There are many things that were commonly done at one time that are no longer allowed. Which ones do you remember?
For starters, I remember when people use to burn their leaves in the fall, but that hasn’t been allowed for decades.
Smoking anytime and anywhere one wanted to…
Years ago drinking and driving wasn’t as serious as it is today. The police would often left you drive home with a warning, today it’s going to cost you your license and over $10,000. Which is probably a good thing.
Years ago over half the people I worked with smoked and a few friends, today I think 2 coworkers and a neighbor are the only smokers I know and she only smokes if she’s having cocktails.
In addition, there was a time when if a person was killed by a drunk driver it wasn’t considered to be murder because the drunk driver wasn’t responsible for his actions. However, now it is considered murder when a drunk driver kills someone.
In Massachusetts haven’t been able to burn leaves for a long time. Here in North Carolina, you are allowed to.
On a side , I never burn leaves anyways, Put them in a pile and eventually they will decompose and turn into compost.
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I saw North by Northwest in the theatre a while back. In the movie, the penalty for a DUI was a $2 fine. 1959.
All depends on where you live. Saw two different big leaf piles being burned this afternoon.
Yes, where I live, it would be dangerous, both because of the wildfire risk, but also the air quality in general.
We used to ride in the backs of pickups. No longer allowed, and for good reason.
It’s funny; I sometimes hear people talk about this like–we survived. Yeah, the ones who didn’t survive aren’t here to talk about it.
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I taught for four years, during the early seventies, at New York City Public School where the majority of my students lived in a low income housing project. During my last year of teaching, I decided to have a contest where I would select two students (one female and one male) who made the most progress between that day and a specified date in the future. The reward would be that I would pick these two students up in front of the school on a Sunday and take them to the Museum of Natural History. When I asked the Principal if I was allowed to do that she said it was okay as long as I got written permission from their parents and that I picked them up in front of the school and returned them to to the front of the school at the end of the trip. Today a teacher would never be allowed to do something like that which is sad because it was a great way to motivate a class filled with disadvantaged minority students.
Lawn Darts
Not illegal but seldom done.
I hitchhiked most places, to school, to after school job, summer job, wherever.
My favorite story of hitchhiking…
A buddy and I were looking for a summer job in early June (after school let out)… We decided to hitchhike to an amusement park. For our second ride we got a guy in a nice car who started talking and asking us questions.
Before we got out he identified himself as the District Manager for Sun Oil (Sunoco). He asked us to stop by his office the next day. He had an opening at a station about 2 miles from where we lived. Worked there 2 Summers.
We had no idea we were being interviewed for a job as we rode with him.
BTW, the Amusement park was too far… would never have worked… just got us to the right place at the right time.
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Riding a bike without helmets
Using mercury thermometers
Using gunpowder for rocket fuel
Bringing toy guns to school without consequence
Wearing only a lap belt
Needing a car seat to age four not eight
Having middle schoolers play tackle football for pickup games
You know the 1980s / early 1990s
Hitching is actually illegal in some states. I remember in the 70s, lots of scare tactics about how dangerous it was, mostly bullshit.
Date rape was essentially allowed…ive heard some doozy of a stories from my dad and he didn’t even realize what he did is illegal.
I once had Jarts and they were great fun. I never anyone who got one stuck in their head.
I had great fun with my Gilbert chemistry set, and even learned a few things while using it. I once made some crude gunpowder from it, which filled the basement with smoke when I lit it. I learned the near permanent dyeing potential of potassium permanganate. I bet we had some of the cleanest floor and sewer drains in town.
Still pretty common around here, especially near the Rez. I think it is illegal on the interstates, although it still happens.
As a kid as young as maybe 8, I would ride to the store with my aunt and she would give me money to go in and buy her smokes. The cashier would look out the window and the cashier and aunt would give each out a head nod and the cashier would sell me the smokes. Oh my how that has changed. This was technically never legal but was common.
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Glad you went into the legal field!!