In talking with my 29 year old daughter, I discovered that she knows absolutely nothing about OJ Simpson. She doesn't know who he was, or what the trial was even about. She was 8 when the trial took place.
BUT......she knows every tawdry detail about Monica Lewinsky. Both events were circa '95.
If you have any kids in that age group, it might be a fun game to play. Ask them about newsworthy events from their childhood that probably wasn't covered in a textbook.
My Daughter is 36 - a Mud Runner - go figure ? - the other 3 are younger down to 31 -
The only thing that comes to mind two of them mentioned are the twin towers falling in 2001 -
SA
QuoteIf you have any kids in that age group, it might be a fun game to play. Ask them about.....
Never mind just the head lines. How many of them would recognize/have used;
>A rotary dial telephone.
> A party line. (The ones we used to share with our neighbours---not a dating sight)
>A typewriter.
>Rubix cube.
>Library card.
> A personal cheque.
Have any of them ever not had;
>A debit card.
>Cell phone.
> Home internet.
When Dad died I tried to call my sister to get timings for my return to her town to meet the funeral director at the time we agreed upon before I left the day before. No answer on her cell ( as requested I call) so I called my niece. Sheila was there but hadn't gotten the calls because the 3 year old had blocked my phone calls and was playing video games and taking selfies on Nan's phone. EXPERLATIVE!!! She and I weren't allowed to lift the receiver off the wall until we were able to write a coherent note for Dad/Mom.
I can tell my kids about how I grew up with rarely having any food in the house. No warm bed at night. I had to walk to school up hill, both ways. I had to wear my sisters hand me down clothes because that was all we had. Couldn't afford doctor or dentist visits. I once got a dog but we had to eat it just to stay alive.
And they will shrug.
But, if I want to get them to cry, genuinely cry and sob, I will tell them that when I was a little child we only had 3 TV stations and they were all in Black and White! (Insert picture here of the Home Alone Kid slapping his face with both hands.)
Re soFads comments: The Clintons have been in the news consistently since Billy worked his cigar in the oval orifice, I mean office.
OJ was out playing golf on his pension which his lost civil suit cannot touch. He made it into the news only when he went to jail for strong arm robbery.
My kids know all the songs from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's because they have been in commercials or movies.
We like to play games like I KNOW and Trivial Pursuit. It is interesting how often I know what is to me a very obvious answer, and yet my kids draw a blank.
I had a talk with an elderly lady today and she suggested that I read the book, The Boys in the Boat. It's about guys training for rowing (crewing) in the 1930 something Olympics that were held in Germany. This was a time from her childhood.
gene
Funny how much stuff you guys brought up that took me back in time. As far as headlines, we tend to remember things of great importance in our lives. For example, how many of you remember where you were when JFK's shooting was announced. That's my first headline I remember. Where were you when the Challenger exploded, when it was announced that Pres. Reagan had been shot.
The whole OJ trial has always had great importance to me. I was summoned for Jury Duty the same day as jurors for OJ's murder trial reported. We went through vour dour (misspelled I know), testimony and returned a guilty verdict in 5 days. I'm not sure if any jurors had been selected for OJ's trial. Both trials had a black man accused of killing a white man; however, our trial was not a celebrity nor was our trial being televised on the brand spankin' new "Court TV". We also were schooled about DNA evidence as part of our trial. We returned a verdict of second degree murder (should have been first degree murder but we had one ignorant juror who did not understand what premeditation meant).
For the record, I believe that OJ killed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson; however, if I had been a jurist I would have cast a not-guilty vote because of the way that blood evidence was mishandled. There was absolutely mis-handling of the blood by LAPD and the DA should have been fired for letting OJ try on those gloves with rubber gloves on underneath -- there was no way they were going to fit. I told my FIL that OJ should walk because of what LAPD did and he was floored so I explained it to him as thus: "If they could do the things to OJ's evidence that they did with his money and notoriety, had they gotten by with it then imagine what they can do to John or Jane Doe with no name and no money to their name. If the police corrupt a trial or evidence than the person should walk. I still feel that way and at least OJ is now behind bars; though I understand that he will probably be paroled sometime next year. I wasn't sure he'd live as long as he has in prison. He's put on so much weight and just looks horrible.
