A different time, and/or a different place? And why?
At times I have wondered what it would have been like for me to have been born at different times in the past. This has ranged from the 1700's through to the very early 1900's. I love machines as much as I love history, so I gravitate towards the 1800's with the coming of the railroads, and later the automobile and airplanes. This was the time of so much of technologies development; the development of a practical camera, another of my loves, also began in the early 1800's.
However, there's usually something that causes me to rethink, and decide that all things considered, being born when and where I was is not such a bad deal after all.
As for the place to be born in and to live, I might have picked some place with more gentle winters than Manitoba, Canada, probably the west coast of Canada. Perhaps Vancouver Island.
I too have often wondered. I hold onto when life was simpler. So anytime in that time frame would be OK with me to get back to the basics. Hard work I am accustomed to.
As far as a location. I am pretty well content where I am at. Warm in the summer, cool in the winter, abundance of nature.
1880's. But I realize that it is a case in my mind the grass seems greener back then. Reality, it is not.
Maybe not for a full time thing but I would love to have participated in the Boston Tea Party and maybe a few tar and featherings... :)
... the giving end d*
do we go back with the knowledge we have now?
I would probably stay right here in my own time. The earth hasn't changed much, just culture and society. I am free to live like any other time period, with the knowledge of sanitation, refridgeration, nutriton.
Location is right here. Born in 1830. That way I would of been here before the goldrush.
Now if that would of happened and I would of known what I know now ;D
Quote from: wildbil on December 26, 2008, 11:06:16 PM
do we go back with the knowledge we have now?
No that would not be fair. You and everyone else around you would know no more than the common knowledge of the day. Plus when playing this mind game it's not fair moving up/down the social ladder. ;)
A few years ago I attended my uncles fathers funeral. He was born before 1900. At the funeral they started by saying what modern conviences which were not available when he was born. To think that you lived through the modernization period. From no electric to solar, no telephones to cellular, no automobiles to space shuttle. Can you just imagine the changes he saw in the 99 year & 7 months he lived.
Quote from: wildbil on December 26, 2008, 11:06:16 PM
do we go back with the knowledge we have now?
If you went back with the knowledge you have now, you may find it difficult to focus on the positive things from the time period because you miss all of the modern comforts that we have. At least I would, I shouldn't speak for you.
But I definitley would like to live in the 1800's. The decade doesn't matter, as long as it's before the Industrial Revolution. I like the idea of working for your families survival. And I like the idea of a being "skilled" in many things. (Napoleon Dynamite style)
In this time period, most people are specialized. They can take care of your finances but they can't take care of themselves. I like the idea of taking care of myself and living with my family. So, definitley the 1800's before things got real specialized. Location: The Great Salt Basin. Well, I guess that puts me at about 1840's...and I probably would have moved there because Glen tarred and feathered me. ;)
I suspect with this group of people if we went on one of those reality time period shows, we would shock them with our brilliance!
I'd have had to find Owl feathers for you, Sonoran. rofl
Stink, they'd need shades, I'm sure. 8)
That's an interesting question Don, and one I've often asked myself. At one time in my life, I thought 1870ish. But after a lot of thought, I have decided I'm happy where I am.
I have always gravitated toward doing things the old way. Still do but there are so many OLD periods that I enjoy, I couldn't pick one.
Whoever wrote "You can't live in the past, but the past can live in you" had it right. I have steel traps in the back yard that I cooked in walnut hulls yesterday. I have nearly a hundred steel snares that I did last week.
I have a forge and use it. I built all my own muzzleloaders and knives. I have at least a working knowledge of timber framing and have built my own house (s work in progress) with materials I sawed or otherwise processed myself.
I have land to roam and hunt. Whenever I want a new tool or toy, I try to build it.
Today, I'm going to an old fashioned hog butchering, just like when I was a kid.
Now on to todays perks. I have a truck and car so I can be in my beloved mountains or the piedmont and come back to the flatlands in one day ...if I want.
