Steve Sailer: iSteve: No crying on Christmas

December 24, 2012

No crying on Christmas

Looking through old Christmas morning pictures, I appear to be happily brandishing some kind of weapon in virtually every single one of them.

Merry Christmas!

82 comments:

Auntie Analogue said...: Guarding your hoard there, aren't you?

Merry Christmas, Mr. Sailer and all Sailermates!; 12/24/12, 8:36 PM
jody said...: Merry Christmas to you sir. I appreciate the good work you do (not enough to donate, but enough to put up a bumper sticker.); 12/24/12, 8:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas!

You've always been a rascal, I see.

I wish you and your family the best.

May there be peace on Earth and good will!

Risto; 12/24/12, 9:37 PM
Luke Lea said...: So middle-class! Merry Christmas.; 12/24/12, 9:43 PM
Anonymous said...: My older brother got the identical rocket ship. Analog toys were great.; 12/24/12, 10:08 PM
San Franciscan non-monk said...: Merry Christmas, Steve.; 12/24/12, 10:13 PM
Anonymous said...: "American children get brighter as girls challenge boys at maths"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252975/American-children-brighter-girls-challenge-boys-maths.html

"A new controversial study is claiming that American children are getting smarter and that girls are catching up with boys when it comes to mathematics.

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina tackled the age old debate of 'nature versus nurture' in their study by investigating rising IQ scores over the past few decades.

They also looked at why the gap between the sexes seems to be closing in areas that were once reserved for male excellence, such as mathematics."; 12/24/12, 10:36 PM
The Lightworker said...: Merry Christmas!; 12/24/12, 11:01 PM
Anonymous said...: you'll shoot your eye out.; 12/24/12, 11:08 PM
Ray Sawhill said...: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/decades-ago-gun-makers-advertised-directly-to-kids-fotostrecke-91320.html; 12/24/12, 11:12 PM
stari_momak said...: Green army men. Blocks, forts, and green army men.; 12/25/12, 12:11 AM
ERM said...: I don't know, that toy right in front looks pretty girly....; 12/25/12, 12:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas, Steve.; 12/25/12, 12:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Is that a 'Davy Crockett' costume boxed-up there?; 12/25/12, 12:57 AM
dearieme said...: On Christmas day we used to open food packages sent by American cousins, who knew that we were suffering from postwar "austerity": sweets for the children and savouries for the adults. So I'm one of the few Britons who can eat Hershey's without pulling a face. I also learnt to enjoy stuffed olives, in an era when olive oil was largely reserved for use as a cure for earache.

Merry Christmas, Steve.; 12/25/12, 12:59 AM
Rob said...: Happy Christmas, Steve.
Someone in your house must have had a state of the art camera - great quality photography, considering it must have been around 1963.; 12/25/12, 1:13 AM
Jason Sylvester said...: It's been more than once, reading an article posted here on iSteve analyzing some aspect of our dishonest and degraded times, that I've thought of these words:

"To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone -- to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink -- greetings!" -George Orwell, 1984

Thank you for your work, Mr. Sailer: and Merry Christmas and all the best to you & yours in the year - and years - ahead.; 12/25/12, 1:26 AM
Steve Sailer said...: "Someone in your house must have had a state of the art camera - great quality photography, considering it must have been around 1963."

Right, my Dad bought a Leica M3 in Germany in 1959. It was one helluva camera for the time. I got a state-of-the-art Olympus SLR for Christmas in 1976, but I still respected the old man's camera. He finally sold it to a camera store around 1990.; 12/25/12, 1:34 AM
Steve Sailer said...: "Is that a 'Davy Crockett' costume boxed-up there?"

I'm dressed up as Davy Crockett in dozens of subsequent photos, so I'd guess: Yes.; 12/25/12, 1:35 AM
wren said...: Cool! Nothing but the good stuff!

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 2:31 AM
Nick Diaz said...: Yes, Steve Sailer, in an age of multi-megaton nuclear weapons where ther are no second chances, this is exactly what we sould be doing to boys: not only catering to but encouraging the worst instincts of the male gender.

Once again, the colossal stupidity of conservative "reasoning" at work.; 12/25/12, 3:38 AM
Brazilian said...: I also miss my childhood... There is no confort in knowing how this World REALLY works.

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 3:46 AM
SFG said...: Seems like a normal boy to me. Pre-feminism, anyway.

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 4:34 AM
Anonymous said...: The handling of all those "weapons" indisputably started you on the life trajectory that you now find yourself on. Any regrets or animus towards those parental influences that may have pushed you over the edge, so to speak?

