Category: Old Fartism

Lovely Stuff

Funny Stuff, Old Fartism

I know we’re all supposed to act our age, but this is just priceless:

A Massachusetts woman was arrested and charged after the Townsend Police Department said she crashed into a building and then left while driving under the influence of drugs.

Deborah Gyles, 61, was charged with operating under the influence of drugs, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and unregistered motor vehicle.

Sixty-one?  And massively stoned?

It’s a kind of reverse precociousness.  Wonderful.

I was having a bad day until I read the article (courtesy of Reader Mike L., who should know better than to send me stuff like that).

I just want to know what drugs they were.

Well That Explains It

Old Fartism

Had a little email exchange with Reader Brad_in_IL, after he pointed  me to this article and asked me if I remembered any or all of the items and products (follow link to see what he was talking about).

I replied that I remembered all of them, and had in fact used all of them, to which he responded:  “Okay .. you’ll have to explain how/why you used that hair dryer !! “

And my response:

When I was a pro musician, I used to have highlights put in my hair. Monthly trip to Armando’s, one hour in the dryer.  It was the 70s, FFS.

We did a lot of stupid shit like that back then.

Again?

Old Fartism, Travels

And the hits just keep on coming:

Southwest Airlines planes were grounded nationwide Tuesday for what the carrier called an intermittent technology issue.

But think of all the money they saved by not upgrading their systems for well over a decade…

I can’t really cast nasturtiums, though.  My laptop is five years old, I still use Windoze 10 and I haven’t downloaded upgrades to my 8-year-old printer, ever.  My car has nearly 130,000 miles on it, my 1911 has fired off close to 30,000 rounds and I still watch DVDs (never got into that blu-ray nonsense).  I even read Dead Tree books, not their electronic versions on Kindle, and I still love butter-fried eggs even though they’ll probably kill me.  The catalog of things in my life that have never been upgraded is voluminous.

But I’m just one guy, and not a billion-dollar corporation responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Makes Sense

Old Fartism

Why does this resonate with me, even though I’m retired?

‘Self-employment provides a way for older workers to use their skills and experience in a flexible and autonomous way whilst also generating income and maintaining their sense of purpose.

‘Technological advancements means setting up a business in your 50s or 60s has never been easier and armed with rich life experience and a valuable business network behind them, the appeal of building something of their own or pursuing a passion project can be a powerful draw.

‘There is a more sinister side to the rise in self-employment amongst this age group too. 

‘Shut out of the mainstream workforce due to a lack of flexible working opportunities and rampant age discrimination in the workplace means many older workers have no choice but to set up on their own.

‘Stuck between a rock and a hard place with a rising cost of living and the state pension age soon to be extended to 67, self-employment can feel like the only option for many who have been denied access to traditional employment.’

I’ll be happy to be proved wrong, but the way older workers have been treated by corporations since the 1980s…

 

Evolution

Drive Time, Gratuitous Chick Pics, Gratuitous Gun Pics, Old Fartism

In my innocence, I always imagined that evolution was a Good Thing, in that v.2.0 would always be an improved version of v.1.9.9, and so on.  (Of course, that belief has been massively degraded by having to deal with software companies, but that’s for another time.)

I understand, therefore, that evolution is not necessarily an improvement, but by and large it has proven to be so — a 2021 Corvette is a much better car than its 1961 ancestor, at least mechanically speaking.  As for its shape?  I’ll let you decide:

Regardless of the shape change (ugh), I think we can agree that the 2021 model performs much better than the 1961 model, mechanically speaking, because let’s be honest, engine technology, materials and things like suspension- and brake technology are better now than they were sixty years ago.  And even the modern shape is no doubt far more efficient in terms of air management than the older one, so at least there’s that.

Now let’s talk about guns.  Here we have a situation where the technology has hardly changed at all, materials have improved somewhat, but (say) a .22 pistol’s operation and efficiency have stayed pretty much the same.

So sixty-odd years ago we had .22 pistols that looked like the High Standard and Beretta:

 

…which, I think we can all agree, did an excellent job of putting the boolet into its intended destination.  Modern pistols, of course, do just as good a job of that — pistols like the FN and SIG:

 

…but for all their improved technology and materials, they somehow end up looking like a dog’s ass.

To return to the cars for a moment, it’s as though the Corvette:

…somehow ended up looking like this:

I know, I can hear y’all now:  “The old fart’s lost it again, jabbering about the Good Ole Days.”

Yeah, maybe.

But I’d still rather own a Beretta 101 than any of the current crop of .22 hand-bricks.

And to wrap this whole train of thought up, I want somebody to explain how ideals of female beauty like this:

…have somehow evolved into this:

Same form, same basic functions between the two models… but ugh.  No thank you.