Planck's Constant

• Glass Bottles of Coke were sold in coolers filled with ice water.
• Coke had real sugar.
• Playing with Marbles was fun.
• Spinning a top could keep you occupied for hours.
• Erector Sets.
• It was legal for kids to buy chemistry sets filled with stuff that could kill or maim.
• You could play with toy guns without raising an eyebrow.

• A home entertainment system was a handful of Jacks.
• Coonskin Caps.
• Women wore girdles, garters, and slips under dresses.
• If someone said Kotex or Trojan in the classroom, all the kids guffawed.
• If you said F*K in public, an adult would scold you.
• If you talked loudly during a movie an usher would throw you out.
• You actually walked to school alone and came home for lunch by yourself (yes even at age 6!).
• You adjusted the TV with metal rabbit ears and by standing in funny positions.
• There were 5 TV stations and most stopped broadcasting by midnight except for the Late Late Show.
• Bowling Alleys had human pinsetters who worked for 10 cents a game.
• Shoe Shines cost a dime.
• Saturday Afternoons in Movie Theaters cost 25 cents.
• Hot Dogs were a dime.
• Chewing on Turkish Taffy at the movies would sometimes pull out your silver fillings.
• If you missed an episode of the Honeymooners there was no way to see it again.
• I won 6 baby chicks at Easter Time at a drawing in the movie theater.
• People died from a mysterious illness they called 'C' which eventually I found out was cancer.
• There was only white bread, rye and pumpernickel.

• Toasters worked forever and if they did break you would get them fixed.
• Toasters only had one setting: ON or not.
• Toasters had serial numbers.
• There was no news on TV. Everyone read the newspaper.
• Parakeets cost 69 cents.
• You could buy turtles at the pet shop.
• No one bought dogs from a kennel, you just picked one off the street.
• There were unleashed, unlicensed, un-owned dogs roaming the streets.
• It was very easy to step in dog poop.
• There were 5 cereal choices at the grocery store.
• You hung your laundry on a clothes line to dry.
• Porn was black and white photos if you were lucky enough to find them. Only the adults had film.
• Kids shared the same spoon when eating from a big container of ice cream in school.
• We swam naked at the YMCA.
• You did not know one single person who smoked marijuana. And if you did, you would run away from him.
• You took a picture by holding the camera by your stomach. If anyone moved even slightly the photo was ruined.

• Cigarettes were 25 cents a pack.
• Our family doctor smoked while examining me.
• No one cared if you climbed trees.
• You played in the streets with cars going by.
• You could play games with a broom handle and a rubber ball. You did not need a $500 console.
• Most problems in school were with kids talking or chewing gum. Drugs or violence were not even on the radar.
• An eggman delivered our eggs.
• No one had credit cards.
• People went door to door to sell you things.
• Phone numbers began with letters such as FEderal 9-xxxx.
• If it said "Made in Japan" it was junk.
• Buses were a nickel and you could pay in pennies.
• People picked up pennies in the street.
• All the dimes and quarters in your pocket were 90% silver.
• You could go to the bank and ask for silver dollars.
• If you got to the airport 10 minutes before the flight took off you still had time to get on with no one checking you for anything.
• Dentists, doctors and assistants stayed in the room when they X-Rayed you.
• Anything that sliced was called "Magic", as in Magic Tomato Slicer".
• Everything else was called blah-blah-O-MATIC, the Juice-o-matic, the ice-o-matic, the veg-o-matic.
• People smoked in the movies, circus, ballgames, stores, offices, hospital rooms, police stations, and in schools.

• Toy cowboys and Indians were made of painted Lead.
• It cost 3 cents to mail a letter. Postcards were a penny.
• Gasoline was less than 19 cents a gallon.
• Some steering wheels had knobs to help you turn the wheel with one hand.
• Dodgeball was fun and no one died.
• People delivered blocks of ice to your house.

Now let me add a bit of perspective. I mentioned that gasoline cost less than 19 cents per gallon. In terms of modern purchasing power that comes out to more than $6.00 ($1.50 adjusted for inflation and $4.50 adjusted for buying power). So in a certain regard, gasoline is actually cheap, which is why 3 buck a gallon gas has not had any appreciable affect on inflation. See Gasoline Prices in Perspective Cato Institute.