OT: Average age of posters?
Ryan McCoskrie
I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
Usenet who's under twenty.
Or forty come to think of it...
Butch Malahide
wrote:
When I was a kid, the earth was two billion years old.
Dan Goodman
Last month (the 28th, if I recall correctly) I was 66.6 years old.
--
Dan Goodman
Journal at:
dsgood.livejournal.com
dsgood.dreamwidth.org
dsgood.insanejournal.com
darwinist
wrote:
When I was young "Wikipedia" was the name of our tribal god.
My birth-certificate's in an undeciphered script.
Our fields were ploughed manually, by dinosaurs!
I still remember the internet being called the "information super-
highway".
Anyway I'm in my late twenties. No thefting my identity.
Dirk van den Boom
Now I'm depressed and it is your fault.
Dirk, 42 (the age, not the answer)
Jerry Brown
Confirming your suspicions, I'm 45.
Jerry Brown
--
A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)
David DeLaney
>Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is? I'm
>> beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on Usenet who's
>> under twenty.
>
OVAR NIEN THOUSAAAAAAND!!1!
Dave "well, days, anyway" DeLaney
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Tina Hall
I need a little over 100 years to get to that magic number.
Or in other words, I'm 25.
--
Her eyes were nowhere near as friendly as the man's. [...]
"Don't look at her eyes, look at her-" The man frowned at the woman's
legs, then adressed her. "You should wear skirts, so I could show him."
-- Karja to Sil, Magic Earth 7/6
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Chris
Yeah, punk. 1957.
Chris
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Oh, so you're OLD!
Hallvard B Furuseth
> Jupiter has circled the sun twice since my spawning.
To be two years old, I'd have to live closer to Saturn than Jupiter.
--
Hallvard
Matt Hughes
wrote:
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
Sixty.
Do I win anything?
Matt Hughes
http://www.archonate.com
Dorothy J Heydt
Anything's possible. I'm sixty-seven.
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at hotmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the hotmail edress.
Kithrup is getting too damn much spam, even with the sysop's filters.
Johnny Tindalos
@news.albasani.net:
I'm 34 (like the rule).
Bill Snyder
<ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
I'll become eligible for Social Insecurity within the next couple
of weeks.
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]
cryptoguy
wrote:
I predate the Space Age, by a few months.
pt
lal_truckee
I predate nuclear weapons...
mimus
Isn't that a TOS violation?
(54.)
--
Yesterday afternoon a long and interesting conversation
with William Blake.
< _The Ampersand Papers_
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
How does it taste?
Thomas Womack
32 - discovered Usenet at university 13 years ago and never left
Tom
James Nicoll
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Or forty come to think of it...
>
> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)
Carl Dershem
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> Usenet who's under twenty.
I rarely keep posters any more - mostly framed art.
But I'm in my 50's.
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
Taki Kogoma
allegedly proclaimed to rec.arts.sf.written:
I have been a participant in this newsfroup (or an earlier incarnation
thereof) for over half of my life.
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
Dorothy J Heydt
Dan Goodman <dsg...@iphouse.com> wrote:
>Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>
>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Or forty come to think of it...
>
>Last month (the 28th, if I recall correctly) I was 66.6 years old.
>
(and feel much older....)
Mike Schilling
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> Usenet who's under twenty.
I go back to the Eisenhower Administration, but not by much.
Steven L.
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> Usenet who's under twenty.
I watched Alan Shepard's Mercury flight, televised live on TV.
--
Steven L.
Email: sdli...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.
Kurt Busiek
So you're a nuclear-weapon predator!
Do you stalk them and rip their circuitry out with your teeth, or scam
them and sel them into prostitution?
Me, I was born while JFK was running for President.
kdb
--
Visit http://www.busiek.com — for all your Busiek needs!
Will in New Haven
<seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
And it was up-hill both ways?
I'm sixty-four, myself.
--
Will in New Haven
Will in New Haven
> Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mccosk...@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:hc0uu0
> $86...@news.albasani.net:
>
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> I rarely keep posters any more - mostly framed art.
I still have a poster of Grace Slick. I will _always_ have that
poster.
Will in New Haven
I predate _weapons_
And killing mammoths by throwing your subordinates at them was a
bitch.
mimus
"SuuuuUUUUNNNNNRISSSSSSSSSE SUUURRRRPPRRRRRIIIIIIIISSSE--" <"baaaAAHROOOO">
--
_Thurb_, tinkle, boing, fump, twang. Music, by
heaven. Music.
< _The Thurb Revolution_
mimus
Tsk, use 'em as bait, cowerin' right on the edge of a cliff, good
bureaucratic test of agility and footwork and practice in dodging as well . . . .
--
All the scars and wrinkles on my face from doing stupid things
have given me an appearance of great wisdom.
< Red Green
Dorothy J Heydt
I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
Will in New Haven
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:59 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Oct 25, 10:23 am, lal_truckee <lal_truc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>
> >>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> >>> Or forty come to think of it...
>
> >> I predate nuclear weapons...
>
> > I predate _weapons_
>
> > And killing mammoths by throwing your subordinates at them was a
> > bitch.
