Shadows from the Walls of Death

[Lily left the valley]

Never mind the working class, who were more concerned about making enough for the days meals, the risks far out out weighed the worry about green pigments .

Another big concern was industrial accidents. People left for work hoping they would make it to see the end of their day. No official records were kept that I'm aware of, but I'd bet accidents were just as lethal as the many infectious diseases that made their rounds during those times. My grandfather, the same one who I mentioned earlier, started working in the coal mines when he was 12. No child labor laws existed and I can remember him telling me that he and a few of the others around his age were sent into seams that were only about 3 feet from floor to ceiling - places where an average sized adult couldn't fit. Several of his colleagues were killed, either from injuries sustained in the mine or from suffocation. This was in the early 1920s, so the hazardous workplace existed will into the 20th Century.

Yep. Factory conditions are the story I remember best, along with boiler explosions. There are still mines in our time in 3rd world countries where kids are doing that same dangerous work for various ore/gems.

[1918ColonialRevival]

We definitely do romanticize past eras.

I think people are wired to remember the good and forget the bad with the passage of time. Often I find myself reminiscing about the days of my youth - the 1980s. I remember all the good times with family and friends, many of whom are no longer with us. I think about what I did for fun, places I went, etc.

I don't think about that being the era when Cold War tensions were at their peak and a lot of people were worried about if this week would be the week the nuclear apocalypse would begin. Fallout shelter signs on all the concrete buildings, weekly testing of the air raid alarms, being told in school to head to the basement if we heard the alarms and it wasn't a drill - those are all the things I have subconsciously blocked.

One memory I have when I was young that bridges the gap between good and dark is my uncle showing me how to use a geiger counter.

[mjt]

Channeling Mike Powell, I see.

I don't get this reference. I tried to look this person up, and holy cow is that a common name related to everything from long jumping to alleged murder co-conspirator.

World record holder in the long jump.

It's a big leap to imply that naturally occurring things don't have safety concerns. Also a giant leap to assume that wallpaper is going to get banned...

[Lily left the valley]

I think people are wired to remember the good and forget the bad with the passage of time. Often I find myself reminiscing about the days of my youth - the 1980s. I remember all the good times with family and friends, many of whom are no longer with us. I think about what I did for fun, places I went, etc.

I don't think about that being the era when Cold War tensions were at their peak and a lot of people were worried about if this week would be the week the nuclear apocalypse would begin. Fallout shelter signs on all the concrete buildings, weekly testing of the air raid alarms, being told in school to head to the basement if we heard the alarms and it wasn't a drill - those are all the things I have subconsciously blocked.

One memory I have when I was young that bridges the gap between good and dark is my uncle showing me how to use a geiger counter.

In a recent conversation with someone that is just coming of age that was lamenting how all is lost and humanity is doomed, I gently reminded them of how I felt the same way at times when I was their age because I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War (and watched The Day After in grade school science class) when folks were also railing against the EPA as having overreach and the AIDS crisis unfolded in real time. Yet at the same time, I saw the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall as well as raised awareness about how real some human caused environmental damage could be and was, along with better developments for AIDS such as the NAMES project (aka The Quilt which helped raise awareness) and eventually treatment for those affected.

I was trying to emphasize to them that every era has its challenges and advancements. Each leaves whatever mess/es (and typically without intending to!) for future generations to fix. On the other hand, the future generation also get some advantages we did not have "in our day", as we enjoyed advantages our elders did not as well.

[Lily left the valley]

Channeling Mike Powell, I see.

I don't get this reference. I tried to look this person up, and holy cow is that a common name related to everything from long jumping to alleged murder co-conspirator.

World record holder in the long jump.

It's a big leap to imply that naturally occurring things don't have safety concerns. Also a giant leap to assume that wallpaper is going to get banned...

Ah! Thank you. Though I think Rev was implying that in$urance companie$ would use any evidence of prior era paper as reason to raise rates...not that wallpapers of today would be banned.

[1918ColonialRevival]

In a recent conversation with someone that is just coming of age that was lamenting how all is lost and humanity is doomed, I gently reminded them of how I felt the same way at times when I was their age because I grew up at the tail end of the Cold War (and watched The Day After in grade school science class) when folks were also railing against the EPA as having overreach and the AIDS crisis unfolded in real time. Yet at the same time, I saw the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall as well as raised awareness about how real some human caused environmental damage could be and was, along with better developments for AIDS such as the NAMES project (aka The Quilt which helped raise awareness) and eventually treatment for those affected.

