The year is 1907. One hundred years ago. Here are some of the U.S. Statistics for the Year 1907 :
************************************ The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years old.
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. , and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
The average U.S. Worker made between $200 and $400 per year .
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist made $2,500 per year, a veterinarian $1,500 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! (Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as "substandard.")
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars. (Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.)
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada , was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !
Just try to imagine..... What it may be like ....In another 100 years. IT STAGGERS THE MIND.
Making all sci-fi punks in the world "feel lucky", since 2008
(for other weekly "Biscotti" issues - see our main page and monthly archives)
COMMENTS:
3 Comments:
Anonymous said...
Ivan Rerbrov is a German Singer. His real Name is Hans Rolf Rippert. Back in the 70s he also was on TV as a commedian. There is even an english Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Rebroff
That 'strange Russian Army unit', as you are calling it, is a simple Bell SK5 Army hovercraft used in the Vietnam war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACV http://www.quicktechhobby.com/Hovercrafts/Hovercrafts/SK-5%20HOVERCRAFT.htm
My mum grew up on Romney Marsh during the 1920s and 30s. Some time around 1930 the whole school went on a trip to the seaside (which was only a few miles away) and travelled by flat car drawn behind a traction engine. Because of the very flat terrain, from their perch on the school wall they could see the puffs of steam and smoke and hear the chuffing for nearly half an hour before it arrived. The excitment for a bunch of rural children few of whom had ever been near a car let alone ridden in one must have been intense. Can't imagine the safety lot liking kids riding on an open flatbed but of course they only travelled at walking pace.
Smoke and ashes, yes. Loud, no. The old timers here preferred them for threshing because a man on the tractor could talk to a man at the rear of the threshing machine, 60-80 feet away. Try that with a gas tractor let alone a diesel. Besides, the fuel (straw) was free.
Keep in mind that 100 horsepower is a *lot* for a steam engine. They are the kings of torque. In most US tractor pulls team traction engines are ineligible to compete. Given their torque and weight, they go about as fast with the sled as without it. :-)
I've seen several of these vehicles. The Lake District steam bus was built up as a bus literally 1 mile from here. Fantastic vehicles. I'm a steam boat guy myself.
Great photos, thanks. However I really have to wonder why you think steam is in any way toxic or noxious - it is just hot water! Far, far less toxic than even the most cleaned-up catalytic-converter equipped gasoline or diesel motor.
As another poster pointed out, steam power tends to be quieter than internal combustion engines of equivalent power, and modern steam engine designs are remarkably fuel efficient.
Haha, that Global Subway map is an epic failure. According to it, Melbourne is in the middle of South Autralia, when in reality it's actually just south of Sydney. Whoever made it is obviously a fool.
You're an epic failure, the map wasn't made to be proportional, and if it was, who would care about Melbourne being in the wrong place when Africa is only a little bigger than that of Spain.
That's a cool transit map. If you enlarge the image, and read the text at the bottom, you will see it is from a new book that looks like it might be worth a look, too.
I wonder if our genius first poster noticed any other subtle distortions in the map. :)
Well I guess tehfix0r's confusion stems from the fact that Australian cities do not have a proper subway system, and is why he/she didn't get the inherit joke of the geographically compromised map. For instance the London Tube map is wildly out of scale, and makes understanding London's layout very difficult. I would suggest in future that you be a little less quick to judge others, tehfix0r. In accusing others of being fools, you brutally revealed your own ignorance...
About Flannery O'Connor: "a view of the world that mocks justice, that mocks philosophy, that mocks marriage, that regards these and all other human aspirations as not merely vain, but corrupt."
Flannery O'Connor was a devout Christian. Her fixation of human baseness and the vanity of human wishes is most likely a reflection on our fallen nature or something like that.
Or maybe, as a fervent catholic living in the South, she just disliked protestants!
Nice work. I prefer the near-future fiction pictures-- lots of great ideas. The retro future pic of the pyramid skyscrapers is really inspirational-- because it's actually feasible... with some urban planning-- what a skyline!
Flannery O'Connor is a writer about still-flawed future saints, and a God-haunted world awaiting its remaking by God. The grandmother story, for example, is the story of what it's like to suddenly be in the position of a martyr, from the point of view of the outside world. It is a naked sort of faith, shining in shards against the darkness, but with tons of darkness. She was pretty much sick, dying, and/or in pain during the bulk of her writing life, and she apparently had no taste for writing about people not in such condition.