>
> Tsk, use 'em as bait, cowerin' right on the edge of a cliff, good
> bureaucratic test of agility and footwork and practice in dodging as well . . . .
Mammoths, not being predators, were hard to bait with this technique.
it worked well with Smilidons until we realized we did not WANT any
Smilidons.
Will in New Haven
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:56:55 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>
> > On Oct 25, 11:02 am, Carl Dershem <ders...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> >> Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mccosk...@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:hc0uu0
> >> $86...@news.albasani.net:
>
> >>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> >> I rarely keep posters any more - mostly framed art.
>
> > I still have a poster of Grace Slick. I will _always_ have that
> > poster.
>
> "SuuuuUUUUNNNNNRISSSSSSSSSE SUUURRRRPPRRRRRIIIIIIIISSSE--" <"baaaAAHROOOO">
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP77jXqjHlU
--
Will in New Haven
"This is my ex-wife, the mother of my child, the devil incarnate,
Grace Slick" - Paul Kantner
Mike Schilling
> In article
> <a3c7315a-cc4e-40c6...@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
> Will in New Haven <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>> On Oct 25, 7:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>> <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>>> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>>>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>>>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>>>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>>
>>>> Or forty come to think of it...
>>>
>>> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>>
>> And it was up-hill both ways?
>>
>> I'm sixty-four, myself.
>
> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
Ahasueras is, what, about 2000?
Chris Thompson
> Paul Arthur writes:
>> Jupiter has circled the sun twice since my spawning.
>
> To be two years old, I'd have to live closer to Saturn than Jupiter.
I would need to be a little way beyond Saturn.
Brrr... I think I need to turn up the heating.
--
Chris Thompson
Email: cet1 [at] cam.ac.uk
mimus
> On Oct 25, 12:08 pm, mimus <tinmimu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:56:55 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>>
>>> On Oct 25, 11:02 am, Carl Dershem <ders...@cox.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mccosk...@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:hc0uu0
>>>> $86...@news.albasani.net:
>>>>
>>>>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>>>>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>>>>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>>>
>>>> I rarely keep posters any more - mostly framed art.
>>>
>>> I still have a poster of Grace Slick. I will _always_ have that
>>> poster.
>>
>> "SuuuuUUUUNNNNNRISSSSSSSSSE SUUURRRRPPRRRRRIIIIIIIISSSE--" <"baaaAAHROOOO">
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP77jXqjHlU
I'll see your YouTube video and raise you
http://www.amazon.com/Young-Men-Unlimited-Capital-Woodstock/dp/1893818020
The description is great as they (including the State Police) watch it all
balloon and balloon and balloon and . . . .
And, in the end, there were only seventy lawsuits against them.
Innocent times, indeed.
--
Just fill in the name and address of the cow.
< _The Official Lawyers Handbook_
Don Aitken
Heydt) wrote:
>In article <a3c7315a-cc4e-40c6...@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
>Will in New Haven <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>>On Oct 25, 7:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>><seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>>> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>>> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>>> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>>> > Usenet who's under twenty.
>>>
>>> > Or forty come to think of it...
>>>
>>> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>>
>>And it was up-hill both ways?
>>
>>I'm sixty-four, myself.
>
>I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
remember was in February 1952.
The first SF I read was Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (my
father's copy, which I still have), although I couldn't say when.
Probably before 1958; "the golden age of science fiction is twelve".
According to Kingsley Amis, Barry Malzberg said in 1979 that 80% of SF
readers were under 21; I've no idea where he got that figure from, but
I suspect it is a lot lower now.
--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"
alie...@gmail.com
> On Oct 25, 8:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>
> <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> > Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> > > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > > Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> > > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> > Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>
Kids these days. 1952.
Mark L. Fergerson
Butch Malahide
> In article <a3c7315a-cc4e-40c6-a9e1-87526f36a...@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
> Will in New Haven <bill.re...@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>
> >On Oct 25, 7:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> ><seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> >> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >> > Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> >> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> >> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>
> >And it was up-hill both ways?
>
> >I'm sixty-four, myself.
>
> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
Little girl, this lurker was born in AD 1936.
lal_truckee
>
> poster.
I do wish she had spiked Tricky Dick's whiskey and not just the punch...
Butch Malahide
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
> Heydt) wrote:
> >I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
> >elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>
> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>
> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
> remember was in February 1952.
December 7, 1941.
> The first SF I read was Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (my
> father's copy, which I still have), although I couldn't say when.
> Probably before 1958; "the golden age of science fiction is twelve".
Not counting comic books, Verne's _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_, c.
1947.
> According to Kingsley Amis, Barry Malzberg said in 1979 that 80% of SF
> readers were under 21; I've no idea where he got that figure from, but
> I suspect it is a lot lower now.
Me too, considering that SF died about 40 years ago. (About the time
of the moon landings, though that's probably just coincidence.)
Butch Malahide
> Me, I was born while JFK was running for President.
I voted for JFK.
James Nicoll
Don Aitken <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>
>Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>remember was in February 1952.