Virginia
No one looked more surprised in that court room when the verdict was read than OJ. Beside blood evidence race and celebrity helped him walk away;
SA
Steve: What is a mud runner?
The OJ trial was allowed to be racially charged. The black jurors had to go back to their homes in black neighborhoods after the trial was over. I think it would have been very dangerous for them to have found OJ guilty.
I do not blame the jurors. I blame the prosecutors.
And so it goes: http://theunredacted.com/oj-simpson-a-killer-in-the-family/
gene
Quote from: SteveA on March 09, 2016, 03:08:46 am
No one looked more surprised in that court room when the verdict was read than OJ. Beside blood evidence race and celebrity helped him walk away
It got so silly with the defense attorneys and the prosecutor Marsha Clark and even Judge Lance Ito all pandering for the camera. They even argued over Clark's new hairdo, and her day care schedule for her kids.
With all the petty bickering going on, I think OJ could've just got up and sneaked out of the court room. And nobody would've even missed him for at least a couple of weeks.
I was so interested in the trial since it had some similar components to the trial I served on. Court TV was new and "big". I was traveling for my job, taking classes to learn the new software I needed to be proficient on, so I had many, many nights in motels. Thankfully all of them had Court TV so I was up the better part of the nights watching the previous day's testimony.
I wanted to hang him, up until they got to the blood evidence. Pictures of the carpet in OJ's bedroom the night of the murders nearly pristine. The next day, a vial of blood mysteriously disappeared and the new pictures of his carpet had, I'm shocked, blood evidence on it. That was so bush league. I could not believe that LAPD did that. Then the stunt with the gloves. The correct move would have been to purchase twp identical pair of gloves, soak one pair in blood and leave one pair as is. Then have OJ try one the pristine pair and then the blood soaked pair. That way, their evidence would not have been corrupted for any future appeals and it would probably have been very obvious to everyone that the gloves did indeed fit before they were soaked in blood.
Yes, the trial was a mockery of how our judicial system is supposed to work and I do blame Court TV. Don't even know if that channel still exists. No longer have a desire for any such stuff at this point in my life but it was extremely interesting back in the day.
I was taking a class in KC, KS when they were trying Rodney King. It was the first day of the class and I got miserably lost. I drove around for about 15 minutes trying to find my interstate approach. Finally, I found some police officers and flagged them down. They could not get me on the interstate quickly enough as the verdict had just been returned and they expected major riots in KC. They felt that a reasonably attractive young white woman driving around lost was a sitting duck. One of the officers got on his motorcycle and had me follow him to the interstate. They also admonished me to keep my windows rolled up and doors locked until I got home and to NOT stop for anything. Man I was scared spitless. There were a few windows broken and cars vandalized but nothing widespread in KC but they also were very proactive and had a huge police presence in the neighborhoods they were worried about.
I would love to live long enough to see an end to all of the racial crap but I'm not hopeful.
Virginia
Quote from: Virgs Sew n Sew on March 09, 2016, 10:29:02 am
I was taking a class in KC, KS when they were trying Rodney King.
Actually, Mr. King was not the one being tried.
Just messin' with you. I knew what you meant.
Never heard of mud running - it's our youth performing a sophisticated kind of running competition through mud with skimpy clothing. No further comments.
Actually Rodney was tried - found guilty and punished by corrupt law enforcement. Terrible to even think in this Country law enforcement would do this to a citizen - it's unthinkable !
SA
Quote from: sofadoc on March 09, 2016, 11:40:09 am
Quote from: Virgs Sew n Sew on March 09, 2016, 10:29:02 am
I was taking a class in KC, KS when they were trying Rodney King.
Actually, Mr. King was not the one being tried.
Just messin' with you. I knew what you meant.
I wasn't sure that was right, but hey, I'm still on pain meds so I have an excuse. It was the guys who beat the crap out of the white dude and I can't think of his name either so I appear to be batting zero today. LOL Rodney King is famous for saying "Can't we just all get along." But he was involved in that whole thing somehow or another. Too many years and too much other stuff crammed in my brain at this point.
