Comment by PaulRobinson | Hacker News Reader

Comment by PaulRobinson | Hacker News Reader

The coal mines were tough places way back when. I know a few old boys from the mines in Wales and Lancashire, less so over in Yorkshire.

Hard. As. Fuck.

Almost fearless. Grateful for a quiet life now they're out of it.

I know one guy who bought a very small mine in the High Peak which he and a mate thought there was 3-4 years work left in for them. Just them. On their own. Tiny, tiny seam. Off they went. Utterly bonkers.

I grew up in a mill town myself, and all the local towns have stories about kids being put to work and the odd one being killed. My school trips were to Litton Mill, where the working conditions were once so bad there was a Parliamentary enquiry into the child deaths there.

What I'm getting to is, I am unbelievably lucky to live in the age I do where I get to work with my brain, I was able to get a decent education despite relatively modest beginnings and I would never, ever, ever look down on a manual labourer like a coal miner: they were tough bastards.

And it is of course now mostly past tense - not many mines left in the UK, despite there still being plenty of coal down there.

Not many in the UK, but worldwide there are plenty of mines and that story could take place in the present day quite easily in many countries.

Oh absolutely, and the stuff going on out in China right now will scar generations in numerous ways.

But in the UK at least, coal mining and even big/heavy industry is mostly historical now. Coal mines, ship yards, even a lot of the bigger factories and nearly all the mills are now very quiet. A few still around, but not many.

It's why Fred Dibnah was so popular in his later years: walking, talking history.

As an American, I had to Google Fred Dibnah since I had never heard of him. The quick-and-dirty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Dibnah

Extra bonus video: here he is at age 50 scaling a chimney... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg . Made my palms a bit sweaty just watching it. Amazing that he didn't even use a harness.

Fred Dibnah was pretty much a steam hacker.

Thanks for that link, amazing story.

I met Fred on numerous occasions before he died, his sons are members of the forum I run. Fred was a great storyteller, it was chance he was picked up by the BBC and over time he developed into a great TV orator of the British Victorian age.

So much of our society is built upon those now seemingly antiquated inventions - old Fred had a way of explaining it and making it interesting with his enthusiasm. Like some many who's history he documented he was taken too young.

And some of these make the working conditions UK in the 70-80s look pretty good by comparison.

The big mines in Australia are all open cut and it's all done with monstrous size machinery. When they are done they fill it all back in again and nature reclaims the land. A much better way.

If you want to give your kids a lesson today, you can simply take them to the factory where their iPhones are manufactured. Although lack of geographical proximity will make it easier to forget.

What exactly is the lesson given here I wonder?

Appreciating living in a first world country.

I've never been to either place, but judging from internet photos, the iPhone factories are not nearly as impressive as where old iPhones end up at:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/14/ghana-dump-elec...

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