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[SalmonGod]

changing landscapes...

This is also one that gets to me.  It's not something that I've been able to witness so much, personally.  I've moved a lot in my life, and the places where I did most of my growing up have been rotting abandoned and decayed more than anything else.

But when I compare the lives my parents had as children to my childhood to the lifestyles of children today... it makes me very sad.  Everything is so sterile, censored, and controlled.  So many boundaries.  So much fear.  So much pressure.  No adventure.  For most, there's no natural world to explore.  It's very depressing.

[ToonyMan]

Ah yeah, I remember when my Mom and Dad had to travel all the way to the west coast when their cousin's sibling was stricken with an evil illness!  On the way they encountered an old man who taught them about life's hardships and near the end they saved a town of people who were being terrorized by a gorilla!  Life was so adventurous back then, I don't know how I live today.  I mean, it's not like my parents hung out and talked with their friends and went to school/work regularly right?  That would be so boring and stuff!  I know for a fact my Dad would have went crazy if he was restricted from driving his car off roads and through buildings, oh wait...no screw buildings!  Buildings are for lameos.

Why is this a big deal again.

[SalmonGod]

My dad grew up on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Him and his brother would go for weeks long canoe trips in their mid-late teens and it was no big deal.  They weathered a blizzard and a tornado on their own in the wilderness while out on those trips.

His high school commissioned him and a friend to make a pipe bomb for a special effect in a school play.  It was supposed to just pop the lid off a trash can.  He kind of overdid it and turned the entire trash can into shrapnel and deafened the auditorium for a minute or two.  No one got in any trouble.  There's no way in hell that kind of thing would happen today.

My mom grew up with second generation immigrant parents on a farm in the days before agro-business was highly corporatized.  That was an adventure in itself.  She was also given a lot of independence, including walking a few miles by herself to school from a pretty early age.

They've all grown up highly rough and independent people with a lot of character and interesting stories to tell.  Most of the things that made them those people would be impossible or criminal today.

I grew up collecting bugs and playing video games.  There wasn't much else to do.  At least a couple places I lived had some woods to wander through.  I was in high school when Columbine happened, and the already tightening atmosphere in public schools started turning hyper paranoid and controlled... like a prison environment...

My older kid will be in first grade this year.  He can get suspended for saying the word "freak" as an expletive.  The school system won't allow him to walk around the corner of our goddamn building by himself to get to or from the bus.  Even if we felt like it would be safe or we wouldn't be accused of negligence for allowing him to play outside on his own like we did as children, there wouldn't be anything to do because it's all suburbia now... in every direction is someone's property who will get cranky if some kid goes stomping around on it.  People are so hyper-sensitive and anti-communally oriented today that a misplaced giggle at the mall can get you yelled at about preventing your kids from being an inconvenience to others.  You have to be fairly wealthy just to get a place with a backyard that your kid can play in, unless you live out in the country where there aren't any jobs...

Get what I'm saying now?...

[ToonyMan]

Not really, those examples aren't very good.

My dad grew up on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Him and his brother would go for weeks long canoe trips in their mid-late teens and it was no big deal.  They weathered a blizzard and a tornado on their own in the wilderness while out on those trips.

This sounds fine.  I would do it with my Dad today since it's the summer and everything if I wanted to.

His high school commissioned him and a friend to make a pipe bomb for a special effect in a school play.  It was supposed to just pop the lid off a trash can.  He kind of overdid it and turned the entire trash can into shrapnel and deafened the auditorium for a minute or two.  No one got in any trouble.  There's no way in hell that kind of thing would happen today.

You are very lucky and should be grateful.  I believe the only reason nobody got in trouble is because nobody got hurt.  Although I am certain an audience member complained about the noise from losing their hearing temporarily, they could have even been hurt past that if they were sick or elderly.  If I was part of the High School staff I would be apologizing so hard, good thing nobody got hurt as far as I know.