Virginia
Hmmm...interesting off topic...My kids are much younger than mentioned so far. 13, 10 and 7. They know nothing of walkmans, cassettes/8 tracks, no cable TV, Atari 2600, listening to the radio in anticipation of you favorite song, on the ready to push play/record button at the same time!! (I am a 70/80's kid)
Me, that stand out the most... Mt St Hellenes eruption, President Ronald Reagen being shot, Challenger explosion, Timothy McVay and the Oklahoma City bombing.. 9/11
Cordell
I guess the thing that sticks out for me in world affairs is the day JFK was shot. I remember it was unbelievable. Same with 911 but Kennedy was when i was younger. Some things are big and some have become everyday. I was never blessed with children so I can't speak much about that part of this conversation.
Quote from: Corjen1 on March 09, 2016, 03:53:10 pm
Hmmm...interesting off topic...My kids are much younger than mentioned so far. 13, 10 and 7. They know nothing of walkmans, cassettes/8 tracks, no cable TV............
Just think. Some day parents are going to be telling their kids how tough they had it:
"When
I was your age, I didn't get an I-phone until I was
10 years old!!"
OR:
"We only had
200 channels to choose from!!"
Speaking of television, who remembers how exciting it was going from black and white to color?
What kills me about all of these channels is that there still isn't anything worth a crap on to watch. I speak from experience about that having spent the last two weeks planted on my couch. Granted we no longer have cable, just a Roku and then have purchased Netflix and a few other services. But still there are a gazillion shows, etc available and most of them are not worth a crap. The biggest problem with the Roku is that Amazon has stuck their ugly little finger in the pie. To watch an episode of The Closer for example, it is like $2.00 an episode. As many old repeats as we watch, that would add up to a tidy sum in a good month, not to mention this point in time where I'm stuck on the couch.
Another generation is going to ask what cable is. LOL
Virginia
I grew up 90 miles NW of Winnipeg (nearest TV stations), so even with a 40 foot tower/all channel antennae/and control box in the house to turn the antennae, we had 3 channels on a good day. CBC french doesn't count because it was more snow than picture and we don't speak french. Colour was a big upgrade---but I grew up "doing stuff". I liked to catch "Get Smart" just before supper, and we did "The wonderful world of Disney" Sunday's at 6:00. If there was nothing on down at the rink or the weather was foul I'd watch " Mary Tyler-Moore" or Bunker with the folks and M*A*S*H was a given just before bed. Later, as a teen, Dad and I liked to catch " The two Ronnies" and later " the Benny Hill show" courtesy of the BBC. Otherwise TV was not a big part of my life.
Quoteall of these channels is that there still isn't anything worth a crap on to watch.
Too true! I always laugh about when the smaller satellite dishes ,like your Star choice etc, came out; buddy of ours just had to have one. " Oh man ! over 300 channels and all those networks blah blah blah", so I asked him if he was really going to watch the stock report in Korean, etc.... Two-maybe-3 months later he's over for coffee and starts whining about there is nothing to watch on his dish that we didn't get on our cable. " Uh huh, "here's your sign" [Bill Ingvall, comedian].
Quote from: Virgs Sew n Sew on March 10, 2016, 01:32:47 pm
Speaking of television, who remembers how exciting it was going from black and white to color?
What kills me about all of these channels is that there still isn't anything worth a crap on to watch. I speak from experience about that having spent the last two weeks planted on my couch. Granted we no longer have cable, just a Roku and then have purchased Netflix and a few other services. But still there are a gazillion shows, etc available and most of them are not worth a crap. The biggest problem with the Roku is that Amazon has stuck their ugly little finger in the pie. To watch an episode of The Closer for example, it is like $2.00 an episode. As many old repeats as we watch, that would add up to a tidy sum in a good month, not to mention this point in time where I'm stuck on the couch.
Another generation is going to ask what cable is. LOL
Virginia
We gave up cable/satellite over 10 years ago for the very reason you mention. We had antenna for about 5 years and that finally crapped out on us. Really don't miss broadcast TV. That and I'm way too cheap to pay for something I just don't enjoy. We have a standing Friday night movie night date with pizza and ice cream. We barrow the movie from the library. How many generations before library's are obsolete.
We visited my 88 year old uncle a couple weeks back. His phone rang and he answered it. My cousin snickered at his flip phone and said, when was the last time you saw one of those. Ha ha. I didn't bother to tell him that's what I use.
