What modern invention/innovation do you wish had *never* been developed?

[jamespowers]

The entire modern fashion industry can go to the hot place as far as I'm concerned -- it reeks of twisted, cynical misogyny, all the while barking "Art! Art! Art!"

Look at the fashion magazines of the Era and you won't see any of this kind of garbage. It really is a crime against women.

I guess this woman wouldn't pass but I'll take her over the nasty crack addicted look.

 

[rjb1]

Back in the '50's there was a controversial "missile-gap" - when we supposedly didn't have enough ICBM's. Does a "thigh-gap" mean we don't have enough thigh or thighs? Is that in terms of individual size or in total numbers??
No, I am not going to look it up...

 

[HudsonHawk]

Up here we say modern hurricanes have to have names -- to distinguish them from *The* Hurricane.

Around here, they still talk about *the* hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. It remains to this day the deadliest natural distasteful in US history, with an estimated 12,000 losing their lives.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Geez, when did Americans become too lazy to pick up a taco from the <bleep>ing side!

A year or two before they came out with the taco holder.
I have 2, and they hold 3 tacos each.
My wife's idea not mine, but it does make it easier to drown the tacos in hot sauce.

 

[sheeplady]

Meanwhile, I could really do without the idea of the "thigh gap." I'd never heard of this until about ten minutes ago, and I wish I never had. The Boys From Marketing can kiss my flabby middle-aged -- thighs.

I can reassure everyone here, as someone who was once much much thinner than I am now that even very thin women do not have a "thigh gap." Sure, your thighs won't touch as much but it's not like you can fit a matchbox car between them. Or even anything thinner.

I cried once in the doctor's office after getting off the scale- that's how thin I was at the time. The thigh gap is as mythical as unicorns.

 

[Matt Crunk]

I can't imagine why any man would want a woman to have a thigh gap. To me that seems a sure sign that the woman is way too skinny. I mean unhealthily skinny. As I've always said, I like a woman to be build just like a mountain road: Soft shoulders and dangerous curves.

 

[Zombie_61]

...As I've always said, I like a woman to be build just like a mountain road: Soft shoulders and dangerous curves.

:arated:

 

[Retro Spectator]

The high horsepower on many cars is ridiculous. Why do you need 300 horsepower in a car which is lighter than a car from 50 years ago which had less horsepower? Clearly they could go the speed limit back then, so why make most cars be able to go faster than the speed limit? Cars would get better gas millage if they had smaller engines, and they would be safer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the Era, just before the war, most states had a maximum speed limit of 45 mph, and somehow people survived.

 

[Zombie_61]

The high horsepower on many cars is ridiculous. Why do you need 300 horsepower in a car which is lighter than a car from 50 years ago which had less horsepower? Clearly they could go the speed limit back then, so why make most cars be able to go faster than the speed limit? Cars would get better gas millage if they had smaller engines, and they would be safer.

I can see both sides of this issue. Having lived in the state of California all of my life, a state known for it's "car culture", I can appreciate a car that's designed and built for performance. Also, a smaller or lighter car with a more powerful engine can get mileage as good as (or better than) the same car with a less powerful engine if it's driven properly (and, yes, that's a big "if").

On the other hand, when you take the population growth and congestion seen on most freeways here in the Los Angeles area into consideration, there's no reason to have a "fast" car because more often than not you're not able to drive at the speeds such a car was designed for. And when you factor the number of people living here who clearly have no business behind the wheel of a moving vehicle into the equation, it exacerbates that problem.

With regards to vehicle performance and speed limits, that's a matter of efficiency. For example, the speed limit on most freeways here in the L.A. area is 65 mph. If a vehicle is designed to achieve only that maximum speed it will take that vehicle much longer to reach that speed, and maintaining that speed for an extended period of time at the upper limit of the engine's capabilities will put far more stress on that engine, so maintenance costs and the number of malfunctions would increase accordingly. So, all things considered, it's more practical to have a vehicle that can reach 65 mph more efficiently and with less strain on the engine.

As far as "safer", that really depends more on the vehicle's owner/driver than the vehicle itself. In a perfect world in which every car or truck was maintained as it should be and drivers didn't make mistakes, it wouldn't be an issue. But this world is far from perfect--you have people who don't/won't/can't maintain their vehicle properly, but still drive them anyway. For example, just yesterday we saw a small pickup truck on the freeway and the right front tire/wheel was "wobbling" terribly, yet the driver was in the "fast" lane driving the truck at 60 mph; that's an accident waiting to happen. And there are countless people who consistently drive beyond their capabilities--I've lost count of the number of nitwits who have watched the "Fast and Furious" movies too many times and treat the freeways here as if they were their own personal rally tracks because they mistakenly think they can drive as well as the trained stunt drivers who performed in those movies. And there are the people I mentioned earlier who simply have no real skill or talent when it comes to driving a car. I've known my best male friend for more than 40 years and I love him like a brother, but he's such a terrible driver that I'd have to seriously consider handing him the keys to my truck if my life depended on it. In the wrong hands, any car or truck can cause a great deal of damage even at the relatively low speed of 45 mph that LizzieMaine mentioned above.

