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vienna · 12-30-16, 02:14 PM

@GoldenRivet...

I see you were born in 1979; I was born in 1950; you're the younger generation my generation complained/complains about; it all goes full circle. A few nights back I was dealing with some chronic insomnia and I turned on the TV at about 4:30 AM. Every station on the set was actively broadcasting and my mind flashed back to when all stations ceased to broadcast by about midnight, a few even earlier. All you got on your sets was either a test pattern, with an annoying signal tone or static snow. Thinking about the difference made me think about all the other vast changes, just in my lifetime. You mentioned rotary dial phones and waiting to make calls to take advantage of lower rates; did you ever have to deal with party lines, where several households shared the same line and you could only make a call if none of the other parties to the line were not using their phones. (Incidentally, if you did make a call, the other parties to the line could very well just listen in on your conversations, a sort of 'pre-historic' hacking or Blu-jacking.) Virtually none of the then current technology of my youth exists in its original form today...

Generational differences will always exist. My parents were immigrants and had a very rudimentary education. My father was in the Merchant Marines and, by sheer diligence and effort, worked his way up from a wiper to a Chief Engineer. We were never close, but he could deal with changes easily because he was in a technical occupation. I respected him and wish that I had had more of an opportunity to know him. My mother, with whom I spent all of my childhood and adolescence, on the other hand, was a mixture of religious belief, wild superstitions, and a keen distrust of anything she didn't understand; explaining anything to her was a chore because she would tend to take whatever explanation I gave as an effort to deceive her; coupled with a keen insistence that she was always right, even in the face of full evidence to the contrary, there was little I could do to remedy the situation. Given that I was a bit precocious and voracious about learning new things, I must have seemed like a Martian to her. In my house there wasn't a Generation Gap; it was a Generation chasm. That's why, whenever I feel the impetus to wag my finger, scowl, and intone "Young whippersnappers! Why in my day...!", I make a conscious effort to restrain myself because that means never worked in the millennia before and very most likely never work in the future. The youngsters? They're all Martians and the best we can hope for is they come in peace. And, they better not be here for our women: I may may want to work my way through another ex or two...

Regarding the cell phone use, the local news has been doing stories on all the new laws and regulations taking effect on Jan 1, 2017. One new law will penalize any driver even holding a handheld cell phone while driving; you don't even have to be using it, just holding the phone; if you are behind the wheel and driving holding a phone, you get dinged. This may seem extreme, but the number of death and injury accidents caused by mobile phone distraction in California now exceed, on an annual basis, the number of accidents caused by DUI. Of course, if you get dinged enough for illegal mobile usage, it could drive one to drink...

<O>

12-30-16, 02:14 PM	#9
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,720 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	@GoldenRivet... I see you were born in 1979; I was born in 1950; you're the younger generation my generation complained/complains about; it all goes full circle. A few nights back I was dealing with some chronic insomnia and I turned on the TV at about 4:30 AM. Every station on the set was actively broadcasting and my mind flashed back to when all stations ceased to broadcast by about midnight, a few even earlier. All you got on your sets was either a test pattern, with an annoying signal tone or static snow. Thinking about the difference made me think about all the other vast changes, just in my lifetime. You mentioned rotary dial phones and waiting to make calls to take advantage of lower rates; did you ever have to deal with party lines, where several households shared the same line and you could only make a call if none of the other parties to the line were not using their phones. (Incidentally, if you did make a call, the other parties to the line could very well just listen in on your conversations, a sort of 'pre-historic' hacking or Blu-jacking.) Virtually none of the then current technology of my youth exists in its original form today... Generational differences will always exist. My parents were immigrants and had a very rudimentary education. My father was in the Merchant Marines and, by sheer diligence and effort, worked his way up from a wiper to a Chief Engineer. We were never close, but he could deal with changes easily because he was in a technical occupation. I respected him and wish that I had had more of an opportunity to know him. My mother, with whom I spent all of my childhood and adolescence, on the other hand, was a mixture of religious belief, wild superstitions, and a keen distrust of anything she didn't understand; explaining anything to her was a chore because she would tend to take whatever explanation I gave as an effort to deceive her; coupled with a keen insistence that she was always right, even in the face of full evidence to the contrary, there was little I could do to remedy the situation. Given that I was a bit precocious and voracious about learning new things, I must have seemed like a Martian to her. In my house there wasn't a Generation Gap; it was a Generation chasm. That's why, whenever I feel the impetus to wag my finger, scowl, and intone "Young whippersnappers! Why in my day...!", I make a conscious effort to restrain myself because that means never worked in the millennia before and very most likely never work in the future. The youngsters? They're all Martians and the best we can hope for is they come in peace. And, they better not be here for our women: I may may want to work my way through another ex or two... Regarding the cell phone use, the local news has been doing stories on all the new laws and regulations taking effect on Jan 1, 2017. One new law will penalize any driver even holding a handheld cell phone while driving; you don't even have to be using it, just holding the phone; if you are behind the wheel and driving holding a phone, you get dinged. This may seem extreme, but the number of death and injury accidents caused by mobile phone distraction in California now exceed, on an annual basis, the number of accidents caused by DUI. Of course, if you get dinged enough for illegal mobile usage, it could drive one to drink... <O> __________________ __________________________________________________ __