[HN Gopher] The teenager who lives like it's the 1940s
___________________________________________________________________
The teenager who lives like it's the 1940s
Author : pepys
Score : 178 points
Date : 2023-12-18 19:41 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| ahi wrote:
| On his 1938 Austin Cambridge which can barely hit 50mph "It's
| great to drive, there's always a clear road ahead but behind a
| sea of traffic." I was expecting to hate the kid, but he has me
| in stitches.
| Aloha wrote:
| Yeah, I chortled at that line too.
| wlindley wrote:
| I drive like this all the time, keeping out of the "fast" lane
| on the highway with the cruise set at 3mph under the limit.
| Enya CD playing and life's good.
| Erratic6576 wrote:
| I did some experiments. My record is 3,1 l/100 km at around
| 90 km/h mostly downhill adding around 30 min to my 2 hour
| trip.
|
| Not having to take over is the best part of it.
| saalweachter wrote:
| I've been doing some experiments on a bridge on ramp near
| me. Leaving the bridge, going up hill, the speed limit is
| 40mph. Approaching the bridge, going downhill, the speed
| limit is 25mph. There are two lanes, but the bridge only
| has three total lanes so at different points during the day
| the right lane of the approach closes and you merge left
| before using the right most lane of the bridge.
|
| Traffic, of course, approaches the bridge at 40+mph. Semi-
| regularly there's a police officer pulling people over and
| ticketing them.
|
| I've begun entering the right lane, whenever possible, and
| setting my cruise control to a hard limit of 25mph.
| (Setting a soft limit of 25mph does nothing, as you coast
| up to 40 down that hill.)
|
| When two lanes are open on the bridge, about 80% of the
| time when I reach the bottom of the hill at 25mph... I
| immediately have to slow, and sometimes stop, as the
| traffic on the bridge is slower. If there was a good bit of
| traffic with me, approximately 6 cars will have passed me
| on the hill, and be stopped ahead of me waiting for the
| bridge to clear.
|
| If there is only one lane, the usual traffic pattern is
| that some people merge left as early as possible, and
| others will begin passing in the right lane, usually aiming
| to pass as much of the line of traffic as possible before
| merging. This typically leads to stop and go traffic,
| because as the left lane slows down approaching the bridge
| they lose any space for a zipper merge, and must come to a
| complete stop for the detectors to merge in at the last
| minute.
|
| If I set my cruise to 25 -- the speed limit -- in the right
| lane, then after a few moments there aren't typically
| people zipping down the right lane ahead or behind me, and
| the merge typically happens at about 25-30 mph behind me as
| people pass me, and there's typically not any merging at 0
| mph at the last minute.
|
| About 80% of the time, by the time I get to the bottom of
| the hill, there's no one left in the left lane, everyone
| having passed me and zipped away, and I can merge without
| difficulty.
|
| The failure mode here is that if traffic _is_ significantly
| backed up in the left lane, either I have to zip past them
| at 25mph and merge at the last minute, being the asshole,
| or I merge earlier, into the slow-moving traffic, and
| abandon my traffic-shaping experiments.
| WirelessGigabit wrote:
| You're not an asshole. It's a lane. Use it.
| runjake wrote:
| In the western US, going 3 mph under the speed limit would be
| considered a mortal sin.
|
| But I do see the same effect going a mere 4 mph[1] over the
| speed limit.
|
| 1. I arrived at 4 mph over, because this was the usual answer
| when I've asked several police officers "How much over the
| speed limit to I have to drive for you to pull me over?".
| Their answer nearly always was "Up to 4 mph and you're okay."
| isk517 wrote:
| Yeah, the impression I get from the article is that he is self-
| aware enough to understand he is a bit unusual but confident
| enough to own it, which I can respect.
| willcipriano wrote:
| Sensitive people on the internet have trained the population
| to gild jokes too much so that even the most dull headed can
| be involved. This young man knows the best humor is found
| when the target isn't entirely certain if you are serious or
| not.
| SapporoChris wrote:
| One of my former cars had a distinctly police car outline for
| the time and location that I owned it. When I drove speed limit
| I noticed a the same effect, especially certain lighting
| conditions like if I was driving into a sunset. It's a worse
| situation because some (or many) people are literally afraid to
| pass what they think is a police car.
|
| As others have pointed out. If not in a rush, driving slightly
| under the speed limit is very relaxing.
| Aloha wrote:
| I'm in awe of his devotion to the cause.
| bigmattystyles wrote:
| Until he beats up a few German tourists /s
| ginkgotree wrote:
| Everything about this is wonderful. I do as much of my writing on
| a mechanical typewriter as I can, I use a rotary phone, and
| listen to vinyl records. This kid takes it to a whole new level
| and I'm so happy to see someone passionate about being a luddite
| in the new generation
| Aloha wrote:
| I also have rotary phones, use vintage radios, prefer vintage
| appliances, and listen to vinyl.
|
| I thought I was a little odd - nope, I'm just a normal level of
| odd in comparison.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Do rotary phones even work anymore? I had thought (perhaps
| mistakenly) that support for them was dropped a number of years
| ago.
| johnzim wrote:
| I thought that too. Pulse dialing can't possibly work
| anymore. Is OP sure it's not a retrofit?
| bydo wrote:
| There are pulse to tone converters:
| https://www.dialgizmo.com
| function_seven wrote:
| The VoIP gateways we were installing a few years ago still
| supported pulse dialing on the FXS lines. Those gateways
| supported all sorts of archaic and arcane POTS features.
| All the classic feature codes (like *69) had support. I
| think it could be set up to emulate a DMS-100 or a 5Ess as
| well.
|
| If you have a copper landline from your local telephone
| company, I'm willing to bet it still supports pulse
| dialing? Maybe it's 50/50 now?
| phirschybar wrote:
| ha. this just reminded me that some old touchtone phones
| had a pulse button in case you needed it.