The earliest memories I have (holding my father's inaccurately
named safety razor by the wrong end, falling down the fire escape,
running a trike into a tree, and so on) all seem to date to 1965. I
distinctly remember playing hide and seek at by 4th birthday in '65
(I was hiding in the fireplace, which for some reason I feel I need to
point out had no fire in it [1] at the time).
1: Probably for the best: my father remained in the UK a year longer
than we did (to finish a degree) and the first time his roommate for
the year lit a fire in that fireplace, it set the house on fire. Happily
the fire was contained.
Butch Malahide
wrote:
> In article <hc0uu0$86...@news.albasani.net>,
> Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mccosk...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> >Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>
I hope you don't think 13 years at university is any kind of record! I
heard tell of a guy who attended the University of Minnesota from
kindergarten through law school.
James Nicoll
erilar
Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Or forty come to think of it...
I don't know; I notice a lot of teenage behavior. . .
(As a former high-school teacher, I used to encounter it live. . .)
But then again, I've been guilty of it myself a time or two, and I'm a
great-grandmother 8-)
--
Erilar, biblioholic
bib-li-o-hol-ism [<Gr biblion] n. [BIBLIO + HOLISM] books, of books:
habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess.
erilar
Taki Kogoma <qu...@swcp.com> wrote:
> On 2009-10-25, Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid>
> allegedly proclaimed to rec.arts.sf.written:
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
> >
> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> I have been a participant in this newsfroup (or an earlier incarnation
> thereof) for over half of my life.
Hah! It's only been in existence for a small fraction of mine. I got my
ham license when radios and TVs had vacuum tubes in them.
erilar
lal_truckee <lal_t...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> I predate nuclear weapons...
That's easy 8-)
erilar
<8d808a95-a903-4e47...@d34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> wrote:
So did I. Also voted for Ike.
erilar
"Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
My children are older than you are 8-)
erilar
djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
> In article <a3c7315a-cc4e-40c6...@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
> Will in New Haven <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
> >On Oct 25, 7:29�am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> ><seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> >> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >> > Usenet who's under twenty.
> >>
> >> > Or forty come to think of it...
> >>
> >> � � � � Young punks. I was born in 1962.
> >
> >And it was up-hill both ways?
> >
> >I'm sixty-four, myself.
>
> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
Dorothy, are you older than 75? That's my age.
Dorothy J Heydt
>remember was in February 1952.
I have a few fragmentary memories that fron context I can date to
WWII. But the first date that I can put an *accurate*date* to
would be November 1, 1948, the night before the election, because
I can remember my parents sitting up in bed marking their sample
ballots. (They voted for Dewey. Much good it did them.)
>
>The first SF I read was Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (my
>father's copy, which I still have), although I couldn't say when.
>Probably before 1958; "the golden age of science fiction is twelve".
The first SF I read were two in number, I forget which was first.
Both paperback reprints of novels originally published in the
1920s or -30s. One was Ralph Milne Farley, _The Radio Man_ (appeared in
magazine form, says ISFDB, in 1924, 1939, and 1940), in its 1950
reprint entitled _An Earth Man on Venus_. The other was Stanton
A. Coblentz, _Into Plutonian Depths_, also pb'd in 1950,
magazine publication 1931. And I tellya, it's a wonder I ever
read any other SF in my life. They were *bad*. However, I was
eight years old and my critical faculties had not developed.
Dorothy J Heydt
Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Oct 25, 1:40�pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>> Heydt) wrote:
>> >I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. �Come on,
>> >elders! �I know you're out there somewhere.
>>
>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>
>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>> remember was in February 1952.
>
>December 7, 1941.
I don't think we can count dates of things that happened before
we were born.
(I was actually alive on that date, but I was a three-month fetus
and not paying any attention to external events at all.)
Dorothy J Heydt
I was too young to. I was (counts on fingers) nineteen, and the
voting age then was twenty-one. I remember the campaign, though.
Dorothy J Heydt
Ahasuerus
wrote:
> Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> > In article
> > Will in New Haven <bill.re...@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
> >> On Oct 25, 7:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> >> <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> >>> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> >>>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >>>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >>>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> >>>> Or forty come to think of it...
>
> >>> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>
> >> And it was up-hill both ways?
>
> >> I'm sixty-four, myself.
>
> > I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
> > elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>
> Ahasueras is, what, about 2000?
Not quite, but getting there.
As JWC observed, nobody is getting any younger, but I venture to say
that it doesn't matter much as long as we can balance accounts, solve
equations, program computers and cook, um, edible meals.
Louann Miller
> Anything's possible. I'm sixty-seven.
I got Tranquility Base for my third birthday. And my parents let me sleep
through it. (fume)
Ahasuerus
[snip]
> The first SF I read were two in number, I forget which was first.
> Both paperback reprints of novels originally published in the
> 1920s or -30s. One was Ralph Milne Farley, _The Radio Man_ (appeared in
> magazine form, says ISFDB, in 1924, 1939, and 1940)
It was first serialized in _Argosy All-Story Weekly_ in 1924 and
reprinted in _Famous Fantastic Mysteries_ in December 1939-February
1940. FFM reprints were often butche^H^H^H^H^H^H abridged, though.
>, in its 1950 reprint entitled _An Earth Man on Venus_. [snip]
How did you like the cover ( http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/0/07/EMANONV1950.jpg
) as an 8 year old?
