I subscribe to Funny Times [1], a monthly humor publication filled with cartoons and humorous essays. I consider it great bang for the buck, at a cost of about two dollars per issue.
[2]
In the March 2008 edition of Funny Times, Phil Proctor compiled some stunning statistics in his column (he calls his column “Planet Proctor”). The context of his recent column is that the mother of two of his friends was born 99 years ago. What was the U.S. like when she was born? Here’s a sampling:
The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years. Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub. Only 8% had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11. There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads. . . . . Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. . . the population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30 . . . More than 95% of all births in the US took place at home. 90% of all US physicians had no college education. . . Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Crossword puzzles, canned beer and iced tea hadn’t been invented. . . the American flag had 45 stars. . . . There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. . . There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US. . . Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores.
Print this post [3]
[4]