I guess it’s axiomatic that when kids finally leave the nest, they try to leave as much of their junk behind as they possibly can. But eventually the parents catch on, the nest is declared off limits, and the stuff has to go. It was during one such day of reckoning that I was helping a friend clear the clutter out of his parent’s store room.
As we sorted through old comics, sporting equipment, clothes and suitcases, I was amazed to find something called an “Emergency Life Pack.” It even included a commercially manufactured radiation fallout suit. Though it had remained sealed in its original packaging, it had been compressed by time into a brittle scrap of rotten plastic.
The parents demanded it be thrown out, but I managed to get a scan of the literature before it was consigned to oblivion.
Chris Ware material.
Sad part is, vendors are hawking new versions of the Cold War gizmos for the post 9/11 world. Hey, wait a minute - don’t throw that out, they might need it..
Yes, but things have changed a lot since the Cold War. Nowadays, we drape ourselves in cheap plastic 24/7 as a matter of course.