# Things we used to be allowed to do (in the last 60 years) that we aren't anymore. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285 "2005-10-28T05:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/41 "2005-10-28T17:13:21Z")
You could deny loans to any female who didn’t have a male co-signer. This led to such idiotic things as full grown working women bringing their senile fathers and grandfathers out of nursing homes into banks to co-sign a loan. I’ve never seen a study where having a penis makes you more apt to repay a loan. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/42 "2005-10-28T17:26:03Z")
…get $5 from an ATM with no fee. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/43 "2005-10-28T17:38:15Z")
Smoke in a hospital waiting room. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/44 "2005-10-28T17:53:15Z")
Open a bank account without I.D. Since 9/11, they want you to verify your entire day-by-day life. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/45 "2005-10-28T17:58:58Z")
> [@myskepticsight](#): > > Smoke in a hospital waiting room. I can recall my grandmother having an ashtray right beside her hospital bed. Seems back then, you could request a smoking or non-smoking room in a hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/46 "2005-10-28T17:59:28Z")
Play Jarts. I loved Jarts when I was a kid. Now they’re banned. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/47 "2005-10-28T18:05:34Z")
Tell your kids to go play outside and to come back when the streetlights come on. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/48 "2005-10-28T18:07:59Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > Tell your kids to go play outside and to come back when the streetlights come on. Let your kids play outside in the woods after dark. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/49 "2005-10-28T18:19:31Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve read in a long time. > > What next? A sunshine tax? The unbridled greed and idiocy of the government (any government) never ceases to amaze me. We have a rain tax. It’s there to support the separation of the sanitary and storm sewers. As it is, the sewer systems are still combined in many places in the city, and when it rains hard, sewage is discharged into our rivers (and thence to the Great Lakes, polluting the largest supply of fresh water in the world) or backs up into people’s basements. Sewer separation projects are necessary, and tremendously expensive for municipalities to implement. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/50 "2005-10-28T18:29:39Z")
Selective quotes: > [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > Fertilize your lawn. > > People could retire before their mid seventies. > > You could get immunized for free and were. > > Most Americans could access basic health care. (Now you should just shut up and die quickly.)(This one is a bit personal, so I must say it.) > > People could pay a one time small fee at age 65 and fish and hunt until they died. That also included access to the state parks. Around these parts, folks fertilize their lawns pretty often. I don’t know where you get the retirement info. I’m still eligible for social security at 62 according to the latest statement I received. My husband retired before he was 60. Immunization: Ummm, no. It has only been recently that kids’ immunizations were even covered by health insurance, in my observation. As recently as the 1970s and '80s, when my kids were getting them, I paid. And I am dam sure that when I was that age (back when dinosaurs ruled the earth), my parents paid cold cash for every doctor’s visit. These days, much health insurance pays for immunizations, and if you don’t have any, many cities and towns have free health clinics. Health Care: Ditto. Sure, health care was cheaper in the “good old days.” Of course, if you had obstructed coronary arteries, you just died. People are, on average, living longer than ever before. In my parents’ youth, there was no such thing as penicillin, either. So if, like my late mother, you got a strep throat and scarlet fever, which damaged your heart valves, there was no good prevention and no cure other than supportive care. I don’t know anyone who’s had whooping cough or diptheria, either. You can still get a Golden Age Passport for a low fee that provides you with admission to national parks and, IIRC, many state ones, too. Back to the OP: You used to be able to rake the autumn leaves onto the street in front of your house and set fire to them. The air used to be blue-gray with smoke on days like today. You also used to be able to contract polio, and get to lie around all day in one of those cool “iron lung” machines. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/51 "2005-10-28T18:34:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Used to be a young kid could have fun sitting in the back of a station wagon (the waaaay back, ever play tailgunner?) and not have to worry about annoying things like seat belts. I’ve never understood the nostalgia for that. Sure, you did that and had fun and YOU never died. But that’s self-selecting, in that the kids who died in accidents they easily could have survived had they been strapped in aren’t here to post about it. I’ve gotta put this one in the “we’re better off without it” category. