You couldn't make it up

Winterknight
Winterknight
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And I'm from the next

And I'm from the next generation after Chis, a baby boomer born in 1946.

Chris S
Chris S
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Hold on mate!! A generation

Hold on mate!! A generation is 25 years. Baby boomers were from 1948 onwards, same generation, just pre-war, during war, and post war off spring. The NEXT generation were that lot in the 60's with Carnaby Street, Woodstock and LSD :-))

 

 

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

Jonathan
Jonathan
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Only a little less then half

Only a little less then half your age Chris, 35 here.

Chris S
Chris S
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Ah 1982, the 60's wild child

Ah 1982, the 60's wild child off spring :-)))

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

Jonathan
Jonathan
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Was just trying to edit my

Was just trying to edit my post saying that a generation in my view is the difference in age between a child and his parents. For humans that can range anywhere in between 5 and 71 years for mothers and for fathers anywhere between 9 and 94!

 

As by any other standard it would be rather hard to draw a line at where one generation ends and the other starts. Or would you simply state that if the difference in age between two people is greater then x years they are of a different generation?

 

If the first child is born at age 5 and the last at age 71, these people are brothers and sisters but in that case still of a different generation because they are 66 years apart, while grandmother and granddaughter can be of the same generation being only 11 years apart.

 

Anyways, my parents are both from the 50's.

Winterknight
Winterknight
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Chris S_2 wrote:Hold on

Chris S_2 wrote:
Hold on mate!! A generation is 25 years. Baby boomers were from 1948 onwards, same generation, just pre-war, during war, and post war off spring. The NEXT generation were that lot in the 60's with Carnaby Street, Woodstock and LSD :-))

The generations are not of a fixed length, they can vary from ~15 years up to about 30 years.

Early Baby boomers are generally reckoned to be kids born to the military when they returned home. Which is what I am, born 9 months and a day after the wedding day during Dads first leave after VE day..

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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You're right, it is the age

You're right, it is the age difference b/w parent and child. But that's often averaged or simply used in sloppy ways. I am a 1960 child, parents from the Great Depression. In socially focused discussions 'generation whatever' is often used to summarise a huge raft of people, and such generalities lead to both sloppiness in thinking and the in-exactitude is forgotten to boot.

But some general observations give useful understanding. For example : my parents were extraordinarily thrifty people, a product of their rural poverty when growing up in the 1930's and so they passed on to me an appreciation of care with money. Not excessively, but notable. This is not an unusual finding for my demographic cohorts.

That brings up a larger truism : we are the products of our parents not just genetically but by the example they demonstrate to us as children. After all they have a huge physical & emotional presence which will impress, for better or worse, very many habits, attitudes and mannerisms. To illustrate this, here is one conundrum I have discovered after decades of general practice ( local doctor ) : is no parent better than a bad biological one ? Don't worry if you can't answer that. It is a minefield. I know of tremendously heartwarming examples eg. a woman taking on the care of the children of her sister.

But I digress. So now, apparently, we must blame some Snowflake Crew for varieties of classification snobbery ( an ancient social sport ). They didn't invent it, they were taught it and so now one must move beyond present day concerns to that of their forebears. This is a cultural question ie. what did their elders transmit to them ? 

As for retirement I will probably just reduce my hours as the years go by and probably draw a line at 70 years old. I think it is unfair for my patients to suffer what will likely be a reduction in my cognitive acumen by then. Either that or my mindset will be deemed as too dysjunctive with respect to social norms by then. :-)))

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

Jonathan
Jonathan
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To further build on that, we

To further build on that, we are the products of those who raise us, at least partially. So if that would identify a generation difference then the moment of birth becomes rather insignificant.

Having old parents would then mean being of the same generation as the parents of someone else having young parents, despite perhaps being born later. Now that would make it interesting to see if Winternight and Chris really could be of different generations.

 

The age difference between them certainly is less then the smallest possible generation, though the age difference between their parents might be significant. Still tempted to say they are of the same generation though.

The position of some soldiers in my opinion at least has absolutely nothing to do with a generation, drawing a line there would be near impossible. What would be relevant, when Germany surrendered or when Japan did, or would the time of liberation be relevant? Or perhaps the time at which soldiers returned home after the war? In that manner you'd get twins where one is of another generation as the other. And what of the Swiss that remained neutral?

 

Chris S
Chris S
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The generations are not of a

The generations are not of a fixed length, they can vary from ~15 years up to about 30 years.

Early Baby boomers are generally reckoned to be kids born to the military when they returned home. Which is what I am, born 9 months and a day after the wedding day during Dads first leave after VE day.

Traditionally a generation is considered to be every 25 years. This was based on the between the wars premise that  the  average parents were getting married in their early 20's and having their first child at 25. Along came WWII, and many couples had to put off starting a family because of the hostilities. Came VE and VJ day, the troops came home and coupled with the civilian population we had what is called the Post War Bulge, or popularly the baby boomers generation.

Then things changed a number of times. We had a generation where youngsters were getting married or cohabiting at 18 and starting families immediately. Nowadays we have the scenario where plenty of women want a career first and have their first child in their 40's or 50's. I think the age of the parents muddies the waters. The time lapse between babies in families is still on average 25 years.

My own case is slightly different, I was born on 26th December 1944 3 weeks premature and weighing just 5lb 12oz, in a rural Cottage Hospital. If there had been such things as incubators in wartime I would likely have been in one. That means I was probably conceived in the previous April. But the war didn't end until May 1945 over a year later. Dad said at that time the Allies were winning and we'd been married for 5 years since 1939, so we just went for it.

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

Chris S
Chris S
Joined: 27 Aug 05
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I think that this fits

I think that this fits here.

Carmaker Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from 2019. It plans to launch five fully electric models between 2019 and 2021 and a range of hybrid models. But it will still be manufacturing earlier models that have pure combustion engines.

Geely, Volvo's Chinese owner, has been quietly pushing ahead with electric car development for more than a decade. The Chinese-owned firm, best known for its emphasis on driver safety, has become the first traditional carmaker to signal the end of the internal combustion engine. Geely, Volvo's Chinese owner, has been quietly pushing ahead with electric car development for more than a decade.

Fine, tell all that to someone with a flat battery in mid January in 2 feet of snow. And will there be millions of charging points in the world? Free or to pay for on your journey? Sorry the Chinese are making it up :-))

BBC news

 

Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)

Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now

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