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| There are adapters available.
| thornygreb wrote:
| I have a functioning rotary phone connected to POTS. I do
| live in the sticks though. Only issue is automated systems
| that ask me to dial 1 for foo, 2 for bar, etc. But a lot of
| those now actually also take voice.
| bobowzki wrote:
| You can play dtmf into the microphone with a separate
| device
| jonathankoren wrote:
| Blue boxing is back baby!
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box
| kevinsync wrote:
| I commented [0] on this a while back, there are hybrid
| adapters that bridge Bluetooth to old handsets. I have an
| older version of this [1] and a few different phones I've
| successfully used with it. YMMV
|
| [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37484671
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Xtreme-Technolgoies-XLink-
| Bluetooth-G...
| toast0 wrote:
| Yes, last year, I setup a real CenturyLink POTS line for my
| MIL in a condo near me, and tested my rotary phone on the
| line, and it works fine. That phone won't dial with my VoIP
| ATAs, even though they say they work with pulse dialing
| though.
|
| I'm hoping it continues to work when utility power goes out,
| but we haven't had a long enough outage to test since I set
| it up.
| ReactiveJelly wrote:
| I want to live in the 90s. CD audio is a little bit nicer tech.
| They say vinyls release VOCs. There's Internet, but not enough
| to drown in.
| airstrike wrote:
| Yeah, Seinfeld is my go to mental reference for the perfect
| time period... and I'm not even a huge fan of the show,
| having only watched bits and pieces
| sylens wrote:
| Eh, I think the early days of broadband and wireless
| routers were it for me. Being able to have multiple devices
| in the house use an Internet connection was great for
| school work and such....but before you had the internet in
| your pocket at all times via a smartphone.
|
| Early 2000s
| coldtea wrote:
| About CDs being "nicer tech", even quite a few people growing
| up in the CD era disagree with that. Vinyl is more tactile,
| has bigger album covers, demands more focus in the music
| (like how it takes more effort to skip). CDs are like an
| awkward in-between phase between vinyl and
| downloads/streaming.
|
| Besides it's absolutely not vinyl VOCs that will get you.
| Compared with health low hanging fruit, from diet and
| exercize, to stress, bad sleep, to BS substances in modern
| industrial food and city air pollution, it's beyond
| insignificant.
| ghaff wrote:
| As someone who has spanned eras, I don't really disagree. I
| embraced CDs because they were a lot more practical in many
| ways, but we did lose something in the process--
| physicality, album art, etc. The same is true with
| photography or writing for that matter. Ultimately I've
| always pretty much embraced the new but I understand why
| someone wouldn't--especially if _forced_ to live through
| it.
| ska wrote:
| I thought most people embraced CD's because they were a
| massive improvement over _tapes_.
| ghaff wrote:
| I don't think that's generally true. As someone who was
| in college during the vinyl era, although I created mix
| tapes and taped vinyl that others owned, I never did a
| lot of purchasing of pre-recorded cassettes and I think
| my behavior was pretty common. Certainly, the "record
| stores" of the era carried far more vinyl than cassettes.
| ska wrote:
| Fair, but didn't that change once CD players showed up in
| cars? Some people were certainly buying up loads of tapes
| (but they did wear out, so some repeats?)
| gosub100 wrote:
| > t's absolutely not vinyl VOCs that will get you
|
| I know, it's playing them backwards :o
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTpK87Eqzbs&t=10s
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I used to live in the 90's, it was alright, I don't
| particulaly miss it.
| csdvrx wrote:
| > I want to live in the 90s.
|
| Gross
|
| I don't like the values I see in the 1990s TV shows.
|
| However I love the tech, like CDs:
|
| > CD audio is a little bit nicer tech. They
|
| I love CDs! I even got a CD player in my car!
|
| After trying them, I've found I really don't like vinyles or
| mechanical keyboards so maybe it's not just
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| The thing I remember most about the tech is how unreliable
| it was. Windows 3.1 through to me were terrible compared to
| what we have now. Also we had to pay for tools like
| compilers.
| subsubzero wrote:
| The 90's were such an amazing decade, maybe one of the most
| perfect in the past 100 years(at least for the US).
|
| You had a outstanding job market for all professions with
| tech jobs still around if you chose. No wars(besides smaller
| conflicts in desert storm(91) and Bosnia(98)).
| Politicians/politics during that time were very moderate,
| George HW Bush and Clinton both governed from the right and
| left center respectively. Housing was extremely affordable
| and if you worked a half decent job you could expect to buy a
| house in most markets, My Wife's family bought a house in
| Redwood city and her Dad was in the trades, and Mom worked in
| printing. A house in the mid-90's in Palo Alto CA would run
| about $350-400k.
|
| Music was outstanding in grunge(Nirvana, STP, Peal Jam) and
| hiphop was in its golden age(Wutang, Biggie, Tupac). For TV
| such classics like Seinfeld, Friends, and Star trek TNG were
| around. Movies like great sci fi and action movies - Matrix,
| T2, Jurassic Park and many many others were coming out all
| the time.
