# Say something that is true to a person in 1985 that will make you sound like a crazy person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283 "2022-07-20T20:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/241 "2022-08-01T23:51:29Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > About 10 or so years back, prices went way up for a while - I paid 4.29 or more per gallon on a Girl Scout trip, which would have been at least 11-12 years ago. Again, prices dropped considerably after that. I don’t recall what the trigger was for either change. Rapid price increases for gas are nearly always in reaction to the price of petroleum spiking; station operators typically price their gasoline based on what it’d cost them to refill their supply tanks. And, an increase in the wholesale price is usually caused by an unexpected negative event, like a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico forcing oil platforms to shut down, or a major refinery going temporarily offline. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/242 "2022-08-01T23:55:39Z")
I suspect it was indeed something like one of these - as noted, I don’t recall what may have been going on back then. 12 years? I have trouble with 12 MINUTES :D. The early 1980s, now, that was a result of the gasoline shortages of the late 1970s. I distinctly remember waiting in line to tank up the car; Mom would let me use the car to go to work, but I had to be the one to wait in line for fuel. May 2021 gave me a bit of deja vu, seeing cars waiting in line at the comparatively few stations that had fuel (due to that pipeline shutdown). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/243 "2022-08-02T00:35:43Z")
True - but that’s specifically because your income did not increase. My grandfather retired and started collecting his pension around 1972 -he lived until 2000, His pension payment didn’t quadruple although minimum wage pretty much did ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/244 "2022-08-02T01:33:43Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > About 10 or so years back, prices went way up for a while - I paid 4.29 or more per gallon on a Girl Scout trip, which would have been at least 11-12 years ago. Again, prices dropped considerably after that. I don’t recall what the trigger was for either change. That was 2008, starting in the early part of the year. I don’t remember what the cause was. I do remember that I stopped using my car for anything other than going to work in May of that year. I began running all my errands by bicycle. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/245 "2022-08-02T01:45:58Z")
An up and coming major league baseball player turned down a $440 million contract because it wasn’t enough money. \*the top paycheck in 1985 (Mike Schmidt’s) was a little over $2 million. The minimum salary went up that year from 40K to a whopping 60K. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/246 "2022-08-02T02:12:37Z")
I’ll reboot the doorbell. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/247 "2022-08-02T02:32:29Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I’ll reboot the doorbell After the Ring caught the Amazon porch pirate in action. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/248 "2022-08-02T06:48:26Z")
That’s not crazy so much as incomprehensible. “Wait. A Tolkien, Greek, Peter Pan crossover show?” ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/249 "2022-08-02T08:37:56Z")
How about… your fridge will be able to order food to restock itself. Actially that does sound like the sort of stereotypical fururistic thing people might imagine would happen 30 odd years after 1985. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/250 "2022-08-02T18:49:32Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > I am pretty sure that merely referring to the President as “POTUS” in 1985 would have produced a sidelong glance or two. The book, ‘The Hunt for Red October’ was released in 1984 and Clancy was big on using acronyms like POTUS so I’m almost certain it’s in that book. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/251 "2022-08-02T19:00:15Z")
This photo of major figures in Congress makes perfect sense: > **[Kente cloth is beloved in Ghana. Why did Democrats wear it?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/democrats-kente-cloth-ghana/2020/06/08/dc33bcc4-a9b5-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html)** > > The sartorial statement went viral, sparking strong reactions on social media. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/252 "2022-08-08T16:30:06Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > I don’t think whole-body x-ray machines have ever been used at airports. You’re right. I looked it up and the technology used at the airports are millimeter wave scanners, not x-rays. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/253 "2022-08-08T18:28:59Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > You’re right. I looked it up and the technology used at the airports are millimeter wave scanners, not x-rays. It’s all millimeter wave now, but prior to 2013, there were backscatter X-ray scanners in use at many airports: > **[Backscatter X-ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_X-ray)** > > Backscatter X-ray is an advanced X-ray imaging technology. Traditional X-ray machines detect hard and soft materials by the variation in x-ray intensity transmitted through the target. In contrast, backscatter X-ray detects the radiation that reflects from the target. It has potential applications where less-destructive examination is required, and can operate even if only one side of the target is available for examination. > The technology is one of two types of whole-body imaging technologies t... ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/254 "2022-08-15T18:31:53Z")
