Age of the FC Community plus a lot of nostalgia

[flotntoke]

@grokit - I vaguely remember the drills but don't remember feeling fear. Perhaps I wasn't a particularly bright child?

Not too much fear from me, either. I was cynical at a very young age. In 3rd grade I had to go talk to the principal because I had the nerve to stand up and raise my hand during an "air raid" drill (like they wouldn't be ICBM's!) and ask, "How is this going to protect us from an atomic bomb? Shouldn't we go to the bomb shelter in the basement?" Principal assured me that we would be totally safe curled up against the walls in the hall because it kept us away from the windows and walls were cinder block. Then gave me a hard time because I dared to stand up to ask. Didn't take me too long to figure out there wouldn't be room for everyone in the basement (also our small cafeteria), and that would prevent us from doing the drills in the specified time. What a crock!!!

We also had what I think they called the "quick drill". Duck and cover under our desks. I only asked about that one once, too. "How would they know whether we should just curl up under our desk or go into the hall?" Teacher assured me (and the other freaked out 3rd graders) they would tell the principal when they called with the warning (whoever "they" were). I thought her head was going to explode when I asked how "they" would know what room we were in because our wing of the school was newer with different windows!

Poor teachers! They knew much better how much total bullshit it was, and still had to conduct drills while probably being graded on well they got us all "safe".

Can you imagine if they still did this silly crap today? Parents would show up to school board meetings with torches and pitchforks!

 

[CarolKing]

@flotntoke I loved that! Such a precocious child. Today unfortunately elementary teachers are having to play along with a shooter on campus drills all tucked into a dark corner of the classroom hiding with 25 children. Many schools yet to be safe and secure in case of an intruder on the grounds. Having to explain to the troubled looks on their students faces why they are doing this. Knowing full well they are "sitting ducks" in the line of some shooters bullets.

We've gone from having to worry about another country killing us to a home grown killer right from the area where we live and go to school or a movie theater.

Sorry, I know this wasn't the place but needed to vent. Back to a more positive flow.

 

[flotntoke]

@flotntoke I loved that! Such a precocious child. Today unfortunately elementary teachers are having to play along with a shooter on campus drills all tucked into a dark corner of the classroom hiding with 25 children. Many schools yet to be safe and secure in case of an intruder on the grounds. Having to explain to the troubled looks on their students faces why they are doing this. Knowing full well they are "sitting ducks" in the line of some shooters bullets.

We've gone from having to worry about another country killing us to a home grown killer right from the area where we live and go to school or a movie theater.

Sorry, I know this wasn't the place but needed to vent.

Geez! I hadn't even thought about that. Horrible! But, at least it can help in the event of something happening (instead of the ridiculous nuclear drills). Just really hope it is never more than a drill for any of them again. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that won't be the case.

In terms of the thread, isn't it great to remember when shootings like this were less frequent? And, the possibility of getting hit by a stray bullet in many of our cities was virtually nil?

Vent on!!! It is a disgusting state of affairs we find ourselves in these days with random gun violence.

And, hope you don't mind if I join you. A couple weeks ago a whacko (who apparently wasn't able to get a gun) went into a county courthouse and attacked one of the guards who work the metal detectors with a knife. The guard's vest stopped the knife, and another guard shot the assailant (who later died from the wounds). The guard who was attacked got shot in the hand (from the second guard), tho he has undergone surgery and prognosis looks good. Long story I know, but my point is that the whacko unsuccessfully attacked one person - then was shot (and probably could have been apprehended without gunfire). Can you imagine how many may have been killed or injured if he had a semi-automatic or two? And, they're not too hard to buy illegally within a few blocks of the same courthouse if you have the cash. Fortunately, this whacko was too broke.

Just another reason I support the Chris Rock gun control program.... Sell guns as we do now, but charge $10,000 for every bullet! That would slow this shit down.

 

[CarolKing]

A shout out to all the 4 square champions at recess. That was one of my major activities at recess and chasing boys or them chasing me. I wasn't much of a tether ball player but loved to play 4 square. I would bring my own ball to school with my name on it in the 5th grade.

It was so stupid they used to make the girls wear dresses when I was in elementary school so I either wore tights or shorts under my dresses because I was self concious that I would accidentally flash my underwear. The only time we could wear pants is when it snowed. It's hard to be a lady playing 4 square.

In middle school the dresses got really short. I think the school district thought pants would be better. So finally we could wear pants. By high school dress codes got really lax, it was kinda a free for all.

In elementary school we would sometimes ride our bikes or walk home from school it was about a mile out in the country. Sometimes we would bring extra money and buy penny candy at the country store not far from the school. We felt safe, we usually walked in groups. I would ride my bike by myself sometimes if the weather was good.

 

[poonman]

For the life of me , I can't remember what we used to
call this game we played as pre-teens in our school yard .

It consisted of leaning baseball/hockey cards standing up
against the school's wall . 2 players would stand back at a
distance , and aim/shoot at the placed cards with another
card . ( frisbee like ) There were several versions , but you basically
got to keep the cards you knocked down . That was a way of
collecting and trading cards for us .

I recall practicing by myself for hours in my basement , just
looking forward to getting to school ' Early ' . So we can play
before class started , and of course again at recess time too .

 

[GetLeft]

I remember that baseball card game. Wasn't real big into baseball cards, nor losing the ones I had (the same reason I don't gamble), so I wasn't a heavy duty card tosser. Played lots of four square (I think I probably "carried" more than I should have, but could put some nasty spin on the ball, especially when serving). Fist ball (a baseball style game using your fist to hit a tennis ball that the pitcher bounced to the hitter). Wall ball (one guy throws a tennis ball against a high wall to a group of kids behind him; the group of kids fight to catch it off the rebound). Last one up: a bunch of kids run back and forth from one end of a parking lot to the other while one person stands in the middle and tries to two-hand tag one of them. Anyone tagged has to stay in the middle and help tag the others. Last one running wins! Of course all these games were played on hard parking lot surfaces. Catholic school. No money for a gym.

