ONLY?? An eighth grade education?

[Gypsi]

none of my grandparents got past 80, but I did know them, just not the great grandparents

[apisbees]

I too, had no living grandparents.  I love Apis like a brother, but I think he is wrong on the ninety bit.  Those old people didn't have heart disease and cancer at the rate that we do today, because they had a more active life style and weren't exposed to the chemicals that we are.  However, their bodies literally wore out from hard work.  There were many infant deaths and child deaths, and the chronic diseases like diabetes and other blood sugar  illnesses just killed people.  I'm sure some of them lived into their nineties, but I think they were rare in the total population.

I was quoting neillsayers.
It wasn't just the higher rates of infant deaths but deaths on the farms, work place automobile, we live in a society where guidelines and safety percussions come ahead of just getting the job done as fast possible. Every thing is tested from the toys our kids play with to the car and seat belts. Safety guards on belts and chains. Gard rails, safety harness, hard hats, high visible safety vests, flag persons. the list is endless. For beekeepers, hand trucks and fork lifts, zippered bee suits, and epi pens.

[tecumseh]

a snip...
one thing that's obvious on the internet is that there's a whole lot of people who cannot spell.

my reply...
this is kind of funny in that both myself and my farther in law have no talent to spell anything correctly.  we kind of make a joke about which of us is the most clever is dismantling the english language.  to get some prospective here I have 3 university degrees and my 94 year old father in law has a phd in high energy physics from Stanford University (he as at least one patent that is still covered by us national security protocol).  As Apis suggest thank goodness for Spell Check.  One upside to this 'problem' is when you do spell poorly you do seem to put more effort in to understanding post of other folks that also spell poorly.

This site participants do seem to take extra effort to respond to poorly phrased or poorly spell responses without making some joke or slurr about someone's ability to write.  I suspect this says something LARGE about the groups humility and about their collective desire to help others. 

[efmesch]

Perhaps it is an unstated, but well understood fact by everyone on this forum, that none of us is perfect.  Fortunate are those whose imperfections are as uninportant as making mistakes in spelling.   I can think of a lot worse faults people might have than poor spelling or grammar.  What I specially like about this forum is the friendliness and gracousness of everyone in being considerate of others, avoiding insults and foul language and emphasizing the positive things there are to say to each other.  To my horror, I've looked for information on other forums where the norm is to insult, curse, and shame others who may not think exactly like them.  It serves no positive purpose, other than to chase newcomers away.

[iddee]

Incorrect spelling?? I never see it. I spend a good bit of time modifying posts for ""typos"", but never bad spelling. 
Anyone can miss a key, no matter how well they spell.

[lazy shooter]

   
 
Do you have a strange mind?  :-)

Have any of you seen this?

"Cna yuo raed tihs? if yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid, too.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulatcly uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe."



Azanmig hhu? Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

[iddee]

Spelling may not be important, but punctuation is:

It's time to eat, Grandma.

It's time to eat grandma.

BIG difference.

[neillsayers]

Lazy shooter,

You're cracking me up!

[neillsayers]

About 2/3s of this county is National forest. Over the years I have hiked or ridden a mule over every part of it. I have come across many old family cemeteries and always stop to pay respect to those old pioneers. Most of the stones are for children, women and very old men. The pioneer life was extremely hard on children and child-bearing women. It took strong stock to survive it.

I also grew up without great grandparents, but my daughter's great grandmother is still living at 106. Now that's some tough genetics.

[brooksbeefarm]

I barely remember my great grandma Mary (Taylor) Brooks, she was blind from age, but loved children. She would give us a nickel if they would set on her lap and let her feel there face,( i was young and it kind of scared me ), hug and kiss them. wish she had lived longer, there are a lot of things i would of like to ask her about. She lived with my grandpa (her son) until she passed on, the only family member that ever went to a nursing home was my mothers mom, grandma Haynes, she was  84 yrs. old and had fallen and broke her hip, she lived with mom and dad after her home burned down, and although they tried, they could not lift and pull on her. She died in the nursing home before she healed up. Dad was almost 62 yrs. old when he died, mom 86 yrs/ old, and i'm 77 yrs. old and still king of my castle.  . Jack

[neillsayers]

My maternal grandmother's parents were killed in the Spanish flu epidemic when she was a small child-she was raised by an aunt and uncle. My father was 45 when I was born so his parents passed in my 20s. They live long full lives, I just never got to know them. Both sides of my family were city folk and many didn't make to my age. I was just amazed at how common it was for folks to hit 90 or 100 thirty years ago when I moved here. No doubt more people are surviving diseases that wiped out millions-small pox, polio, influenza measles and so forth wiped out kids everywhere. Maybe the ones who survived had much tougher genes. Don't know, it's just something to consider.

[Ray]

My father died of leukemia at 80 yrs old. He grew up on a farm using DDT, Crow-Tox and Paris Green, along with chemical fertilizers. His career as an Auto-Mechanic provide a steady diet of petroleum products, tetra-ethyl lead, asbestos, adhesives and lacquer thinners. I wonder how long he would have lived, if he had made a different career choice.

[neillsayers]

Ray,

He sounds like a tough old bird!