# What things were quantifiably better in the past? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846 "2012-04-04T19:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/62 "2012-04-06T16:58:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > They did away with double headers??? I know I’ve been out of touch living far away from the Yankees but I didn’t realize this. \ Holy cow! \ Doubleheaders were created in part to make up for the limitations of travel. Swift, easily accessible jet travel makes them unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/63 "2012-04-06T17:19:33Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I found a 1970’s blender in my Mom’s attic. My whole adult life I’ve been through a handful of cheap’o blenders from Walmart. > > The old 70’s model I currently have in my kitchen right now could kick the snot out of any one of them out there today. > > And get this: The pitcher is made out of this strange material, I believe it’s called… glass! > > I know, I know, it sounds crazy. Well, all this proves is that buying cheap blenders is not a great idea. I think it’s pretty indisputable that you can still buy [good blenders](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OmpnfL5PCw) today. In fact, you can probably blend your 1970’s blender in a Blend Tec blender. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/64 "2012-04-06T17:35:05Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Obviously, as you go further back, environmental degradation is reduced. Depends on how far back. If you go back to pre-industrialization, yes. But the air and water in most industrialized countries is generally better now than it was in, say, the 1950s or '60s. [Rivers caught fire.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River)[Thousands died from smog in metropolitan London in one week!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog) [Something similar happened in the U.S. (scaled down for the town size) a few years earlier.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Donora_smog) > [@](#): > > I think glass bottles for soda are better, but I’m not sure if they’re scientifically better. I have never understood the meme that glass = quality, plastic = crap. Yes, I’m including **Shakes** and his/her glass blender. 😉 To me, the fact that something isn’t going to shatter into foot-cutting pieces if I drop it is a feature, not a bug. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/65 "2012-04-06T17:41:50Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > It’s just about impossible to find a modern basic sewing machine that’s well made. If you go to WalMart or Target, you can find some flimsy plastic machines that sell for less than $200, but they’re gonna break as soon as you ask them to sew anything more substantial than gauze. Or you can drop a thousand or more bucks and get a quality machine with a gazillion bells and whistles on it, but it’s gonna be electronic. It won’t break so easily, but if it DOES break, you are almost certainly not going to be able to disassemble it, clean it, lube it, and put it back together by yourself. I laughed a number of times when I saw vintage Singer sewing machines in museums. Most people I know who has a sewing machine has one of those vintage Singers. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/66 "2012-04-06T17:46:16Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > I think this thread is fantastic. But not as good as some older ones I read a while back. > [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Those thick cardboard egg cartons they used to use were much better at protecting eggs than the flimsy foam cartons they use now. You could drop the carton of eggs and maybe not break any of them. Not a guarantee, but more likely than today- any you don’t break now is purely luck. We can still get the cardboard ones here in Michigan, though we have the foam ones as well. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/67 "2012-04-06T17:53:58Z")
Manual pencil sharpeners. Back in my day the ones at school were great. Weighed more than Oprah. Mounted on a wall better than a safe at Fort Knox. Cost more than Donald Trumps hairpiece. But damn those things could perfectly sharpen a hardened tungsten rod. Then the Space Race came along and all of a sudden we needed pens that worked in zero gee and things went to shit. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/68 "2012-04-06T18:24:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > They did away with double headers??? I know I’ve been out of touch living far away from the Yankees but I didn’t realize this. \ Holy cow! \ I’m afraid I’ve got some more bad news for you: They’ve gotten rid of Phil Rizzuto, too. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/69 "2012-04-06T18:52:17Z")
Kitchen utensils, too - my mom had a stainless steel french fry cutter that will probably outlast me - the only ones I can find now are plastic ones, and I have a feeling they’ll explode if I try to push a potato through them. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/70 "2012-04-06T20:31:40Z")
Name-brand Kleenex have recently gotten a lot thinner than before. Now it often takes 2 to wipe the same amount of snot that 1 could handle before. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/71 "2012-04-06T20:40:44Z")
spare tires, at least as far as you are restricted in driving while using. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/72 "2012-04-06T20:48:58Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > One of my high school teachers said the durability of women’s stockings was much better during World War II. She said that she and her girlfriends remarked at the time, that once the war was over, the quality would go down and it did. With all the silk and nylon diverted to the war effort, what the hell did they even make stockings out of, let alone make them better? I’ve read that stockings became so scarce during the war that women would paint vertical lines up the back of their legs, to simulate the stocking seam that wasn’t there. > [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Those thick cardboard egg cartons they used to use were much better at protecting eggs than the flimsy foam cartons they use now. You could drop the carton of eggs and maybe not break any of them. Not a guarantee, but more likely than today- any you don’t break now is purely luck. Where do you live? Here in the mid-Atlantic region, Giant groceries still package their store-brand eggs in old-fashioned papier-mâché. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/73 "2012-04-06T21:33:23Z")
