# I just realised I am old **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575 "2024-11-02T12:50:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/421 "2026-08-17T06:31:22Z")
I was in a conversation today and the subject of _Grease_ came up and somebody mentioned Kenickie. I asked if that was the character Jeff Conaway played in the movie. Nobody knew who Jeff Conaway was. I said he was the guy in the tv series _Taxi_. Nobody had ever watched an episode of _Taxi_. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/422 "2026-08-17T07:40:56Z")
I’m about your age. I recognize the movie title _Grease_. And nothing else in your post. Lotta people know next to nothing about popular entertainments. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/423 "2026-08-17T12:36:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m about your age. I recognize the movie title _Grease_. And nothing else in your post. Similar. I think i heard of a movie called _Taxi_ but TIL there was a TV show with that name. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/424 "2026-08-17T13:25:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Nobody knew who Jeff Conaway was. I didn’t remember who Jeff Conaway was until you said he was in Taxi. “Oh! The non-famous guy from Taxi”. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > TIL there was a TV show with that name. Taxi was where Danny Devito, Andy Kaufman, and Christopher Lloyd all got their big breaks. It gave the world Tony Danza, which of course led to the pinnacle of human art, _Who’s the Boss_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/425 "2026-08-17T14:08:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m about your age. I recognize the movie title _Grease_. And nothing else in your post. > > Lotta people know next to nothing about popular entertainments. That’s kind of surprising. _Taxi_ was a popular show in its time that ran for five years. I’m not saying you had to be a fan of the show but I think most people who were around back then were at least aware of it. To give more modern examples, I never watched an episode of _The Big Bang Theory_ or _How I Met Your Mother_ or _Parks and Recreation_. But I was aware that all of these series existed and would have recognized many of the actors from them. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/426 "2026-08-17T14:18:47Z")
I’m familiar with those two shows, but wouldn’t recognize the names of any of the actors. I’m not good with names in general, and “names of actors in shows i don’t watch” is extremely low on my priority list for “names i should attempt to learn”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/427 "2026-08-17T15:10:48Z")
That’s my point. I figured people might recognize the actor from a show he was in even if they didn’t know his name. When they didn’t know who Jeff Conaway was I told them he was the guy in _Taxi_. A more recent equivalent would be if somebody didn’t know who Nick Offerman was and I told them he was the guy in _Parks and Recreation_. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/428 "2026-08-17T15:28:54Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I’m gonna start a garden thread soon. We didn’t have one this year. I’ve been too busy picking tomatoes. My advice is to get some good compost for the soil. Speaking of horses, many barns have compost piles of their horse poop. When we started our garden our daughter was riding, and we got bags of compost from her barn which transformed our horrible clay soil into great soil. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/429 "2026-08-17T16:12:11Z")
My father got some horse compost from a friend, and it came with some insect pest he was never able to get rid of. Apparently, horse compost never gets hot enough to kill stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/430 "2026-08-17T16:37:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A more recent equivalent would be if somebody didn’t know who Nick Offerman was and I told them he was the guy in _Parks and Recreation_. To which I would go “Huh?”, because I never watched Parks and Recreation. The only actor I know from that show is Chris Pratt, and I only know him because when he showed up in things I do watch, people said “Isn’t he the guy from Parks and Recreation?”. If I don’t know who an actor is already, then telling me a show I don’t watch that he’s also in won’t help me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/431 "2026-08-17T16:46:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > To which I would go “Huh?”, because I never watched Parks and Recreation. The only actor I know from that show is Chris Pratt, and I only know him because when he showed up in things I do watch, people said “Isn’t he the guy from Parks and Recreation?”. > > If I don’t know who an actor is already, then telling me a show I don’t watch that he’s also in won’t help me at all. As I wrote, I’ve never actually watched an episode of _Parks and Recreation_. But I’m aware that it’s a show that exists and I know the cast. It’s part of the culture I live in even if I haven’t experienced it directly. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/432 "2026-08-17T17:08:04Z")
I think that it’s widely known that it’s a show that exists. But I think that you are unusual in knowing the casts of shows that you don’t yourself watch. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/433 "2026-08-17T17:10:59Z")
Or at least, it is really outside of my experience to know the cast of shows one doesn’t watch. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/434 "2026-08-17T18:37:42Z")
Me three. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/435 "2026-08-18T08:29:43Z")
