Me an old-timer?

[Eamonn]

I like old people.

Well to tell the honest truth, I like old people in small doses. Much like I like small children. They are great to have around for a while, but I'm kinda happy that they at some time go back to their homes.

The events of the past few weeks have got me thinking.

 

Where I live now was once owned by Henry Clay Frick,once known as "America's most hated man". It seems that at one time Frick used the land around my home as a place to keep his pit-ponies.

I know this because HWMBO Grandfather, George told me.

George was an interesting fellow. He was 92 when he died almost 21 years ago.

One day I asked George about the things he'd seen during his life and which had had the biggest impact?

I thought he was going to say TV or maybe mention the Moon Landing.

I was surprised when he said refrigeration.

Thinking about it, I suppose the fact that he'd once been a butcher for the Company Store and then went on to become an undertaker, might have something to do with his choice?

 

Over the past week or so, I've watched the news. The stories about the unrest in Iran, the passing of Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett.

Truth is that I've never been to Iran and at this time have no plans to ever go there and I never was a fan of Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon or Farrah Fawcett.

My knowledge about what happened in Iran in the past is not good. It seems to me that history shows that a lot of outsiders have stuck their noses in the affairs of Iran and the outcome from all of that is that the place is not sure what it wants or where it ought to be headed.

My personal opinion is that Mr Ahmadinejad is a nut-case and should never be trusted.

What really got me about the news about the unrest was the news about how the news was getting out.

People were sending video and Twittering from cell phones, My Space and Internet Sites.

The news about the death of Michael Jackson was posted on an entertainment web site six minutes before the coroner announced that was indeed dead.

I never really gave Michael Jackson much thought.

From the coverage on the news it seems that I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't own Thriller.

I can't say that I dislike all of his music, I just didn't like it enough to part with any of my hard earned cash to pay for it.

I'm not sure if in time I'll ever be willing to get past the charges of child molestation? I know this might sound strange, but I somehow managed to get past the way the Roman Catholic Church ducked around it all.

My new super-duper TV has way too many channels,one shows all the old shows.Farrah Fawcett is on as one of Charlie's Angels. The hair and the weak plot-lines. My only real memory of Farrah Fawcett is watching her as an Angel when I was visiting a youth detention center in Holland, a very long time ago.

I didn't watch the documentary she made about her fight with cancer. For me with HWMBO I felt it would be just too painful. HWMBO had an appointment to visit her Chemotherapy Doctor a couple of days after this was first shown on NBC.She didn't watch it then, but I noticed that she did watch it after Farrah had died, when she thought I wouldn't notice. I think she does this because she knows that I'm still not over the fact that it is a fact of life for us and I tend to treat it like an elephant in the living room that I'm happier to pretend just isn't there.

Ed McMahon? I never understood why he was where he was?

I kinda put it down to being an American thing! Carson was the right person for the Tonight Show, he made me laugh.

I really disliked Star Search, in our area it came on late on a Saturday night when the only alternative was really bad movies. Of course this was before the days of super-duper TV's that got over 200 channels.

I don't get all the junk mail with Ed McMahon promising me millions of dollars, the Internet seems to have help stop that, but HWMBO always joked that she was waiting for a check from Ed McMahon. I know now that it just is never going to happen.

I'm now starting to think that I'm fast becoming an old person.

No I didn't buy Thriller. I still see it as being that new music that I just wasn't into.

I seem to forget that it came out 27 years ago!

I have a Twitter account, which I have yet to work out how to use.

If the world was waiting for me to send news updates the pony express might be faster.

While never a Farrah Fawcett fan, I do think that at least back then for me she seemed like the all American beauty and no I didn't buy the Playboy Magazine with her in it.

 

I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that OJ never asks me about the "Old Days"!

I'm becoming painfully aware that more and more I have no idea of what young people today are really into and who their hero's really are?

Eamonn.

 

 

[BadenP]

Eamonn

 

Old Man Time comes for all of us in the end, it is also natures clue to us that we need to make way for the next generation to take the lead, and for us to start to settle back a bit more. Heck nowadays 40 is considered over the hill and thats the age of many Michael Jackson fans, go figure.

[frank10]

"While never a Farrah Fawcett fan"

 

welp, your older than I am.... I still remember "The" poster...

 

 

[RememberSchiff]

Eamonn, as you know BP was over 50 when he took a group of young men to Brownsea Island. Old-timer?

