Life Improvements Since the 1990s • Hacker News Board

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#41

Post by nivenkos » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

BrianOnHN wrote: post #33

iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

Definitely depends on race. As a white guy '91 would have been easy sailing.

Indeed, now white men are discriminated against in a lot of Tech companies under the guise of fighting "white privilege" and promoting diversity (note this does not include class or background) - meanwhile class differences (inheritance, home ownership, etc.) are more important than ever.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#42

Post by wyldfire » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

> Car Theft is rarer, and in particular, we no longer have to worry about our car windows being smashed to steal our car radios

> Remember when physically detaching your car radio to avoid leaving it in the car was considered a 100% normal thing to do?

Why is it rarer, I wonder? I do recall having a detachable faceplate on my car radio. I sold that car in ~2010 or so but stopped bothering with the detaching long before then.

> All Day: because you won’t be yelled at for tying up the (only) phone line

... missing phone calls because I was occupying the phone line. My university claimed to have been "wired" but it was always "going to be enabled 'next year'".

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#43

Post by BrianOnHN » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

moron4hire wrote: post #35

BrianOnHN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely depends on race. As a white guy '91 would have been easy sailing.

Being a white guy in 2021 is easy sailing.

I 100% agree. I was mostly referring to the fact that '91 was more difficult for other races, genders, and sexualities.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#44

Post by __s » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

bob1029 wrote: post #28

dminvs wrote: post #12

> stoves You'll pry my gas range from my cold, dead hands

What property of the gas range do you most enjoy? I have recently swapped gas for induction and it dropped my meal prep time by 20~30% because I'm not standing around waiting for pans to get hot anymore. If I was big into wok cooking, I'd probably keep the gas range. 99% of the time I just want to get a pan to 500F or boil a pot of water ASAP.

Likely our experiences of electric stoves varies. I recall electric stoves which take a few minutes to heat up & didn't get very hot at that

Another nice situation was during the 2003 blackout my father was able to crank a turn table to play some records while lighting the stove with a match to cook dinner

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#45

Post by kristofferR » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

dminvs wrote: post #12

> stoves You'll pry my gas range from my cold, dead hands

Gas stoves creates high amounts of indoor pollution. The amount of pollution gas stoves creates inside are often illegal outside, the US doesn't have indoor pollution standards.

Children living in homes with gas stoves are 40% more likely to develop asthma for example, according to some studies. Other studies have it closer to 10%.

Anyway, it's clear that indoor gas combustion isn't advisable from a health perspective. Not to mention the climate, burning methane for energy should be phased out, full stop.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/5/7/21247602...

https://qz.com/1941254/experts-are-sounding-the-alarm-about-...

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#46

Post by lotsofpulp » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #15

adventured wrote: post #2

This note at the bottom, about high mortality rates in the past, is always striking to remember: "My grandmother casually horrified us a few years ago by going through the list of her dead siblings: 2 died on the farm of ‘summer diarrhea’ (bovine tuberculosis from unpasteurized milk) as infants, an unremarkable fate in the area, and then 3 died in their teens–20s after moving to the city to work in textile factories.…

Indeed. What I found interesting is that when I looked up the stats, the death rates for under 1 year olds has continued to decline even in recent decades. I had previously thought it would have stalled after the things you mentioned had been solved. My guess is premature births have much higher survival now than 20 or 40 years ago.

I would assume that the birth rate going down considerably amongst poorer people is a big factor too.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/562541/birth-rate-by-pov...

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#47

Post by BrianOnHN » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

nivenkos wrote: post #41

BrianOnHN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely depends on race. As a white guy '91 would have been easy sailing.

Indeed, now white men are discriminated against in a lot of Tech companies under the guise of fighting "white privilege" and promoting diversity (note this does not include class or background) - meanwhile class differences (inheritance, home ownership, etc.) are more important than ever.

I don't work for tech companies, but I've never been "discriminated against" as a white guy.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#48

Post by Clubber » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

iambateman wrote: post #14

I often ask people: “if you could be 20-years old in 1991 or 2021, which would you pick?” An incredible number of people pick ‘91. Some people even ask to go back to the seventies. This article explains why I would much rather be young now rather than before.

1991. Less Orwellian. Back then, 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual.

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#49

Post by nivenkos » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #10

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #4

With the exception of a few (very important) services (e.g. college tuition, healthcare, childcare), increases in income have actually outpaced inflation for most other goods and services over the last 20 years [0]. This is something I almost never see discussed; almost everyone seems to believe that real incomes have totally stagnated. That said, given current inflationary trends, it will be interesting to see if th…

Well you can’t remove things and then say “See, inflation is fine!” If you want uneducated children with no healthcare and no affordable place to live I guess things are fine, and that’s pretty much what we see now.

Exactly, it's like saying "wealthy homeowners are fine"... no shit?

Re: Life Improvements Since the 1990s

#50

Post by basseq » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:06 PM UTC

dminvs wrote: post #12

> stoves You'll pry my gas range from my cold, dead hands

My ideal range is 2 induction burners + 4 gas. Induction has a lot of the benefits of gas (e.g., instant temperature control), but gas is still superior for sautéing and continuous temperature control.

Whenever I cook on gas, I miss the fast-heating of induction for things like pasta or potatoes.

I also don't understand why all induction ranges have to be "high-tech" touchscreen crap. I'd love an induction stove with big, substantial, tactile knobs. Cooking on a Wolf range is such a pleasure for that experience alone.