Merry Christmas Steve.; 12/25/12, 4:44 AM
Gene Berman said...: Steve:

Leica was the best readily available at the time. A better type of camera (though not quite as well-made) was, at the time, being manufactured by the Zeiss works at Jena (brand-named Practika): it was, I believe, the first of the SLRs (though there were several reflex cameras of the twin-lens type available) but was not so widely available (because made in GDR (East Grmany).

Not long after, Japanese optical manufacturers (Nikon, Topcon, Olympus, etc.) produced the design at more popular prices and these quickly became popular among professionals in journalism and science throughout the world and with amateurs in more prosperous places.

Back in those days, manufacturers (deliberately?) built cameras that only accepted lenses of their own manufacture. At the time, I worked for a company involved in related business and came up with the idea of producing adapter rings to allow interchangeability between most popular cameras and lenses. These proved enormously popular, selling "like hot cakes" for 3-5 years, after which a company--specializing in cheap accessories--jumped in and even expanded that line.; 12/25/12, 5:01 AM
Anonymous said...: In the 50's and 60's every boy I knew got toy guns as gifts. They all grew up to be law abiding citizens as well...

e.d.; 12/25/12, 6:14 AM
Anonymous said...: I think it's later. 1967 is my guess. We had the same 2 chairs, in green.; 12/25/12, 6:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas, Steve, to you, your family and your readers!

cipher; 12/25/12, 6:54 AM
Anonymous said...: You've since chosen to wield a much mightier weapon.; 12/25/12, 7:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas, Valley Boy. We are the evil generation according to both the left and right. The left William Frey hates babyboomers from wanting to take money away from young hispanics and the right we were into drugs and sex too much according to the late Robert Bork.; 12/25/12, 7:17 AM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas.

However, I leave you with a questions.

Now that we have elected the affirmative action candidate twice, what more do liberals want from us?; 12/25/12, 7:46 AM
Anonymous said...: More anti-gun propaganda

I see that the kid believes in gun control. Both hands on the gun!; 12/25/12, 7:49 AM
as said...: Merry Christmas.

Great photo.; 12/25/12, 7:55 AM
Anonymous said...: On study shows that girls are catching up to boys but another study shows that women with big breasts tend to be more intelligent.

I know which one I want to believe!; 12/25/12, 8:01 AM
Hunsdon said...: Merry Christmas, Steve!; 12/25/12, 8:15 AM
Corn said...: Merry Christmas to Steve and all Sailerites.; 12/25/12, 8:18 AM
Kylie said...: What a wonderful photo. Trust your dad to get a good camera and know how to take good pics with it.

Is that an old hi-fi with its lid lifted in the background? My family had one. We even had the obligatory Mantovani records to go with it.

No crying in the Kylie household today. He got cash for his guns and I got cash for my dollhouse furniture.

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 8:30 AM
Kylie said...: "http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252975/American-children-brighter-girls-challenge-boys-maths.html

A new controversial study is claiming that American children are getting smarter and that girls are catching up with boys when it comes to mathematics."

Also from the linked article:

"But the recent study shows how between 1981 and 2010, the ratio of boys to girls in the top 0.01% of maths scores in the Scholastic Aptitude Test at high school (SATs) dropped from 13 to 1, to 4 to 1 in the Nineties before plateauing."

What else happened during that time wrt the SAT? Anything that might explain both the narrowing of the achievement gap and its plateauing?

The only thing controversial about this study is its dishonesty.; 12/25/12, 8:41 AM
Harry Baldwin said...: Like a lot of old family photos, the color has gone very red. I could fix that in Photoshop but then it wouldn't have that authentically early '60s look.

I have a camping lantern like the one in the foreground.; 12/25/12, 8:41 AM
Anonymous said...: If Steve's parents were 30 years old today, my guess is that they'd fit right into the SWPL mould.

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 8:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas Steve! Somehow, someway, men will find a way to right this country.; 12/25/12, 8:59 AM
Anonymous said...: The Scott Farkus Affair, as it came to be known....; 12/25/12, 9:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Is that a "hi-fi" (or new stereo!) with its lid open in the right half of the pic?

Brings back memories.; 12/25/12, 9:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Your dog looked like my dog Buffy.; 12/25/12, 9:07 AM
Auntie Analogue said...: Fess Parker portryaed Davy Crockett in a 1955 Disney film and in TV programs (I believe the TV episodes were edited to make the theatrical release film) which, along with record releases (by at least four different male vocalists, one of whom was Parker, and all of the versions charted well) of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," sparked a huge Davy Crockett craze that ran from 1955-56, then rapidly petered out. In 1964 Parker debuted in the starring role of the TV series 'Daniel Boone' which ran through 1970.

