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Thread: Dave's Thoughts on the Shutdown

  1. #1

    Dave's Thoughts on the Shutdown

    I'll post some stuff here that should be in the useful-suggestion category, I hope. But first, here are some thoughts that came to me yesterday.

    I often listen to old radio shows at night (helps me fall asleep), many of which are older than I am! During WWII, things really required patience and discipline for those who were home in the USA. As I understand them, they included...

    • Scrap metal drives (to recycle for the war effort): people threw into the truck any metal they could possible part with, which meant getting rid of some sentimental stuff.
    • Gasoline was critical to the war effort, so the gov't gave you a coupon book to meter your purchases.
    • In Nov. 1942 they started to ration coffee. People used chicory to make something similar, but I doubt it was very satisfying. (Sorry - I didn't mean to scare anyone!)
    • Gas was rationed tightly. You needed government-supplied coupons to be allowed to purchase gas.
    • You were only allowed to possess 5 tires for a car. If you were caught with more than 5, they stopped giving you gas coupons. The surplus had to be sold to the government (to recycle for the war effort).
    • There were drives for rubber items (to recycle for the war effort).
    • There were no nylons to be purchased (to recycle or turn into parachutes etc. for the war effort), so women used an appropriately colored special "paint" to make it look like there were wearing nylons.
    • Some cities had blackout drills, for which everyone had to have shades or drapes they could close if a siren went off (enemy planes could only pick targets visually then).
    • Civilian volunteers patrolled our coasts to warn if any unwelcome craft tried to come ashore.
    • Food was partially rationed (to make sure enough was available for the military). You got coupon books of points. It might take more points to buy corn than other veggies, for example.
    • All (I think) of our car makers stopped making civilian vehicles. Some plants were converted to build planes, tanks, or smaller gear. You needed to take really good care of whatever car you owned!
    • Citizens were "discouraged" from driving over 35, and I believer there were lowered speed limits nationwide. The slower speeds saved gas and caused reduced tire wear.

    And much, much more. None of this includes all the military people who were deployed, of course. They did the real suffering!

    This was an enormous effort by the country. I found myself feeling inconvenienced today as I was walking in the rain (I'd normally go to the mall in foul weather because they open early for folks wanting to walk). Then I thought about what the country did for over 4 years during WWII...didn't feel quite so inconvenienced after that!
    Last edited by davewerden; 04-02-2020 at 06:40 PM. Reason: Added gas rationing!
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    On the other hand, war tends to produce fairly full employment. This disaster is in the process of producing the opposite -- in an economy that had achieved what was pretty much full employment. And in addition it's killing off companies of varying sizes, which will have really unfortunate consequences and huge ripple (really, tsunami) effects. However, I do think something is to be gained by viewing the virus as an enemy to be defeated, with some cost and some suffering for some time (which I think will likely be months rather than years, except for some of the economic consequences), and by means of a collaborative effort. Another difference is that the ones to suffer the most in this case appear to be the old and infirm rather than the young and healthy -- and I'd rather have it that way if the choice has to be made (and I'm smack in the middle of the high risk group ). But at this stage we also don't have any decent evidence at all concerning the effects in pediatric cases. Still a situation of very imperfect knowledge and unclear expectations.

    And we now have a LOT of technology that reduces our inconvenience. (Which, for example, allows us to participate in conversations like this.)
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  3. #3
    Looking for something to do during the quarantine? Try improving your site reading!

    https://youtu.be/x0tqpsGA1zA

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

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