My mom grew up with second generation immigrant parents on a farm in the days before agro-business was highly corporatized.  That was an adventure in itself.  She was also given a lot of independence, including walking a few miles by herself to school from a pretty early age.

That's farm life.  There are still people growing up in more rural areas in the USA with this kind of life.  It's not something that everybody can experience anymore whether that's fortunate or not.  This is a case of society moving on with population growth and everything.

Refute my comments and/or provide more examples?

[kaijyuu]

Yeah half those things sound pretty bad. A school commissioning a pipe bomb? The hell?

My older kid will be in first grade this year.  He can get suspended for saying the word "freak" as an expletive.

I'll agree wholeheartedly on censorship like this, though. People hate certain words but don't seem to mind euphemisms. I *despise* the concept of euphemisms.

[SalmonGod]

My dad grew up on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Him and his brother would go for weeks long canoe trips in their mid-late teens and it was no big deal.  They weathered a blizzard and a tornado on their own in the wilderness while out on those trips.

This sounds fine.  I would do it with my Dad today since it's the summer and everything if I wanted to.

You are very lucky and should be grateful.  I believe the only reason nobody got in trouble is because nobody got hurt.

There are several factors here.  First, things really were tons more relaxed back then.  Today, the idea of incorporating that kind of thing into a school function wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.  People have lost their jobs or been expelled for even joking about such things.  Second, this was a very, very small town.  Everyone knew each other.  Everyone knew my dad and his best friend were the pyromaniac kids in town, and could laugh it off.  Third, they actually knew what they were doing and were aware of their mistake in advance, but that nobody would get hurt.  The other guy even secured himself a state fireworks license a couple years later, and has been working in academics at the University of Wisconsin Center for Nanotechnology for 21 years.  My dad's a pharmacokineticist who is globally respected for his work in medicine.  They weren't your typical stupid punk kids.

before agro-business was highly corporatized.

That's farm life.

Even farm life has changed a lot, though that's not something I can comment on with many specifics.  I've never experienced it myself, only seen bits and pieces, heard family who are still in farming talk about things, and compared kids growing up on farms today and their stories to what I know about my parent's childhoods.  Generally things are owned and operated by bigger businesses now rather than families and farmhands, and more and more farmlands slowly surrounded by growing suburbs.  There are still exceptions, but that doesn't mean much in the larger context.

[ToonyMan]

My dad grew up on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Him and his brother would go for weeks long canoe trips in their mid-late teens and it was no big deal.  They weathered a blizzard and a tornado on their own in the wilderness while out on those trips.

This sounds fine.  I would do it with my Dad today since it's the summer and everything if I wanted to.

Hey hey, I was speaking of my Dad as a friend.  He would be the only person I know interested and he's not even my legal guardian anyway.  Plus I was thinking of him because he's the only person I know with a canoe as well. 

You are very lucky and should be grateful.  I believe the only reason nobody got in trouble is because nobody got hurt.

There are several factors here.  First, things really were tons more relaxed back then.  Today, the idea of incorporating that kind of thing into a school function wouldn't even cross anyone's mind.  People have lost their jobs or been expelled for even joking about such things.

Bombs are dangerous.  The reason school's don't allow explosives in their school is because somebody really could die.  I would put it in the same classification of guns if guns were more show-like.  I suppose the reason bombs aren't acceptable in schools now is because it's too jeopardizing to the people there.

Second, this was a very, very small town.  Everyone knew each other.  Everyone knew my dad and his best friend were the pyromaniac kids in town, and could laugh it off.

Well that's good then?  It would be easier to manage stuff like this in a smaller town, however not everybody has that option because some schools are in large towns were it would be nigh impossible to know everybody and laugh off that they almost injured you.  I don't think knowing somebody should be an excuse to let them be able to hurt you, but eh.