O'Connor's letters are a great deal more approachable and gentle, although still challenging. Probably her most famous quote from them was her emphatic denial that the Eucharist was a symbol. "If it's a symbol, to hell with it!"
I am profoundly grateful that I did not read any O'Connor short story until middle age. She is all about hard grace. Hard like rocks upside the head.
PS: Do a search for "caracol" in Google Images and you'll notice why the "Los Caracoles" Pass is called so xD (I'm spanish and laughed when I saw the name)
There are definitely stretches along the White Rim Road through Canyonlands NP in Utah that compete with these road. Maybe not in terms of treachery over the entire length, but it's quite a remarkable thing. Here are two photos I took for reference: Photo 1 and Photo 2. I've actually posted quite a few images recently from my trips to the White Rim Road.
Aaaah. Or how about the Irohazaka Road in Nikko (Japan)? Not only does it look like this, they've got all the hairpins numbered and named, with little signs with flowers on them. A quite harrowing experience, and I wasn't even doing the driving.
Wow, I've been at the Tirana - Elbasan path! It was very dangerous, and I'm one of those who just don't feel safe in a car. Some truck-drivers drove like crazy and we saw two accidents on the way!
Agreed, I've being using PS for a decade and I can't find any evidence that the last image was tampered with. The shadows look healthy, other than the fact the image was taken with a medium-grade digital camera - or is highly compressed. I question Byrn's claim...
One note about the Skipper's Canyon road: the tourist buses definitely DO NOT go on that road. I used to live nearby and have been on that road several times. It was put in during the gold rush in the 19th century and really has had little work done since then. The blue vehicles shown in the one picture are the biggest ones that go out there. With that said, I agree that it is an awesome and hair-raising road to be on!
Also in NZ, though not as dangerous as it once was, is the Rimutaka Road (or as the locals call it, Rima-puka Road) between Wellington and the Wairarapa valley. It's been widened lately but still has its share of bad accidents.
One more is the Cardrona Road between Wanaka and Queenstown, though this too has been redone (paved now) so it has lost a bit of its original "charm" ;-) . Still enough to make you hurl when making the final descent into Queenstown.
I remember driving on the AlCan Highway before it was paved. The road from Dawson Creek, BC to the border of Alaska was all gravel road. 1,300 miles of fun! haha! I wish I had some pictures of the hot springs and the herd of Dall sheep. It was the experience of a lifetime for me!
The Alps in Northern Italy are the scariest I've been over. No railings of course, but what really got me were the shrines at the hairpins in memory of the people who didn't make it.
i went on los caracoles the day before yesterday... it's pretty tame even including the crazy driving at that spot. other parts along the road are less interesting but more dangerous.
The Caracoles I consider it comparing to others a quite safe route, and I drive fast. It is not the best but is much away of being a high risk route. Accidents are very unsusual. The one is worst than others is the way to go up to other ski resorts like the way to Farellones/Valle Nevado. 36 kms (22.3 miles) of curves through a 2 way traffic very narrow road. http://www.caleuche.com/Chile/IMAGENES/MONTANAS/CaminoFarallones.jpg
we drove down the Remarkables in heavy snowfall and were hugging the mountain so tightly that we crashed into a ditch. It's a terrifying road with sheer drops - that photo shows the safe part at the bottom as far as i can tell.
My heart skipped numerous beats driving up and down that mountain.
The last photo from Part 5 is from Turkey. The truck is from a city called Van, one of the easternmost city in Turkey and is just south of Mount Ararat and west of Armenia. And no, that photo is not photoshopped. :) Turkish villagers are known to do some stupid stuff once in a while..
The picture of the woman with a gun in her mouth was used in 1998 (in sepia) on the cover of the Beautiful South album "Welcome to the Beautiful South". The cover was changed for some markets, for obvious reasons, so it may not have been seen everywhere.
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3 Comments:
Ivan Rerbrov is a German Singer. His real Name is Hans Rolf Rippert. Back in the 70s he also was on TV as a commedian. There is even an english Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Rebroff
That 'strange Russian Army unit', as you are calling it, is a simple Bell SK5 Army hovercraft used in the Vietnam war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACV
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/Hovercrafts/Hovercrafts/SK-5%20HOVERCRAFT.htm
Thank you guys, I updated the info
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