The 1970s's ......born to be wild.
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That is awesome!
Love it! added it to my facebook wall!
That is a cool pic.
Warning- curmudgeonly rant to follow.
As I turned down my street the other day I saw three grade school aged kids riding their BMX bikes. All three were dutifully wearing the helmets that California law has mandated since before they were born. They never have seen, nor will they ever see the day when the state will allow them to ride otherwise. They will never consider the loss of a freedom they never had. I'll be sixty this year, even though it's impossible for me- me, of all people to get that old. The stuff we did made jumping Big Wheels look pretty tame.
I have watched so many freedoms, so many individual choices taken out our hands by the Good-for-you-it's-in-your-best-interest Gestapo of the nanny state that it just makes me sad.
I remember pulling the Harley up to a C-store in Oklahoma, taking the bandanna off my forehead to wipe off the sweat, buying a coke, and a pack of Marlboros, and just sitting right there at the table in the store to get out of the mid day heat, and enjoy a soda and a smoke. None of that would be legal today.
Once upon a time, wearing a seatbelt in the car, or a helmet on a motorcycle was the freely made decision of the driver, or rider. First the seatbelt law was an extra fine if you were pulled over for a legitimate reason like speeding, or running a stop sign. Now, if you're spotted without the seatbelt it's just cause for you to be pulled over, have your records run, your car searched, plus being charged with a moving violation. I first got involved in politics when I had my Harley, and the state passed the helmet law. It was shoved down our throats despite the protests of damn near every rider in the state.
There was once a day when you could enjoy a cigarette with your coffee at the local restaurant. There was once a day when you could enjoy a smoke at the park, at the beach, at a bar. No more. No bar owner is allowed to allow his customers that freedom. No restaurant owner can designate a smoking section, and let his customers decide if they want to patronize a 'smoking allowed' establishment, or not.
Check out the Consumer Product Safety Information Act. It is a nightmare of restrictions on every conceivable product- right down to used books sold in thrift stores because there might possibly be traces of lead in some of the inks used.
Worse, most of these nanny state laws have been passed on spurious evidence, and outright lies. The second-hand smoke BS being one of the more egregious examples. The phony scares about global warming, holes in the ozone, silicone breast implants, radon, alar, salt, sugar, and who knows what the heck else all result in more small freedoms being whittled away. Now they're after the food industry. Because anyone who eats a crappy diet is the victim of BIG FOOD, and needs to be told what to eat for their own good.
I'm just waiting for someone to tell me how many lives were saved, how much insurance costs, how much better off we are...
Can it.
Has your insurance gone down since any of these laws were passed? Mine neither.
The point is not whether this or that behavior is good or bad for you. The point is that the freedom to take a risk has been taken away from us. The freedom to decide for ourselves to accept the consequences of our actions has been taken away from us. This ain't the country, or the culture I was born in.
OK OK. I'm a cranky ol' frat longing for the good ol' days that use ta' wuz and ain't no more. Thanks for your patience.
JWM
As I turned down my street the other day I saw three grade school aged kids riding their BMX bikes. All three were dutifully wearing the helmets that California law has mandated since before they were born. They never have seen, nor will they ever see the day when the state will allow them to ride otherwise. They will never consider the loss of a freedom they never had. I'll be sixty this year, even though it's impossible for me- me, of all people to get that old. The stuff we did made jumping Big Wheels look pretty tame.
I have watched so many freedoms, so many individual choices taken out our hands by the Good-for-you-it's-in-your-best-interest Gestapo of the nanny state that it just makes me sad.
I remember pulling the Harley up to a C-store in Oklahoma, taking the bandanna off my forehead to wipe off the sweat, buying a coke, and a pack of Marlboros, and just sitting right there at the table in the store to get out of the mid day heat, and enjoy a soda and a smoke. None of that would be legal today.
Once upon a time, wearing a seatbelt in the car, or a helmet on a motorcycle was the freely made decision of the driver, or rider. First the seatbelt law was an extra fine if you were pulled over for a legitimate reason like speeding, or running a stop sign. Now, if you're spotted without the seatbelt it's just cause for you to be pulled over, have your records run, your car searched, plus being charged with a moving violation. I first got involved in politics when I had my Harley, and the state passed the helmet law. It was shoved down our throats despite the protests of damn near every rider in the state.
There was once a day when you could enjoy a cigarette with your coffee at the local restaurant. There was once a day when you could enjoy a smoke at the park, at the beach, at a bar. No more. No bar owner is allowed to allow his customers that freedom. No restaurant owner can designate a smoking section, and let his customers decide if they want to patronize a 'smoking allowed' establishment, or not.
Check out the Consumer Product Safety Information Act. It is a nightmare of restrictions on every conceivable product- right down to used books sold in thrift stores because there might possibly be traces of lead in some of the inks used.