I have electricity to run power tools, TV, etc...when I want or need them.
I have a tractor to plant or work with.
I have an ATV (Note the singular expression >:() to move around on and it's faster than a horse.
I really think I have close to perfection in my time period.
I don't think I could stand watching my family die from typhoid, Tuberculosis, cholera, Diarrhea, sepsis from a simple cut, normal child birth, starvation, malaria, and smallpox. Given there is plenty to kill you now days anyways, at least we have a little more knowledge how to avoid it. I would definately go back to the 1700's to 1800's, but only to live with native americans(Iroquois). They seemed to appreciate their earth and use it more wisely than a lot of the bumbling european expansionists.
Now will do. It's as good as any. d*
Quote from: wildbil on December 27, 2008, 05:03:28 AM
I don't think I could stand watching my family die from typhoid, Tuberculosis, cholera, Diarrhea, sepsis from a simple cut, normal child birth, starvation, malaria, and smallpox. Given there is plenty to kill you now days anyways, at least we have a little more knowledge how to avoid it. I would definately go back to the 1700's to 1800's, but only to live with native americans(Iroquois). They seemed to appreciate their earth and use it more wisely than a lot of the bumbling european expansionists.
Current government is actively experimenting with most of these as weapons and who knows how many have been intentionally released in experiments for one reason or another..
The old days were likely better in this aspect if you weren't around others in cities. My ancestors lost a lot of kids though.
Glenn I'm going to start callin you Chicken Little :P
lifes what you make of it, I suppose I would end up staying right where I'm at.
For those romanticzing about the 1800s - keep in mind they had financial crises and wars nearly exactly to the ones we are entering now.
Mexican war, panic of 1857, civil war, long depression of 1873,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873
add to that the huge outbreaks of influenze and cholera - no thanks.
Life has been tough for a long time. That being said, I would like to visit the 50s.
Mostly for the cars and the music, think it would be a fun vacation.
Yeah, and the Civil War was nasty...if I remember right there were 618,222 deaths, according to my text book. That is more U.S. deaths then WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and Korea combined. And like 400,000 amputees, but I never read that I think the teacher lectured it.
But still, I think there is always a downside. And the comforts that we have today have a good way of pulling us away from each other. IMO. Some bring us together, but a lot pull us apart. Old school life was very rough, but they had some beautiful things that we are losing today.
Well, years ago I decided that the here and now was a much better time to live than any previous time. The clincher was the tumor that developed in my mandible and slowly ate away at the bone from the inside out. There was no pain, no evident problems at all. But an x-ray at the dentist came up with "an anomaly". There's no way that would have been successfully operated on, treated in an earlier time.
That assumes that the tumor would have developed, that it was not caused by some modern day chemical. The doctors have no real idea what the cause was.
So I like today
WWII, at the controls of a P-51D.
Quote from: Sonoran on December 27, 2008, 04:03:31 PM
Yeah, and the Civil War was nasty...
Uh Hem........War of Northern Aggression. There was nothing civil about it. ;D
I used to think that I would like the 1800s, but hot showers are really nice. I like my truck, too.
Quote from: peternap on December 27, 2008, 07:12:05 PM
Quote from: Sonoran on December 27, 2008, 04:03:31 PM
Yeah, and the Civil War was nasty...
Uh Hem........War of Northern Aggression. There was nothing civil about it. ;D
Damn Yankees... :)
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Damn Yankees... :)
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I thought you were from Canada?
No - that's Don. I'm from my mother.... :)
Just being a smart alek--- I'm from Oregon.
When I was trucking and stuck in a truckstop in Paris, Texas, a lady with kids came in who obviously needed help monetarily and mentally. Many of the guys offered to help her but she turned it down.
One of the Texas drivers said, ""Probably a damn Yankee." The wise thing to do in a situation like that being the only one there from the north was say "Yup, probably just a Damn Yankee," in your best southern drawl.
They weren't actually that bad - just a bit of humor.
