will not translate that here, but we used to play it anyway. 
The user can't update the up: we update it for them (Choice in the CP poll)
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Kind of a rehash of others:
Playing outside all day, with friends, and no "play dates". Parent's not worrying where we were. Neighbors sitting in front of their houses (or in apartments, downstairs) - and you can just visit someone without an appointment. Playing baseball using sewers and manholes as bases, taping up a worn ball with electricians tape because we didn't have money to buy a new one.
But, then, those good times were "for us" - lots of people in those time were treated really badly for no fault of their own - just being born the wrong type.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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They've traveled far more than I did at the same age.
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About 43 years.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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Belief in the American Ideals and, by extension, American exceptionalism. For the most part, we believed that everyone had a right to their opinion, good, bad or just plain ugly.
"I may hate what you say, but I will defend your right to say it."
I found this especially true on the college campuses in New York City, where I did my undergraduate studies. You could attend lectures by visiting luminaries expressing all sorts of ideas at Columbia, Cooper Union, or Brooklyn College, free of charge.
Reading through my college essays, including the political science ones, I came to realize that my personal politics have not changed much over the ensuing decades, but the opinions expressed on my children's college campuses are so far the the left, now, that I almost look like a flaming reactionary. Today, protests erupt every time a centerist or mildly right-of-center speaker is scheduled to speak. I keep telling my children that college is your time to listen to other peoples ideas, weigh them, keep what makes sense and discard the rest. From this, will arise your unique political point of view and philosophy on life. You must chose for yourselves; do not let "professors" force-feed you theirs.
Another big area is food. When I was growing up, meat and canned goods came from the store and vegetables came from the garden. It was not quite rural any more, but it had not yet become suburbia.
As my children were growing up, meat comes from the pasture, vegetables from the garden (when we can keep the goats out) and bread, rolls, cake and pie come from the oven - we buy flour and sugar in 25# bags. My wife and I both feel that country living is better for children than urban or suburban living and now own, operate and live on a ranch in Texas.
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
modified 18-Sep-17 18:06pm.
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I was born in 1978, and I think my generation had the best childhood ever.
We had enough "technology" to help everyday life be handled easily, but not enough that it took that much place in our lives. 3 TV channeles, having to wait to see the next episode, no internet to give you immediate and sometimes questionable answers to anything.
If you needed toothpaste or anything, there were only 3 or 4 possibilities in the supermarket, and not 50 like today, and that was plenty sufficient.
There were not enough cars on the road for preventing playing in the street.
You were safe outside of your house, and parents did not have to worry about where you were.
With the standard average salary, you could have enough to live, spare a little bit for extras, go in vacation once a year.
I had real friends, I could show up any time in the day by them and we would go outside and play. I had 47% chance of falling on my crush's father when I phoned her. People were polite. We showed teachers respect. Streets were cleaned by people themselves. We had great music aired. Radio and papers were a real thing and not kept artificially alive like today.
Well, the list is long. I believe that my children are part of the first generation who will have worse living conditions than the previous generation. I consider myself super lucky, I grew up with not that much money but enough to enjoy life, in a peaceful country, with no stress and no pollution. This are already things I am unable to provide my children with.
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+ If I was away from home and needed to make a phone call, I had to go to a phone booth and pay $0.10 for 3 minutes of talk time.
+ If I wanted to learn about something, I went to the library.
+ In my favorite (or maybe most) movies, there were always people with a cigarette in one hand and booze in the other. And that was COOL at the time.
+ A fist fight would end as soon as one person said "ouch", basically admitting defeat.
+ If I came in from outside too often, Mom would say "Get out and stay out until dinner time!".
+ I could buy a slice of pizza and a soda with $1, and get back $0.25 change, which allowed me to play a game a pinball.
There was more but I lost my chain of thought. 
On the other hand, you have different fingers. - Steven Wright
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Lets see...
No more people in iron lungs.
Good ol' boys can't beat up their wives, children, ethnics or gays no matter how drunk they are.
Nor can police officers.
They can't even beat up each other (without commenting on whether that is good or not.)
Kids are not allowed much less encouraged to beat up other children as a spectator sport.
Cars have seat belts and no open alcohol.
(Presumably) priests are no longer allowed to abuse children either sexually or physically with impunity.
Kids actually have the real possibility of learning something on their own. If they have the interest the possibility exists that they can at least find out what is involved rather than being entirely reliant on what their parents might know.
They actually understand that children can have mental issues outside of the categories of broken and criminal.
Childhood leukemia is survivable. Probably quite a few others childhood diseases as well.
Really vast array of different types of food and food preparation which is available now and not then. Back then bananas were something that only showed up at certain times of year. In my mothers time even oranges, grapefruit (citrus of any kind) only showed up once a year for a very limited time. I can name ethnic food types that I like and those that I do not like and those were not even in the lexicon of discussion when I was young.
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Is being located within the European mainland considered incontinence ?
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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You are talking s**t again. 
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