|
| Having been a teenager during that decade I feel really lucky
| compared to the following decades and how bad they have
| turned out. The only downside to the 90's was crime was
| relatively high compared to today, but almost every aspect of
| life was superior unless you miss social media and glued to a
| phone(I don't).
| kuon wrote:
| I have one with a SIP VOIP converter. I had to add a resistor
| or the sound was too lound. But it works.
| Aloha wrote:
| A 500 set is not really well optimized for 40ma+ of loop
| current.
| bigmattystyles wrote:
| Yea, I went in expecting him to ask for followers / clicks but
| there was none of that.
| mckn1ght wrote:
| "Please subscribe to my monthly mail newsletter, I accept
| payment in the form of check or money order, or even trades"
| goles wrote:
| It does feel like putting tech into everything was novel (Cars
| becoming iPads with 4 wheels) and at some point the scales
| tipped into mechanical things with the least tech in them are
| novel (Mechanical watches[1], manual transmissions,
| typewriters, developing film, INS[2]).
|
| [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster
|
| [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system#Ove
| ...
| atentaten wrote:
| I was expecting the car to be much more expensive then what was
| stated.
| solarmist wrote:
| If he restores it, it probably will be.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| Old doesn't necessarily equal expensive. In terms of actual
| drivable cars from that era, collectors would put a real
| premium on cars eligible for the Mille Miglia.
| throwup238 wrote:
| Owning a car like that is so expensive they have little resale
| value. The upholstery should be relatively easy to restore but
| the older a car gets, the harder it is to find other spare
| parts from junkers.
|
| Most of the mechanical parts have to be made custom from
| machinists who specialize in collectible cars. Sometimes a part
| breaks that no one has made in decades so you have to hire
| someone to locate old drawings or create them from scratch,
| pick the materials, figure out the QA process, and so on.
| solarmist wrote:
| > He says he has friends of all ages, although he admits he
| shares more in common with people much older than him.
|
| The only thing I'd worry about is him getting too obsessed to the
| point he has trouble relating with others that are from this
| generation or are younger than himself especially as the number
| of people familiar with that generation continue to pass away.
| solarmist wrote:
| On the other hand if he goes into history or restoring vintage
| things then he could make name for himself by helping others to
| be able to appreciate vintage things.
| tetris11 wrote:
| I like him in the same way that I like Daria. Cynical enough of
| modern living that he rejects it as much as he can, with the
| wealth that he has... but I just hope it doesn't turn him into
| a snob who turns his nose up at anything mainstream, alienating
| him from his friends and peers for the sake of his principles.
| Daria needlessly suffered for her elitism. He seems far more
| approachable though, I will give him that.
| KptMarchewa wrote:
| I'm all for people living their life as they wish, if they don't
| harm others, even if there's literally nothing appealing about
| that for me.
| rahen wrote:
| Seeing the ENIAC and EDSAC in operation, meeting Von Neumann
| and Turing would have been appealing, but that's about it. And
| those things were accessible to only a select few privileged
| individuals.
| walthamstow wrote:
| He's even a square in his own preferred era. Ditch the Anne
| Shelton and get yourself some Monk or Bird and an eighth of
| heroin mate
| twelvechairs wrote:
| He's from Fife. Doubt any of those made it there at the time,
| or probably since
|
| Monk wasn't widespread popular at the time at all - only in
| niche jazz circles. It'd be about as exotic as you could hope
| to maybe hear Billie Holiday in somewhere like Fife.
| joefife wrote:
| Oi. Fife isn't ENTIRELY about bowling clubs and dogging.
| jack_riminton wrote:
| What a character. If only a fraction of people knew and were
| happy with themselves as much as he is
| CrzyLngPwd wrote:
| Most of them are in mental institutions, loving their lives and
| blissfully ignorant that the BBC even exists.
| rdlw wrote:
| That's good. Hopefully soon we institutionalize people who
| wear funny hats OR drive old cars, and not just the people
| who do both.
| timeon wrote:
| > "I couldn't tell you a modern singer if you asked me," he says.
|
| Not sure about music but in architecture 'modern' was already in
| 40s.
| goatlover wrote:
| 80s rock is considered classic now.
| function_seven wrote:
| It was a really jarring moment when I forgot my phone a
| couple weeks ago. I listened to FM radio for the first time
| in years. The oldies station. The one my mom listened to all
| the time that played a mix of Big Band, Doo-wop, and some 60s
| rock.
|
| But what I heard was Smells Like Teen Spirit.
| macshome wrote:
| Yeah. Life comes at you fast doesn't it?
|
| My son, who is 17, said that they were talking about "the
| late 1900s" in class the other day and I could almost feel
| my body turning into dust.
| agentultra wrote:
| I work with people half my age now. Some of them have
| bigger titles than me. And they couldn't tell you what an
| AT command or a segmented memory address is. I am
| practically the crypt keeper.
| Merad wrote:
| Brace yourself, but the classic rock station around here
| plays tons of stuff from the 90s and even early 2000s.
| wharvle wrote:
| modern
|
| adjective
|
| 1. Of or relating to recent times or the present.
|
| "modern history."
|
| 2. Characteristic or expressive of recent times or the present;
| contemporary or up-to-date.
|
| "a modern lifestyle; a modern way of thinking."