Worse, most of these nanny state laws have been passed on spurious evidence, and outright lies. The second-hand smoke BS being one of the more egregious examples. The phony scares about global warming, holes in the ozone, silicone breast implants, radon, alar, salt, sugar, and who knows what the heck else all result in more small freedoms being whittled away. Now they're after the food industry. Because anyone who eats a crappy diet is the victim of BIG FOOD, and needs to be told what to eat for their own good.
I'm just waiting for someone to tell me how many lives were saved, how much insurance costs, how much better off we are...
Can it.
Has your insurance gone down since any of these laws were passed? Mine neither.
The point is not whether this or that behavior is good or bad for you. The point is that the freedom to take a risk has been taken away from us. The freedom to decide for ourselves to accept the consequences of our actions has been taken away from us. This ain't the country, or the culture I was born in.
OK OK. I'm a cranky ol' frat longing for the good ol' days that use ta' wuz and ain't no more. Thanks for your patience.
JWM
Ah, yes! The good ol' days where all the equipment in the playground was made of hard steel and we fell onto hard concrete, not a state compliant little bed of soft wood chips like today. I will always remember the good ol days when id be jumping my bmx bike off anything and everything, no helmet, elbow pads, knee pads or any protection and then end up having to have aspahalt scrubbed out of my roadrashs when I crashed. Those were the good ol days indeed!
JWM,
I'm with you on that brother!
I'm with you on that brother!
JWM,
Being only 14, I completeley agree with you. I WISH I was born in the 50's or 60's. The cars were better, bikes, music, and motorcycles. You could even walk around without seeing teenagers behinds. I always liked the life of the people in American Graffitti. Drive around in Hot Rods and race all day... :mrgreen:
Being only 14, I completeley agree with you. I WISH I was born in the 50's or 60's. The cars were better, bikes, music, and motorcycles. You could even walk around without seeing teenagers behinds. I always liked the life of the people in American Graffitti. Drive around in Hot Rods and race all day... :mrgreen:
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I'm with you there, I'm going on 27 and the cars of my generation sucked and have only gotten worse. Do car companies even know what chrome is anymore? And these cars that are so overly designed with junk we don't need.SCHWINNRAY69 said:
Like cars that analyze the road 300,000 times per second, The road has been paved there I analyzed it.
Rain activated wipers, if you see drops on the windshield..... turn on the wipers. Are people really this lazy or stupid?
A computer that calculates how many feet you can drive before you run out of gas, If the gauge is near the "E" that means you need to put more gas in it. It's not rocket science.
A system that senses noise frequencies and cancels them with other noise frequencies, Maybe there's a reason it's "Only in an Acura"
@ JWM, I understand completely! I was born and raised in the S.F. Bay area and I'm a wee bit younger than you, when they told me I had to wear a helmet, I told them they could watch me leave! Although CA. is a wonderful place to visit, its an even better place to be from! Here in AZ. no helmet laws (for adults) Yeah having a smoke (indoors) got whacked, I can "strap" conceiled or openly, and its no crime nor are we treated as criminals if we defend ourselves against a thug! It aint called the land of "Friuts and nuts" by accident my man. :wink: Later & PEACE!!!!! :mrgreen:
I am 40 years old now so I was one of the last genrations to live a free childhood. I was a pretty good kid too, never got into trouble. But man, I feel bad for my kids. They will never know the feeling of grabbing their bikes and just leaving in the morning. Whether riding to school or just taking off in the summer for the day. It's why my kids don't have a passion for thier bikes like my brother and I did...they don't do the same thing for them. It was our ticket to see the world, to go explore and live those long long summers.
In 6th or 7th grade when I had my Supergoose, not only did we not wear helmets or pads, I didn't even have brakes on it. :lol: But seriouisly, it didn't.
Ok, ok, you wan't another example? Last summer I was outside working and the kids were playing in the yard. One of them complained about being thirsty and how we were "out of water". I told them to grab the hose and have a drink. They truly had no idea what I was talking about. I had to show them how to drink from a garden hose. :shock: Of course my oldest was skeptical and didn't think this behavior was safe. Remember the good old days when we drank water because we were thirsty, NOT because we needed to "Stay Hydrated" :mrgreen:
In 6th or 7th grade when I had my Supergoose, not only did we not wear helmets or pads, I didn't even have brakes on it. :lol: But seriouisly, it didn't.
Ok, ok, you wan't another example? Last summer I was outside working and the kids were playing in the yard. One of them complained about being thirsty and how we were "out of water". I told them to grab the hose and have a drink. They truly had no idea what I was talking about. I had to show them how to drink from a garden hose. :shock: Of course my oldest was skeptical and didn't think this behavior was safe. Remember the good old days when we drank water because we were thirsty, NOT because we needed to "Stay Hydrated" :mrgreen:
I can remember drinking from a water hose as a kid and it was usually the closest to where we was even if we didnt know whose it was. And I can remember racing home on my huffy thunder road (did I just date myself) trying to get home before dark
I love that photo! I too grew up in the 60s and 70s. I live on a small island on the intracoastal waterway with only about 300 homes.
