I'm so old I Remember when:

[BarnyardChaos]

I remember when every boy on the playground at recess got a swat on the behind with one of those paddles that came with a rubber band and a little red ball because we didn't start playing as fast as the teacher thought we should have. Not even a look at the girls.

Ah yes, corporal punishment. I got in trouble in 7th grade for talking in class. Teacher assigned 3 swats as punishment, but because I happened to be in a dress that day, it was delayed. That paddle hung by the door. Wooden plank, about 12" long and 4" wide, with bunches of holes drilled in it (to make it sting more). I hated dresses actually, but wore one every day for 2 weeks until I thought he might have forgotten. No such luck. I remember how all the classrooms nearby got weirdly quiet when I got those swats in the hallway. Everybody listened, and I clamped my mouth tight so I wouldn't cry out.

 

[Evadig]

That is one thing I’m glad I missed out on! (In a way, my parents were firm advocates of spanking - but at least it wasn’t at school!)

 

[fuzzi]

A friend of my mom’s family back in 1930 didn’t need to take any tests at all.

My grandpa didn’t have to go to driving school, he just took a driving test with the Chief of Police!

I had to go to driving school and take both a written and a driving test.

My sister doesn’t have to go to driving school but she had to take a written test before getting her permit. I can’t remember if she has to take any test to get her license.

As a small child my dad sat on his father's lap while he drove. When my dad was too big to sit on his father's lap he sat next to him and shifted while his father worked the clutch. He was driving long distance (Connecticut to Pennsylvania) as a teen, while his father sat in the passenger side (1940s). Even into his 90s my dad remained a good driver. And he tinkered with cars from a young age, got his degree in engineering, and made sure the cars we owned were always running well.

 

[fuzzi]

What ever happened to those photo albums with the sticky lines you stuck your photo to behind the clear plastic cover

Magnetic albums. They ruined the photos, so people stopped using them.

 

[fuzzi]

Sorry about your friend, truly.

I've always been skeptical of how the Big 3 seem to cause everything. If you stub your toe, it's because you smoke or drink or you're fat. Correlation does NOT equal causation.

Much of it is true, I'll grant. But I'd wager that people who smoke, drink or overeat (or all three) are bigger risk-takers overall with their health. (Duh.) So the friend who dies of colon cancer (attributed to smoking and drinking) probably didn't have a great diet, either - and that could very well have been the cause.

My husband is a throat cancer survivor, and he has smoked since his early 20's. Automatically, people assume the cancer is because of smoking. Well, neener neener neener, it's not. It's a strain caused by HPV in his younger years, when people weren't vaccinated for it. Cancer doc said it had nothing to do with his smoking; though they ran a full battery of tests to check, lungs were clear.

I'm just... grrr.... this is one of my soap-box triggers. No matter what ailment I have, the doctors have trained me to be reluctant to seek treatment, because it is ALWAYS because "You need to lose weight and quit smoking." Do non-smokers, non-drinkers, and skinny people never have high cholesterol? Never get Covid? Never have heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, appendicitis? I fell and tore my rotator cuff, and I heard the speech. Get a pap smear and I hear the speech. Get a refill on my acid-reflux medicine and I hear the speech.

I get it... if you hear hoofbeats in Central Park, you're not looking for zebras. But I fear my doctors will overlook my zebra (if I have one) because they're so focused on horses. But let a skinny, non-smoker, non-drinker come in with the same ailment, and they're looking for zebras.

Okay, rant over. I feel better now. Carry on.....

When my dad got colon cancer at 92 the doctors kept asking him if he smoked. Yes, but he quit 60 years before.

It's all your own fault if you come down with cancer, not environmental pollutants or the additives to medicines and food that might have caused it...

 

[fuzzi]

 

[fuzzi]

I loved that movie, fond memories!

 

[fuzzi]

One of the Cheers stars recently died also. Christie Alley??? (SP) I loved cheers. And the spinoff.

Kirstie Alley. Pretty lady.

 

[fuzzi]

Everybody Loves Raymond was a good show also.

I loved his brother. That actor had perfect comedic timing. Like Jack Benny, he used the pause to increase the humor.

 

[fuzzi]

Ah yes, corporal punishment. I got in trouble in 7th grade for talking in class. Teacher assigned 3 swats as punishment, but because I happened to be in a dress that day, it was delayed. That paddle hung by the door. Wooden plank, about 12" long and 4" wide, with bunches of holes drilled in it (to make it sting more). I hated dresses actually, but wore one every day for 2 weeks until I thought he might have forgotten. No such luck. I remember how all the classrooms nearby got weirdly quiet when I got those swats in the hallway. Everybody listened, and I clamped my mouth tight so I wouldn't cry out.

You just reminded me...there was a "bad boy" in second grade. He wouldn't behave. I recall one day the teacher had us all bring our rulers to the front of the classroom, and while the bad boy was over her knee we each got to hit him one time with our rulers!

Did it work? I don't recall. Probably not. He was a real jerk to me in 4th and 5th grade.