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| Stop being dense on purpose. The OP was obviously talking
| about this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism
| wharvle wrote:
| That is what timeon meant, yes. It's not what the bit
| timeon quoted meant.
| zirgs wrote:
| And I thought that driving a manual car from 2005 makes me old-
| fashioned.
| asylteltine wrote:
| I feel sad for how he will simply fail to adopt to new technology
| and be as utterly helpless at 30 as boomers are now. They can
| barely do a Google search.
|
| It's not okay to find this stuff funny. Technology is a
| fundamental part of society.
| Janicc wrote:
| As if the average zoomer has any more technical knowledge
| beyond using their smartphone to scroll through social media
| than the average boomer.
| tarl0s wrote:
| Which society? 34% of world's population hasn't even got
| Internet access
| dishsoap wrote:
| Personally speaking I've never purchased/owned/used a cell
| phone and yet I feel I have more familiarity with the
| underlying technologies than probably 95% of cell phone users
| today.
|
| I don't believe whether or not someone has adopted a given
| technology has any kind of clear correlation to their
| understanding of it or ability to use it were they to elect to.
| I know plenty of people who are up to date with the latest fads
| and yet dumb as rocks.
|
| I think the kid will be just fine.
| avree wrote:
| Am I alone in thinking this is a little strange? If my teenager
| decided to live their life in a comic book costume, or cosplaying
| and pretending to be an anime character, I would say they are too
| attached. There are YouTubers like "ReportoftheWeek" who like to
| dress in an older style, but choosing to not learn to use a
| cellphone and bypassing understanding modern technology seems to
| be going too far.
| Solvency wrote:
| Apparently it's about going all the way. Wear just a fedora?
| You're a neckbeard. Go fully 1940s in every way? Darling.
| maximus-decimus wrote:
| That is very interesting to me. I never understood why people
| hate so much that neckbeards mix a fedora with t-shirt and
| jeans. Does anybody get mad at Jensen (from Nvidia) for
| wearing a biker leather jacket without being a biker?
| solarmist wrote:
| It's not about the fedora, it's about the stereotype that
| caused that association to mean something.
| PhasmaFelis wrote:
| It's middle school cliquism. Assuming that stereotypes
| about clothing tell you everything you need to know about
| a person.
| AussieWog93 wrote:
| No, it's plain old pattern matching.
|
| People wore fedoras to identify them as part of a
| subculture (Reddit gentlemen).
|
| Most people who weren't part of the subculture pretty
| quickly figured out that removing their fedora meant
| people didn't assume they were a part of it, so they took
| it off.
|
| Same thing with hipster glasses, mullets, dreads,
| swastikas, list goes on...
| solarmist wrote:
| > Reddit gentlemen
|
| Is that where that came from? It sounds right.
|
| I used to wear nice hats regularly including a couple of
| fedoras, but I had to retire them because of this.
| maximus-decimus wrote:
| So they just hate neckbeards no matter what and just
| pretend it's because of the hat?
| echelon wrote:
| This is completely harmless and 100% awesome.
|
| This kid has so much character and will have so many stories
| and connections as opposed to most average kids of the same
| age.
|
| This world needs more unabashed individualism like this. It
| leads humanity to richer culture and more discovery.
| mariuolo wrote:
| > This is completely harmless
|
| Except that a 1938 car is a death trap.
| echelon wrote:
| So is riding a bicycle on a busy street.
|
| We need to stop coddling and worrying about everything. (I
| guess we were all raised by helicopter parents and are
| doubling down?)
|
| In my state practically any self-built car is able to
| become road-legal. Old cars, rebuilds, kit cars, etc. And
| it's fine. People are fine.
|
| We're not imposing this choice top-down at a population
| level. We're not about to have (current accident rate) *
| (1938 car crash outcome). Someone doing this for fun is
| bound to be more careful than your average driver.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| I think it's a little strange, sure, but if I'm being honest
| with myself, I'm a little strange too. As a famous cat once
| said, _we 're all mad here._
|
| Aside from (maybe?) driving under the speed limit, no harm no
| foul. Not mentioned in the article, but I do hope he's OK with
| modern medicine, like the polio vaccine, and will be willing to
| eschew his aversion to cell phones if his grandmother has to
| get in touch with him in some sort of emergency...
| modeless wrote:
| Sure it's strange, but I guess the difference is nobody has
| ever been a comic book or anime character, but plenty of people
| lived in the 1940s.
| chasd00 wrote:
| as the father of a teenager and a former teenager myself, teens
| are strange in many many ways. This is about as harmless as it
| comes though.
| asylteltine wrote:
| No you are not alone. This is really strange and unhealthy.
| cafard wrote:
| In the 1950s, there were British "Teds" who affected the
| clothing of the Edwardian days forty years before. Some of
| them, I guess, were thugs. But deliberate anachronism isn't
| entirely new.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I'm not convinced, if anything, teenagers of today seem to have
| _less_ of anything unique going on (note that this may just be
| perspective, I 'm not up to date on teenagers), whereas back
| when you'd have a number of subcultures.
|
| I mean you mention anime characters, but there's a big greaser
| / rockabilly subculture in Japan - grown men dressing like
| they're from the 50's.
|
| Then there's of course the survivalist / homesteader
| subculture, people who live off the grid. There's LARPers who -
| usually only at events - dress up as elves and co. There's
| medieval re-enactors who have full suits of armor. There's
| renaissance faire people. There's Dickensians. Furries. Peaky
| Blinders. K-Pop stans. The list goes on.
