Yeah, barns *did* have a lot of lamps in them. That's why there were so many barn fires.

Seriously -- you've never used a Coleman lamp? Just curled up in your bunker spewing paranoid nonsense your whole life?

oil was expensive and the lamps did not light well. so people did not typically work by lamplight. i dont know, thats just how it was. what can i tell you.

here you go i just read the wikipedia article working time in the subsection history

The industrial revolution made it possible for a larger segment of the population to work year-round, because this labor was not tied to the season and artificial lighting made it possible to work longer each day. Peasants and farm laborers moved from rural areas to factories, and working time during the year increased significantly.[

or maybe industrial revolution is when lamps were invented? even then, there was a time when people worked less hours i guess is what i am getting at... maybe.

"i dont know, thats just how it was. what can i tell you. "

You can not tell anyone anything...because you oft profess ignorance, your spew nonsense unsupported by fact or logic.

You fail to comprehend that "made it possible for a *larger* segment of the population to work year round" IMPLIES that some were working year round already...and also has *nothing* to do with whether or not a Farmer...who can **very easily** render fat in to oil for his lamps...can work in his barn with a lamp.

Genetically deficient. I might have to hand over my KoT Crown to you...as I have previously been the King of the Trolls, but you are making me look rationale. Not good for you...

we can test it now. find some strict amish community and find out how hard they work. i think they spend a year in the outside world or something. go ask them how it compares, work-wise. i just dont want to hear this propaganda that has been pushed on society forever that we are somehow better off now. we are not.

"i call bs. my relatives told me about the past and they were not working 18 hour days. is this number from real people or a textbook?"

Real people. My great grandpa worked a 12 hour day (sunlight) with 9 children. His son worked 14 hours a day with 10 children. Combined, they lived with one car in total, one house, one farm, and zero luxuries.

It's not from a textbook. Yes, things have changed, but those two worked so much harder than you or I could ever comprehend in today's typical urban job setting.

to be honest if i had 9 children i would probably have to work more than 12 hours.

Yes, to maintain your standard of living. His house was about the size of a single-wide trailer. His food came mostly from a garden kept by his wife. He didn't own a car (they began to grow in popularity around the time he stopped having children but all still lived in the house). None of his children went to school beyond eighth grade. That's what he got out of working 12 hours a day for his whole life until he retired.

@ blankflag - as it so happens, I live 7 miles from Kalona, Iowa, the largest old-order Amish settlement west of the Mississippi River. The Amish work so hard it would make you crap your britches just to keep up until noon. And yes, they do have lamps, so the work starts before dawn (baking, milking, etc.) and goes on after dark (cooking, milking, etc.)

In all fairness, the Amish way of life does lend itself towards lots of family time, so maybe cooking for 8 hours over a woodfired stove with your six daughters may seem less like "work" than driving off to the office, but it's still work.

Our area also has a large number of conservative Mennonites. They tend to own small family businesses - plumbing, construction, roofing, concrete, earthmoving, bakeries, woodshops, etc. They work way harder than the average office-dweller, but again, their lives are much more family oriented. An interesting tradeoff, I'm sure you have something judgemental to say about it, eh?

when i was a kid i spent time in some middle of nowhere locations. and i hated it. bored out of my mind. cards and crocheting were the bees knees in those days. but being heterosexual i did not crochet. back then i needed the city to not go nuts. but after living in the city for all this time, it really doesnt appeal to me anymore... i actually really enjoyed farm work. sure maybe if i did it all my life it would get old after a while, but sitting in front of a computer all day cant be healthy.

My male roommate crochets really well. His blankets get him so much pussy.

But he crochets Abge means he must be gay. (P.S. what patterns does he use. So looking for a few more to try).

He hand-makes his patterns on engineering paper. It's rather intense.

If sitting in your office on your computer all day, you're welcome to leave idiotic statements like that one out of here and go find your farm.

Yeah that is pretty crazy, but hey I do something like that for sewing patterns.

farms are expensive these days. maybe? actually i have no idea. well office work is stupid and lame. that is my assessment. the thing is the majority of people working crap jobs now probably cant afford a farm. and also they are somehow convinced that working 60 hours to pay a mortgage on some million dollar house is the way to live your life.

Yes, farms are very expensive. Ground around here rarely goes for less than 8k an acre, 10k is a lot more like it. To say nothing of equipment, buildings, etc. A combine can easily set you back 500k...but they have great air conditioning, nice sound systems, and gps guidance.

Anyway, if you don't want to work 60 hours a week to pay a mortgage on a million dollar house, don't. Buy a cheaper house, pay cash for your cars, use Dave Ramsey's cash envelope system. There's a lot of different ways to live - if you're willing to stop complaining about everyone else and get on with your own life.

Every last one of you:

This clip I found the other day illustrates very well how extreme the situation really is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM&feature=player_embedded

yeah i am watching that clip. that about sums it up. the saddest part is that it will get even worse once the recovery happens, if it ever happens in any way, because the richest have taken all the assets in the collapse.

"even those slaves and servants were only spending half their working time for their masters"
Yeah, because after labour laws that banned child labour and the 40-hour work week people (especially children) started working harder.

I'm sorry but this is total bullshit.

Also if we are going to talk about income inequality I feel the need to show these 2 videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhcqua3_W8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkebmhTQN-4

it isnt bullshit. half the time slaves would be looking after themselves or their families, not working for their masters.

that was common practice. i dont know about the law, but the slavery reform act limited the working day to 12 hours with 1 hour off for lunch. but just because the legal limit was 12 hours doesnt mean people were typically working 12 hours. you cant really force people to work nonstop all day and night. they have to choose to do that.

and think about the earlier comment that someone had to spend all 12 hours of the day working just to stay alive. the slave has to eat, so just for technical reasons he would have to spend at least half his time to support himself, right? otherwise a free man should only have to spend half the day working to stay alive.

You have no idea how slavery works. As a slave you get paid $0, you get no breaks and no vacations, there is no retirement age.

Food and Shelter is provided by your master, but literally every second you can be working those cotton fields, you will be.

I seriously hope you're trolling, because if your not then wow.