 

[Joel W.]

I always liked dodge ball, where it was totally fair to throw a large red rubber ball as hard as you could, at someone's face!

That, and hackeysack, I still play hackeysack with old friends...

 

[scottg402]

I always liked dodge ball, where it was totally fair to throw a large red rubber ball as hard as you could, at someone's face!

Unless of course, the "no head hunting" rule was in affect.

How fun is that??

 

[macbill]

We shared a backyard fence with an elementary school in the So SF Bay Area in the '60's. They erected a huge air-raid siren on a tall pole right next to our lot corner. Damn thing was loud.

I remember lots of "Duck and Cover" drills, and even one where everyone got out of school at noon to simulate, I guess, slow missiles, or some such nonsense.

 

[CarolKing]

I just had a memory flash. When we were about 5th the elementary school that I was going to started showing us anti drug films. The films were the ones on the reel and shown on a screen in the library. They showed Reeder Madness, and a couple others. They showed Reefer Madness again in 6th grade too.

After that, we started playing that we were The Mod Squad and some friends were the drug users and three of us were the three characters in the show. All the girls of coarse wanted to be the Peggy Lipton character (Julie) the black guy was Linc and I had to look up to see who the other guy. His name was Pete, I don't even remember that. The drug users either were pretending they were shooting up or smoking a joint - no in between. Just like "Reefer Madness".

The Mod Squad would be chasing after the drug users, then we would arrest them. I can't remember what happened after that. Maybe we put them in jail? We would take turns being the better character, that being the Mod Squad characters.

We didn't even think about drugs until they put the idea in our minds. Wow this thread stirs memories, I haven't thought of that in years, if ever.

EDIT
Had to fix several typos. I type out on my iPad usually, I needed to proof read.
@macbill, that must have been the Cuban Missile Crisis maybe? That was 1963 or 1962. I could look it up.

 

[macbill]

that must have been the Cuban Missile Crisis maybe? That was 1963 or 1962.

It could have been. It may have been a general disaster practice. The idea was, if the situation was very bad, but you had time enough to go home (where your parents, off from work, would go find you), and you'd all get to watch the "Final Solution" together since everyone knew the SF Bay Area was a major target. Look up! Look up! Here they come! I remember asking Dad about building an underground shelter.

Then Twilight Zone did the one about neighbor against neighbor in a false nuclear danger. The neighbors break into a personal Air Raid shelter. That really opened my eyes, as I saw the truth in it.

 

[little maggie]

We had air raid practice when I was in grade school- pre Cuban Missile Crisis; We all had to get under our small desks. I don't think most of us knew what the practice was all about. I doubt we would have made it through a hurricane never mind a missile.

 

[Joel W.]

My buddy's house came with a concrete bomb shelter under 8 feet of dirt. It had a thick ass reinforced steel door, 6 cots, a crapper and sink with a light.. It was a relic of the cold war but it made an excellent motocross jump.

When living within 10 miles of the nuclear sub base it did gave us a comforting false sense of security.

It's some prepper's dream house today I bet.

 

[Crohnie]

Turned 52 a week ago.

 

[MinnBobber]

Turned 52 a week ago.

So, I hope you had 52 CO buds on your bd cake

Hope CO is treating you well and the move there was a good move.

I sometimes think about moving there but probably never do it......

 

[TeeJay1952]

The heck with moving to Colo......Change the laws where you are at!

 

[MinnBobber]

The heck with moving to Colo......Change the laws where you are at!

............................................
Exactly, best would be if it was fully legal here.
Working on it .
Our mmj law here is almost the worst in the country...

 

[bella]

Reading about the nuclear drills made me laugh. At least your teachers gave you some hope...

When i was about 14-15, my friends and i discovered that 'american kids' did nuclear drills and we asked our form teacher why we didn't do them too.
Teacher replied, 'because the weapons are nuclear. When we get hit we will all be instantly vaporized into powder, so there's not much point is there?'

Yeah, that wasn't terrifying at all

 

[grokit]

When we get hit we will all be instantly vaporized into powder

Not a bad way to go, really.
At least when compared to most other ways

 

[Shrike]

...better than being outside of the blast zone and dying after weeks of vomiting from the radiation.

 

[lwien]

Not a bad way to go, really.
At least when compared to most other ways

Instant nuke. Actually, one of the best ways to go. Death doesn't scare me at all. It's the process that does.

 

[grokit]

Instant nuke. Actually, one of the best ways to go. Death doesn't scare me at all. It's the process that does.

It's like a cremation that kinda bypasses death

 

[little maggie]

Just an aside: Remember when pot was $150-$200 a pound?

 

[CarolKing]

Late 1970s we were paying $50 an oz. That earthy smelling stuff with the seeds and stems, good for rolling those big joints with. I always used big top roller that you could buy for a few dollars. I used two papers so it burned slower, the papers were so thin. I eventually found some nice Trident papers, I think they were called, thicker papers worked better. Probably really charred the lungs.

 

[Wahiker]

I'm 65. First used weed in 1968. Sold for $10/oz for years then. Although people sometimes describe the potency as being weak back then, there were some batches that came through that were excellent even by today's standards. I grew up with the Lone Ranger & Tonto, Sky King, Maverick, Cheyenne, etc. Oldest shows I can remember watching were "Captain Midnight" and "Space Rangers" (I think).