Blast from the Past

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

If memory serves me correctly, I think in Texas in the early and mid 1970s the law was tobacco could only be sold to 16 and older. But I think most of the store just ignored that law. I never saw any kid get carded or turned down. Perhaps if a small child tried to buy them, but not teenagers.

I turned 18 in 1976. By that year the laws lowering the drinking age were long in place so we could buy alcoholic beverages. So all through HS it was easy to find someone in school who was 18 and could buy it for you. We thought that was so cool back then, but now 4 decades later I see how incredibly stupid that was! I'm glad they raised it back up to 21.

You do realize I had the disadvantage of becoming well developed at 16. It was not hard at all to find people (ok guys) to buy me drinks.
Depending on where I was that wasn't hard at 14 or 15 either. (Your parents don't care if you drink, here honey or honeys (if my best friend was with me) have a beer or whatever the guy was drinking. Though we did quickly learn to ask what it was before taking a sip. Some whiskeys are just nasty.
*in hindsight, I don't know if it was didn't care or just didn't notice because before the divorce , both parents drank like fish together, after the divorce (thank god they divorced), they still both drank just not together.

And kids today wonder why they can't get away with as much and why the laws are harsher.
I think it is the your parents and in some cases grandparents did it first.

[cromag]

I started college in '70. I was 17 and the drinking age was 21. I told all of the upperclassmen to watch for damaged bottles when buying booze and buy me one if they found any. A few weeks later one of the guys found a bottle of Boone's Farm (another blast from the past -- just don't drink it!) and bought it for me. The bottle had a bubble in the neck that had cracked and leaked slightly.

Meanwhile, I had been "casing" the liquor stores in town. I found that the store was slow most nights, but especially Tuesdays. So, next Tuesday I went to that liquor store and brought the bottle in to exchange it for a "good" bottle. The store was empty and I struck up a short conversation with the clerk who must have assumed I'd been carded when I bought it. At least, that was my clever plan!

After that, I could buy booze at that store on Tuesday nights.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cromag

I started college in '70. I was 17 and the drinking age was 21. I told all of the upperclassmen to watch for damaged bottles when buying booze and buy me one if they found any. A few weeks later one of the guys found a bottle of Boone's Farm (another blast from the past -- just don't drink it!) and bought it for me. The bottle had a bubble in the neck that had cracked and leaked slightly.

Meanwhile, I had been "casing" the liquor stores in town. I found that the store was slow most nights, but especially Tuesdays. So, next Tuesday I went to that liquor store and brought the bottle in to exchange it for a "good" bottle. The store was empty and I struck up a short conversation with the clerk who must have assumed I'd been carded when I bought it. At least, that was my clever plan!

After that, I could buy booze at that store on Tuesday nights.

...didn't your mama ever teach you about the deleterious effects of demon alcohol?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I turned 18 in 1976. By that year the laws lowering the drinking age were long in place so we could buy alcoholic beverages. So all through HS it was easy to find someone in school who was 18 and could buy it for you. We thought that was so cool back then, but now 4 decades later I see how incredibly stupid that was! I'm glad they raised it back up to 21.

I grew up in a state where the drinking age had always been 18; I went to college in the state next door where the drinking age had been lowered to match, to cut down on the problem of under-21s driving across the state line to drink.

I think 21 is too high. It's better if college kids can drink openly; it would cut down on the problems of front-loading and secretive bashes without oversight which lead to drunkenness and rape. When I was in college and we were all legal, most of our drinking was done at bars, drinking $2 pitchers of (lousy) beer. Much, much safer.

I do see the argument on keeping drinking out of high schools, so I think 19 world be the right age.

Originally Posted by issybird

I grew up in a state where the drinking age had always been 18; I went to college in the state next door where the drinking age had been lowered to match, to cut down on the problem of under-21s driving across the state line to drink.

I think 21 is too high. It's better if college kids can drink openly; it would cut down on the problems of front-loading and secretive bashes without oversight which lead to drunkenness and rape. When I was in college and we were all legal, most of our drinking was done at bars, drinking $2 pitchers of (lousy) beer. Much, much safer.

I do see the argument on keeping drinking out of high schools, so I think 19 world be the right age.

I agree. Mostly keep it out of the high school age range. I know if they want booze they will get it, just like my generation did even before we were 18. But 19 would be a good age to allow it. Unlike when I was a teenager, today there is a lot of emphasis placed on responsible drinking. Today we tend to emphasize the safety precautions--don't drink and drive, drink responsibly. In my day we were basically just threatened with punishment from our parents, and of course that was not very effective.

