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There have been many memes about how my generation was raised. I was born in 1974, so pretty much in the middle of generation X. I am here to set the record straight: Yes, the memes are true.

Did I drink from a hose? Sure did, I still remember how different hoses tasted different. I preferred the green with braiding, tasted sweeter. I also grew up in Chicago, where the water fountains in the public parks were concrete and brass monoliths that ran like Roman fountains, from spring to fall. Those were the best, always cold.

Did I have to come home when the street lights came on? Yep, in summer, the sun set after 9:20, the streetlights came on around 9:30, time to go home or if your mom called for dinner, then back out there till dark.

Were playgrounds barely disguised death traps? Oh yeah baby, I have a few scars to attest to that. No padding, IF you were lucky, there would be mulch, but 99% of the time thousands of kids wore away any mulch and exposed the hard packed Midwestern soil, as hard as rock. Oh god, the merry go round was pure terror. All steel, just enough room to get stuck underneath or if spun too fast you were back in the hard packed soil. I developed my fear of heights from this giant rocket set, a good 50 feet high. One wrong move and you were likely dead. The slide was 80 feet of red hot steel.

Did we bike miles a day during the summer, with our parents completely unaware of where we were? Again, this is true. We would bike from our home in Morgan Park down to Blue Island, a good 5 miles or more. I remember watching the barges make their way down the canal, with with the pilot house on hydraulics to avoid the many bridges. There was also a legendary sand pile, with, ahem, adult magazines hidden. Turns out that was true as well. Much more hair back then.

Speaking of pornography, did barbers have Playboy, Penthouse, and even the occasional hustler? Oh yeah, they always had Playboy, for the articles, you know. My dad kept a Playboy in the bathroom as well. I also remember going the local video store, they either used a beaded curtain or saloon doors for the ‘adult’ section. They also kept the VHS tapes in brown, opaque cases instead of the usual clear. National chains never had an adult section, just the local place, which dominated all through the 80’s.

Were bicycle helmets a thing? Nope, we never wore a helmet, that is something you saw on TV for professionals. The bicycles were single speed with coaster brakes. Peddle backwards and the rear wheel would lock up spectacularly. We actually had 2 sets of bikes, one for home use, a nice Schwinn Typhoon, red, or later a 3 speed Schwinn that had hand brakes. In the summer, my Dad bought us used bikes to be used at our trailer in Indiana. These were from the 70’s with banana seats, wide tires, and would haul ass down the steep, gravel roads of the campground. I am not sure how many times I wiped out, but heck, that was part of growing up.

Did we play blocking looking video games and enjoy them? Heck yeah, we were an Atari house, so we had the 2600 and 7800, then later the Sega Master System. With the 2600, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, that was about as good a they could make home consoles. There really was not much comparison, except for arcades, which looked much better. Arcades were defiantly a thing, with arcade games being in almost every 7-11, pizza place, and hotel ‘game room’. We would go through $20 to $40 in quarters in a good weekend. You learned which games you were good at to get the best value for your money. Always did like Satan’s Hollow and Dig Dug.

Was it always outside time? Well, here is where I will admit this was not always true. Kids did have a lot of physical toys, way more than they have now. He-Man, G.I. Joe, Lego, and my favorite, Transformers were all super popular. In addition, we had an Atari 800XL, a competitor to the Commodore 64, and we played the crap out that machine. I am thinking that’s were some of my screen addiction came from. Even back then, you could get lost in playing Zork, or Rescue of Fractulus, or Silent Service. This was all especially true in the bad heat of summer or cold of winter. Chicago is a cruel weather mistress.

Were fast food menus really that small? Oh yeah, you could fit the menu on, at the maximum, 3 boards, usually 2 for lunch/dinner, one for breakfast. I was just telling our son about how I remember when Chicken McNuggets came out in 1983. They gave away 4 packs for free to get you hooked. The local places usually had a much larger menu. A local hot dog joint would have hot dogs, Polish and Italian sausages, burgers, Italian beef, combos, gyros (sandwich or plate), chicken, fish, etc. McDonald’s was Big Mac, burger, cheese burger and Fillet-o-fish, and that was it. Apple pie and soft-serve ice cream were the only desserts. When you wanted chicken, it ALWAYS had bones and you went to Kentucky Fried Chicken or Browns (or even a Churches). For KFC, it was original or extra crispy and man I still remember those biscuits.

Were there really public telephones everywhere? Before cell phones, that was really the only way to communicate if you needed to make a phone call. They were super common, every gas station, convenience store, toll road oasis, airport, etc were just loaded with them. And yes, if you needed to send a quick note to someone, wehadababyitsaboy was a real thing for collect calls. One other thing that was true up until the early 2000’s was dial up internet. Yes, it did sound like robots screaming at each other and it was pretty darn slow.

I am sure I will think of a few more, but more or less all of the Generation X memes are pretty accurate.

Did a little math here, to get a 90,000 square foot ballroom, you need a structure 250×360′. Turns out the Treasury building across the street is 250′ wide and a little long. A little google maps measurement and GIMP magic, and we get…this:

Umm, that’s freaking huge. I tried to keep the frontage aligned with the remaining west wing. The renderings I have seen look like a pretty normal 25,000 square foot building, not the something the size to TWO American football fields, with the end zones.

Something just does not add up, unless they plan on making this 3 or 4 floors…no idea how this is supposed to work.

Well, America, here we are again. It has been nine months now since the village idiot/dictator came back into power. For those reading this in the future, it is November 8, 2025, and he is even worse than the history books` portray.

We are not in the longest shutdown in US government history, now into day 38. As much as they want to blame the Democrats, we all know who is to blame. The idiot, non-deal maker “deal maker” who is starving children for the sake cruelty. The house has not been in session in over 45 days, all to prevent the release of the Epstein files. We are not fools, the whole government is shut down to protect the felon in chief.

This week they wend before the supreme court to argue a president can magically raise taxes, aka tariffs on the American people. This is explicitly a power of congress. If the executive branch can raise taxes, what is the point of congress? I hope the supreme court has some sense of sanity and ends these moronic tariffs. We also need a working government again, such as it is.

This is feeling a whole lot like the French revolution, while children are cut off from food assistance, medical insurance will double or triple, or more, the ruling King wants a grand, gilded ballroom paid for by…who the hell knows? While the government is shutdown, we see a party with the King with showgirls and opulence, a Great Gatsby party. I swear, have any of these people ever read a book?