|
| This is normal human behaviour. While I also think it's a
| little strange, it's harmless. Let people have things.
| quelltext wrote:
| > I mean you mention anime characters, but there's a big
| greaser / rockabilly subculture in Japan.
|
| There isn't, though.
|
| There are probably a dozen or so in Tokyo and about the same
| number in Osaka. Granted, I don't have an exact number but it
| is super niche. If you ask a random Japanese person the
| chances of them even being aware of that subculture is very
| low.
|
| > This is normal human behaviour. While I also think it's a
| little strange, it's harmless. Let people have things.
|
| No, it's not. Some of your examples are but going all in
| isn't normal even if we ignore the fact that being part of a
| subculture kind of isn't normal by definition. If it were
| normal we wouldn't get an article about it from the BBC,
| would we? But what I rather mean is, doing that as a dress up
| thing or LARPing is reasonable. Using some old items or
| wearing old fashion for their unique appeal is also
| reasonable. Putting anachronism above all else isn't normal,
| though. Those Japanese greasers use mobile phones.
|
| Arguably, we don't know how much of what the article
| describes is tongue in cheek, and perhaps it's mostly a
| character the guy is playing. But if not, hating to or
| avoiding to use modern technology because it's not from the
| era you happen to like (because of your grandpa's POW
| diaries, another can of worms right there) is quite off.
|
| I'm not saying he shouldn't enjoy what he's doing or "become
| like the rest if us" but no, really, it's not normal (and
| maybe that's okay).
| csdvrx wrote:
| > There are YouTubers like "ReportoftheWeek" who like to dress
| in an older style, but choosing to not learn to use a cellphone
|
| There are also HNers. Count me in the "refuse to use a
| cellphone" camp.
|
| I want to learn how the hardware and software stacks work, but
| I don't want to carry one ever.
| Zambyte wrote:
| > Am I alone in thinking this is a little strange?
|
| This article wouldn't be upvoted enough for you to see it if
| you were
| flymasterv wrote:
| "When I was younger, I looked at my great grandad's prisoner-of-
| war diaries and I just love everything about the period."
|
| Just IMAGINE saying that out loud.
| justjash wrote:
| Yeah, that line came off really strange to me also... being a
| POW doesn't sound so dreamy to me.
| AussieWog93 wrote:
| We haven't read the diary. It's possible his grandpa made a
| conscious effort to focus on the positive and keep it
| lighthearted.
| quartz wrote:
| > and rides a 1952 Raleigh bicycle
|
| My wife has a 1950's Raleigh women's bike we bought ages ago for
| $50 and it is hands down the most comfortable bike we own.
|
| I own 4 other bikes (a cruiser, an e-cruiser, and two racing
| bikes) but always grab hers for my errands within ~15 blocks.
|
| Everything about it just feels easy-- it's well balanced, has a
| great upright sitting position, a super comfy saddle, an easy to
| use 3-speed hub, big soft tires, and the frame is basically
| indestructible.
|
| Occasionally something gets out of place or slightly off and I
| just whack it back into place.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| I had to look it up, but yup, that looks the "default" bike
| model from the Netherlands; you can still get newly made ones,
| although I'm not convinced the build quality will be the same,
| the manufacturers will be cutting costs left right and center.
| That said, if you get them from known brands like Batavus
| they'll be grand.
| ramesh31 wrote:
| This seems to be a growing trend among the sub-millenial
| generations. Kids have always loved to rebel since the dawn of
| time. How better to do it at this point than to disconnect? The
| world will be a better place for it. They might even develop true
| subcultures again.
| garbanz0 wrote:
| When I see this I worry that he's become codependent or
| "parentified" by his grandmother and is becoming the kind of man
| who would have been her father or her peer when she was younger.
| Not sure we should be celebrating this when it's impacting his
| ability to function in modern society. It's probably not a
| coincidence that the boy "beyond obsessed" with the 40s has been
| raised solely by his grandmother.
| asylteltine wrote:
| Seems to be an unpopular opinion to see this as child abuse and
| brainwashing. Sad. He's going to have quite a rough life as he
| grows older.
| ska wrote:
| Pretty big jump to make from the article. There have always
| been people around who embrace anachronism, and teens who
| find unusual ways to differentiate themselves.
|
| I'm not saying you are necessarily wrong, but we have nowhere
| near enough information to make such a judgment.
| solarmist wrote:
| I took it as a speculation, if that comment is true, then
| ...
| ska wrote:
| > I took it as a speculation,
|
| Ok but it's pretty groundless speculation then.
| csdvrx wrote:
| > There have always been people around who embrace
| anachronism,
|
| TBH I love tech from the 1990s and before: CGI, terminals,
| sixels etc and I refuse to carry a cellphone (though it's
| ok to have one at home, plugged 24/7)
|
| I didn't realize it before, but I now I can see how I
| embrace being anachronistic :)
| bee_rider wrote:
| That's just good taste, technology peaked in the 90's,
| before dark patterns infected everything. The 40's were a
| while ago.
| csdvrx wrote:
| I'm not fully retro (I use Wayland for hyprland) but I'm
| sure there must have been some great stuff in the 1940s.
|
| It's just that I don't know it. Maybe if I did, I would
| love it like he does?
| zozbot234 wrote:
| https://gwern.net/improvement has a good counter to that
| particular argument.
