Mind Blowing Things That Have Happened In My Lifetime

  1. The Apollo moon missions. Putting men on the moon aned bringing them back again must rank as the biggest technological achievement ever by Mankind.

  2. The ex wife of the next King of England dying in a car crash in Paris after a high speed chase through Paris. These things only happen in the movies, right?

  3. The destruction of the Twin Towers by terrorists flying passenger planes. These things only happen in the movies, right?

  4. England winning the World Cup. These things dont even happen in the movies, right?


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All of the above plus my dad buying me a Davy Crockett hat circa 1955.

Originally posted by @Sadoldgit

  1. The Apollo moon missions. Putting men on the moon aned bringing them back again must rank as the biggest technological achievement ever by Mankind.

  2. The ex wife of the next King of England dying in a car crash in Paris after a high speed chase through Paris. These things only happen in the movies, right?

  3. The destruction of the Twin Towers by terrorists flying passenger planes. These things only happen in the movies, right?

  4. England winning the World Cup. These things dont even happen in the movies, right?

Actually none of those happened, git. What the hell do you think you’re doing posting those fictions on papsweb?

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The Challenger space shuttle disaster was pretty big for me back in 1986

The invasion of Iraq in 2003. Not because it was an invasion of Iraq, but because it was the first war where media and social media were right there. I remember going home at lunch and watching live feeds of Iraq soldiers searching the river banks of the Tigress river as there were rumours an allied pilot had been shot down. On a lighter note, who could forget Comical Ali telling us that US troops were no-where near the Capital Bagdad, there then followed pictures of American tanks rolling up the main street in Bagdad!!

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Originally posted by @Furball

Actually none of those happened, git. What the hell do you think you’re doing posting those fictions on papsweb?

That’s the spirit :laughing:

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You lucky bastard! I would have sold my granny for a Davy Crockett hat back in the 50s!

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Given that most women say men think with their dicks, my first girlfriend blew my mind.

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Without inviting any controversy, 9/11 has got to be the pivotal moment for me. It has changed the course of the world ever since, from foreign policy to the removal of civil liberties such as habeas corpus which have been seen as cornerstones of our liberty. The reaction was staggering. Pre-emptive wars with no post conflict planning. Draconian measures back home. Torture as a state sanctioned means of information gathering. At the time, we were told that the terrorists wouldn’t change the way we live. Technically true, maybe - but the politicians did it on their behalf. Let’s not forget that the Blair government instituted a fucking enabling act, still on the books.

Constraining myself to the reaction, the real worry is precedent. No general ever took an army into Rome, until someone did - and then almost everyone considered it as a way of resolving their disputes. Once the unthinkable happens, it’s no longer off the menu. It’s easier to do again. Pre-emptive invasion, torture and illegal detention are all huge red lines that the West crossed in the pursuit of what it said was security. Drone strikes that have a 95% collateral damage rate are spun into guardians of freedom (has no-one seen Terminator, FFS). The fear and loathing that both the atrocity and the reaction generated changed the world forever, and I’m sorry to say that the West was not equal to the task.

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A great deal of truth in that, Papster. I don’t agree with you on the attacks themselves (I’ve seen your views on that elsewhere!), but your dissection of the aftermath is spot on.

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Events that I distinctly remember where I was (building and room) when I heard they happened:

John Lennon being shot

Thatcher resigning

Diana crash

Twin Towers

9/11 was a proper wtf moment

Berlin wall coming down

Iranian embassy crisis - i was a nipper at the time. I seem to recall it interupted the footie, but the images of the SAS storming the building stuck wilth me.

Twin Towers? Lordshill Sainsburys

John Lennon? Morning news, in bed with the missus.

Diana crash? As above

Kennedy assassination? Getting ready for my birthday party.

Good calls on the assassination of JFK, shooting of Lennon and the Berlin Wall coming down.

Live Aid - That was pretty big at the time

I do like 9/11, but it didn’t really mean much to me at the time, cos I’d never heard of World Trade Centre. I was prob more mind blown that time when a bro got caught in Co-op, in Plymouth, trying to sniff peoples bumholes

The birth of baby cambridge is prob right up there also.

I work in finance (yawn, I know…) and the other defining event of recent times, apart from 9/11, was the global financial crash. We’re still feeling the effects now. The key moment was when the US government let Lehman’s go to the wall - 15th Sep 2008 (without looking it up). But the image that sticks in the mind was the previous year, with a good old 1930s-style bank run, as people stood on UK high streets trying to get their money out of Northern Rock branches. Truly astonishing.

From an SFC perspective the Kevin Keegan signing was er, rather surprising as well!

The sinking of the General Belgrano followed a day or so later by the sinking of HMS Sheffield in the Falklands Conflict.

I shall never forget the Ministry of Defence spokesman announcing the latter live on the nine o clock news.

Seeing as we are all here wasting time on it, and I for one cannot imagine life without it, I would suggest the tinterweb is pretty mind blowing.

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I was going to say Google, because it made the Internet useful.

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