Does anyone miss vent windows instead of air conditioning? Hand crank windows? Manual seats? Power nothing cars with no directional signal stalk? AM-only radios? How about rotary phones on a 'party' line? I miss all of those things just like I miss Polio.
To be fair, vent windows had nothing to do with cooling the interior and everything to do with circulating air through it. The modern "flow through" ventilation is the replacement for the vent window.
Nonetheless, there are a lot of modern conveniences I love, but likely more that I loathe.
-Air conditioning? Love it (especially as my wife has MS heat sensitivity).
-Hand crank windows? Sure, in an inexpensive car, they would be great.
-Manual seats? Why not? Again, in an inexpensive car, they would be great.
-Power nothing with no turn signals? That's kinda silly.
-A car that shuts off at every stop sign, then restarts itself? No thank you.
-Systems so integrated that the power seat stops working when the memory module in the mirror goes out? Nope!
-Cars so safe you can't see out of the damned things? Yeah, no thanks.
-Cars which really are single purchaser devices because so many of the safety devices (from air bags to the 100 modules) aren't replaceable ten years after the car was originally purchased? Really? Well, that's what we got, I'm afraid.
And don't get me started on everything which gives us all the free time everyone seems to forget they have! We have more leisure time than probably any other time in history. Hell, there was a time when even lighting our homes required daily work, and yet today we complain of a lack of "free time."
People used to be able to read and comprehend what they read. Now, if it isn't spelled out in text-speak and emojis, the average 25 year old can't understand it.
And how about all the cheap **** modern technology has enabled us to stuff our homes with? And why does everything have a freaking clock or an LED that glows brighter than the sun, or both? I think a blind man could walk around the average house lit by LEDs on all the chargers and other devices.
And thanks to TV and social media, most people waste thousands trying to keep up with the fashions. Whatever happened to good, well made clothing you could wear for years before you had to replace it?
Don't get me wrong, there is some good stuff that technology has improved, but most people aren't interested in that. They wan't cheap ****, usually made in China, which will last a year or two. And, if Walmart and Dollar General stores are any indication, they want a lot of it!
When did we become convinced an overabundance of cheap items was needed? So much so that nearly every self storage place is rented out!
Growing up, no one ever mentioned the majority of people who contracted the poliomyelitis virus recovered completely or never exhibited any symptoms. According to the World Health Organizatkln:
- Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age.
- One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralyzed, 5–10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
That small percentage of the cases that resulted in paralysis scared the **** out of us as kids. Something my grandmother fed me as a five year old caused a really bad case of cramps and my first thought was that it was polio and I was headed to an iron lung. Turned out to be gas.
A single case of Poliomyelitis is considered an epidemic because of the paucity of those who show symptoms compared to the number who actually contracted the virus. What made Polio so frightening was just how contagious the virus was. A Poliomyelitis rate of .5% to 1% of those infected seems insignificant until you realize the percentage of the population which would catch and pass on the virus.
Today in the US we have an underage population of around 74,000,000. Polio's transmission rate was 90% to 100%. But let's make it 50%, just for fun.
Without a vaccine, that would mean roughly 37,000,000 kids under the age of 18 would end up with Polio. With a .5% rate of Poliomyelitis, that would mean 185,000 kids. 370,000 with 1% of them getting Poliomyelitis.
www.cdc.gov