That’s unusual, manure normally gets easily hot enough to kill insect pests (well over the 60C which is the typical recommendation) and there’s not normally any insects that will cause an issue to vegetables that can make it through a horse. If it actually was from the horse muck, not just coincidentally arriving at the same time, it would likely have been something that got in there after the hot stage of breaking down, which could happen with any compost. It’s not a common occurrence anyway. @Spice_Weasel Pull any weeds out, but unless they have a deep tap root or they have seeds, you can just leave them on the surface. Then chuck a layer of manure on up to about 6" deep, if you can get it and ideally cover with something- some people use plastic, but a layer of plain brown cardboard, like old packaging boxes is good, free, and can be composted at the end (if you have space for a compost heap). This helps the manure get incorporated into the soil and can help stop nutrients from being washed out, if you get heavy rain over winter. If you can’t get manure, grass clippings can also be OK, but don’t go over 2" deep, and they really want to be covered over. Do you know what you want to do with it? Like.. do you want to grow a meaningful amount of vegetables, or grow unusual stuff or heritage varieties you can’t easily find in the shops, or is this more a bit of fun and experimentation, with any crop a bonus? Is it something you’re hoping the kid will get involved in or mostly for you? Do you have indoor space (like a sunny windowsill) available to start stuff off, or do you want all the mess to stay outside? Especially if you have a small space, it’s useful to think about beforehand, so you can plan. (Can tell I’m getting old, when thinking about gardening is more exciting than planning a night out) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/436 "2026-08-18T08:58:12Z")
Oh, just to add, if you do use grass clippings, make sure it’s from grass that hasn’t been treated recently, because some broadleaf herbicides can persist and damage your crops. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/437 "2026-08-18T12:00:25Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > That’s unusual, manure normally gets easily hot enough to kill insect pests (well over the 60C which is the typical recommendation) and there’s not normally any insects that will cause an issue to vegetables that can make it through a horse. He looked into it, and was told that horse manure has less nitrogen than most manures and often doesn’t get hot enough to kill pathogens. But it wasn’t “compost”, it was basically fresh manure that he was given by a friend with horses. And the bugs may have just walked onto the manure pile, rather than passed through the intestines. I think it was squash borers that he was infested with, and he was never again able to grow giant pumpkins. Anyway, agricultural contamination is a common problem. It’s the reason you aren’t supposed to bring fruit into California. It’s the reason Australia asks if you’ve recently visited a farm, and makes you walk through a shallow tray of disinfectant when you arrive. It’s the reason a friend who raises sheep asked me if I’d recently worn my shoes to a farm, and if so, which farm (most nearby farms don’t keep sheep) before letting me visit her animals. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/439 "2026-08-18T12:34:51Z")
No part of the squash borer lifecycle takes place in or on manure, eggs are laid on plants, larvae live on plants, infestations are spread by flying adults. If an adult squash borer was literally sitting on top of the pile and somehow got scooped up without being squashed, or flew into the filled bag, that’s about the only route for transmission. I used to work for the UK government agency responsible for plant import checks, I’m well aware of the risks of pest and pathogen spread, but manure is considered lower risk precisely because it _does_ produce high heat while breaking down, to the point that large manure piles spontaneously catching fire is an actual phenomenon. It’s extremely common to use horse manure as a garden soil amendment and very rare for there to be any issues at all. The most common issue is actually herbicide introduction, typically when someone used aminopyralid-contaminated straw for horse bedding, even though it’s supposed to be banned. If your dad’s friend got garden pests after using horse manure, he was either extremely unlucky or mistaken as to the origin. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/440 "2026-08-18T13:11:37Z")
It was my dad, and I’ll go with “extremely unlucky”. The manure was crawling with bugs when it arrived. (Cow pats are typically crawling with bugs when i see them “in the wild”, too.) I suspect it was raked up off the ground shortly before being loaded into the truck, and hadn’t been sitting by itself in a manure pile. I buy bags of cow manure (and composted cow manure) from time to time, and it’s a great garden supplement. But free manure from random sources can introduce problems. Fwiw, i have what i call a “mulch pile” in my backyard where i throw all the fall leaves, and where my husband buries kitchen scraps. It eventually rots to what looks like good compost. But it never gets hot enough to kill pathogens, either. And when I’ve tried to mix it with soil and plant something in the mix, the something invariably rots. That’s okay. The pile exists to get rid of excess leaves and scraps, not to amend garden soil. (And it’s not 100%. I’ve had both a squash seed and a mango sprout in the pile, and do well for being in the shade, until winter. And I’m sure i could mix it into soil and wait a few months and use the enriched soil. Especially if i solarized the resulting soil, first.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575/441 "2026-08-18T17:39:30Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The manure was crawling with bugs when it arrived. (Cow pats are typically crawling with bugs when i see them “in the wild”, too.) I suspect it was raked up off the ground shortly before being loaded into the truck, and hadn’t been sitting by itself in a manure pile. When I got mine, I dug it myself from the middle of the pile. Never a problem. It might have helped that I knew all the horses were healthy, and we dug it into the soil and let it sit for a few months. Now I get compost from my bin and from the trash disposal people, who used to let you pick it up once a year but now deliver it. Works great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-realised-i-am-old/1009575.md?page=23)