The beginning of the AIDS epidemic was something else I subconsciously tuned out over the years. I remember in the mid 1980s when word of the disease started getting out there was a near panic, as not much was understood about the disease other than it was a certain slow and painful death sentence at the time. There wasn't much knowledge about how it could be transmitted or how easy or difficult it was to catch. I remember telling my wife earlier this year that the first couple of weeks of COVID-19 reminded me a little of the hysteria that ensued when news of AIDS first hit.

In the early Spring of 1986, I contracted pneumonia and had to be hospitalized for oxygen therapy. In my home area back then, they wouldn't let people have oxygen bottles at home, especially if you were a minor. Probably afraid people would blow themselves up, as probably 90% of the population of that area were smokers then. My parents were worried to death that I had "caught AIDS" and I remember them asking my doctor all kinds of questions about it.

We had an incident at my local hometown swimming pool that same summer that really stands out in my mind. There was a guy in my hometown who was a little different. Hard to say exactly what his problem was - just that he had some mannerisms that were considered by some to be unusual at the time. Today he would probably be considered to be on the autism spectrum. By the summer of '86, rumors were flying all over my small Southern town that he had AIDS (this was actually determined to be true later). One day he went to the swimming pool and jumped in. The whole pool cleared out immediately. The police and county health department were called and the pool was promptly condemned as a public health hazard. They made a big deal out of draining and sanitizing the pool and had it closed for a couple of weeks. When it re-opened, neither my parents nor the parents of any of my friends would let us go swimming the rest of that summer.

We didn't watch The Day After in school (Appalachian schools were poor and didn't have tv), but I remember watching it with my family.

But back to the original topic, yes, my concern is that lenders and insurance brokers will use old wallpaper as another reason to justify their prejudices against older houses. And some natural elements and minerals are hazardous, my point being that no matter how hard people try, the Earth will never be rid of them.

[Lily left the valley]

The oxygen tank made me laugh, remembering a woman close to our family that was put on a mobile tank as her health diminished. (Not laughing at her health--keeping reading.) She would wheel her tank out to the porch, and I'm pretty sure she'd shut it off (or maybe I want to believe she did), and proceed to smoke her unfiltered cigarettes right next to it. I had NO idea back then how dangerous that was.

Grants helped our schools stay afloat. We had 82 kids total in my high school graduating class. This was compared to the mainland schools that had 1,000+/-, depending on the district. The resort barrier island I lived on didn't have many residents in the off-season (still doesn't, really). Over 3/4 of the full time adult residents would live off unemployment in the off season which was longer than the season back then. My dad started work after Vietnam as a clerk at the local Unemployment Office. So we were better off than many because he had a solid year round job, a P/T two nights a week job supervising at the local rec center in winters, plus he stayed active reserve until they retired him. He also ran the movie night the few months they would do it in summer, because all kids worked as soon as they were legal (some younger if family owned the business), so the rec center was closed aside from the movie nights in season.

The pool story doesn't shock me, sadly. I was rejected from donating eggs in I think it was maybe mid or later 90s because the questionnaire had one query asking if I had ever had "physical contact" with someone with AIDS, and I said yes. I knew I had this contact because I was one of four high school students that went with our art teacher to make a VHS documentary video (cutting edge at the time!) about the NAMES project (another grant, and rented equipment for both the filming camera and editing machine which was a glorified double tape machine set up). The horror on the woman's face that was going over my questionnaire answers when I told her I had hugged--just hugged--a person with AIDS after he let us interview him...holy moly she couldn't wait to boot me out of there. Sad times.

Every time conversation turns to what is no longer legal, I wonder when PVC/PEX plumbing will get added to the mix because of micro plastics. That, I think, is a very possible thing. Might be overreach, but I'm sure we'll find out in time.

[Gothichome]

https://youtu.be/KaaZasiRzgU
Well since we are discussing work and society historical reality I thought you might like this. And it’s BBC.

[Lily left the valley]

https://youtu.be/KaaZasiRzgU
Well since we are discussing work and society historical reality I thought you might like this. And it’s BBC.

I've been watching the Worst Job series starting this weekend just past! I think I'm on the last period based one, before they start in on topic specific like "At Sea".

[Gothichome]

The Ruth Goodman series are well done as well.