The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Friday, July 17, 2015

I'm surprised we survived as long as we have

I blame the the 24-hour news cycle for this (link via Instapundit)—kids stuck inside all day because parents are afraid of shadows. I remember as a kid spending hours outdoors with my friend Duke wandering around the forest surrounding his home up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The only thing we worried about was getting back in time to watch Batman and then getting back in time for dinner.

Heck, I walked home from school more times than I care to remember as a kid (and one time, I walked to school because I missed the school bus and didn't want to get into trouble). And when did it become Florida law mandating bicycle helmets for 15 or younger? I never wore a helmet. Nor knee pads, elbow pads, or gloves. Yes, attempting to skid the tires but having the bike shoot out from underneath and ending up with a bad case of road rash hurts, but it also teaches a valuable lesson—skidding a bike is stupid!

I also learned how to ride a bike in three days, but that was purely self defense on my part. My uncle would sit me on my bike, and shove hard. Losing my balance, I had two choices—turn into the closest large obstacle (telephone pole, corner mail box, a large rose bush) and crash headlong into it, or roll onto a four-lane road and crash headlong into traffic.

Fun times indeed.

But today?

As insane as some of the stupid things I did as a kid, parents today are just totally insane.

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

Obligatory Contact Info

Obligatory Feeds

Obligatory Links

Obligatory Miscellaneous

You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or entry, if there is only one entry). The titles are the permanent links to that entry only. The format for the links are simple: Start with the base link for this site: https://boston.conman.org/, then add the date you are interested in, say 2000/08/01, so that would make the final URL:

https://boston.conman.org/2000/08/01

You can also specify the entire month by leaving off the day portion. You can even select an arbitrary portion of time.

You may also note subtle shading of the links and that's intentional: the “closer” the link is (relative to the page) the “brighter” it appears. It's an experiment in using color shading to denote the distance a link is from here. If you don't notice it, don't worry; it's not all that important.

It is assumed that every brand name, slogan, corporate name, symbol, design element, et cetera mentioned in these pages is a protected and/or trademarked entity, the sole property of its owner(s), and acknowledgement of this status is implied.

Copyright © 1999-2024 by Sean Conner. All Rights Reserved.