Judging by clues Mr. Sailer has given to his age, my best guess would be that the image of Fess Parker in his photo from a Christmas past is from the 1964-70 'Daniel Boone' TV program's heyday.; 12/25/12, 9:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Nice photo Mr. Sailer. The little dog is cute.; 12/25/12, 9:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Steve, is that a flat screen HDTV to your back right? You had to have been one of the first on your block with one

Merry Christmas,

Dan in DC; 12/25/12, 10:35 AM
Anonymous said...: Seriously, how wild would that be if just under the tree you saw a rectangular box with the outline of an apple and the words IPad on it.....

Dan in DC; 12/25/12, 10:39 AM
Mr. Anon said...: Merry Christmas, Steve. Thanks for all you do.; 12/25/12, 12:53 PM
wren said...: I appear to be happily brandishing some kind of weapon in virtually every single one of them.

And your pen is the most potent of them all...; 12/25/12, 1:00 PM
Maya said...: Adorable picture!
You know, at the first glance I saw a little boy playing on an old 90s style computer, before seeing that it's a box. What about your sons, Mr. Sailer? Did you get them guns or shooting computer games, back when they were cute little tykes?

Merry Christmas!
We're having a white one in Chicago.

As is now tradition, my father is by the doorwith a camera, balalaika and chocolate gold coins, waiting for carolers, like the ones he had seen in the American movies that were bootlegged into the old country in the early 90s. And just like on every other one of dad's American Christmas days, they aren't coming. He says it's all been damn lies and capitalist propoganda.

Merry Christmas!; 12/25/12, 1:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Tree on a table for protection from that savage animal? Merry Christmas.; 12/25/12, 1:14 PM
Anonymous said...: You'll shoot your dog's eye out.; 12/25/12, 1:47 PM
Anonymous said...: I wonder if there's a correlation between people's acceptance of HBD and being around dogs a lot when they were a kid? A dog that has an emotional bond with you makes you realize how different minds can be and still "get along".; 12/25/12, 7:25 PM
Anonymous said...: How much longer do we think it will be before Davy Crocket is either purged from American history or re-habilitated as a gay, partially black transgender?; 12/25/12, 8:06 PM
Sideways said...: Someone's parent(s) got it. Nice haul.

Merry Christmas.; 12/25/12, 8:35 PM
Anonymous said...: For a few years during my childhood, dont remember a day without a toy gun by my side.

Merry Christmas from Spain Steve!; 12/25/12, 8:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I like the dog.; 12/25/12, 8:56 PM
Anonymous said...: If you still had all those toys, you could retire from blogging. That would never have worked for me. My toys were typically broken within a few hours on Christmas day by my big brothers..." Let me show you how that works"...yea, there was some tears.; 12/26/12, 12:43 AM
Tank said...: Weapons?

Thus confirming your maleness.; 12/26/12, 5:17 AM
Anonymous said...: I think the original Davy Crockett suit craze was circa '55-'56; that's when Mother got one for me; '63 must have been a "revival".; 12/26/12, 5:44 AM
vandelay said...: Nice guard dog; 12/26/12, 5:55 AM
Dan said...: What happened to Taki's Magazine?

It has been down for days...; 12/26/12, 6:40 AM
hbd chick said...: Auntie Analogue said... "Merry Christmas, Mr. Sailer and all Sailermates!"

ditto! (^_^); 12/26/12, 7:10 AM
Miss Shields said...: You'll put your eye out; 12/26/12, 8:50 AM
Anonymous said...: If one does not give little boys toy guns (or if, as was the case with me, they quickly break most of the cheap plastic ones you do give them), they'll go out into the nearest patch of trees and start breaking sticks into the proper shape for whatever period of combat is being reenacted (pine cones naturally make excellent hand grenades). Girls can occasionally be induced, with much effort, to join in combat, but generally lose interest quickly, and deliberately get themselves "killed" so they can go off and find something else to do, while boys prefer to stubbornly fight on despite having been informed of multiple critical gunshot wounds (or, in the vernacular "I got you! You're dead! I got you ten times in the head- with a missile launcher!").

