Are we getting {SOFT} ? #1

[Frankn]

Are we getting soft?
Way back: Boon and Crockett etc. went in the wilderness for months at a time. I bet they weren't carrying their lifeboy soap and I bet they weren't carrying A gallon of water to suck on every 15 minutes. They weren't carrying a change of clothes either. Same boots the hole trip. They were real men!
Around the 40s: people took a bath every week, if they needed one or not. Where water was in short supply, the family all used the same water. No bull ,this is true. I found this out while visiting relatives on their farm. You washed your hands before meals, if you weren't to hungry. This was the era before Speed Stick!
Today : The nightly shower is in vogue. Spray everything you touch. Rub on the germ killers after you touch anything. If someone coughs spray again. So you say we live longer today. This is because of antibiotics. The truth is your children under 3 will not live to be as old as you will. we have passed the life curve. We are becoming real softies!!

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[packerbacker]

Are we getting soft?
Way back: Boon and Crockett etc. went in the wilderness for months at a time. I bet they weren't carrying their lifeboy soap and I bet they weren't carrying A gallon of water to suck on every 15 minutes. They weren't carrying a change of clothes either. Same boots the hole trip. They were real men!

After reading your description of "Real men" I'm kinda happy to be in touch with my feminine side.

 

[Frankn]

Backpacker: I don't know how to break it to you, but I think women had something to do with this evolution!

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[Felinepeachy]

Backpacker: I don't know how to break it to you, but I think women had something to do with this evolution!

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I think you're right about that. But I think it's because we got tired of crawling into bed with men who smelled bad

 

[Mighty AP]

Backpacker: I don't know how to break it to you, but I think women had something to do with this evolution!

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I think you're right about that. But I think it's because we got tired of crawling into bed with men who smelled bad

She's got a point!

 

[Frankn]

Speaking of smelling bad, this went both ways. Remember no sanitary napkins & no running water. Where do you think the expression " the rag" came from?
I think I goofed, sex is entering the picture, perhaps I should have included Annie Oakley in the original post! I was trying to point out that "people" are getting more reliant on things like medicine, soaps, germ killers, fancy clothes, police for protection all the time,etc,etc. The origin of this country is based on self reliance. How many think they could survive on their own? Count the times you stop at the Grocery store, pharmacy, clothes store, fast food, etc. More times than you realized I guess!

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[packerbacker]

Frankn, seriously, you are correct on all counts although there are many degrees of dependence on these things depending on the person or situation. For example, country folk don't depend too much on the police for protection although they will call the police to come out and evaluate what happened. We buy groceries but we're lucky enough to have enough room for fruit trees, chickens, beef and a big garden to supplement that need. Many city people don't have this opportunity and have to depend on others for everything they eat. There aren't too many woodlands left that have enough room for millions of people to wander around in and live off the land. Heck, you been deer hunting lately on public land?

 

[Jimmy(PA)]

I think these things came about because people where tired of living like that. I realize that people take it to extremes today but imagine how many lives could have been saved from epidemics by simple hand washing 100+ years ago. People have always used the best technology that existed at that time from the gun fighters of the wild west in their dapper suits and top of the line guns to the gear carried by Lewis and Clark. I think if people back then knew better they would have done the same things as we do today. The show Wild West Tech shows us just how tech savvy our ancestors where.

 

[spartacus53]

Well I can say you may be partially right in your assessment, but even the frontiersmen wouldn't venture too far without water, or knowing where they can find it. I'd love to see Boone, or Crockett go one 1 month with 1 gallon of water. They would both dead within a week. packerbacker had it right, it's not a matter of being soft, but rather you're a product of your environment. Water alone is an important part of your lifeblood, so if you didn't have much clean drinking water you would go without a bath. As far as medicine, the same holds true, even frontiersmen made a visit to the doctor when ill.

Now I can really say that the cavemen were real men and the frontiersmen would appear to be real sissy's to them I don't even think they owned a pair a shoes, saw no doctor, rarely washed, never shopped anywhere. So how's that for a comparison

 

[Woodland Detectors]

 

[The Beep Goes On]

That is not all that is going on...

http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/iju/vol2n1/sperm.xml

"If the decrease in sperm counts were to continue at the rate that it is then in a few years we will witness widespread male infertility. To date it remains unknown why this is happening and the available preventative measures, which can be taken to avoid a continuation of this trend, are not common knowledge."

We're not just going soft, we're going extinct (at least many think so).

 

[Jimmy(PA)]

Well I can say you may be partially right in your assessment, but even the frontiersmen wouldn't venture too far without water, or knowing where they can find it. I'd love to see Boone, or Crockett go one 1 month with 1 gallon of water. They would both dead within a week. packerbacker had it right, it's not a matter of being soft, but rather you're a product of your environment. Water alone is an important part of your lifeblood, so if you didn't have much clean drinking water you would go without a bath. As far as medicine, the same holds true, even frontiersmen made a visit to the doctor when ill.