We could leave our bikes laying outside wherever we happened to be.
We built a 2 foot high jump and return ramp and then put dried up Christmas tree in between and set them on fire and jumped through the fire.
There was a deep water canal that ran behind my house and we tied a rope to an old junker 20" bike we had and jumped it off of the canal bank and would drag it back up by the rope and do it all over again.
Our parents trusted us to be safe riding 2 miles (even though it felt like 20 at the time) to the mainland convenience store on our Sears Screamer 2 and Sears Gremlin muscle bikes. About the time that we graduated to 10 speeds, they allowed us to go 10 miles to the mall. For at least 15 years after we stopped riding to the mall, the chain and lock that we had on the Sears lawnmower fence was still there.
We used to take two or three broken bikes and make one good one out of it. We did out own metal flake painting of them and pinstriped them with vinyl tape.
We built many large tree forts, log forts, and underground forts out in the woods and our parents let us camp out in them.
It was a great time to grow up!!!!
We could leave our bikes laying outside wherever we happened to be.
We built a 2 foot high jump and return ramp and then put dried up Christmas tree in between and set them on fire and jumped through the fire.
There was a deep water canal that ran behind my house and we tied a rope to an old junker 20" bike we had and jumped it off of the canal bank and would drag it back up by the rope and do it all over again.
Our parents trusted us to be safe riding 2 miles (even though it felt like 20 at the time) to the mainland convenience store on our Sears Screamer 2 and Sears Gremlin muscle bikes. About the time that we graduated to 10 speeds, they allowed us to go 10 miles to the mall. For at least 15 years after we stopped riding to the mall, the chain and lock that we had on the Sears lawnmower fence was still there.
We used to take two or three broken bikes and make one good one out of it. We did out own metal flake painting of them and pinstriped them with vinyl tape.
We built many large tree forts, log forts, and underground forts out in the woods and our parents let us camp out in them.
It was a great time to grow up!!!!
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My mother's only rule was to be home before the street lights came on. There were a few times I'd sleep in the garage working on bikes all night and falling asleep in my hammock I had set up in the corner of the garage. Then one day I got a BB gun and shot out the light near the house so I could at least "Fake it" close enough. :lol: :mrgreen:
I think we can add the 80's to this. I mean, I learned to ride a bike on some...thing with solid rubber tires. I don't know how many times I crashed into chain linked fences. We built a ramp out of bricks and plywood. God forbid we were caught outside in our church clothes.
yoothgeye
I build stuff.
Kids around here, for the most part, ride without helmets, I let my kids ride without helmets in the yard, but to go in the street they have to have shoes and helmets, I guess I'm more worried about drivers nowdays who think that they can speed down any street regardless of kids around.
I remember back in the 80s riding my BMX all over the city, basically anywhere I wanted. I knew enough people around that if I needed to call home I would just stop in at someone's house, unannounced! :shock:
I really would love to let my kids explore the world like I did, hop on the bike and head across town, or back into the woods or swamp, but I'm not worried about their good sense, I'm worried about the sense of the other people out there nowdays. I still think the majority of people are good, but that majority doesn't speak up enough.
I remember back in the 80s riding my BMX all over the city, basically anywhere I wanted. I knew enough people around that if I needed to call home I would just stop in at someone's house, unannounced! :shock:
I really would love to let my kids explore the world like I did, hop on the bike and head across town, or back into the woods or swamp, but I'm not worried about their good sense, I'm worried about the sense of the other people out there nowdays. I still think the majority of people are good, but that majority doesn't speak up enough.
to think when I was 10, 11, 12, me and my best bud would hop on our bikes, me a Huffy Stars n Stripes muscle bike, and him on a Schwinn 5 speed muscle bike, and ride from our town to the next city 5 miles away, and hang out at the shopping center or the mall (malls were kind of new then) and my parents had no idea where we were for up to 10 hours, is just AMAZING.
if I ever have kids, they probably won't be out of my eyesight for more than a minute.
kinda sad.
on a happier note, the kids at the end of my street are pretty retro. They have long shaggy hair like we did in the 70s, don't wear helmets, and jump beater bikes and skateboards off wood ramps they cobble together from scraps. I like to see that. They're also super friendly and say "hi" to every stranger that drives/walks/rides by.
if I ever have kids, they probably won't be out of my eyesight for more than a minute.
kinda sad.
on a happier note, the kids at the end of my street are pretty retro. They have long shaggy hair like we did in the 70s, don't wear helmets, and jump beater bikes and skateboards off wood ramps they cobble together from scraps. I like to see that. They're also super friendly and say "hi" to every stranger that drives/walks/rides by.