Butch Malahide
> In article <c5dad438-3816-4bcd-a466-13cd5d660...@m1g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>,
> Butch Malahide <fred.gal...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >Me too, considering that SF died about 40 years ago.
>
> Please explain.
Probably not worthwhile, seeing as my explanation would start by
pointing out that I'm a neo-solipsist, after which "you" would
probably lose interest. Suffice it to say that, if you graph the SF
works I've read by year of publication, you'd see that the field was
booming in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, tapered off rapidly in the 60s, to
nearly zero in the 70s and beyond. The only standout science fiction
novel in recent years (IMHO which is all that counts) is the "Skyway"
series (_Starrigger_ et seq.) by John De Chancie.
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>> Heydt) wrote:
>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>
>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>> remember was in February 1952.
>
> December 7, 1941.
>
July 20, 1969.
Dorothy J Heydt
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:59 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Oct 25, 10:23�am, lal_truckee <lal_truc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>>
>> >>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> >>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> >>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>
>> >>> Or forty come to think of it...
>>
>>
>> > I predate _weapons_
>>
>> > And killing mammoths by throwing your subordinates at them was a
>> > bitch.
>>
>> Tsk, use 'em as bait, cowerin' right on the edge of a cliff, good
>> bureaucratic test of agility and footwork and practice in dodging as
>well . . . .
>
>Mammoths, not being predators, were hard to bait with this technique.
>it worked well with Smilidons until we realized we did not WANT any
>Smilidons.
Silly, throw the Smilodon at the Mammoth. Make that several
Smilodons.
Actually, my main character in _Lord of the Rings Online_ *has* a
pet Smilodon. (As well as a raven, bear, lynx, and eagle.)
Dorothy J Heydt
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <c5dad438-3816-4bcd...@m1g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>,
>Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>Me too, considering that SF died about 40 years ago.
>
> Please explain.
Armstrong?
(I got a story out of that meme once ... man lands on the moon,
takes all the magic out of it, and the werewolf is no longer a
werewolf.)
Will in New Haven
She never got near any beverages at the White House. I just wish we
had spent the night together somewhere other than in different cells
in the Akron, Ohio jail.
--
Will in New Haven
Tilda
sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com says...
>
> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> > Usenet who's under twenty.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Or forty come to think of it...
>
Me too.
--
Tilda
Don Aitken
Nicoll) wrote:
>In article <8s39e592cd72optqc...@4ax.com>,
>Don Aitken <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>
>>Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>remember was in February 1952.
>
> The earliest memories I have (holding my father's inaccurately
>named safety razor by the wrong end, falling down the fire escape,
>running a trike into a tree, and so on) all seem to date to 1965. I
>distinctly remember playing hide and seek at by 4th birthday in '65
>(I was hiding in the fireplace, which for some reason I feel I need to
>point out had no fire in it [1] at the time).
>
>1: Probably for the best: my father remained in the UK a year longer
>than we did (to finish a degree) and the first time his roommate for
>the year lit a fire in that fireplace, it set the house on fire. Happily
>the fire was contained.
I have memories which must be from 1951 or before, because that is
when my family moved to a different town and I started school.
*Dateable* is more difficult, because dates don't mean much to small
children. I could specify February 1952 because that was the funeral
of King George VI. It made an enormous impression, and I still
remember it vividly, although I don't think I had any idea who the
King was. Our teacher had a *radio* in the classroom, which seemed (at
the age of 5) like a serious violation of the laws of nature, radio
having always been for entertainment and nothing else. When the
appropriate point in the service arrived, she went into the corridor
and rang a handbell, and everybody in all the classrooms had to stand
up for however long it was.
My *second* dateable event is almost five years later, hen I was ten;
British paratroopers going into Port Said in November 1956, which is
the first TV news item I remember (we hadn't had TV very long). I have
no memories relating to the Korean War, or Churchill as Prime
Minister.
--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"
Will in New Haven
> In article <355f758d-d35f-4681-9edd-76bf5c181...@p23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
> Will in New Haven <bill.re...@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >On Oct 25, 12:12 pm, mimus <tinmimu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:59 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>
> >> > On Oct 25, 10:23 am, lal_truckee <lal_truc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>
> >> >>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >> >>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> >> >>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> >> >>> Or forty come to think of it...
>
> >> >> I predate nuclear weapons...
>
> >> > I predate _weapons_
>
> >> > And killing mammoths by throwing your subordinates at them was a
> >> > bitch.
>
> >> Tsk, use 'em as bait, cowerin' right on the edge of a cliff, good
> >> bureaucratic test of agility and footwork and practice in dodging as
> >well . . . .
>
> >Mammoths, not being predators, were hard to bait with this technique.
> >it worked well with Smilidons until we realized we did not WANT any
> >Smilidons.
>
> Silly, throw the Smilodon at the Mammoth. Make that several
> Smilodons.
Easy for YOU to say. Your pet Smilodon would let you do that.