"The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called present." -master Uguay, Kung Fu Panda.
I would love to experience any era. Have changed the time many times in my life, as others here have. All would definitely have there difficult parts. The grass is only greener on the other side, cause we keep pissing on this side. Can I say pissing on here?
Quote from: Jens on December 28, 2008, 08:19:02 PM
"The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called present." -master Uguay, Kung Fu Panda.
I would love to experience any era. Have changed the time many times in my life, as others here have. All would definitely have there difficult parts. The grass is only greener on the other side, cause we keep pissing on this side. Can I say pissing on here?
Just saw Kung Fu Panda the other night for the first time. Great quote!
I'm perfectly happy in the time period I'm in, but it sure would be fun to visit the past.. Too bad time travel will always be science fiction.
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on December 28, 2008, 11:54:35 PM
I'm perfectly happy in the time period I'm in, but it sure would be fun to visit the past.. Too bad time travel will always be science fiction.
There was this thing that they talked about in the twenties, where people in one house, could share information with people in another house anywhere in the world! It would travel over the telephone lines, and would work somewhat like a typewriter. What a bunch of loons! ;D
Sorry, just had to. Maybe after we are dead, we will get to check out other time periods, maybe that is something for the afterlife.
I always thought I would have liked to see the US pre-colonial times.... It is a beautiful country, but can you imagine it without fence row to fence row and without rooftop to rooftop? I love it when I'm out exploring somewhere and come across places that look like they've never been touched by human hands. God's fingerprints seem fresher there or something. When I was a kid, my grandparents had a creek that ran across the far back pasture, and every August, I liked to go down in there and see it just lit up with cardinal flowers and goldenrod and little wild asters and Indian grass. On more than 110 acres, that place was pretty wild and isolated, and I just loved it, going there alone and wading in the creek.
As far as location, I have had chances to live other places. I've lived in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Arizona, Korea, Tennessee, North Carolina, and I've visited all but the far NE states and also have been to a few other countries, but I'd pick Oklahoma over any of them. Right at the moment, you couldn't make me go back to Wisconsin for any amount of money, but perhaps that will fade with time, because it is not a bad place. Mostly it's because I'm mad at the moment. The same goes for Illinois and Florida. Not that they're bad places so much as I've had some bad experiences there. I know that a lot of folks would wonder why Oklahoma, and I don't think that I can rationally justify it so much, but I can just say I love this place (for the record, I wasn't born here, either.) Always thought I'd like to see Australia, and really want to visit friends in Malaysia and Indonesia someday, too.
Quote from: Jens on December 29, 2008, 12:18:30 PM
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on December 28, 2008, 11:54:35 PM
I'm perfectly happy in the time period I'm in, but it sure would be fun to visit the past.. Too bad time travel will always be science fiction.
There was this thing that they talked about in the twenties, where people in one house, could share information with people in another house anywhere in the world! It would travel over the telephone lines, and would work somewhat like a typewriter. What a bunch of loons! ;D
I've always reasoned that if time travel was ever to be possible, we'd have had people from the future visit us by now. :-\
QuoteI've always reasoned that if time travel was ever to be possible, we'd have had people from the future visit us by now.
They have very efficient cloaking technology.
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on December 29, 2008, 11:00:58 PM
Quote from: Jens on December 29, 2008, 12:18:30 PM
Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on December 28, 2008, 11:54:35 PM
I'm perfectly happy in the time period I'm in, but it sure would be fun to visit the past.. Too bad time travel will always be science fiction.
There was this thing that they talked about in the twenties, where people in one house, could share information with people in another house anywhere in the world! It would travel over the telephone lines, and would work somewhat like a typewriter. What a bunch of loons! ;D
I've always reasoned that if time travel was ever to be possible, we'd have had people from the future visit us by now. :-\
unless there are different demensions of the same time. every choice could be a different layer, so the demensions are endless. Time travel would merely enter back into one of those several layers, It may not even be our own.
People could have already traveled back in time to change the past. we would never know.