All things considered, proper training, adherence to that training, and adherence to traffic laws are far more important than a vehicle's performance capabilities. Of course, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

 

[rjb1]

You are quite right.
As to the horsepower needed to maintain cruising speed at the legal limit, it is surprisingly small, just enough to overcome aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance of the tires, and bearing friction in the overall drive train.
Most of the so-called "excess" power is need to overcome the significant inertia of the vehicle's mass to get the vehicle up to speed in a safe and timely manner.
The "extra" power is there for providing acceptable acceleration, not acceptable speed. Speed and acceleration are two distinctly different animals.
A car with just enough power to maintain the speed limit would be so frustrating and unsafe to drive you would definitely not want one.

 

[Stearmen]

The high horsepower on many cars is ridiculous. Why do you need 300 horsepower in a car which is lighter than a car from 50 years ago which had less horsepower? Clearly they could go the speed limit back then, so why make most cars be able to go faster than the speed limit? Cars would get better gas millage if they had smaller engines, and they would be safer.

First I will say, the most powerful vehicle I own right now has a mere 159hp. Not sure if that is crank or rear wheel? My most powerful motorcycle is around 75 rear wheel hp, where it counts. In Colorado we travel at 80mph if you don't want to get run down, and we complain if we are in a 15 minute traffic jam at 30mph with a few seconds at a complete stop. I can tell you, on an underpowered motorcycle, you will be exhausted after only an hour at those speeds. But you do have a point, I have known several guys who have built 427 Cobra replicas, and dumped stroker Big Blocks in them. After two or three years you find out they have sold them, no fun to drive slow! If I ever did build a kit Cobra, I would build a 289 FIA with a modern 302 small block fuel injected. Get better mpg and far more drivable in all situations. Remember, it was the 289 cars that made Shelby the legend!

 

[Zombie_61]

...In Colorado we travel at 80mph if you don't want to get run down, and we complain if we are in a 15 minute traffic jam at 30mph with a few seconds at a complete stop...

Yeeeaaahhhh...if you don't like that, don't move to Los Angeles unless you plan to do all of your traveling at 3:00 a.m.. lol

 

[Stanley Doble]

Funny story about over powered cars. A few years ago a friend of mine tried to buy a 1956 Chev hardtop but could not agree on a price with the owner. The car had a 600HP big block engine which cost a lot of money. The seller agreed to take a lower price IF he could take out the expensive engine and replace it with a stock, small block V8 which he happened to have on hand.

My friend agreed. A week or 2 later he called the seller who told him the car was no longer for sale. He had put in the stock engine and was driving the car regularly. With the stock engine it was so much nicer to drive, and got such good mileage, he wanted to keep it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The people who need to be poleaxed are the ones who open up those mighty high-HP high speed engines on narrow, two-lane twisty back roads. The sides of such roads are pocked with mangled trees as a result of such people meeting their fate.

 

[2jakes]

The people who need to be poleaxed are the ones who open up those mighty high-HP high speed engines on narrow, two-lane twisty back roads. The sides of such roads are pocked with mangled trees as a result of such people meeting their fate.

For 28 years I was one of the photogs who brought you the "news" of someone who got "poleaxed" on the roads.


The only regret was the innocent that these yahoos took with them.


Nowadays, if I watch television... It's mostly classic movies .

 

[Edward]

First I will say, the most powerful vehicle I own right now has a mere 159hp. Not sure if that is crank or rear wheel? My most powerful motorcycle is around 75 rear wheel hp, where it counts. In Colorado we travel at 80mph if you don't want to get run down, and we complain if we are in a 15 minute traffic jam at 30mph with a few seconds at a complete stop. I can tell you, on an underpowered motorcycle, you will be exhausted after only an hour at those speeds. But you do have a point, I have known several guys who have built 427 Cobra replicas, and dumped stroker Big Blocks in them. After two or three years you find out they have sold them, no fun to drive slow! If I ever did build a kit Cobra, I would build a 289 FIA with a modern 302 small block fuel injected. Get better mpg and far more drivable in all situations. Remember, it was the 289 cars that made Shelby the legend!

Isn't Carol a girl's name?

The real killer with a V12 and such - hell, even the V8 - is mileage, especially if you're town-driving all the time. I've known guys to sell big American muscle cars because they got sick of shelling out to fuel a car where you needed t measure consumption in feet per gallon. Bearing in mind that petrol has long been about three times here what you folks pay in the US for "gas"... and that nowadays 30MPG really isn't considered impressive here. Those old tanks, many of them did 9mpg. There's an old truism that states the reason why second hand Jaguars are so cheap is because if you can afford to feed one, you can afford to buy it new....

 

[Marlin Fan]

I can't stand cell phones. People them use in movie theaters and while driving. Then tend to forget others are around them. They are annoying and sometimes down right dangerous.

 

[Retro Spectator]

Cell phones are very annoying. I find it ridiculous when you see several people strolling down the street, in one group, all using their "smart" phones, not talking to on another. They also do it in restaurants.

 

[Papperskatt]

Cell phones are very annoying. I find it ridiculous when you see several people strolling down the street, in one group, all using their "smart" phones, not talking to on another. They also do it in restaurants.

As an introvert, iPhone is one of the best things that have ever happened to me. It allows me to interact with people, on my terms, without the horror of having to actually meet them!