| jaredhallen wrote:
| Also, both could be true. It doesn't have to be this binary
| situation where he either was or wasn't "parentified."
| Isn't everyone a product of their experiences? Seems
| another reasonable is that of course he was influenced by
| his upbringing. AND he had fpund something with which he
| identifies and takes joy. May it cause him grief over time?
| Maybe, bit the same thing could be said for lots of things
| adolescents do.
| znpy wrote:
| Ironically, he's going to grow in the new 40ies
| solarmist wrote:
| Well, I went through this and didn't even see it as
| abuse/neglect until I was 35 and trying to figure out why I
| couldn't form relationships with others.
| jiminymcmoogley wrote:
| It gets worse, it seems even his great grandfather was
| participating in the abuse from beyond the grave. From the
| article: "When I was younger, I looked at my great grandad's
| prisoner-of-war diaries and I just love everything about the
| period."
|
| Even his teachers were getting in on the sickening
| brainwashing operation: ""Callum went away on a school trip
| when he was about 12 and came back with an old-fashioned hat
| on," she says. "I thought it was funny, and I just asked him,
| 'Where did you find this?'. "He said 'that's the way I want
| to dress, that's going to be me'. "Ever since then, that's
| just been Callum," his mum says."
| korse wrote:
| I think the real unpopular opinion here is that our current
| brand of technological progress may be a net negative to
| society.
|
| Humans, without substantial biological modification, do not
| seem ready for a technology driven quasi-utopia. Keep the
| biotechnology and pharmacology, keep the industrial robots
| and keep the private space programs but remove the
| inexpensive personal computation, omnipresent high-bitrate
| packet radio networks and with them all of the anti-societal
| behavior they support.
|
| TL;DR This kid is closer to hyper-sane than brainwashed.
| solarmist wrote:
| As someone that was parentified by my father. Yeah, I can
| totally see that.
| csdvrx wrote:
| What does "parentifying" means?
| Erratic6576 wrote:
| Parentification or parent-child role reversal is the
| process of role reversal whereby a child or adolescent is
| obliged to act as a parent to their own parent or sibling.
|
| Two distinct types of parentification have been identified
| technically: instrumental parentification and emotional
| parentification. For instance, instrumental parentification
| involves the child completing physical tasks for the
| family, such as looking after a sick relative, paying
| bills, or providing assistance to younger siblings that
| would normally be provided by a parent. On the other hand,
| emotional parentification occurs when a child or adolescent
| must take on the role of a confidante or mediator for (or
| between) parents or family members.
| 6510 wrote:
| https://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/answers/rants/X0001_ACT_NO...
| garbanz0 wrote:
| I've had similar feelings as that essay. If you ask me, it
| doesn't have anything to do with my point. Also, it's good to
| make sure kids who exhibit strange behavior are not adapting
| and contorting themselves to fit unhealthy relationships.
| There are plenty of perfectly healthy ways to be weird or
| abnormal. Being too defensive about that is a great way to be
| neglectful.
| Merad wrote:
| Doesn't seem like grandma is a luddite, TFA says she has a cell
| phone while he refuses. I just wonder what kind of job he's
| going to have? These days even guys in the trades are usually
| carrying a cell and a tablet and using them pretty regularly
| throughout the day.
| garbanz0 wrote:
| The 40s style probably reminds her of her father. Kids are
| smart and can pick up on that even if they don't fully
| understand what's going on.
| epolanski wrote:
| Isn't his grandma from the 60s though?
|
| I agree by the way if that was the case, even though you have
| cases like Beckham, Beckham's father was obsessed by football
| and Manchester United and so became his son, but you could see
| David loved football with all of his heart (and excelled at
| it).
| satori99 wrote:
| When I see this I think a clever kid and his grandma have
| fooled a BBC reporter.
| gizajob wrote:
| Yeah I thought that. When I first saw it I thought "weird,
| silly kid" and then when I learned he lived with his
| grandmother I got the ick and realised there was a much deeper
| problem.
| kypro wrote:
| Ohh common... This is completely unnecessary speculation.
| People are quirky in all kinds of ways for all kinds of
| reasons. Me and my girlfriend brought a century home, but
| neither of us were raised by grandparents, we both just like
| history and feel happy when there's history around us... Lots
| of people are unique interests they pursue as adults.
|
| From watching the video it sounded like this guy was simply
| interested in cars as a child and took a fancy to older cars..
| It's quite understandable that he then decided to fulfil his
| childhood dream of owning one when he reached adulthood. I know
| guys who were obsessed with guitars as kids then when they got
| their first job brought all the guitars they dreamt of. I know
| did same thing with computers and computer bits when I got my
| first job. I even know a guy who liked steam trains as a child
| so after he left college decided since he's always liked trains
| he'd work on them.
|
| I guess what I'm saying is that this is far more likely to be a
| kid who grew up simply liking cars so brought a car that he
| liked as a kid when he got a bit of money as an adult. I
| suppose it's possible there was something emotionally harmful
| about how he was raised which caused him to like different
| things from other kids, but it certainly wasn't obvious from
| the video... It seemed like he was a loved child and understood
| he had unique interests. Plus, he seemed happy and socially
| well adjusted, so good for him.
| garbanz0 wrote:
| It seems obvious to me when he outright mentions loving his
| great-grandfather's diaries and that the obsession didn't
| start until he moved in with his grandmother. But yes, it's
| speculation. I would rather ask a lot of questions before
| showering a kid with positive attention for something that
| might have been an adaptation to an unhealthy relationship.
