Monday, March 15, 2010

Generational attitudes

Well - here Columbus had a Beer Fest but I didn't attend.  I could not justify spending a beautiful day inside drinking beer for $50 when I could be outside  . . . . drinking BETTER beer and working on the yard.  It's not often you can get a start on yard work in March.  The last thing I wanted to do was sit inside thinking about all the work I could be doing outside.

From other home brewers I hear it was pretty bad anyway. 
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In other Columbus news there is the 1st meeting of the Columbus Historical Society Tuesday at 6:00 at West James Gallery. RSVP 623-5325.

On a side note - WHAT THE HELL is happening to the Udey dam NOW. Does anybody really know?  My god! let's just blow it up and be done with it.  Now we find out OTHER towns want to get rid of it because by fixing it it raises the water level and kills crops.

sigh.
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We were walking back from getting coffee and for some reason Fall Out Shelters came up.  This kind of ties in with the below bunch of words I guess.

My parents had sort of a half-ass Fallout Shelter in the 60s. I'm not sure how long we could have survived, maybe a couple weeks.  It was fun to play in though. I did hear them talk about that time in the early 60's when they were pretty sure America would have a nuclear war.   Remember "Duck and Cover"?  we would all hide under our desks.  Yea - that would work.

Actually I have heard that the government knew none of these things would work but it made the government LOOK like they had control of the situation.   I wonder what we are being told NOW that is easing our nerves but in reality we're on the brink.

Every time I hear a tiny news blip about something odd, I always wonder if in 1 year I will say "I remember when I heard this for the first time".  The downfall of civilization.

The one thing I AM very very concerned over is something that is slowly getting more and more news play.  BEES.  People!!  this is a REAL problem.   No bees, no crops!!!  And no one knows why they are dieing.  If we continue to lose 30% a year . . . .

It seems the worker bees leave the hive and never come back.  The current thinking is that the worker bees know they are sick and fly off to die knowing that they do not want to infect the rest of the hive.

Scientists know the symptoms but not the cause. CORN could be a problem. Corn Syrup could be killing bee's (what does THAT tell you) and it's a combination of a number of things.  One thing is that bee keepers that did not do a good job with bees (slumlord bee keepers) are going out of business and the ones that really take care of their bees are fairing better.

You will see a rise in the price of Almonds this and it's because of the lack of bees. What's next.  Worry about the bees.  
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Has anyone been watching the Tom Brokow special on Baby Boomers?  Pretty interesting.   A Baby Boomer is the generation born between 1946 to 1964.  This is the generation that was born after WWII, 76 million of us.  It's the first generation that actually thought of itself as different.  We want to do things OUR way and not how our parents did it.  

That got me thinking about other "generations.  After the Boomers there is Generation X, born 61 to 81ish.  This generation had relative world piece and their perspective is shaped by the end of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall, and US economic problems such as the 1973 oil crisis, the 1979 energy crisis, the early 1980's recession, and the savings and loan crisis, all instilling a sense of economic uncertainty.

Generation X has the highest education levels but is the first generation where they actually are making less then their parents at the same age. In fact men make 12% less than their fathers had at that same age.

Then there is Generation Y. Sometime called "Echo Boomers" or the Millennial Generation, 1982 and 1995. Instant communication technologies such as the internet, email, texting, and IM and YouTube, Facebook explain the Millennials' reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through technology.(not my words . . way to large for my vocabularity)

Also called the "Trophy Generation", these dudes are way into competitive sports, as well as many other aspects of life, where "no one loses" and everyone gets a "Thanks for Participating" trophy which symbolizes some perceived sense of entitlement.

I just find all this fascinating. One of the big problems is that as Generation Z get older and deeper into the workforce they seem to feel they are entitled to certain goals because . . they have never lost in the past because everyone is a winner.

ANYWAY - this all comes from watching a special and I got carried away with questions.

Anybody watching "Pacific" on HBO - pretty good.

OK - gotta work.

Cheers
Rod

5 comments:

  1. I watched Pacific, can't wait for more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. G., I don't think u are right about bees. They were introduced to America from Europe and the Indians were growing crops before that. I think u should hire a fact checker and he should read the blog before u publish. Yes I said he and I would do it for a reasonable fee.

    Your friend
    The Wizard

    ReplyDelete
  3. And then there's the cusp generation-- Obama's generation (and mine)-- not quite boomers, not quite X. With the most cringeworthy moniker of all:

    http://generationjones.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well then. Mr knowitall - what pollinated the crops! OR did the American Indians do it by hand?

    South and Southeast Asia for Honey Bee's.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well G., if I was a PAID fact finder I'd tell ya how they did it.

    Don't take it so hard its a common mistake made by an awful lot of people who aren't as smart as the WIZARD.

    ReplyDelete

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