Now I can really say that the cavemen were real men and the frontiersmen would appear to be real sissy's to them I don't even think they owned a pair a shoes, saw no doctor, rarely washed, never shopped anywhere. So how's that for a comparison

Exactly and in 100+ years with better technology people will look back on us just like we look back on frontiersman and say "wow those men had it tough not having this or that". It's just progress, people use the best that they have at that time. The frontiersman with their repeating rifles and Colt's must have looked back at the people during the colonial era and earlier frontier days and said "wow those poor guys with their single shot black powder guns"

 

[Frankn]

Sure the modern technology is nice, but the question is could you survive without it? Or are you to soft? I live in the country on the remains of my old farm. I have spring water flowing thru the old milk house. I know how to grow crops. I know how to hunt deer and rabbits. I own and know how to use firearms. Sure I like modern technology and use it. But the point is, if all hell breaks out, I know how to survive! Do you? Packerbacker had the right idea. You have a better chance in the country. As a field service engineer I worked in a different location every day, all over the state, but 90% of the nights were spent at home in the country. I did this so I could raise my 5 kids as survivors. Now in my 70s I can still pop off the cans at a measured 100 yds. with my .22/250. and I can still swing that detector all day with a little break for lunch.][/left]

 

[rginn]

Good post, Frankn, but you didn't live it, and don't know how it was. We heated water and put it in a number 10 washtub and took baths in the middle of the kitchen. We did NOT use the same bath water. If we had a river or creek close, we would take baths in them. I suppose there might have been folks in the desert that had to share bath water, but if water was in that short of supply, we would have never settled there. Believe me, we would have taken showers or baths every day if possible. I can survive without the modern technology, but it's not as primitive a life as you think it would be.

 

[spartacus53]

wow, this topic went from being soft to being a survivalist I am soft, but that is thanks to Ivory soap 99 44/100 % pure, but I will get by.

Again, the majority of people with a little something going on upstairs would learn to adapt to a new environment as well. Since I don't live on a farm, I'll get by on eating edible plants, until I can plant something. Perhaps a little hunting and maybe a little fishing to take off the edge When my shoes wear out, I'll go one further... I'll head to the swamp and kill me a gator, or 2 so I can make a fancy pair of shoes I also know how to tan hides, so making leather isn't a problem once you kill a cow. You will probably find that even the city people will adapt as well as anyone else.. You will find that many of the people here have have some outdoor skills, and if they need to learn more, I am sure they will.

 

[packerbacker]

Them Jersey swamp gators make for some rugged shoes I'll tell ya!! (I couldn't help it spart.......I'm sooooo sorry but I'm clicking POST anyway.)

 

[spartacus53]

Them Jersey swamp gators make for some rugged shoes I'll tell ya!! (I couldn't help it spart.......I'm sooooo sorry but I'm clicking POST anyway.)

It's all in good fun packerbacker

We do have zoo's that and those unwanted babies get get turned loose all the time. Heck, they even caught one in The Bronx. But I think you get the drift, nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. It's not a matter of being soft, rather enjoying the simple pleasures and comforts we have today. I remember being amazed when color TV came out

Necessity is the mother of all invention

 

[traderoftreasures]

Them Jersey swamp gators make for some rugged shoes I'll tell ya!! (I couldn't help it spart.......I'm sooooo sorry but I'm clicking POST anyway.)

It's all in good fun packerbacker

We do have zoo's that and those unwanted babies get get turned loose all the time. Heck, they even caught one in The Bronx. But I think you get the drift, nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it. It's not a matter of being soft, rather enjoying the simple pleasures and comforts we have today. I remember being amazed when color TV came out

Necessity is the mother of all invention

we didn't get color till the late 70's.

 

[Jimmy(PA)]

You would be surprised at how fast people would learn to adapt if all modern technology went down. Sure it would be chaos at first but it's human nature to adapt especially when it means adapt or die. The thing I would worry about in a time of chaos is thieves such as looters, even a well armed family would be hard pressed to hold off the large scale riots and groups of people which would be roaming the country side attacking any food supplies they could find. I also never understood why people stock up on silver and gold, if world society collapses what use is silver or gold? It's value is only what the current market gives it and I doubt too many people will give up food or water for a useless metal in a time of famine. Gold will be as worthless as paper and clad.

 

[savant365]

I hate to think of all the bad things that would happen if society collapsed but I think I would be able to survive and take care of my family. People are very resiliant and most of us would band together and help each other out as much as possible. There will always be people that try to loot and steal for survival but I think they would run into too many groups like these, I don't think they would last too long.