| shipscode wrote:
| Is this like a current year concern inspired by some netflix
| show I don't watch?
| themadturk wrote:
| I'm not sure about the bit of him falling in love with the 40s
| after reading a...prisoner of war diary? Doesn't seem very
| uplifting.
|
| And though he refuses to enter into the spirit of rationing, he
| is also in the fantasy world where the Germans aren't bombing and
| threatening to invade, or there are postwar shortages and cities
| in ruin. Yeah, I supposed it's OK to like the clothing, cars and
| other tech, but it seems a not much like the actual 1940s in
| Great Britain.
| CrzyLngPwd wrote:
| The BBC misspelled LARP.
| jll29 wrote:
| What a charming individualist young lad! Great contrapunctus to
| all these TikTok wannabe "'subscribe my channel' influencer"
| losers that lack any personal style, acting merely as advertising
| and exhibition space (their room and their body).
|
| His photo reminded me of the film "Harold and Maude", if anyone
| here has seen it.
|
| Once I'm retired, I would like to digitize my own grandfathers
| prisoner of war diary, including that episode where they ate a
| dog so they didn't die from starvation, but it turned out to be
| the camp commanders dog, so that meal had an enormous price tag
| in terms of consequences. (Just to point out it wasn't all black
| shiny cars in the 1940s!)
| Erratic6576 wrote:
| As soon as I get a tenure, hopefully, Before I retire, I want
| to ditch every screen and live like it's the nineties
| sophacles wrote:
| I presume you mean the 1890s... In the 1990s it was rare for
| a house to have 0 screens. It was much more common to have
| several - a couple of TVs, a computer, maybe the kids would
| have a gameboy.
|
| At least that's true of the US.
| mytailorisrich wrote:
| PS7,000 for that car is not an expense, it's an investment.
|
| In addition, the good thing about cars up to the 90s, and perhaps
| later, is that there are fixable with the manual. There is
| electrics but no electronics or software.
| ska wrote:
| When you get into vehicles this old, the main problem is
| locating replacement parts, or having them fabricated.
| mschuster91 wrote:
| Meh, at least for really popular models there's a host of
| aftermarket spare parts, and in a pinch you can fabricate or
| repair most of it yourself - the vehicles were designed to
| accomodate DIY and "in the field" repairs, as there simply
| was no such thing as a nationwide network of brand-contracted
| repair shops.
| ska wrote:
| Once you get into the 40s or older, it can be pretty hard,
| particularly if you want to stay stock. It _is_
| significantly easier to have things fabricated than later
| tech (or learn to do it yourself).
|
| You may find a love of digging through old stuff at swaps
| though.
| tiborsaas wrote:
| It's a great place to live where you can save 7k with part time
| jobs beside high school.
|
| There's a great selection of fine cars with low level of
| software, but ECU-s started to appear in the 70's and 80's to
| control various aspects of the cars. I assume you associate
| software in cars with displays, but by the time they started to
| appear, there were tons of software already in those ECU-s.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_control_unit
| asddubs wrote:
| (Don't take this comment too seriously, it's mostly tongue in
| cheek)
|
| I was kind of wondering how racist this kid is and then I got to
| this paragraph and expected it to address the elephant in the
| room:
|
| >However, Callum told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme -
| via his 1940s Bakelite rotary-dial telephone - that there is one
| thing from the post-war period he definitely does not do.
|
| but it goes on
|
| >"We don't ration," he says. "I like my food too much for that."
|
| oh, okay.
| owenpalmer wrote:
| This made my day!
| kleiba wrote:
| And here am I, having my kids miss out on stuff all the time
| because I cannot keep up with regularly checking the 5000
| WhatsApp groups that have formed around their lives. Although
| whenever I _do_ check them, all I see is petty messages and
| emojis. I don 't know how other people stay on top of it all...
|
| "The simple life" is a very attractive thought. Few dare to
| subscribe to it for real like this feller does. Respect.
| notnmeyer wrote:
| is eschewing technology a wise move if you plan on participating
| in modern society? i'm wondering how difficult he's making his
| life later. like, if he can't use a mobile phone or computer what
| careers are realistically open to him?
| llsf wrote:
| Wondering if AI is going to lower the bar for him. Instead of
| tapping on screen, clicking on a mouse, or typing on a
| keyboard, we could soon just talk to a computer. Most of modern
| careers are basically learning how to communicate to a
| computer. AI could make some of those skills obsolete letting
| more people to communicate to computers.
| drewcoo wrote:
| Is it eschewing technology? He uses 1930s-50s tech.
|
| Or is it an escape to some "better" time? And if so, escape
| from what?
|
| When MAGA folks want to live like it's 1950, that's bad, but
| this is good?
