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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^ |
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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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You are talking s**t again. 
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KennethKennedy wrote: You are talking sMARt again.
FIFY
| 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 in the EU and after reading your post, I'm pissed.
* CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF
* GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
* Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.
* I'm a puny punmaker.
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you would be incontinent: EU is but one continent.
Signature not found error error: Unable to throw signature not found error.
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Most EU politicians have verbal incontinence.
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote: ALL Most EU politicians have verbal incontinence.
FTFY
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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I'm allowed - I am a limey as well.
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... but this version also sounds good:
Wizard of Id[^]
As my (elven) character in Skyrim always says: Elves are d*ckheads.
The user can't update the up: we update it for them (Choice in the CP poll)
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Words of wisdom : never judge a book by its movie.
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Australian criminals abreast their truck. 10
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Here is a random 10 letter word guess "highjacked" 
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OK - you win!
You're back up tomorrow - so what was it?
The best I could come up with was "BUSHRANGER", but that didn't fit the "abreast their truck" bit.
(Neither did "TAUTOLOGY" which my first thought, but that's only 9 letters anyway)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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CONS TIT UTE
I thought 'abreast' was fairly obvious.
Australian flat bed/truck in the US/Bucky in SA, is a Ute, utility vehicle.
Criminals, australia, has a nice connection. Hence Cons.
Anyway, have to think of something else for tomorrow....
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I had con or convict but didnt spend enough time on it to get the rest. Good clue though.
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