Originally Posted by cromag

I started college in '70. I was 17 and the drinking age was 21. I told all of the upperclassmen to watch for damaged bottles when buying booze and buy me one if they found any. A few weeks later one of the guys found a bottle of Boone's Farm (another blast from the past -- just don't drink it!) and bought it for me. The bottle had a bubble in the neck that had cracked and leaked slightly.

Meanwhile, I had been "casing" the liquor stores in town. I found that the store was slow most nights, but especially Tuesdays. So, next Tuesday I went to that liquor store and brought the bottle in to exchange it for a "good" bottle. The store was empty and I struck up a short conversation with the clerk who must have assumed I'd been carded when I bought it. At least, that was my clever plan!

After that, I could buy booze at that store on Tuesday nights.

My oldest brother who was already 21 before the lower drinking age went into effect, said that they would turn their senior class rings around so they looked like wedding bands and tell the clerks that they accidentally left their IDs at home. They had to go to a neighboring town to do this though as we only had 2800 people in our rural home town and everyone knew everyone else. So you couldn't get away with stuff like that in our small town. But thankfully Austin was only 20 miles away.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

...didn't your mama ever teach you about the deleterious effects of demon alcohol?

Wow, my old ears could not hear most of the words. I have no clue as to what they were singing!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Wow, my old ears could not hear most of the words. I have no clue as to what they were singing!

Partial lyrics:

Here is a story about a sinner,
He used to be a winner who enjoyed a life of prominence and position,
But the pressures at the office and his socialite engagements,
And his selfish wife's fanatical ambition,
It turned him to the booze,
And he got mixed up with a floosie
And she led him to a life of indecision.
The floosie made him spend his dole
She left him lying on Skid Row
A drunken lag in some Salvation Army Mission.
It's such a shame.

Oh demon alcohol,
Sad memories I cannot recall,
Who thought I would say,
Damn it all and blow it all,
Oh demon alcohol,
Memories I cannot recall,
Who thought I would fall a slave to demon alcohol.

[tubemonkey]

I had lots of fun with this stuff as a kid and loved transferring images to it from the comic section of the newspaper; especially the Sunday comics. Bouncing it like a ball was also a blast.

Silly Putty is a toy based on silicone polymers that have unusual physical properties. It bounces, but breaks when given a sharp blow and can also flow like a liquid. It contains a viscoelastic liquid silicone, a type of non-Newtonian fluid, which makes it act as a viscous liquid over a long time period but as an elastic solid over a short time period. It was originally created during research into potential rubber substitutes for use by the United States in World War II.

The name Silly Putty is a trademark of Crayola LLC; the company's factory is based in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. Other names are used to market similar substances from other manufacturers.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I had lots of fun with this stuff as a kid and loved transferring images to it from the comic section of the newspaper; especially the Sunday comics. Bouncing it like a ball was also a blast.

Cool, I never knew it would bounce like a ball. I do remember having fun with it transferring newspaper images. And I had a lot of fun with Wham-O's Super Ball.



Wham-O was sure a popular toy company way back then!

[dwig]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I had lots of fun with this stuff as a kid and loved transferring images to it from the comic section of the newspaper; especially the Sunday comics. Bouncing it like a ball was also a blast.

Silly Putty was right up there with the Slinky as two of my favorite toys from my early childhood (read: early to mid 1950s).

[tubemonkey]

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by dwig

Silly Putty was right up there with the Slinky as two of my favorite toys from my early childhood (read: early to mid 1950s).

Ah yes, Slinky. Stairs were almost mandatory to really enjoy it. I hated it when it was accidentally stretched and wouldn't return to its original form.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The Great War was the war to end all wars. Thanks to everlasting peace and prosperity the 20th century looks bright!

Not even close...the stock markets crashed in the late 1920s and WWII saw at least 70 million deaths. But the streamlined luxury cruise ships looked cool.

And what was up with that 1960s male android soldier having breasts?

[crich70]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I preferred Tang, possibly because they pushed the astronaut connection so much, and in the 1960s we idolized the astronauts. Actually I still drink it on occasion. Mom wouldn't let us have things like Pixy Stix...and I never heard of Fizzies until a few months ago when I saw them on Amazon.