Third, they actually knew what they were doing and were aware of their mistake in advance, but that nobody would get hurt.  The other guy even secured himself a state fireworks license a couple years later, and has been working in academics at the University of Wisconsin Center for Nanotechnology for 21 years.  My dad's a pharmacokineticist who is globally respected for his work in medicine.  They weren't your typical stupid punk kids.

Aware of their mistake in advance?  I will congratulate them on predicting that nobody would get hurt then.  Although if they knew the accident would happen I would have halted the play if it was going on and fix the mistake before the accident occurred.

before agro-business was highly corporatized.

That's farm life.

Even farm life has changed a lot, though that's not something I can comment on with many specifics.  I've never experienced it myself, only seen bits and pieces, heard family who are still in farming talk about things, and compared kids growing up on farms today and their stories to what I know about my parent's childhoods.  Generally things are owned and operated by bigger businesses now rather than families and farmhands, and more and more farmlands slowly surrounded by growing suburbs.  There are still exceptions, but that doesn't mean much in the larger context.

Same, I can't really comment on this either.  It's a fact that farm life is decreasing rapidly each year and it may or may not bother someone.  It doesn't really bother me but for somebody who lived like so or at least knew somebody closely like so I'm sure it would be disheartening to see their childhood gradually phased out of normal daily living now.

[SalmonGod]

Well that's good then?  It would be easier to manage stuff like this in a smaller town

This is my entire point.  The world is growing.  Nature and freedom are receding, to be replaced by ever greater amounts of concrete, politics, and fear culture. 

It's depressing to me to take a step back and look at the progression, and see how much freedom and opportunity a kid had just 30-40 years ago vs today.

[ToonyMan]

That's not anybodies fault though.  I guess we could blame people for growing and stuff but whatever.  Damn you human nature!

[SalmonGod]

That's not anybodies fault though.  I guess we could blame people for growing and stuff but whatever.  Damn you human nature!

Yeah, it's kind of everyone's fault and no one's fault.  I wasn't trying to blame anybody or demonize the modern world.  Just lamenting.

[ToonyMan]

We must kill them all, except ourselves.  Ourselves have justifiable reasons.

[Lagslayer]

I agree that the new loony toons is just riding off the name. Also, this is a horrible, blatant slap in the face.

[Neonivek]

Ohh I forgot to say this

I ruined my father's love for Dr. Who

We were watching one of the new episodes that was basically a different version of the Christmas Carol and he said it was really silly and that the Dr. Who he remembered was serious.

I then corrected him and said that Dr.Who has always had silly episodes. In fact one of early Dr. Who villains was the celestial Clock maker.

After he looked it up and found out it was true... The show was ruined for him forever.

[Reelyanoob]

I just looked that up, did you mean "toymaker"?

And Dr Who was always a bit silly, even at the best of times.

EDIT: If you want a better british Sci-Fi series, try "Blake's 7".

Although watch it from the start without getting spoilers from the web, you'll get more from the story then. Don't even read wikipedia, they give too much plot away.

[Heron TSG]

My dad grew up on the shore of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Him and his brother would go for weeks long canoe trips in their mid-late teens and it was no big deal.  They weathered a blizzard and a tornado on their own in the wilderness while out on those trips.

I once went with the rest of my XC team on a camping trip to the middle of nowhere with naught but a cooler of comestibles, a truck, a small boat, fishing equipment, and some tents. We were out there for about a week before we decided to come back. 'Twas fine. It all depends on what your parents will or will not kill you for. A few guys from the team couldn't go for that reason.

My mom grew up with second generation immigrant parents on a farm in the days before agro-business was highly corporatized.  That was an adventure in itself.  She was also given a lot of independence, including walking a few miles by herself to school from a pretty early age.

That's farm life.  There are still people growing up in more rural areas in the USA with this kind of life.  It's not something that everybody can experience anymore whether that's fortunate or not.  This is a case of society moving on with population growth and everything.

* Barbarossa the Seal God raises his hand.