After working at GE's Polycarbonate plant (world's largest) in Mt. Vernon, In. for over 20 years, I find this video to be a most informative view of GE. Too know where they go after this film, after hearing them talk about the future, I feel outer worldly! And very old...
Bakelite was an early plastic that has been quite valuable and collectible in many forms from jewelry to flatware. The most valuable version is the Catalin version of Bakelite.
Major issue with plastics is that they are not all recyclable. They may have recycle triangle on them but the local recycler's can't process it so it goes to a landfill.
of course, every new and exciting discovery gets corrupted for commerce. good quality acrylic and polyethelene will out last you. but we don't have good quality acrylic and poly-ethelene we have the cheap crap that breaks down after a few years so it has to be replaced, that's Commerce. Plastics had such potential, now, it's just pollution
It may have been a "simpler" time but for me as a millenial who likes culture there was no farmers markets, ddt was sprayed everywhere, women gave birth artificially and were drugged and older houses with character were being knocked down in favor of boxy cookie cutter houses!!!
They didn't really need farmer's markets because a huge bulk of the food came from local farmers nearby, and many people (like my great grandma) grew and canned a decent amount of their own produce as well. There really weren't giant big ag farms then, it was still mostly smaller share farmers growing things that were sold into the city. Also, in the 40s a decent amount of women still gave birth naturally if they lived in more rural areas. My great grandma moved to Denver in the 1940s, and she still chose a home birth attended by a physician. So there were options, and how things were done varied depending on where in the country you lived and being rural vs in the city. Most of the old buildings were left alone in the 40s because there as actually not enough housing. The 50s housing boom was just to make long overdue badly needed housing. The problem really began in the 1960s and 70s once the building had finally caught up. That is when they went crazy on ripping down all the old buildings and houses. Sounds like the DDT was all over the place though...but just goes to show that just because govt says something is "safe and effective" doesn't mean it is necessarily true. They did a lot of work in govt convincing people that spraying entire neighborhoods was totally safe for even children and well...that didn't turn out to be so true. I am an old milennial/very young gen X, and what I think people miss from that era is how much more family and community there was. People didn't divorce at the drop of a hat, and most moms stayed at home and planned community things like get togethers, charities, church events, etc. So people got to enjoy more of their off work time socializing with their neighbors and other people. Kids were given more independence on average to run around and do what they wanted outside without helicopter parents freaking out, and without internet and cable tv the pace of life actually was a good deal slower and less on a 24/7 clock. I think some of the older morals and values were good. We threw away too many good values from the past just because some of them weren't so great (threw the baby out with the bath water). Back then there was also more job security, and you could stay with an employer and work your way up while knowing someday there would be a decent pension. Things like that made people enjoy the past more than the present. I also think that we are not more cultured now than in the past. If anything, we are erasing our culture and our history nowadays in so many ways. Regional differences are disappearing more and more too I have noticed since even my own childhood in the 80s/90s.
No farmer's markets? Huh? Most of our produce was grown locally, as the other poster correctly noted. In fact, home grown food was the norm, not the exception.
Maybe we have overused plastic, but so many things are made with it, we would be living a lot more expensive, rustic life without it. Especially in the medical field I shudder to think what it would be like if we did not have plastics, antibiotics, and other tech. There would so much more human carnage without our tech like plastics. But of course to an extent we have overused it in some areas.
After working at GE's Polycarbonate plant (world's largest) in Mt. Vernon, In. for over 20 years, I find this video to be a most informative view of GE. Too know where they go after this film, after hearing them talk about the future, I feel outer worldly! And very old...
"I've got one word for you. Just one world. Plastics."
"What do you mean?"
I was going to say that!
Plastics are the future!
I used to make plastic tubs in 1943 for GE right before I retired. Don't miss it.
As huge collector of Bakelite, I enjoyed this film, thanks.
AK mags?
@@donjulio5045 Bakelite jewelry, radios, various household items.
Spent some time at GE in Pittsfield, MA 30-odd years ago.
I’m sorry 😢
Bakelite was an early plastic that has been quite valuable and collectible in many forms from jewelry to flatware. The most valuable version is the Catalin version of Bakelite.
The grandson of Bakelite's inventor murdered his mother...and that's only where the story begins.
@@tomservo56954 Very interesting! Lots of twists and turns in history. Thanks!
Mah Jongg!
At that time they had no idea of the estrogens in plastic, such as asbestos in Eternite, unfortunately Bakkelite has been replaced.
