EATING IN THE FIFTIES

EATING IN THE FIFTIES

A long time good friend of mine, Emily, sent me this yesterday. It's so true. I've added a few to the list. If you grew up in the Fifties you probably could add more to the list. If you're young enough to never have experienced the Fifties, I feel bad for you because even though food choices were limited, life was great.  Enjoy!

 

Pasta had not been invented.  It was macaroni or spaghetti.

 

Curry was a surname.

 

Taco?  Never saw one till I was 15.

 

Pizza?  Sounds like a leaning tower somewhere.

 

Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

Most fast food came from a Diner or Drive-in or Deli

 All chips were plain.

Nobody looked at the back of packages to see how much salt, fat, saturated fat, sugar, carbs or calories were in the things we ate. 

Most Supermarkets had only two or three isles and none of them sold booze 

 

Oil was for lubricating; fat was for cooking.

 

Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.

 

Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

 

Chickens didn't have fingers in those days.

 

None of us had ever heard of yogurt.

 

Healthy food consisted of anything edible!

 

Cooking outside was called camping.

 

Seaweed was not a recognized food.

 

“Kebab” was not even a word; never mind a food.

 

Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.

 

Prunes were medicinal and stewed. 

 

Surprisingly, Muesli was readily available.  It was called cattle feed.

 

Pineapples came in chunks or were round with a hole in the middle, in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.

 

Water came out of the tap.  If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than gasoline for it, they would have become a laughing stock.

 

There were three things that we never ever had on/at our table in the fifties:  elbows, hats and cell phones!

 

**  

And, there were two choices for each meal:  "Take it" or "Leave it"

 

 May you always walk in Sunshine

TMM (Too Much Money)

TMM (Too Much Money)

We all like bargains, but, I say: "thirty or fifty percent off of Too Much Money is still TMM." How could a tee shirt cost $250? That's right, if you shop in a luxury department store you will find designer tee shirts for $250. Sooo, let's say you wait for a big fifty percent off sale, that tee shirt is still $125 - TMM.

Now, I'm not a maven about what clothes cost, but, I'm smart enough to know that same tee shirt costs less than $5 to make.  Hell, I can find high quality tee shirts on-line for worst case $25. That means I can buy five tee shirts of the same quality or better for $125 - what's up with that?

If you think the TMM tee shirt is made of special quality yarn in America - think again. That tee shirt is made in China, Singapore, Korea, etc. The quality cotton isn't any better than the $25 tee shirt. BTW, the cost (less than $5) includes shipping the tee shirt from those foreign nations to America.

OH, I know, my on-line tee shirt doesn't have a tag on the back of the neck that says it a Dior. What the Dior tee shirt should have on the back is TMM. 

My Dad always said: "don't sweat the little money." What he meant was, don't buy cheap or eat cheap. Save up your money and buy or eat something of quality. However, my Dad never envisioned getting ripped off because of a designer name. 

I lease a Honda Touring CRV (SUV). It costs me $300 a month. It has every safety feature available and every other high end feature like duel screen guidance system, adjustable leather seats, moon roof, Bluetooth, automatic rear door, high end sound system, etc., etc. The same size SUV from Mercedes, BMW or Lexus (with all the same safety and other high end features) costs $10,000 to $15,000 more and leases for $100 a month more - TMM

Maybe, just maybe, those cars handle better than my Honda, but even so, none of us are using the car to race around a race track. Those cars probably only cost a little more to make than my Honda. Therefore, you are paying for the prestige - again TMM.

OH, you probably say to yourself: "if I can afford it why not buy it?" My answer is simple, if you buy TMM goods YOU ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF!!! How do you feel if someone ripped you off - LIKE SHIT! How pissed off would you get if you purchases something and then later found out everyone else paid less for the same thing - REALLY PISSED OFF!

Sooo, like my Father said: "never sweat the little money, but, never knowingly get ripped off." Remember;

Too Much Money is and will always be TMM.

You're My Inspiration

You Inspire Me

I've always been good at a lot of things, however I believe I'm only great at one thing - mentoring/managing people. I'm in awe of the people that are beyond great at what they did or now do. Those people inspired me in the past and inspire me today. 

I'm going to break them down into two categories, science/mathematics and social changes. BTW, I know I'll be leaving out many, many special people so let me know who I missed that inspired you.

Science/Mathematics

* Around 350 BC, the great Aristotle declared that the Earth was a sphere (based on observations he made about which constellations you could see in the sky as you traveled further and further away from the equator).

The world, as we know it today, would not have been discovered if Aristotle didn't convince kings that it was OK to travel by ship to other parts of the earth and not fall off at the end of what they only could see. 

* Sir Isaac Newton -- The Discoverer of Gravity! Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and mathematician and physicist who lived from 1642-1727. The legend is that Newton discovered Gravity when he saw a falling apple while thinking about the forces of nature.

