Things to Think About

The Year 1906

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This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1906. One hundred years ago.  What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906:

 

·    The average life expectancy in the U.S. Was 47 years.

·    Only fourteen percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

·    Only eight percent of the homes had a telephone.

·    A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

·    There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

·    The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

·    Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

·    With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

·    The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

·    The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

·    The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

·    A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year. A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

·    More than ninety-five percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

·    Ninety percent of all U.S. Doctors had no college education. They attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as "substandard."

·    Sugar cost four cents a pound.

·    Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

·    Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

·    Most women only washed their hair once a year, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

·    Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

·    Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

- Pneumonia and influenza

-Tuberculosis

-Diarrhea

-Heart disease

-Stroke

·    The American flag had 45 stars:  Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

·    The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30.

·    Crossword puzzles, canned drinks, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

·    There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

·    Two out of every ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

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IDLE THOUGHTS

  • I planted some birdseed.  A bird came up.  Now I don't know what to feed it.

  • I had amnesia once—or was it twice.

  • I went to San Francisco.  I found someone's heart.  Now what?

  •  Protons have mass?  I didn't even know they were    Catholic.

  •  All I ask ... is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

  •  If the world were a logical place, men would ride horses sidesaddle.

  •  What is a "free" gift?  Aren't all gifts free?

  •  They told me I was gullible and I believed them.

  • Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto a freeway.

  • Two can live as cheaply as one, for half as long.

  • Experience is the thing you have left when every thing else is gone.

  • What if there were no hypothetical questions?

  • The shampoo promised me extra body and I gained three pounds.

  • One nice thing about egotists: They don't talk about other people.

  • When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a twenty-penny nail

  • A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.

  • I used to be indecisive.  Now I'm not sure.

  • The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.

  • How can there be self-help "groups"?

  • Is there another word for synonym?

  • Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"?

  • The speed of time is one-second per second.

  • Is it possible to be totally partial?

  • What's another word for thesaurus?

  • Is Marx's tomb a communist plot?

  • If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?

  • Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

  • It's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one.

  • Is it my imagination, or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?