 

I am confused about "the Poster" which is probably generation specific. Are we talking about Norman Rockwell "The Scoutmaster" poster or the one BP drew (age 58, I believe you are one with his back turned)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%27Are_you_in_this%27_poster.jpg

or some other scout poster?

 

I think today's youth are more pragmatic in choosing their heroes - only those they know who are there for them make the final cut. So we parents and scout leaders may stand a better chance than ever before.

 

Like the old days

http://www.rare-posters.com/2056.html

 

Remember in the old days, when scouts were the "e-mail" to distribute government posters.

 

You an old-timer? I'll borrow from Coca-Cola - "Classic".

 

Peace.

[NealOnWheels]

No not a Scouting poster. "The" poster:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farrah_Fawcett_iconic_pinup_1976.jpg

 

Brings back memories of my teenage years.

[xlpanel]

I feel what you say about twitter, and want to let you know I fully believe it is just a fad.

 

Twitter is just so simple - You have a place where you can leave a comment or an image. It is just a scaled-down version of a forum like this. It could be coded by a basic web programmer in two hours. Two hours of work that made a guy 50 million.

 

However, as fast as it was made, it goes. Myspace, the biggest thing in a long time (to some people) ---- One time net worth: 1.2 billion. Now: 1.2 Million.

 

The same thing will happen to twitter and it will fade out.

 

Twitter is nothing more than a scaled down forum. What it had was celebrity endorsements - Oprah Barack etc. Success is not determined by how good the product is -- but by who uses it that is famous.

 

You see the same thing happen where a band has been together 10 years and made 100 flop songs, release 1 song that goes to #1 on the Billboard for 20 weeks straight, and after that goes into 100 more flop songs.

 

Twitter will be over soon as it is nothing special or unique. As soon as Oprah gets bored of it it is gone.

[artjrk]

I was a young teenager during the days of Charlie's Angels and remember dancing in the bars at college to Thriller. My wife and I used to stay up to watch Johnny. I never owned any Michael Jackson albums of owned "The Poster" Interestingly enough my Grandfather did. Hmmm.....

[Eamonn]

When we were first married the only TV we had was the small black and white set that had been in my bedroom for a very long time.

I was rarely home so it didn't get a lot of use.

As part of her pay HWMBO received luncheon vouchers which could be exchanged for food in different restaurants.

The flat (Apartment) we lived in wasn't very big and I was trying to bring it up to twentieth century standards (Silly things like heat and a shower!)

The place was a real mess, our bed was in the living-room.

However every Thursday night everything stopped.

We bought fish and chips with the vouchers and the three of us (We had a small dog Woofter, that we got from Battersea Dogs Home) would lie on the bed watching Knight Rider on the small TV.

I loved that car!!

Eamonn.

[nolesrule]

Twitter isn't a mini-forum (its singal to noise ratio is too poor for that use)...it's micro-blogging. And can be used for far more than that.

 

It's a fast mass-communication platform that can be more direct than email because it can also be integrated with text messaging.

 

Think of it as a modern implementation of the phone ladder for short messages.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

[moxieman]

Eamonn, you are not the only person out there who does not own Thriller or any other MJ album. However, my folks own a working player piano and a Micheal Jackson Medley player piano roll put out by the QRS company at about that time. It has "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" on it.

 

QRS still exists, still makes player piano rolls, but mostly concentrates on electronic player pianos these days that play cd/DVD's. No, seriously. http://www.qrsmusic.com/

 

I don't follow Twitter. I do some blogging, but not much through LiveJournal (moxie_man), but only 'cause several friends migrated over there from Usenet. Usenet? You know, the predecessor to web forums like this one. I was around on Usenet back when rec.scouting was split into multiply subgroups roughly 20 years or so back. (shrug)

[eisely]

Yes you are - as am I. My sons occasionally give me a little grief, but I see no need to apologize for my tastes in music, live theatre, or movies. I was as disinterested in celebrities when I was much younger as I am now. If that makes me hopelessly out of date I look at my lack of interest in such things as proof that I have transcended some concerns.

[gwd-scouter]

My sons are more upset that Billy Mays died than about Michael, Farrah and Ed.

[frank10]

Thanks Neil! That's the one! Show it to a teenager today and they'd wonder what all the fuss was about. 12 mil old times can't all be wrong.

[NealOnWheels]

Yah today it does seem to be rather tame but as a teenager it really got the hormones racing!

[SSScout]

Hear about the kid that studied ancient egyptian plumbing?

 

He was a pharoah faucet major.