5 Complaints About Modern Life Debunked

[Fridmarr]

I'll have to go home and read this cause I do believe our food is killing us to make more money off us when we are old and get sick from the steroids they put into our foods and we need crazy meds to keep us alive.

I don't think that some correlation between food additives and making money off of medicine you have to take to deal with them has much merit.

Although, I do question their logic a bit for their analysis on personal income. I don't know if relative wealth is more now than eras ago (though if I had to guess I'd think they are wrong just considering the change in numbers of dual income households), however the government's cost of living calculators aren't really a great way to measure inflation. Suggesting that it's a good indicator because the government uses them to determine tax rates in obviously not correct and of no value even if it was.

[Fivelives]

The cost of living index is determined by the cost of certain things we all buy - milk, gasoline and eggs (among other things). By that standard, it is a lot more expensive today than it was even 30 years ago, even after adjusting for inflation.

In 1980, minimum wage was $3.35/hr - in 2010 it was $7.25 (216% increase)

Item - 1980 price - 2010 price
Milk (gallon) - $1.30 - $2.79 (215% increase)
Gasoline (gallon) - $1.08 - $2.73 (253% increase)
Eggs (dozen) - $0.59 - $1.37 (232% increase)

There's a lot of other stuff in the cost of living index, but that's just what I could find quickly. The trend is, basically, that the minimum wage isn't rising as fast as the cost of staple items. Luxury items have never counted as a "cost of living", because you don't absolutely need them to survive. Can you survive without a fridge? Yeah. It sucks, but it's very possible. Can you survive without a car? Easily. Can you survive without buying a house? Yup. Can you survive without food? Not bloody likely, and definitely not for long.

[Skye1013]

Can you survive without buying a house? Yup. Can you survive without food? Not bloody likely, and definitely not for long.

While I agree, that you don't have to purchase a house... shelter does fall into the category of Basic Needs. Do you need to have a $1 mil home? No. Would an apt that costs $200 a month suffice? Yes. Would said apt be pretty and lush? Not likely, but it should be good enough to protect you from The Elements®.

[Fivelives]

You can survive in anything that gives you shelter from the elements. In some places, that means a sleeping bag - in others, you'll want a tent.

But yeah, my point there was that you don't have to buy a house.

[Skye1013]

You can survive in anything that gives you shelter from the elements. In some places, that means a sleeping bag - in others, you'll want a tent.

But yeah, my point there was that you don't have to buy a house.

Caves are all the rage in Afghanistan >.> <.<

[Passionario]

We are living in a golden age. We will miss it when it is followed by an even more AWESOME one.

Fixed.

[Lightbeard]

You can survive in anything that gives you shelter from the elements. In some places, that means a sleeping bag - in others, you'll want a tent.

But yeah, my point there was that you don't have to buy a house.

"If a man could fuck a woman in a cardboard box, he wouldn't buy a house"
-Chappelle

Sorry I had to make that reference

[katraya]

Just got back from my Public Health Preparedness class. We briefly discussed the Dose Response curve and that fact that basically anything, including water, can kill you if you get too much of it.

I took an entire course a year or two ago on Risk Sciences and my professor, who is a leader in the field, really stressed how little they really know about the risks associated with all the chemicals that we encounter on a daily basis whether naturally occurring or artificially introduced to our food or environment. The scientific modelling they can do is just limited by the fact that we obviously can't expose humans to potentially toxic levels of substances to determine their true effect.

A semester of that class and didn't want to eat or drink anything, breath, or come into contact with any fabrics...

[Njall]

We are living in a golden age. We will miss it when it is followed by an even more AWESOME one.

Fixed.

We can all hope. I'm not so sanguine about it anymore though.

[fuzzygeek]

There was a "How It's Made" marathon the other weekend on the science channel. I could watch that show for hours. And did. The sheer amount of amazing technology going on in the background is staggering.

To build on Njall: how much comes tumbling down should one dependency break down...

[Njall]

There was a "How It's Made" marathon the other weekend on the science channel. I could watch that show for hours. And did. The sheer amount of amazing technology going on in the background is staggering.

And it's made in Canada - Montreal to be exact.

To build on Njall: how much comes tumbling down should one dependency break down...

Yep. Then you have to build the tools to build the tools to build the tools that we stopped using some time ago to repair what we have. Technological "flame out" and who knows at what level it will restart at.

[Mcduffie]

You guys have no idea how stoked I am about the future post-apocalyptic world. I want to be the chief of a village.

[Njall]

You guys have no idea how stoked I am about the future post-apocalyptic world. I want to be the chief of a village.

That's great! I want to burn your village. So it all works out, right?

How did you find my village?

dr-tran.jpeg (1.92 KiB) Viewed 303 times

[Shyrtandros]

[Sarcasm] Definately sounds like a sexy get away from day to day boring, who needs fancy gifts, technology, home comforts, freedom, prophylactics, and modern medicine!! We all know that ALL we NEED is medievil ROMANCE[/sarcasm]

thank god you added the sarcams coder, i thought you were serious until i refreshed the page and the sarcasm showed up

The original post contained the [Sarcasm]

[Arnock]

Rick Green - the creator of "History Bites" and one of the "The Frantics" - has a wonderful rant about how the Good Old Days weren't. According to him, we are living in a golden age, especially if you're a woman. He unleashed it on a hapless idiot who said she wished she lived in the time of King Arthur because that was so romantic.

Utter. Demolition.

Note, the time of King Arthur, a fictional character, so you could very well attribute any sort of romantic ideals that you wish. =P

And, IIRC, the actual stories did, in fact, have quite a bit of romance