The Good Ol' Days
- Thread starter Anarchemitis
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I'm not sure the world is actually getting worse - perhaps we just have more widespread knowledge. For instance, in the late 19th/early 20th century Copper Hill, Tennessee was turned into a virtual moonscape by the sulfuric acid (a by-product of smelting or extracting copper ore) and by complete clear-cutting (for smelting fuel.) Today there are some trees growing on those once-barren hills, and the acid plant's exhaust can be breathed in the stacks (assuming the scrubbers are working!) The Pigeon River in Tennessee was once so polluted from paper mill effluents from a Champion Paper mill in North Carolina that almost no aquatic life survived, organochloride (including dioxin) levels were off the charts, coal tar literally coated everything just into North Carolina, water flowing over the Tennessee border varied from an unnatural brown to bright, equally unnatural blue, green, orange, or yellow depending on what Champion was dumping at the time. Today Blue Ridge Paper Products owns the paper mill and has spent literally millions cleaning up the plant and the river, and in conjunction with the feds, Tennessee and North Carolina, and private not-for-profit groups such as Conservation Fisheries have restocked many species including darters, madtoms, minnows, and even mussels. The last advisory against eating fish from the Pigeon has been lifted; even carp are safe to eat. There are numerous other existing hazards and environmental damage that wouldn't be allowed today, and numerous other stories of great improvements during the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. (One of the reasons I so despise Al Gore is that during his first presidential run he wrote to the EPA to advocate against enforcing then-current environmental laws, let alone mitigating decades of past damage, for the then-Champion Paper Mill in order to obtain the support of powerful North Carolina politicians. If you have to protect jobs, fine; use tax money to fix the pollution source and clean up the damage, don't just pretend it isn't happening.) The Nolichucky Reservoir is so filled with mica and other sediment from early to mid-20th century mining that only 10% of its original impounded volume is still water. (Hmm, that one's not been addressed yet...) So it's not all worse; in a lot of ways things are better than they used to be.mshcherbatskaya said:
And congratulations on turning your life around; I know that?s difficult. I'd hate to never have known you over such a silly little thing as the world.
Feel free. All my best characters are plagiarized from life.The_root_of_all_evil said:
You know, I had two exit points under serious consideration, and one of them was removed a few years back They amended the structure an overpass to reduce traffic accident hazards and my spot was gone. I was kind of...sad? about it. I kind of liked being able to look at it and think, "That's the spot where I didn't kill myself."
Every day on my way to work, I ride past a bridge that is still nicknamed "Suicide Bridge" (for obvious reasons) but I never had the urge to go there. I just had to be a non-conformist, I guess.
@werepossum - Yes, some things do get better, don't they. The main river in my city almost never has floating poop in it any more. And given the fact that my state tried to enact what was damn near a Jim Crow law against gays and lesbians in 1992, the fact that the local gay youth resource center has been in operation for 10 successful years now goes to show that my efforts and those of my friends paid off for the kids coming up behind us. And when I think of all the cool people I wouldn't have met if I'd died back in '96 - yeah, SOOOO glad I didn't do that.
It's kind of sad when a river almost never having floating poop in it is considered progress, isn't it?mshcherbatskaya said:
Regarding the anti-gay law, the county in which I was raised a few years ago discovered homosexuals and were quite properly horrified. One Tuesday the county commission passed a law making it illegal for any homosexuals to reside within the county limits - since of course there were *certainly* none living there at the time! - and re-instating sodomy laws. It was freaking hilarious! They were on the national news and even made many international news broadcasts (Yahoo "Rhea County" "homosexual" and "Ban" and you too can enjoy it!) A carnival of national reporters descended on Dayton, which I should note is also the home of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Two days later the county commission held a two minute meeting to withdraw the ban on homosexuals, running (literally!) a gauntlet of reporters to get in and out.
