Chronic alcoholism, and their tinsel was filled with lead
the 1950s and its consequences has been a disaster for the human race
The idea to decrease alcohol consumption is an incredibly recent development in human history.
Which started long before the 1950s. The temperance movement in the US started in the first half of the 19th century.
So relatively recent yeah, but not really relevant in this comment thread.
Didn’t alcohol use actually go up during temperance? I swear I read some studies on that. Like that was the reason it failed – alcohol use not only increased, but the alcohol that was available became more dangerous, so temperance was reversed and regulations on how it was made and licensing were instated.
If there is one thing I could bring back from that era, it would be the durability of their appliances and materials. Much better than this throwaway culture we have, where everything is made to last a couple years past warranty, then thrown out at the first sign of malfunction. Shit from the 1950’s was built to endure decades of regular use, and repairs were simple and cheap.
so how come they’re so rare nowadays? I mean everyone had one back then, why aren’t the overwhelming majority of these appliances still with us? Survivorship bias, that’s why
I’ve lived in at least 20 residences across 4 continents and only one of those was from the 1920s.
It still had an original stove.
That stove was the fucking best shit ever. It was amazing. I swear to God I have never been able to cook bacon so amazingly as on that stove top.
I don’t disagree that survivorship bias is a thing. And perhaps I had the best possible option of that era. I mean, yes with an induction top I can do great things. With an MSR dragonfly gas stove I can cook the camp a great breakfast anywhere in the world. I’ve cooked on wood fire stoves. I’ve cooked primitive fires in outback Australia and the himiliaya mountains… But there was something special about that 1920s stove that I’ve won’t ever forget.
I recently heard an interesting take on a podcast that prior to electronic calculators and especially computers, doing calculations was very tedious, time consuming, and not as precise for complex calculations. This resulted in things being over engineered to compensate.
Once it was easier to make calculations, you could easily figure out the minimum amount of resources needed to make a product last during the warranty period. With spreadsheets, you could have a complex view of all variables and tweak the materials to maximize profit, largely at the expense of durability.
This is I think one of many factors, including survivorship bias, why people feel like they don’t make em like they used to.
My dude, they said “1950’s”, and “decades”. They’re no longer around cause it’s been decades since the last one has been produced.
1940s apparently
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085334/