>
> Actually, my main character in _Lord of the Rings Online_ *has* a
> pet Smilodon. (As well as a raven, bear, lynx, and eagle.)
Do the bear and the Smilodon sleep together in front of the hearth?
What a sweet domestic picture.
Is it a Giant Short-faced Bear?
Dorothy J Heydt
That was the cover, all right. I can't really remember what I
thought of it. It was representative of the content, anyway,
which would've probably been enough for me back then.
Dorothy J Heydt
erilar <dra...@chibardun.net.invalid> wrote:
>In article <Ks2xt...@kithrup.com>,
> djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>
>> In article <a3c7315a-cc4e-40c6...@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
>> Will in New Haven <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>> >On Oct 25, 7:29�am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>> ><seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>> >> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> >> > I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> >> > Usenet who's under twenty.
>> >>
>> >> > Or forty come to think of it...
>> >>
>> >> � � � � Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>> >
>> >And it was up-hill both ways?
>> >
>> >I'm sixty-four, myself.
>>
>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>
>Dorothy, are you older than 75? That's my age.
>
Nope, only sixty-seven. Two people older than me now.
William December Starr
Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid> said:
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
My 52nd birthday is coming up this week.
-- wds
Dorothy J Heydt
Don Aitken <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>... I could specify February 1952 because that was the funeral
>of King George VI. It made an enormous impression, and I still
>remember it vividly, although I don't think I had any idea who the
>King was. Our teacher had a *radio* in the classroom, which seemed (at
>the age of 5) like a serious violation of the laws of nature, radio
>having always been for entertainment and nothing else. When the
>appropriate point in the service arrived, she went into the corridor
>and rang a handbell, and everybody in all the classrooms had to stand
>up for however long it was.
I remember the afternoon paper arriving on the doorstep and my
mother picking it up, looking at the headlines, and saying, "Oh,
George is dead." Took me a minute to figure out who George was.
Shortly thereafter, of course, we got to watch (part of)
Elizabeth's coronation on television, over and over and over.
Dorothy J Heydt
Will in New Haven <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote:
>On Oct 25, 2:46�ｿｽpm, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>> In article
><355f758d-d35f-4681-9edd-76bf5c181...@p23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
>>
>>
>>
>> >On Oct 25, 12:12�ｿｽpm, mimus <tinmimu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:57:59 -0700, Will in New Haven wrote:
>>
>>
>> >> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>>
>> >> >>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> >> >>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> >> >>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>>
>> >> >>> Or forty come to think of it...
>>
>> >> >> I predate nuclear weapons...
>>
>> >> > I predate _weapons_
>>
>> >> > And killing mammoths by throwing your subordinates at them was a
>> >> > bitch.
>>
>> >> Tsk, use 'em as bait, cowerin' right on the edge of a cliff, good
>> >> bureaucratic test of agility and footwork and practice in dodging as
>> >well . . . .
>>
>> >Mammoths, not being predators, were hard to bait with this technique.
>> >it worked well with Smilidons until we realized we did not WANT any
>> >Smilidons.
>>
>> Smilodons.
>
>Easy for YOU to say. Your pet Smilodon would let you do that.
Well, I don't actually have to throw him. I just say "sic 'em"
and he charges into battle. He's a much better fighter than me.
>> Actually, my main character in _Lord of the Rings Online_ *has* a
>> pet Smilodon. �ｿｽ(As well as a raven, bear, lynx, and eagle.)
>
>Do the bear and the Smilodon sleep together in front of the hearth?
>What a sweet domestic picture.
Yes, except I can only take one of them out at a time, darnit.
If I could have the whole zoo out together, *then* the forces of
Sauron would sit up and take notice, I betcha.
>Is it a Giant Short-faced Bear?
Nope, just a big brown bear; looks like a grizzly. The lynx is
beige and spotty in his natural form (I have an amulet I can
wear to make him dark grey, like the late Sebastian for whom he
is named), and the eagle is red and gold.
Lawrence Watt-Evans
<sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>Butch Malahide wrote:
>> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>>
>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>> remember was in February 1952.
>>
>> December 7, 1941.
>
> July 20, 1969.
July 26, 1958.
--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
I'm selling my comic collection -- see http://www.watt-evans.com/comics.html
I'm serializing a novel at http://www.watt-evans.com/realmsoflight0.html
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
I'll note that "Sea Wasp", my online persona, is himself 32 years old.
John F. Eldredge
> On Oct 25, 8:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is? I'm
>> > beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on Usenet who's
>> > under twenty.
>>
>> > Or forty come to think of it...
>>
>> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
>>
>> --
>> Sea Wasp
>> /^\
>> ;;;
>> Live Journal:http://seawasp.livejournal.com
>
> Yeah, punk. 1957.
>
> Chris
I, too, was born in 1957.
--
John F. Eldredge -- jo...@jfeldredge.com
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
lal_truckee
>
> That was the cover, all right.
SF should get credit for predicting breast implants...
John F. Eldredge
> In article <8s39e592cd72optqc...@4ax.com>, Don Aitken
> <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>
>>Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>remember was in February 1952.
