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Post by bjd on Jan 23, 2021 18:56:59 GMT
Kimby, one of my sons detasseled corn one summer. He said it was horrible, having to wear long sleeves because everything pricked even though it was hot outside. In July if I recall. Quite a common job in southwestern France in summers, but usually only a week or two at most and not well paid.
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Post by lugg on Jan 23, 2021 21:11:03 GMT
Like others have posted I had the opportunity to work for money as an older child (maybe 13 years on) usually on Saturday but also I had regular baby sitting jobs to supplement my pocket money. I am not complaining as it taught me work ethic and there were many things that my Mum and Dad paid for in the meantime. Some of my jobs I loved others not so much. How times have changed ... children in my home town and I guess in England really struggle to find the same kind of work and opportunities now. Can you imagine the uproar now at leaving your child with a 13/14 year old whilst you went out. I am not suggesting it is ok more I am commenting on the difference over the years.
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Post by lugg on Jan 23, 2021 21:16:24 GMT
I am not sure if I learnt it yesterday for the first time ..or if I had forgotten, but the US Vietnam conscription lottery was so brutal. It was part of the storyline on This Is Us and I thought it was fictional when I saw it, but since then I have now learnt it actually happened.
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Post by questa on Jan 23, 2021 21:57:10 GMT
I am not sure if I learnt it yesterday for the first time ..or if I had forgotten, but the US Vietnam conscription lottery was so brutal. It was part of the storyline on This Is Us and I thought it was fictional when I saw it, but since then I have now learnt it actually happened. I did not know that UK had a conscription lottery...or even sent troops to Vietnam, and I was up to my neck in anti-war activities! Oz system was all nineteen year olds had to register and then 2 or 3 times a year they would draw out marbles with a date of birth on them. All the boys born on these dates were taken into the army. Conscientious Objectors spent 2 years in jail with bad treatment, many lads went to New Zealand or to contacts in Europe. I was part of an 'underground railway'which assisted lads getting from Western Aust to Melbourne. Yes, Lugg, it really happened...unless "you're a Senators son"
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 23, 2021 22:05:43 GMT
The UK were not involved. I think lugg is talking of the US system.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 23, 2021 22:15:00 GMT
Just found out that Larry King has died. Not everybody's cup of tea but I remember watching his late night shows occasionally in the 80s and 90s. He was married 8 times! I think you have to question his judgment..
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Post by Kimby on Jan 24, 2021 1:44:03 GMT
Detasseling was brutal but we had a wonderful time with high school kids from all over Southern Wisconsin. While walking up and down the corn rows pulling tassels we sang. My vast repertoire of filthy songs comes from my long ago corn detasseling days. And the dirty jokes!!! My detasseling job was also in Southern Wisconsin. South of Madison. There were two competing hybrid seed corn farms Blaney’s and O’Brien’s. I was at O’Brien’s. We didn’t walk, we rode in buckets about 4’ off the ground on a detassling machine. Eight or ten people in 4 or 5 buckets, with a foreman facing backwards watching that we got every single tassel. If someone missed one, the machine was stopped, and the guilty party had to jump off, walk back and pull the offending tassel. If anyone doesn’t know why tassels need pulling, it’s because corn is self-fertilizing, so to make a hybrid seed corn you have to ensure that all the pollen grains that land on the silk come from the “male” rows while the “female” seed rows get their male parts yanked out. When the ears are harvested the kernel are pure hybrid seed corn which is sold to farmers to plant their fields. This is long before “Round-Up Ready” corn was a thing, though I imagine we inhaled some pesticides and fertilize dust.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 5:20:42 GMT
Thanks for that explanation because I never lived in any sort of corn area and had never even heard the term tasseling although it is instantly understandable.
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Post by bjd on Jan 24, 2021 7:38:19 GMT
In French it's called "castrer le maïs" although I never knew why it had to be done.
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Post by bjd on Jan 24, 2021 7:39:35 GMT
Just found out that Larry King has died. Not everybody's cup of tea but I remember watching his late night shows occasionally in the 80s and 90s. He was married 8 times! I think you have to question his judgment.. I remember reading a comment by Elizabeth Taylor saying that if she had been around nowadays, she would just have lived with guys instead of marrying them. Maybe it was the same for Larry King.