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/52 "2005-10-28T18:47:59Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Attend Junior High and High School with a Barlow pocketknife in my pocket at all times. Yep. It wasn’t that long ago either, I was in grade school in the 70’s and kids with pocket knives were routine. The only time anyone cared was if a kid brought a non-folding knife. Also, look-alike cap guns were common sights in school. As long as you weren’t firing off caps inside the building, no one cared about playing cops n robbers on the playground. As late as high school in the mid 80’s, we were playing T.A.G. with dart guns on school grounds, with many faculty participating in the game as well. The only rule with teachers was that you couldn’t shoot them while still in the classroom. This led to many interesting stakeouts waiting for teachers to leave into the hallway. The reverse was true as well, getting a page to report to such and such teacher’s office. Then while knocking on the teacher’s door, _splat_, student gets a suction cup in the back of the head. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/53 "2005-10-28T19:43:32Z")
Local and specific: Take a tour of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. There used to be trolleys that left the museum every hour and through the NASA center, including a peek into one of the buildings where engineers were working on actual Space Station hardware. It’s been suspended indefinitely since 9/11. Even worse, it’s virtually impossible for foreign visititors (legitimate visitors, i.e. visiting researchers and engineers) to do any work at the NASA center without having to arrange for an escort. 10 years ago this wasn’t a problem - once they did the background check, I could drive in and out any time. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/54 "2005-10-28T22:10:54Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > I liked that a US citizen had to be charged with a crime to be arrested, and other people that tried to find you would be told you’re locked up. Today you can disapear, not be told why, be denied a lawyer or trial, and people inquiring about you not be informed you’re being held. Your just a missing person. Yeah, I miss this one pretty badly. But that’s not something I miss from 60 years ago–that’s one I miss from just a few years ago. I’m also missing the general lack of paranoia we had not too long ago, including the freedom to criticize the government without being accused of treason. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/55 "2005-10-28T22:26:56Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > I’m also missing the general lack of paranoia we had not too long ago, including the freedom to criticize the government without being accused of treason. Of course, that was also against the law back in 1800 under President Adams, via the Alien and Sedition Acts. We survived. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/56 "2005-10-28T22:41:08Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Of course, that was also against the law back in 1800 under President Adams, via the Alien and Sedition Acts. We survived. The fact that we survived doesn’t mean that the Alien and Sedition Acts were necessarily good for us. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/57 "2005-10-28T22:44:11Z")
Scribble, on that, you are correct. ---
**Author:** ![3.885AM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/58956e/32.png) [@3.885AM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3.885AM)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/58 "2005-10-28T23:20:28Z")
Sit out on the back porch with a rifle and take some target practice at the wood pile. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/59 "2005-10-29T04:54:04Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Well, at most airports in the US (at least in the US, but possibly other places too) now, you have to wait before the security gate. You can’t go to the separate gates at all. Basically, you have to wait near the entrance of the airport, right before that scanner/securty thing you go through to get to all the airport gates. That’s interesting. It seems a bit illogical though. If the security checks are sufficient for the passengers then surely they’re sufficient for everyone else too? Here anyone can go through the security gates and get into the terminal: passengers as well as friends farewelling those departing or greeting those arriving. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285/60 "2005-10-29T23:37:55Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > That’s interesting. It seems a bit illogical though. If the security checks are sufficient for the passengers then surely they’re sufficient for everyone else too? Here anyone can go through the security gates and get into the terminal: passengers as well as friends farewelling those departing or greeting those arriving. It is actually possible to go to the gate to meet someone. You have to go to the ticket counter, explain to the agent why you want to go to the gate and get a boarding pass. When my mom and I brought my daughter back from China, we flew to Atlanta, and then my daughter and I flew home to the Twin Cities. My family, who were coming to pick up my mom, got passes to come back and walk us from one gate to the other, so they could meet the new member of the family as well. My dad said it took a little while, but it wasn’t a big deal. It may depend on the ticket agent, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-used-to-be-allowed-to-do-in-the-last-60-years-that-we-arent-anymore/328285.md?page=4)