>
> The earliest memories I have (holding my father's inaccurately
> named safety razor by the wrong end, falling down the fire escape,
> running a trike into a tree, and so on) all seem to date to 1965. I
> distinctly remember playing hide and seek at by 4th birthday in '65 (I
> was hiding in the fireplace, which for some reason I feel I need to
> point out had no fire in it [1] at the time).
>
> 1: Probably for the best: my father remained in the UK a year longer
> than we did (to finish a degree) and the first time his roommate for the
> year lit a fire in that fireplace, it set the house on fire. Happily the
> fire was contained.
Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that James Nicoll's earliest memories all
involve disasters...
Dan Goodman
> In article <8s39e592cd72optqc...@4ax.com>,
> Don Aitken <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
> >
> > Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
> > remember was in February 1952.
>
> I have a few fragmentary memories that fron context I can date to
> WWII. But the first date that I can put an *accurate*date* to
> would be November 1, 1948, the night before the election, because
> I can remember my parents sitting up in bed marking their sample
> ballots. (They voted for Dewey. Much good it did them.)
> >
> > The first SF I read was Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (my
> > father's copy, which I still have), although I couldn't say when.
> > Probably before 1958; "the golden age of science fiction is twelve".
>
> The first SF I read were two in number, I forget which was first.
> Both paperback reprints of novels originally published in the
> 1920s or -30s. One was Ralph Milne Farley, _The Radio Man_ (appeared
> in magazine form, says ISFDB, in 1924, 1939, and 1940), in its 1950
> reprint entitled _An Earth Man on Venus_. The other was Stanton
> A. Coblentz, _Into Plutonian Depths_, also pb'd in 1950,
> magazine publication 1931. And I tellya, it's a wonder I ever
> read any other SF in my life. They were bad. However, I was
> eight years old and my critical faculties had not developed.
In the 1970s. Coblentz reviewed poetry for the Los Angeles Times.
--
Dan Goodman
Journal at:
dsgood.livejournal.com
dsgood.dreamwidth.org
dsgood.insanejournal.com
Kay Shapero
says...
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:42:43 -0700, Chris wrote:
>
> > On Oct 25, 8:29 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> > <seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> >> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
> >> > Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is? I'm
> >> > beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on Usenet who's
> >> > under twenty.
> >>
> >> > Or forty come to think of it...
> >>
> >> Young punks. I was born in 1962.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Sea Wasp
> >> /^\
> >> ;;;
> >> Live Journal:http://seawasp.livejournal.com
> >
> > Yeah, punk. 1957.
> >
> > Chris
>
> I, too, was born in 1957.
>
>
--
Kay Shapero
address munged, email kay at following domain
http://www.kayshapero.net
Chris Thompson
> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
Persecuted? What persecution? That seems about the median age being
admitted to in this thread!
I'm 0.9 years younger than that ...
> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
> remember was in February 1952.
Earliest memory I can pin down to a specific day? 20 July 1952, when my
younger sister was born.
If you mean a public (political) event, then probably the coronation
of Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. (Very wet afternoon, everyone was
watching their televisions, which we didn't have.) Unlike you, I don't
recall the death or funeral of George VI. Pillar boxes changing from
GR to ER, of course, but that went on for some time.
--
Chris Thompson
Email: cet1 [at] cam.ac.uk
Bill Snyder
<l...@sff.net> wrote:
>On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:14:22 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
><sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>>Butch Malahide wrote:
>>> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>>>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>>>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>>>
>>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>>> remember was in February 1952.
>>>
>>> December 7, 1941.
>>
>> July 20, 1969.
>
>July 26, 1958.
Psst, guys, posting the year's fine, but actual birthdays are
phish-food.
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)
Those weren't birthdays.
Bill Snyder
<sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>Bill Snyder wrote:
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:50:23 -0400, Lawrence Watt-Evans
>> <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:14:22 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>>> <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Butch Malahide wrote:
>>>>> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>>>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>>>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>>>>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>>>>>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>>>>>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>>>>> remember was in February 1952.
>>>>> December 7, 1941.
>>>> July 20, 1969.
>>> July 26, 1958.
>>
>> Psst, guys, posting the year's fine, but actual birthdays are
>> phish-food.
>>
>
> Those weren't birthdays.
Duh. Double duh. I blame society[1]. Or did we do that one
already?
1. Altho' I'm going to have to go Google the one in '58.
John Pelan
Biggest shock in this thread is that I'm a year and a week older than
Lawrence; all these years I thought it was the other way around... ;-)
Cheers,
John
Mike Ash
Ryan McCoskrie <ryan.mc...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> Or forty come to think of it...
I'm still in my 20s, so you're not *quite* alone.
--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon
Dorothy J Heydt
John F. Eldredge <jo...@jfeldredge.com> wrote:
>On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:16:00 +0000, James Nicoll wrote:
>
>> In article <8s39e592cd72optqc...@4ax.com>, Don Aitken
>> <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>>remember was in February 1952.
>>
>> The earliest memories I have (holding my father's inaccurately
>> named safety razor by the wrong end, falling down the fire escape,
>> running a trike into a tree, and so on) all seem to date to 1965. I
>> distinctly remember playing hide and seek at by 4th birthday in '65 (I
>> was hiding in the fireplace, which for some reason I feel I need to
>> point out had no fire in it [1] at the time).