A carton of 200 cigarettes that you can’t legally smoke in public costs around $90. But you can buy legal pot if you are not in a red state. Also, states come in two colors, red and blue. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/255 "2022-08-15T22:08:36Z")
The population explosion didn’t happen. In fact, many countries. including China. are now worried about a demographic crunch. World population is expected to plateau, then start to retreat. The Japanese never did take over. In fact, they are heavily in debt, their population is shrinking rapidly, and they sold all that real estate back to us for pennies on the dollar. Their Ministry of Industry and Technology everyone thought would scientifically out-plan global markets turned out to be a giant mistake. We never got flying cars, and 40 years after everyone started worrying about robots taking all our jobs, unemployment is at record lows and factories can’t find enough workers. Despite that, many people are still worried about robots taking all our jobs. Despite all our advances in communications, one of our most popular social networks only allows you to type 280 characters, and people have learned to communicate through short movie clips of people expressing some kind of appropriate emotion. After spending several trillion more on ‘improving’ education, public education is worse than it’s ever been. We graduate some people who are functionally illiterate. Europe voluntarily began shutting down its energy production, leading to heavy rationing and a war in Ukraine. Now they’re trying to shut down their food suppliers. Colleges are building segregated dormitories again and holding segregated graduation ceremonies. In 2022, this is seen as progress. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/256 "2022-08-15T22:11:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > After spending several trillion more on ‘improving’ education, public education is worse than it’s ever been. We graduate some people who are functionally illiterate. Are you speaking for Canada or the US? In the U.S., I haven’t seen public education decline since the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/257 "2022-08-15T22:26:30Z")
It would be meaningless without more data, anyway. The US high school dropout rate has declined from about 14% in 1985 to 6% (in 2017 at least): > **[High School Dropout Rates - Child Trends](https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/high-school-dropout-rates)** It’s possible that some of that reduction is just from allowing the worst students to graduate rather than drop out. That doesn’t imply that public education has worsened, just that we’re counting things differently. And, very likely, education has actually improved, but part of the consequence of retaining more students is that you still won’t be able to educate all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/258 "2022-08-15T22:30:09Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Europe voluntarily began shutting down its energy production, leading to heavy rationing and a war in Ukraine. A land war with Russia would be surprising someone in 1985? What would be a shock is that Europe would couple their energy supply to Russia in the first place. That this would prove to be a strategic mistake would be highly _un_surprising to them, I think. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/259 "2022-08-15T23:04:22Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > After spending several trillion more on ‘improving’ education, public education is worse than it’s ever been. We graduate some people who are functionally illiterate. Um, I don’t think so. Worse than it’s ever been??? Do you know how low the literacy rate was in the early 1900s? “Some people”, is this greater or smaller than the number from pre-1990? Spending for education has gone _down_ in the US when adjusted for inflation. Just look at the chart in this [report](https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/average-teacher-salary-lower-today-ten-years-ago-nea-report-finds#:~:text=Last%20year%2C%20in%202020%2D21,they%20were%20in%202008%2D09.) for teachers’ salaries. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2022, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/260 "2022-08-15T23:25:18Z")
Agree with most of this. The world population went up for a while (exploded?) and won’t plateau quite yet (q.v. below). China’s concerns are due to its own policies. Education has suffered but will likely bounce back some, hardly the worst ever. Some graduates have always been barely functional. > **[World Population Growth Rate 1950-2023](https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/WLD/world/population-growth-rate)** > > Chart and table of World population from 1950 to 2023. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283.md?page=14)