I don't have any kids yet, but if any sons come into the picture, I'll try to produce a small arsenal out of hardwood. This should be sturdier and longer-lasting than the cheap plastic stuff I always used to break, and also has the advantage of being visually distinct from my real-life grownup firearms, so as to minimize risk of confusion or unfortunate accidents. Of course, there's no telling what kids will take to- they'll probably want something bright, plastic, and easily-breakable.; 12/26/12, 9:41 AM
FakeName said...: I watch a lot of TCM. It's a little jarring to see how relaxed everyone is around guns in old movies. And how men were *expected* to know how to shot.; 12/26/12, 9:56 AM
Anonymous said...: We're close in age, Steve (I was born in 1958), and me and my 3 brothers hardly ever got Christmas gifts that weren't marked Tonka, Revell, Daisy or Louisville Slugger! Boys WILL be boys!

Merry Christmas to all.; 12/26/12, 11:45 AM
josh said...: What a great haul! Did your parents pay for all of these gifts or did some of the money come from donations from your classmates?; 12/26/12, 11:53 AM
Maya said...: On third look, you don't appear too happy. Perhaps a nice gender neutral gift would have put a smile on your face...; 12/26/12, 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...: What was the dog's name?; 12/26/12, 1:55 PM
Anonymous said...: "On third look, you don't appear too happy."

Probably Christmas blues. Much more fun to look forward to Christmas than have the day arrive and go by so quickly.; 12/26/12, 1:58 PM
Anonymous said...: "What a great haul!"

Actually, in all seriousness, what's striking is the moderateness of the gifts.
Most kids today--even of the relatively poor--would be disappointed with what Sailer got. And for whatever reason, parents today feel they gotta go all out and make kids happy with lots and lots of everything--and all year around.

Christmas was special to me as a child because I got toys and stuff only on Christmas and Birthday, and the limit on both day was $20.
But it's like a lot of kids today get stuff all year round and on Christmas, get even more stuff.
Easy credit and cheap foreign built goods?; 12/26/12, 2:03 PM
Steve Sailer said...: The dog's name was Topper, a Cocker Spaniel, which was the most popular breed in the country in the 1950s. But, overbreeding caused problems and it declined rapidly in popularity.; 12/26/12, 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: "overbreeding caused problems and it declined rapidly in popularity."

Probably just more new inexperienced dog owners who don't know how to train this breed properly, resulting in behaviour problems.

I propose a mandatory 3 month state-run obedience-school enrollment for all Cocker Spaniel puppies.; 12/26/12, 3:34 PM
David said...: Was watching "The Lemon Drop Kid" on TCM the other night... in the opening credit sequence, the camera pans down a glittering living-room-Christmas-tree, with ornaments in the shape of objects that represent typical Christmas gifts. The corny happy music swelled as the camera swung from one innocuous item to another... suddenly, the next item was a huge hand gun. I thought: is this a gag? After all, the movie is a comedy that involves the mob. But no. I may be wrong, but as far as I could tell, the inclusion of a hand gun here was non-ironic - i.e., it was not a reference to the mob element in the story. The hand gun seemed to be presented as a normal, typical, wholesome Christmas object, wholly expected, not out of place with the other gifts. Anyway, I got a kick out of this. It's the little things in life.; 12/26/12, 5:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Well, I had the Lost in Space Robot in Christmas 1965 when I was 8 years old.; 12/26/12, 5:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Merry Christmas Steve!; 12/26/12, 5:43 PM
CleonFromMPC said...: Do you still have the dog? He looks cool; 12/26/12, 7:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Fantastic photo! The only bad omens in the picture are those in the color of the chairs. "Burnt Siena" was to be a highlight of the 1970s.

I know, because when I was born in 1970, that color in your chairs had deepened. With a bit more chestnut and more luxurious DuPont nylon, even the carpets had become red.

That was pretty much the bottom of the 1970s. By 1980, there was Reagan and cool blues instead of browns and sweaters in summer and malaise.

Everybody knows about the skirt hems and recessions, etc. What about colors?; 12/26/12, 8:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Assuming that lantern is still around (they last forever) and made by Coleman,it will be Date-Stamped on the bottom, a good clue.; 12/19/13, 7:57 AM
nick said...: I like your dog, Sailer.; 1/24/14, 7:06 AM

Steve Sailer: iSteve

December 24, 2012

No crying on Christmas

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Steve Sailer: iSteve

December 24, 2012

No crying on Christmas

82 comments:

Panhandling

Subscribe To iSteve

Links

Search This Blog

Recent Comments

Classic Steve Sailer articles

Subscribe To

Rough Cut

Subscribe To iSteve

"What Is Winter Good For?"

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