>>
>> 1: Probably for the best: my father remained in the UK a year longer
>> than we did (to finish a degree) and the first time his roommate for the
>> year lit a fire in that fireplace, it set the house on fire. Happily the
>> fire was contained.
>
>Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that James Nicoll's earliest memories all
>involve disasters...
Along with most of his later ones.
Dorothy J Heydt
I dunno. I haven't made a study of classic pulp covers. But I
betcha that a whole lot of other genres got females with
impossible boobs too. (With hardboiled-PI detective stories
topping the list, I suspect.)
Mike Schilling
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:14:22 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
> <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> Butch Malahide wrote:
>>> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>>>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>>>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>>>
>>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I
>>>> can
>>>> remember was in February 1952.
>>>
>>> December 7, 1941.
>>
>> July 20, 1969.
>
> July 26, 1958.
November 22, 1963.
Ryan McCoskrie
> Ryan McCoskrie wrote:
>> Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
>> I'm beginning to suspect that I'm the only person left on
>> Usenet who's under twenty.
>
> I go back to the Eisenhower Administration, but not by much.
Date please? I'm in NZ.
Walter Bushell
<30b179b7-bb69-403c...@d4g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
Butch Malahide <fred....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Oct 25, 10:24�am, Thomas Womack <twom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
> wrote:
> > In article <hc0uu0$86...@news.albasani.net>,
> > Ryan McCoskrie �<ryan.mccosk...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> >
> > >Can I have some indication of how old everyone else here is?
> >
> > 32 - discovered Usenet at university 13 years ago and never left
>
> I hope you don't think 13 years at university is any kind of record! I
> heard tell of a guy who attended the University of Minnesota from
> kindergarten through law school.
There are a lot of ten yeared graduate students some of whom were at the
same University as undergrounds.
--
A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.
Will in New Haven
wrote:
"Not by much" indicates the late 1950s. Eisenhower was President from
1953 to 1960.
Dorothy J Heydt
I remember that one, all right. Bonus question: who *else* died
on that day?
Dorothy J Heydt
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>Bill Snyder wrote:
>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:50:23 -0400, Lawrence Watt-Evans
>> <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:14:22 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
>>> <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Butch Malahide wrote:
>>>>> On Oct 25, 1:40 pm, Don Aitken <don-ait...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:58:29 GMT, djhe...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>>>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>>>>> I'm *still* the oldest person to have posted so far. Come on,
>>>>>>> elders! I know you're out there somewhere.
>>>>>> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
>>>>>> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I can
>>>>>> remember was in February 1952.
>>>>> December 7, 1941.
>>>> July 20, 1969.
>>> July 26, 1958.
>>
>> Psst, guys, posting the year's fine, but actual birthdays are
>> phish-food.
>>
>
> Those weren't birthdays.
Wikipedia
#include <grainofsalt.std>
says: Explorer 4 launched; Charles named Prince of Wales.
If you had something else in mind, you could tell us.
Tina Hall
> Don Aitken <don-a...@freeuk.com> wrote:
>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I
>> can remember was in February 1952.
> The earliest memories I have (holding my father's inaccurately
> named safety razor by the wrong end, falling down the fire
> escape, running a trike into a tree, and so on)
That's so You.
I still don't know whether to feel sorry or chuckle. :)
--
(Ipoq) "You'll have to visit the Water tribe one day. There are plants
that wander, and animals with something like roots."
(Thay) "I think I'm confused enough."
(Ghareg) "I didn't even say anything yet." -- Seasons & Elements III
Tina Hall
>>> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I
>>> can remember was in February 1952.
>>
>> December 7, 1941.
> July 20, 1969.
Around 1975/76.
I was around four or five, and there are several things I remember
from that time, or rather the place I lived then. One of them Xmas,
which is why 1975 is included, else I'd stick to 'most of the time I
was four was 1976' - it was sooo unfair that I always had to run the
'born 1971' stretch in sports, those born 1972 had to run less (like
100m versus 75m); if I hadn't come 2 months early I'd have been born
in 1972, too! Perhaps even on the 29th of February (though that
would have meant a little later rather than way too early).
More interesting would be what the things remembered are.
So to make a start:
First, that Xmas. There was a shooting star (I was in a car), and
for some reason I wished to get what I knew what I'd get. Or
something. It's a bit vague, but it involved a giant inflatable
Biene Maja (character from a children's cartoon).
I remember I always had to go to bed when one particular show
started on TV (some news thing I think - something with a turning
cube and the letter "W", someone from Germany might recognize it,
might still exist on one of the 'third' programms/channels).
More interesting:
At that time, my so-called mother and her boyfriend were looking
after an animal's home, living in a house on-site (the memory of it
looks a lot like it once used to be a farmhouse), and I lived with
them. So there were lots of animals (dogs, cats, a pony or horse and
something called a 'small-horse' which pointedly is not a pony, and
I think a rabbit - that ate its young I think, but they were trying
to keep me uninformed about that).
