Thanks for this. Very timely.
Happy New Year everyone

As usual Monty Python handles this one perfectly:
Four Yorkshiremen- Monty Python - YouTube

To imagine that, just watch the series, "The Expanse". Science Fiction forever!!!!!!!

Success is a combination of ability, ambition, health, luck, and being born in the right place at the right time!

Good philosophy from a high altitude perspective.

I visited a house in the 70's that had a pump in the kitchen
 

and an outhouse . Going out there on a cold dark night is an experience I will never forgot.

But the occupants were middle /upper class 20 somethings on an extending vacation which they called getting back to the earth.

isn't this just a generalized, common knowledge statement, which can apply to any topic, but not really relevant to what our relatives have experienced, as what they experienced in the last hundred years, has nothing to do with their success?

The topic is more about the changes that our relatives and people we know have seen in their lifetime, and the apollo missions was a huge technological feat which people who grew up at the end of the agrarian, such as Manaboutown's father had seen which would seem incredible, no success criteria combination above apply, except being born and living through the time period.

and don’t forget , housing, , stock market crashes , aids , loss of good paying manual jobs , like the docks, factories, warehouses no fixed pension plans , a dirty planet , job insecurity for even the brightest , a divided nation that only gets more rigid by the month, a pandemic that will probably be with us forever, random mass shootings yes this group have it easy

villagers would need to spend a few days on the krell mind device before viewing.
I mean have you not seen buck rodgers

I remember having a "party line" rotary dial phone. I remember nickle coke machines and a cherry Coke at the snack bar of the drug store for five cents. A one scoop ice cream cone for five cents. We had the first Television in our neighborhood because my father worked in a TV lab. He invented the old mail sorting machine. He worked on parts that went up in the first rockets, as well as electron microscopes. When he worked for the gov. he had over 50 inventions that he never received compensation for because of his gov employment. He fought in WWII. And my grandfather fought in WWI, underage I might add.
The doctors from my childhood made house calls. I had all the childhood diseases, even having to be immersed in a tub of ice water (literally) to lower my temperature. My grandmother had polio and had a limp until she died. Same with my aunt.
When it comes to hardships, we have lived through nothing in comparison to our parents.

Hard times create hard men
Hard men create good times
Good times create soft men
Soft men create hard times.

author: G. Michael Hopf ?

I like what your quote says. You paraphrased.

If I may — here it is:

Hard times create strong men,
Strong men create good times,
Good times create weak men,
And weak men create hard times.

It is in a post-apocalyptic novel by G. Michael Hopf, but it might have been around for a lot longer.

Sure seems obvious to me. It’s happening right now, right under our noses.

I think a lot of our 30-50ish year-old men are undirected/misdirected. Weak. Spoiled. Maybe bored. Looking for something to make them feel “manly” — like maybe not getting the vaccine. Wanting to be a part of something bigger.

Undirected, or misdirected, testosterone is taking our country down.

Bring back the draft? If their daddies did not get the job done, then maybe their Uncle Sam can?

But that does not have to mean waging constant war. It could mean teaching things like high steel construction, how to use big equipment (other than tanks) — and a lot of other practical uses of all that testosterone running amok. Let’s build some bridges — literally and figuratively.

Vaccine refusal is on a spectrum. But 30-50 year olds are a big percentage. There are a lot of men in that age group who are refusing the vaccine for no good reason. They encourage each other, running their mouths — in pseudo-manliness. Gotta be one-a the boys, ya know.

(This is a bit of a segue, and yes, a rant, because I know a “healthy” young man (42) with a family. Now, in the hospital with brutal Covid. Family has been told if he makes it, he might never be the same. His mother begged him to get the vaccine. Her heart is breaking. His has stopped once.)

Enough from me this morning. I must go fix pork and sauerkraut with prayers for a turned-around 2022.

Boomer

IMHO,
George would most likely be surprised at how many homes now lined the opposite shoreline of the Potomac, where he tossed that coin....Ben would be flabbergasted at the price of stamps

Jefferson would be claiming that all the stories in the news about him and one of his slaves having an affair was fake news and Hancock would be looking for accrued royalty payments from a certain insurance company

The rest of them would be debating whether it was Pat's or Geno's that served the best steak and cheese in Philly

Thank you for the correction. I knew it was something like that. Perhaps a slight glitch in my memory.:icon_wink:
As for the vaccination, well I guess everyone has to make their own decision on that. Three out of four of my children declined the vaccination because they caught the virus before the shots were available and now are being told by their doctors to hold off on the shots, since their immunity is still high. One had the virus twice and kept working from home. Several grandchildren shrugged off the virus. I weighed the pros and cons and committed to getting vaccinated for my spouse. Just had the my yearly physical and my blood work and blood pressure is better than ever. Even if I caught it, I would probably fare better than my children.
Like I said, it's a matter of preference as to whether one gets it or not. I won't argue one way or another because I do not wish to influence anyone either way.

My grandparents started before WW1. I was the lucky one to grow up with one Grandparent in a country store, lived upstairs and had a half bath. Heard many stories around the coal stove about how hard life was back in the day and great it is in the '50s.
My other Grandparent had a farm. No bathroom, no tv or radio and the Great Grandparents lived in the same home. Great stories on how hard live was to them.
They all thought the '50s was the best time of their life!