I've been hearing rumors in about 10 years you won't be able to do anything without a smart phone. Buy groceries, gas, pay bills, have your sofa recovered, etc, etc.
Discussion has come up on this site about dwindling interest and sofadoc posts an off-topic item and it goes to two pages in two days!
Just a thought, maybe we should convert to a "nostalgia" format:)
Back to the subject, when I was reading the first post, it made me think about how easy it is for a radical idea to be accepted over time since young people have no direct experience with the past. They start from a new baseline which allows them to be more accepting of ideas their parents rejected. Before long, what was considered "off-the-wall" is now endorsed.
I've seen it happen over and over.
Rich
Yup, I remember when I was in early grade school shopping down town in the supper. I saw a gentleman with his Navy tat (think Popeye) on his bicep. I asked my mother what that was as I had never seen a tattoo before. She explained what it was, why he had it and followed with something like "only people in the military or ex-convicts have tattoos" and then continued with her rationale which I don't think would pass freshman logic. But she probably was correct, except that she left out circus performers, in her categories of people who got tattoo'd in the early 60's.
Turn the clock many decades later and tattoos are commonplace and generally accepted, even among women. And not just one or two tattoos but covering arms, legs, necks, faces and "scalp" tattoos.
Body piercings are the same, though you don't see as many piercings as you are liable to see tattoos. But again in my youth and teens, women would have one piercing in each lobe and men never. Then it became fashionable for men to have one lobe pierced and now anything that can be pierced on both sexes is pierced.
Clothing is interesting as I've lived long enough to watch hemlines go up and down and now up again. The only thing that shocks me about hemlines now is how short they are. I've seen teenage girls in shorts so short that you could see several inches of "cheek" when they were standing still -- don't want to think what happened when they actually bent over. Right before I broke my knee, I altered several prom dresses for "Winter Ball". One dress was striking - black with silver print on it but it was without a doubt the shortest dress I have ever seen and I wondered how she would possibly be able to dance in it without showing more than should be socially acceptable even in today's standards. In a few more years, hem lengths will go back down again. It's the way of the world.
Virginia
Quote from: kodydog on March 10, 2016, 04:49:13 pm
We gave up cable/satellite over 10 years ago for the very reason you mention. We had antenna for about 5 years and that finally crapped out on us. Really don't miss broadcast TV. That and I'm way too cheap to pay for something I just don't enjoy.
We're all different I guess.
I have the full 200+ channel cable package including all the premium channels (HBO, etc.). Also have Netflix and Amazon Prime, and Hulu. This is just at my house. At my shop, I have a 72 channel cable package. I mainly watch sports. We DVR a few programs that my wife and I watch when we have some downtime.
Between talking on the phone, surfing the net, and watching TV, I pay well over $500 a month. Sometimes over $600 when my grandson starts playing games on my I-phone that cause me to go way over my data plan.
All this talk may seem way off topic. But actually, I enjoy reading about other upholsterer's lifestyles as much as I do shoptalk. In fact, most of the shoptalk here has been over-talked to the point that we're just re-hashing tired old topics.
Virginia: Don't get me started on tattoos. When my daughters turned 18, I told them that even though they were now legal adults, and can do whatever they want, I was retaining ONE jurisdiction over them...........if they ever come home with a tattoo, I'm scrapin' it off with a cheese grater. Even if I have to go clean down to the bone.
I'm not really opposed to tattoos (as long as they're on someone else). Some of them look pretty cool. But there are so many people that just don't know when to quit. Like booze and cigs, I figure the best way to quit, is don't start.
LOL, hubby hates tattoos. I am okay with them if you don't cover every available surface.
Before I "did" my back, I wanted to get a tattoo. Bob had a cow and said that people put pictures on their body that they wouldn't think of having on their living room walls. I started laughing and laughing as all I wanted to do was put a small red Husker "N" on one of my shoulder blades. At the time, we were at the top of our Husker insanity period. I walked him into the living room and pointed out the three Husker pictures that were hanging on the walls. He finally avowed that what I wanted wasn't obnoxious and most people wouldn't ever even see it.