At one time I took the puppies of the- Oh, I remember something
before that![*] Anyway, I took the puppies of the boyfriend's dog to
my room, which I wasn't allowed to do, and promptly one of them got
sick on the fluffy runner (carpet thing).
I remember once we got a huge, (from mistreatment) toothless, great
dane, the most peaceful dog ever. My so-called mother told me dogs
know when you're afraid, then left me alone with her in the kitchen.
I had never been afraid of any dog, except this one. I have no idea
why. So I kept telling the dog "I'm not afraid of you. I'm not
afraid of you." and edged towards the door, then slipped out.
Then there's the place we got the meat for the dogs from. Some
bigger butcher business. I just remember that there were lots of
tiles allover, some metal, and dead pigs having their hair singed
off or something (hanging or spitted, can't recall). I'd still
recognize the smell today. Wasn't scary or anything, though.
I also remember redecorating the kitchen, but that's probably mostly
from a picture we had of that; the boyfriend and I happy on a bench
that had collapsed beneath us (he was a nice guy, could spend hours
with always the same game of me asking what was written on my
pendant and him always replying "Anit" - you can guess what it
really said.).
Ooh, and once we had the horse in the hallway (big farmhouse hall).
That was funny. <g> (Perhaps more for Germans, there's a song going
"There is a horse in the hall,...")
And I touched an electric fence and then thought I'd carry a current
for the rest of my life. <g>
There's more (and more added to it as I read through it), but less
interesting. Well, except perhaps the scary bit with two dogs
meeting each other that then ended up with one jaw locked around the
other's neck, and the adult (some visitor) being rather clueless but
very hysterical about how to separate them.
[*] The dog with the later puppies got pregnant at a place we lived
before then. I know that was earlier because one of the memories is
the boyfriend's dog and another (homeless and taken in or something)
being stuck together at their back ends. <g>
There I remember someone playing Santa Claus (so it must have been
the Xmas before the other one), and me never knowing who it had
been. Both my uncles were in the room, and the boyfriend probably
too (though someone said it was him). I used to be sure that it
couldn't have been anyone I know, but memories fade... I got a large
red toy pram in any case.
The more interesting thing there is what I made up about ghosts
sneaking past/below the window down on the street at night. I still
know what they looked like (a bit like Clever&Smart - bald, no neck,
a bit hunchbacked, but allover gray). They weren't nasty or
anything, perhaps a bit scary (can't recall). I just imagined them
passing, while I was lying in my bed at the other end of the room. I
used to think it was midnight, but now I doubt it was.
Odd was the bit of brown something beneath the living room table. I
never knew whether it was a bit of forgotten chocolate or a crayon
(or something else entirely, but that were the two options I saw),
and I never tried to find out, just left it there. (That's me, for
sure!)
There are more memories of that place, too, but I doubt that's even
remotely interesting.
So, what more or less interesting things do you remember?
--
"Better not let her wander about on her own."
-- Karja about Sil, Magic Earth 7/6
Excerpts at: <http://home.htp-tel.de/fkoerper/ath/athintro.htm>
Tina Hall
> I can't beat that, but I am another of the persecuted minority of
> over-60s (63 on Tuesday, in fact).
> Should we do "earliest memories"? The earliest dateable event I
> can remember was in February 1952.
My so-called mother wasn't even on the horizon back then. But my Dad
is not that much younger than you (and my Mum - my Dad's wife - is
actually older than you).
> The first SF I read was Lewis's "Out of the Silent Planet" (my
> father's copy, which I still have), although I couldn't say when.
> Probably before 1958; "the golden age of science fiction is
> twelve".
Does Wilhelm Busch count as SF? <g>
I think my first encounter might have been some book that was made
up like an adventure (fantasy), with choices like "inspect the
corpse - go to #xy, leave the corpse - go to #zy". I never finished
it, but I got a mighty scare when some corpse turned out a zombie.
(Trying to do it backwards from #400, after giving up, didn't help
solving it either.)
I can't remember anything between then and HHGttG and some others.
Like, around the same time I read (someone on a newsgroup ID'd it
for me once): Gate to Women's Country.
Around that time I also read an Alternate History (title forgotten)
where one sentence might ring a bell to ID it: "It's still the men
that get/have the children.", it was pretty much our world before
emancipation, with roles swapped, and the men starting an equivalent
'revolt' as happened here. I remember the author might have been
from northern Scandinavian, or it was set somewhere in northern
Scandinavia, and the book was probably in German (the men wore PH, -
penis holder, like in the real world we have BH, german term for
bra, perhaps meaning breast holder). The children were given into
the men's care (they caught them during birth or something), and the
women had all the wars in the past. The men also didn't get to have
proper intercourse unless the woman wanted a child.
Also at that time I read that thing with the hexxagons/hexagonal
landscape, and some ape things in a rut. Someone on a newsgroup ID'd
it for me once, but I forgot.
All that was around 20 years ago, so not that early an age.
--
"You lukewarm spawn of wet loam, first you run off and then you
invade here with a bunch of strangers!" she almost shouted.
"It's good to see you, too, mother." Tashen replied, grinning.
-- Seasons and Elements I: Controlled by Magic