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Vintage car restorer / driver? I dunno, I think if you can't
| think of a job that doesn't require a mobile phone or computer,
| you lack imagination.
| swayvil wrote:
| How does he fill his free time?
|
| I'd call that the #1 distinction.
|
| These days it's the ubiquitous volcano of entertainment : social
| media, youtube etc.
|
| Back then it was what, bake brownies?
| AlbertCory wrote:
| My mom used to say, "We didn't have any money, but we had fun."
|
| She went dancing a lot. That's how she met my dad.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Books, film, radio, live music, socializing, hand crafts, day
| job, church, etc. What do people that aren't into (social)
| media do nowadays? Same thing.
|
| Don't worry, people won't sit around and be bored.
| timeon wrote:
| I used to be more creative before scrolling.
| acuozzo wrote:
| Read, write, tinker.
|
| Build things from wood. Build things from metal.
|
| Learn an instrument. Play music.
|
| Play sports. Ride a bicycle.
|
| Listen to the radio. Listen to an album. Watch television.
|
| Host a party for friends. Play social games. Perform parlor
| tricks.
| J_cst wrote:
| I believe that's not something that should be celebrated. It's
| exactly the same as someone decides to live as a character from
| the future or from dnd. Probably he will not be able to integrate
| within the society and possibly will end up being the 'weirdo'
| one at best. Possibly he missed someone that simply told him that
| that's not normal or a wise choice. Possibly he missed someone
| with eyes to see that that's a no go and with a voice to make him
| reflect about that. I wish him all the best. Sorry I'm not one of
| the team of the politically correct/everything is valid because
| it _seems_ like a choice (but it 's not).
| llsf wrote:
| He seems happy with his choice of life. He might enjoy his
| life, even without internet, modern music or technology.
| Interesting experiment for sure.
| J_cst wrote:
| My _hypothesis_ is that it 's not a choice, thank you for
| your comment!
| PhasmaFelis wrote:
| > Probably he will not be able to integrate within the society
| and possibly will end up being the 'weirdo' one at best.
| Possibly he missed someone that simply told him that that's not
| normal or a wise choice. Possibly he missed someone with eyes
| to see that that's a no go and with a voice to make him reflect
| about that.
|
| Yeah, I met plenty of guys like you in high school when I
| started wearing a trenchcoat.
|
| I seem to have come out all right. And now I'm an actual grown-
| up and nobody cares whether I'm "normal" or a "weirdo" by high
| school standards.
| underseacables wrote:
| I admire this gentleman immensely.
| tomcam wrote:
| Back in the 70s I had a friend like that in middle school.
| Recently I looked up his address on Google streets and sure
| enough, there is a 1930s vintage Ford Model A in his driveway.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Something most people don't see as an anachronism, but apparently
| it is:
|
| _striking a match_
|
| I saw a Boy Scout earning his merit badge in fire-building. His
| first task was to start it with a match, and then he'd move on to
| striking a flint, or something.
|
| So he was holding the box vertically, and striking _down_ with
| the match. A moment 's thought will tell you the flame will,
| quite likely, burn your fingers.
| croisillon wrote:
| i always strike my matches down to ensure the flame is burning
| properly, i rarely need the full match length anyway
| xeckr wrote:
| Not if you do it quickly. Never burnt my fingers that way.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| not sure this kid was conscious of that.
| bowsamic wrote:
| Kind of horrified at how upset the HN crowd is about this kid, as
| if he is a horrible sight to behold
| hnthrowaway0315 wrote:
| One wild dream of me is to start living my life from the
| beginning of micro computers (Altair) and pretending that I'm in
| the 80s.
| goto11 wrote:
| > "When I was younger, I looked at my great grandad's prisoner-
| of-war diaries and I just love everything about the period."
|
| Is this some kind of understated British humor?
| zingababba wrote:
| Get this boy MKUltra'd right quick lets see what he turns into.
| jongjong wrote:
| > He has the original invoice showing the car cost PS215 in 1938,
| the equivalent of about PS18,000 today.
|
| Wow. $22K USD inflation-adjusted for a hand-made car in 1938.
| Cheaper than cars that are made by robots today. You'd think that
| after 80 years of technological progress and automation, they'd
| cost less than $1000 by now. What is going on? Surely this makes
| a strong case that modern poverty is artificial and done on
| purpose.
|
| And how can a kid barely out of school afford to buy all this
| stuff? I swear some people are living in a parallel universe.
| malcolmgreaves wrote:
| > "When I was younger, I looked at my great grandad's prisoner-
| of-war diaries and I just love everything about the period."
|
| *Everything* ?? Yikes!
|
| It's curious to me that he's not being raised by his parents.
| Something tragic must have happened here. Is is running away from
| his trauma?
|
| (Edited quite a bit: others have brought up the point about
| getting this conclusion from reading a WW2 POW's diary. I wrote
| too soon -- the bit about not being raised by parents seems much
| more salient to me.)
| nomel wrote:
| Come now. A war isn't the only thing that defines a people and
| the ways of life in an era. And, you can find _incredible_
| stories of character from POW, in the way they hold onto their
| dignity, help each other, etc. Those that you can still respect
| in their worst of times, when they show their true character,
| can easily be role models /sources inspiration.
| malcolmgreaves wrote:
| Sure! Tragedies are also a time where we sometimes see the a
| response that shows the absolute best of humanity.
|
| I apologize, because I have since edited my comment. I was
| writing a bit too fast.
|
| My perspective is that this child read a POW diary from WW2,
| then let's assume that he saw some great examples of
| humanity, and then decided that "I'll live like it's the
| 40s!"
|
| It's strange to me to have this reaction. He claims to be a
| history buff. Where's the realization that the 40s were an
| absolutely terrible time if you weren't a straight white
| Christian man? Did he love that part about it?
|
| This entire story reeks of untreated childhood trauma to me.
|
| Why is he digging into the past so much? His parents are out
| of the picture. Thank goodness his grandmother is there to
| raise him. But we know that growing up without parents is its
| own specific kind of trauma. (Not that growing up with
| parents avoids all trauma!)
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