We read Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records instead of Wikipedia. Urban legends were rampant. Everyone lived in constant fear of “the gum disease gingivitis”.
As a kid my mom kept a list of questions and we looked them up in the encyclopedias at the library every weekend, and a lot of people with more money had encyclopedia sets at home. So people could get information but it took a little effort and wasn’t instant
People had encyclopedias and dictionaries in their homes. They read newspapers every day [and since there was a lot of competion between papers they made sure of their facts.]
imho people today are more likely to fall for nonsense because they look for confirmation instead of accuracy.
Newspapers were full of crap then too, and remember those magazines with the craziest stuff, like the man who could smoke through his navel? People believed the weirdest things, like walking with a twig would help you find water pipes, because you’d “feel” them through the twig.
People believed the weirdest things, like walking with a twig would help you find water pipes
Not only they still do, it’s thought in schools and practiced by the water utility professionals in the field.
They’ve charged me a hundred bucks for their expertise, to which I’ve composed an angry email, asking whether the ministry of magic would be willing to cover the damage if we, somehow, despite their findings, manage to find the pipe where it’s not supposed to be, with the front part of the excavator. They advised us to dig carefully, not addressing the magic ritual part at all.
You didn’t have much info, but neither did other people! People told the weirdest stories and “facts”.
You know that Marilyn Manson got his bottom ribs removed so he could suck other guys’ dicks?
No no no, to duck his own dick! I read it, I mesn a friend said he read it, definitely.
(But I like yours better)
Thank you. I stole the joke from Scoot (RIP Big Cat)
We read Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Guinness Book of World Records instead of Wikipedia. Urban legends were rampant. Everyone lived in constant fear of “the gum disease gingivitis”.
We also had encyclopedias, which were mostly accurate at one point in time but always a decade of more out of date when used as a reference.
As a kid my mom kept a list of questions and we looked them up in the encyclopedias at the library every weekend, and a lot of people with more money had encyclopedia sets at home. So people could get information but it took a little effort and wasn’t instant
People had encyclopedias and dictionaries in their homes. They read newspapers every day [and since there was a lot of competion between papers they made sure of their facts.]
imho people today are more likely to fall for nonsense because they look for confirmation instead of accuracy.
Newspapers were full of crap then too, and remember those magazines with the craziest stuff, like the man who could smoke through his navel? People believed the weirdest things, like walking with a twig would help you find water pipes, because you’d “feel” them through the twig.
Not only they still do, it’s thought in schools and practiced by the water utility professionals in the field.
They’ve charged me a hundred bucks for their expertise, to which I’ve composed an angry email, asking whether the ministry of magic would be willing to cover the damage if we, somehow, despite their findings, manage to find the pipe where it’s not supposed to be, with the front part of the excavator. They advised us to dig carefully, not addressing the magic ritual part at all.