Millions of inventions were and are being created by knowing the impact of gravitational force. A simple example is the airplane. We would not have airplanes or rocket ships if we didn't know the laws of gravity

* Albert Einstein had many discoveries as a scientist, but is most known for his Theory of Relativity. This theory changed much in the way scientists look at the world and set the foundation for many modern inventions.

Albert Einstein's greatest contribution to the world was his theory of relativity in which he described new ways of looking at time, space, matter, energy and gravity. His works also provided the basis for advances such as the control of atomic energy, space exploration and applications of light.

Just think of what we would be missing if laser light was never discovered. There would be no laser printers, high speed laser communications, laser surgeries, laser facials (wow, what would women do without laser facials), etc, etc.


Social Changes

* Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr., January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.

King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".

Growing up in the social unrest and the Vietnam War times, Doctor King was the person who most inspired me to care about human rights.

* Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs was an American entrepreneur, businessman, inventor, and industrial designer. Wikipedia

Born: February 24, 1955, San Francisco, CA

Died: October 5, 2011, Palo Alto, CA

Awards: National Medal of Technology and Innovation,More

Education: Reed College (1972–1974), More

Siblings: Mona Simpson, Patricia Ann Jobs

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me

Jobs inventions changed the way we communicate, use computers, listen to music and watch videos. These inventions include the iPhone, The iPad, The iPod, The Macintosh and The Retina Display.

* Chuck Hull (Charles W. Hull; born May 12, 1939) is the co-founder, executive vice president and chief technology officer of 3D Systems.^[1][2] He is the inventor of the solid imaging process known as stereolithography (3D Printing), the first commercial rapid prototyping technology, and the STL file format. He is named on more than 60 U.S. patents as well as other patents around the world in the fields of ion optics and rapid prototyping. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.^[3]

You might ask why have I put Chuck Hull in this category? The answer is that 3D printing is going to change how we create machines, art and even body parts.

These people have inspired me. Who inspires YOU!

Being Inspired Is One Major Path To Happiness

The Great Pretender

The Great Pretender

My favorite singing group is the Platters. I watch the Voice on TV and I've never seen a male singer with as much range and pitch as Tony Williams their lead singer. One of their songs, The Great Pretender, hit home with me when I lost my father. 

My father was a six one strong well-built man with a great sense of humor and a brilliant brain. He was the salt of the earth. He was a hard worker, dependable, trustworthy (he never cheated on anything or anybody) with a great moral compass. 

To keep the family afloat he worked most of the day and night. We didn't have much father and son time growing up, but he trusted me enough to let me help him in his tiny luncheonette. 

I started working with him when I was ten and stayed working with him until I was nineteen. I loved working with him because I felt trusted and respected. He never yelled at me for doing something wrong (that was my mother's job and she wasn't very good at it because she loved me too much). I believe I'm the person I am today because of him.

When he became old his bad back and his bad legs (from working) got the best of him. He had to retire because he just couldn't do it anymore. I'm sure he was in pain most of his life, but he never complained. Besides his smart brain and sense of humor, I also got his bad spine. To this day I believe the trade-off was well worth it.

The in his late seventies and eighties he got kidney disease. It started when he couldn't control his bowels and eventually led to my mother and I putting him in a nursing home so he could get care and dialysis. 

His plight led him to become an angry person. He lost his sense of humor and because he only gave instead of getting his whole life, he felt cheated out of a happy life. This big strong man who took care of the family was no longer able to take care of himself. 

I would fly into Philadelphia to see him in the nursing home a few times a year. Seeing the man I loved and looked up to become someone I never knew made me so sad I would feel great depression in my heart. 

I was able to cry to my wife and a few friends, However, I was a man now and had to show great strength to my mother. That's when I became The Great Pretender.

Yesterday I listened to the words Tony Williams sang and it reminded me of how I felt back then:

"Oh-oh, yes I'm the great pretender

Pretending that I'm doing well

My need is such I pretend too much

I'm lonely but no one can tell

Oh-oh, yes I'm the great pretender

Adrift in a world of my own

I've played the game but to my real shame

You've left me to grieve all alone

Too real is this feeling of make-believe

Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal

Yes I'm the great pretender

Just laughin' and gay like a clown

I seem to be what I'm not, you see

I'm wearing my heart like a crown

Pretending that you're still around

Too real is this feeling of make-believe

Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal"

This day will come, at some point, to all of us. It just happened to me weeks ago when I lost my beloved dog Zita. What I learned from the event years ago was to NOT become The Great Pretender. To let it out. To let everybody know you're grieving. To give yourself time to grieve and when it's over (as it must be) go back to the life loving, positive energy person I have become.