Working past time

Yesterday's post regarding the "C+" grade of the keyboard is primarily my own doing. It has nothing to do with the functionality of the keyboard but has everything to do with me learning it. I've never argued that I'm solely a Windows person; I've just not had all the experience in the world with regards to an Apple environment. Especially within the past 20 years. So my undoing and not knowing enough to make completely understand all the ins and outs of 🍎⌘ shortcuts makes matters a little hard. I'm not making any apologies for it; I just need time to sort it all out. 


The history lessons I was referencing is the true reason for the post right now. I had been emailing a friend about the cost of living and minimum wage here in Florida, and decided to Google the correct figures before I went and blabbered all the wrong points of fact. 

Part of the reasoning behind researching everything was because I knew the US was involved in the Great Depression in the 1920s and ended with the Great Recession in the 1930s. I just needed more particulars, date wise. 

However...

I found out (Do you always believe what the Internet tells you???) that the Federal Government, in all their infinite wisdom, decided to make October 24, 1938 the day for federally mandated minimum wage. Thus making allowing people (to) earn $0.25 an hour, all across the nation (source: History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 2009). Exactly one year later, it rose 5 cents to a whopping $0.30 and I bet people were ecstatic. Although, according to The People History, things were "relatively" inexpensive (by today's standards / comparatively speaking). Truth be told, 25 - 30 cents is nothing to sneeze at, considering the times and it was probably a hard sell to those who must have been living a working life then. Monthly rent was $27, while the cost of a new house was $3,900 (which would take a little over 2 and a half years to accumulate those quarters, if my math is correct). A new car costs less than a new house ($763), as well as the price per year to keep your car full would be cheaper too ($0.10 a gallon). 

It's so weird to see the prices "of yesterday" in comparison to today. My parents and their parents always say they "remember when X cost Y". We look at our lives now and wonder how we got to such inflation in our daily necessities, and then I look at the technology we're using. I'm typing on a laptop and using cable internet. Yesterday I was using a smart phone to blog. What's tomorrow going to bring? 

We take a lot of things for granted...

Although I would like to say "I want to take a pause for a sponsor break" here but I can't. So I'll say "if you are a Netflix subscriber, look for Dana Carvey's comedy special. There's a bit about Macca talking to John that's a laugh riot". As I type this, I'm looking to see if Amazon has the video. Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD yet, but I found the Netflix page:  Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60: A Netflix Original. What it is, is relevant to how we use technology these days. It's supposed to be Paul McCartney on Earth, having a conversation with John Lennon in Heaven. It deals with musicians these days thinking they're bigger than the Beatles and ends with the use of smartphones. I don't want to give away the whole bit or the punch line, but if you have to watch a few stand ups this year, this one should be on the list. 

Check out the links, see if you can find Dana's stand up, be good to yourselves..

Cheers;








See Also:


Main page of The People History

U.S. Timeline - The 1930s via "America's Best History"

Google keyword "us history 1938"