[Mana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana) – especially the Niven explanation ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/74 "2012-04-07T11:46:23Z")
College cost a lot less. Remember when a kid could work his/her way through without loans, paying tuition from a minimum-wage job? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/75 "2012-04-07T14:30:54Z")
We built a treehouse back in the woods with lumber we found and some we grabbed from the cast-off pile of a nearby construction site. Do kids still do that? Or does dad buy a “treehouse kit” from Home Depot and build it for them. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/76 "2012-04-07T14:50:35Z")
Stag antler used to be an easily available and somewhat affordable option for knife handles and pistol grips. Now it is difficult to find, expensive, and not as attractive as the older examples. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/77 "2012-04-07T21:01:38Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > With all the silk and nylon diverted to the war effort, what the hell did they even make stockings out of, let alone make them better? I’ve read that stockings became so scarce during the war that women would paint vertical lines up the back of their legs, to simulate the stocking seam that wasn’t there. > > Where do you live? Here in the mid-Atlantic region, Giant groceries still package their store-brand eggs in old-fashioned papier-mâché. Central Illinois. In a small town. We get eggs exclusively in the foam cartons. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/78 "2012-04-07T22:21:42Z")
Didn’t tuition actually used to be _free_ for in-state residents at all the UC schools? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/79 "2012-04-07T23:59:25Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Those thick cardboard egg cartons they used to use were much better at protecting eggs than the flimsy foam cartons they use now. You could drop the carton of eggs and maybe not break any of them. Not a guarantee, but more likely than today- any you don’t break now is purely luck. We can’t get the styrofoam ones here any more, which is a shame because you could make the coolest gliders out of them. So that’s one thing about the olden days wuz better. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/80 "2012-04-08T01:17:19Z")
I have an FX-451 Casio scientific calculator I purchased in 1984. It blows away all of the scientific calculators available today in terms of ease of use. ---
**Author:** ![elbravoiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@elbravoiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbravoiv)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846/81 "2012-04-08T01:34:15Z")
worse things about today: talking to robots on the phone and not being able to speak to someone, when you do, their in india, are total idiots (NOT saying anything about indians, just people in call centers … thought i’d specify), and no supervisors are ever around… good phone help costs money energy saver light-bulbs - the reason they save energy is because they’re not as bright… a good old fashioned dimmer can do the same life being simple, everything moves too fast sometimes YES whoever said campgrounds, what the planets is becoming is a disgrace … we have definitely brought on this crazy weather racism has come back i’ve noticed, it seemed to have gone away, but now people are way worse - it’s nuts, the “n” word is said like crazy when i’m on online games and stuff extremism in general has gotten really bad another technology one - big brother, the “boogeyman” effect of 9/11 has really restricted freedom significantly … yes 9/11 was tragic, but cigarettes and mcdonald’s kill the same amoutn of people alone in a week … personally, i miss books (i think i’m one of the few people who still buys them)… i hate reading on screens sports video games - wayy too realistic now, i’m actually a better putter in real life than in tiger woods, no bs oh man and glass bottle dude, you hit the nail on the head with that one … i have been saying that for soo long, glass soda tastes WAYY better, coke in the glass bottle is unbeatable… glass is easier to recycle, it’s not like sand isn’t lacking in any sense … the cost issue is all there is, but i think we just need to learn to drink water and enjoy a coke once in a while, not guzzle down a 2 liter every day online dating - never done it, never will… but i’m finding that that’s how like EVERYONE meets somone today… can’t stand it while we’re on the subject of girls - these texting games, i like calls and in person, a lot easier than trying to read a girl through texts… also why is it that getting back to a text right away makes u seem desperate? if my phones in my hand and i text pops in i feel like just replying, as it’s there, same deal as like answering an IM, yet i always find myself like “ohh no” how long should i wait? i detest facebook and deleted my account - i hated everyone knowing everyhting about me always, i don’t have 400 friends, i have like 20-30 and 400 acquaintances … i can keep track of 20-30 people on skype/e-mail/whatsapp -twitter is just gross another thing - all this computer stuff in cars… used to be a lot easier to fix things, now it’s like $400 for an oil change i’m of this generation and pretty up to date with things, but honestly, i find myself asking why i wasn’t born 15 years before … the 90s had the right balance i think [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-things-were-quantifiably-better-in-the-past/617846.md?page=5)