Originally released in the fall of 1945, shortly after the end of World War II.
Major issue with plastics is that they are not all recyclable. They may have recycle triangle on them but the local recycler's can't process it so it goes to a landfill.
Or the ocean!
Plastic is still a mineral derivative
children used to be like small adults....
Look at their little suits and dresses 😍
And then it all went horribly wrong 😪
Now adults look like big children...and act like them, too.
@@pacather this is the correct answer.
@@fujifrontier on purpose...if ya don't know, look into it...
Plastics, eh? I wonder if they ever caught on.
Should be renamed “Plastics : a slow descent into hell” 🙃
5:28 plastic waffles
Now it a curse.
We’re currently in the Holocene Era, but one professor has dubbed the post WW2 era, the Plasticine Era”.
There were plastics before WW2. Since the mid 1800s...
We’re in the Anthropocene.
@@Graeberwave negative, that epoch name has not been approved by any geological authority yet. Until they do, its the holocene epoch
@@dziban303 the point is flying way over your head. You wanna screech about an authority now?
@@Graeberwave You wouldn't have heard of any of these epochs if it weren't for those geological organizations, Dipshiticus
of course, every new and exciting discovery gets corrupted for commerce. good quality acrylic and polyethelene will out last you. but we don't have good quality acrylic and poly-ethelene we have the cheap crap that breaks down after a few years so it has to be replaced, that's Commerce. Plastics had such potential, now, it's just pollution
funding by general electric vieweres like you thank you
[c] 1940 genertal electric and jam hhandy all rights reseverd
It may have been a "simpler" time but for me as a millenial who likes culture there was no farmers markets, ddt was sprayed everywhere, women gave birth artificially and were drugged and older houses with character were being knocked down in favor of boxy cookie cutter houses!!!
They didn't really need farmer's markets because a huge bulk of the food came from local farmers nearby, and many people (like my great grandma) grew and canned a decent amount of their own produce as well. There really weren't giant big ag farms then, it was still mostly smaller share farmers growing things that were sold into the city. Also, in the 40s a decent amount of women still gave birth naturally if they lived in more rural areas. My great grandma moved to Denver in the 1940s, and she still chose a home birth attended by a physician. So there were options, and how things were done varied depending on where in the country you lived and being rural vs in the city.
Most of the old buildings were left alone in the 40s because there as actually not enough housing. The 50s housing boom was just to make long overdue badly needed housing. The problem really began in the 1960s and 70s once the building had finally caught up. That is when they went crazy on ripping down all the old buildings and houses.
Sounds like the DDT was all over the place though...but just goes to show that just because govt says something is "safe and effective" doesn't mean it is necessarily true. They did a lot of work in govt convincing people that spraying entire neighborhoods was totally safe for even children and well...that didn't turn out to be so true.
I am an old milennial/very young gen X, and what I think people miss from that era is how much more family and community there was. People didn't divorce at the drop of a hat, and most moms stayed at home and planned community things like get togethers, charities, church events, etc. So people got to enjoy more of their off work time socializing with their neighbors and other people. Kids were given more independence on average to run around and do what they wanted outside without helicopter parents freaking out, and without internet and cable tv the pace of life actually was a good deal slower and less on a 24/7 clock. I think some of the older morals and values were good. We threw away too many good values from the past just because some of them weren't so great (threw the baby out with the bath water). Back then there was also more job security, and you could stay with an employer and work your way up while knowing someday there would be a decent pension. Things like that made people enjoy the past more than the present.
I also think that we are not more cultured now than in the past. If anything, we are erasing our culture and our history nowadays in so many ways. Regional differences are disappearing more and more too I have noticed since even my own childhood in the 80s/90s.
No farmer's markets? Huh?
Most of our produce was grown locally, as the other poster correctly noted. In fact, home grown food was the norm, not the exception.
Their game was so boring that they would rather listen to her dad talk about the history of plastic lol!
Yay plastics!
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Plastics."
Excepting, of course, if it WAS the plastics that made him rich
We are destroying the planet with plastic, I wish they never invented it.
Maybe we have overused plastic, but so many things are made with it, we would be living a lot more expensive, rustic life without it. Especially in the medical field I shudder to think what it would be like if we did not have plastics, antibiotics, and other tech. There would so much more human carnage without our tech like plastics. But of course to an extent we have overused it in some areas.
I want to say one word to you. Just one word: phthalates!
That’s why old plastic stuff lasts and lasts 😂
This did not age well at all 💀