On a more somber note I should add that these are people I actually know somewhat. These are not bad or evil people, yet they saw no evil (and great virtue) in banning people from obtaining such basic necessities as housing (with their own money, no less) for what they prefer to do - or, more accurately I suppose, for whom they prefer to do it with - in the privacy of their own homes. Above and beyond the humor of the situation, the dichotomy of that viewpoint is - frightening is too mild a word. If you don't own your own sexuality, you don't own yourself; you are property.
Anyway, I don't know if there are any gay youth centers (or any youth centers really)operating there, but it's a safe bet the words "sodomy" or "homosexual" won't be uttered in county commission meeting any time soon!
I miss the times when you could shoot a man for lookin' at ya' funny
I miss the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth
I miss the days when my dog was still alive
I miss the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth
I miss the days when my dog was still alive
I still have yet to make that video response on Youtube of my Reaction to the 2 Girls 1 Cup wikipedia article. Praise the Lord I have not seen the video.
I miss the good ol' days where I found it really easy to balance schoolwork with my social life, as opposed to now, where I usually hand in essays a day or two after they're due. This is due to me being restless and waiting on MSN/Facebook for the chance to talk to a friend, like a Nintendo fanatic constantly hitting the refresh button on the Smash Bros. Brawl website.
I miss the good ol' days where if I worked on my homework a few hours after getting home from school, I was bound to get it done, and if I procrastinated, no more than a mere 2-3 hours of sleep had to be sacrificed. Back then, I didn't have to worry about the sun rising in a few hours.
I miss the days where phone calls for me were from my friends, as opposed to random people who want me to take part in some survey, or buy some insurance.
I miss the days when English in school meant spelling, grammar, and comprehension of stories, not this pretentious literary theory (foreshadowing, symbolism, etc) bullshit.
I miss the good ol' days where if I worked on my homework a few hours after getting home from school, I was bound to get it done, and if I procrastinated, no more than a mere 2-3 hours of sleep had to be sacrificed. Back then, I didn't have to worry about the sun rising in a few hours.
I miss the days where phone calls for me were from my friends, as opposed to random people who want me to take part in some survey, or buy some insurance.
I miss the days when English in school meant spelling, grammar, and comprehension of stories, not this pretentious literary theory (foreshadowing, symbolism, etc) bullshit.
I miss the days when people did fun things just because they were fun and not marks of status.
I miss the days when people could trust their neighbors.
I miss the days when the so-called "politically incorrect" were still called "assholes".
I miss the days when good character meant more than the contents of your wallet.
I miss the days when people actually gave a shit.
I miss chivalry.
I miss the days when not everything was a pointless pissing contest.
I miss my friends who will now be eternally too busy to ever hang out or do anything fun.
I miss the days when families, not just parents, actually disciplined their young children.
I miss my youthful innocence.
I miss the land of possibilities America used to be.
I miss the days when you didn't need 20 years of school just to have a snowball's chance in hell of earning a real living wage.
I miss the days when relationships were real life partnerships and not selfish Me-fests.
I miss the days when cars, cell phones, and other real unnecessaries became necessaries.
I miss the days when the first thing to come to mind in relationships with people was not "What can you do for me?"
I miss the days when people could trust their neighbors.
I miss the days when the so-called "politically incorrect" were still called "assholes".
I miss the days when good character meant more than the contents of your wallet.
I miss the days when people actually gave a shit.
I miss chivalry.
I miss the days when not everything was a pointless pissing contest.
I miss my friends who will now be eternally too busy to ever hang out or do anything fun.
I miss the days when families, not just parents, actually disciplined their young children.
I miss my youthful innocence.
I miss the land of possibilities America used to be.
I miss the days when you didn't need 20 years of school just to have a snowball's chance in hell of earning a real living wage.
I miss the days when relationships were real life partnerships and not selfish Me-fests.
I miss the days when cars, cell phones, and other real unnecessaries became necessaries.
I miss the days when the first thing to come to mind in relationships with people was not "What can you do for me?"