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Post by lugg on Jan 24, 2021 9:51:41 GMT
did not know that UK had a conscription lottery...or even sent troops to Vietnam, No the UK did not - I was referring to the US but I had no idea that Oz also had a conscription lottery.
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Post by patricklondon on Jan 24, 2021 10:37:07 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 12:30:57 GMT
Well, I'm just happy that equality has come to the world so the next time there is conscription, they will select only women, to balance things out.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 24, 2021 14:16:35 GMT
The thing i learned is from where an expression came. I actually like that - maybe cause for a whole new thread ?
Anyway a good french expression ' se faire appeler Arthur' : to be called Arthur. Sense : to be yelled at. Origin : lockdown in WW2 started at 8 pm. If you were still on the streets, a German sentinel would remind you of the curfew and would yell '8 pm !'. In German 'acht uhr'.
which is pronounced close to 'Arthur'if you have the french pronounciation of foreign languages 😄😄
Hence, to be called Arthur...
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Post by lugg on Jan 24, 2021 18:07:08 GMT
...I had no idea about that either, although I have heard of Bevin Boys without understanding their role.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 24, 2021 18:28:17 GMT
I will never forget "the boy with the green hair" in my university dormitory. (He was on the swim team and his pale blond hair really did have a green tint due to the chlorine.) A lot of us were sitting downstairs on the day of the first American draft lottery on December 1, 1969. The first number drawn was September 16th (My memory is not that good -- I looked it up.) and a few minutes later, the boy with the green hair walked in and asked if we had heard anything. I told him that the first date was September 16th and he really did turn green then, not just his hair, because that was his birthday.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 24, 2021 19:05:31 GMT
I remember a big sigh of relief in my family because my brother's (b. Dec. 20, 1949) number was way up in the 200s. But looking it up on this chart just now, I see that it was the 19th that was in the 200s & that my brother's number would have been 135. Either my family was living in a fool's paradise or my memory is faulty.
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Post by questa on Jan 24, 2021 23:23:43 GMT
Well, I'm just happy that equality has come to the world so the next time there is conscription, they will select only women, to balance things out. I think it was historian Thomas McCauley who said that women should not be allowed to make war because they are too savage and ferocious and don't play by the rules, they play to defeat the enemy quickly. (or words to that effect...wish I could find the quote)
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2021 14:58:39 GMT
I am aware that there are some people on anyport who are not fans of The Guardian. Okay, fine -- but does your news source report good stuff like this?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 29, 2021 15:25:01 GMT
That is indeed a very important discovery.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2021 19:30:36 GMT
I was a little disappointed to find that the "patting it into shape" theory had been disproven.
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Post by questa on Jan 30, 2021 6:06:58 GMT
Umm...I know Aussies are a bit different, but don't you all have...I mean,, what shape is your...er,No, we don't pat it, It comes ready shaped. So there!
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Post by mossie on Jan 30, 2021 7:55:10 GMT
We all have square eyes from too much TV, and the Jerries were reputed to have square heads, so what are you suggesting?
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Post by questa on Jan 31, 2021 5:09:55 GMT
Your mob had a bunch of Round Heads for a while. Maybe their DNA has given us some of these weird and eccentric characters for which UK is famous. To be sure of this, take a measuring tape, a large set square and pencil and paper to record results. Start with the little rural buses and explain you are on a mission to find any humans with round heads and square poos. Here you will have more success if you have a live wombat to show, especially its cubeness so-to-speak. The media will probably deride you but when you find your proof they won't be so cavalier.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 1, 2021 11:34:42 GMT
It may explain how the pyramids have been built. We only have to find the giants who pooped the cubes.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 1, 2021 13:03:11 GMT
Finally ~ a reasonable explanation!
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Post by Kimby on Feb 1, 2021 16:19:48 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 9, 2021 7:57:58 GMT
Birth rates are plummeting all over the world. France has the lowest birth rate since 1945. In many of the developed countries, the birth rate went down 15 to 25% in 2020. The expected confinement baby boom never materialised.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 9, 2021 17:39:20 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Feb 10, 2021 13:28:58 GMT
If you have no income it’s hard to imagine having another mouth to feed. And Huggies are EXPENSIVE!
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