I was going to have it done the next time we were in Grand Island as we still lived in KS then and I wanted to use the tattoo artist that my BIL, George, uses. Fast forward several months later and I trashed my back and ended up getting a series of epidurals in my lower back. I almost passed out from the first one it hurt so bad. Doc told me that I had the thickest layer of inflammation he had ever seen and that was why it hurt so bad. At that point, I no longer had any desire to have any more needles stuck in my body so I never got my Husker "N" tattoo. We have now pretty much given up on College sports anyway so I'm just as glad I didn't get it tattoo'd.
Virginia
I had the roof antenna until it was no longer effective. We got cable; the full package, and the first series we watched was The Soprano's and were hooked. Now we have the DVR to tape shows we miss. I don't mind the cost because it's a luxury we enjoy -
My Children are covered with tattoos - my Wife and I have none. My Daughter's first rebellious act was a tongue piercing @ 16 - now she's 36.
We wanted to kill her but there was no sense - we couldn't stop her or any of them from that stuff. They'll never admit they regret it but they do.
SA
Quote from: SteveA on March 12, 2016, 09:55:34 am
They'll never admit they regret it but they do.
Thats the biggest difference I've noticed over the years as public acceptance of tattoos has evolved.
Whereas before, most people eventually regretted their tattoos, nowadays I don't think they do.
Even church going soccer moms don't regret them.
You're right - it's become part of the landscape but in our Family our daughter no longer has the tongue ring, one tat was covered over with another and two of the boys are cops so they keep covered as best as possible - no face book - no social media
If someone invents a product that removes tats you'll see those soccer Moms lining up
SA
The tattoo thing always reminds me of a young waitress who was pouring my coffee about 15 years ago.
She was telling everyone that tomorrow was her 18th birthday, and the first thing she was going to do was get a tattoo.
I asked her if she realized that eventually the day would come when she regretted that tattoo.
She immediately nodded and said "Oh yeah......I know that".
Of course, then I asked "So if you acknowledge that you'll someday regret it, why are you getting one?"
She replied "Just to show my parents that I'm in charge now".
I asked her if she had ever heard the expression "Cutting off your nose to spite your face".
After staring blankly for a few seconds, she said "Oh.....no.....I'm not getting the tattoo on my nose".
I've seen the girl a few times since then. Always at various convenience stores around town. Both arms are now heavily tatted. She is a single mom with 4 kids. She works 2 minimum wage jobs, and starts every day out with a couple of Monster Energy drinks and Power Bars to get her through the day because she can't sleep at night. She also buys a couple of Mountain Dews to keep her going.
I've subtly suggested that it might be all that artificial energy crap that is preventing her from sleeping at night. But hell, she didn't listen when she was 18, what's the chance now?
In my best Mr. Rogers impersonation:
OK boys and girls, here we go.
Does everyone know what a thong is? Some folks call it 'butt floss'. Can you say "thong"? I think that's a fun word to say.
Does everyone know what a tramp stamp is? Can you say "tramp stamp"? That's more difficult to say than "thong", isn't it?
End of Mr. Rogers impersonation.
Several days ago I was in line at a store and a young lady, 20 years old or so, bent over.
She had a tramp stamp of a thong. ???
What I find most amazing is that I've told this to my wife and a lot of other people and they've all seen it before! I must live a very sheltered life.
gene
LOL Gene.
When I worked for the furniture store in KS, my assistant loved her some thongs. She was in our boss's office one day, listening him to ramble on (for like over an hour) and I could see that she was reaching over her waistband, pulling her thong out and letting it snap her (not hard) and then repeating the process. Near as I could tell, she did that the entire time she was in the boss's office. She said he was rambling and that kept her from falling asleep.
Virginia
Quote from: gene on March 13, 2016, 08:26:36 am
In my best Mr. Rogers impersonation:
OK boys and girls, here we go.
Does everyone know what a thong is? Some folks call it 'butt floss'. Can you say "thong"? I think that's a fun word to say.
Does everyone know what a tramp stamp is? Can you say "tramp stamp"? That's more difficult to say than "thong", isn't it?
End of Mr. Rogers impersonation.
Several days ago I was in line at a store and a young lady, 20 years old or so, bent over.
She had a tramp stamp of a thong. ???
What I find most amazing is that I've told this to my wife and a lot of other people and they've all seen it before! I must live a very sheltered life.
gene
Uh oh Gene, sounds like somebody's been in the shop too long ;)
Rich