Monday, October 25, 2010

Comparing today with 100 years ago

How times have changed! 100 years ago there were less than 20,000 motorcars in the whole world, a lot of them being electric cars. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph (16km/h). The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world, at 1063 ft (324 metres).
Most women washed their hair only once a month using egg yolks for shampoo. Eggs cost about 10 cents per dozen. Cannabis and heroin were available over the counter at corner drugstores. And pneumonia and influenza were the leading causes of death.

In 1910, the population of the United States was 92 million and the world population was 1.7 billion people.
Today, there are more cars manufactured than their is demand for it. There are about 1 billion cars and light trucks on the road, half of them in the United States. The maximum speed limit in most cities is 30 mph, yet the traffic is so congested that the average speed is just over 10 mph. The tallest building is the Burj Dubai, at 2,640 ft (800 metres).
Women wash their hair on average once a week – using any of thousands of products. Eggs cost $2 per dozen on average. Cannabis is not available over the counter – bar a few countries – and is very expensive. And the leading causes of death are heart attacks, cancers, strokes, and motorcar accidents.
Today, the population of the United States numbers 300 million and almost 7 billion roam the earth.
How far did the dollar stretch?


See: Comparing today with 100 years ago

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