Hey young people, tell us what you can do!

I can cook. My specialty is Kraft Mac and cheese. Yeah. I’ve moved on from avocado toast.

I can take photos with that nice out of focus background. By using my iPhone on portrait mode.

I can change my car’s oil. By taking it to Valvoline.

I can shop for groceries. Online and get them delivered to my door.

I can get to work. On a train, which minimizes my environmental impact. Who needs a car? Manual transmission? Are you a dinosaur?
 
Apparently there are lots of dinosaurs who believe using an old-fashioned transmission and being able mechanically adroit enough to repair vehicles is the epitome of civilization and that there is something fundamentally wrong with anyone who can't do it.
 
Can you at least stay off my lawn....please.... ?
 
skier said:
I can cook. My specialty is Kraft Mac and cheese. Yeah. I’ve moved on from avocado toast.

I can take photos with that nice out of focus background. By using my iPhone on portrait mode.

I can change my car’s oil. By taking it to Valvoline.

I can shop for groceries. Online and get them delivered to my door.

I can get to work. On a train, which minimizes my environmental impact. Who needs a car? Manual transmission? Are you a dinosaur?
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My son is 20 and does not have a car (at least he doesn't have one that works - he does not want to fix the Saab 900S turbo that I bought for him a while back). We were just talking about it yesterday and he says that he prefers walking, skateboarding, Uber, public transpo. Young people today have an entirely different take on cars than I did as a youth. I couldn't wait to drive and own my own car.

And yes, he does just fine with a stick - taught him when he was 14 on my MR-2 Spyder and the Saab is a stick.
 
^^^ yeah, neither of my buddy's daughters (24yo and 18yo) have cars. The 18yo doesn't even have a license. Just not a big deal to them.
 
I'm 41 and do do most things better than most, I dabble in everything but master of none, I can keep up with old people and young people, and I'm not afraid of getting sweaty or dirty. Basically nothing I won't try at least once.

I'm not sure age has much to do with it but rather how one was raised. I've seen current 20 year olds with maturity and will power like older peeps. But I also believe one of the problem with lazier people in the younger generation is helicopter parents. Scared to let Johnny or Sally fail and get hurt so give them anything they want and always be hovering around them. Um no...but I have no kids, but I was once one.
 
denverpilot said:
I think some of the millennial “stigma” of being lazy or what-not simply came from them graduating and hitting adulthood during a recession. Older folks always say kids are “lazy” when they don’t have jobs.
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Yeah that definitely didn't help. Millennial meme culture is actually fairly depressing as a result of that. They were told all through the 90s growing up that they could do and be whatever they want with abandon.. come to find out that graduating with a degree in Mongolian Art History gives you very limited employment options. The only friends I have who had no problem finding immediate work all had degrees in engineering. Everyone else took a year or two to find their home

Will be interesting to see the kinds of kids millennials raise
 
simtech said:
...Um no...but I have no kids, but I was once one.
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Sure you've heard it before but not too late by any means. I was 46 when my son was born. My only. My ex already had four and I asked her about a fifth when we were dating. She had no problem with that and that sealed the deal for me. One of the best things I have ever done in my life if not THE best and a constant source of pleasure for me. My son is my best friend.
 
denverpilot said:
And you BOTH know that Adobe’s file format is an utter pile of crap, but a scanned image is just an image inside their crap container at that point and not a “real” PDF.

We have a server here chock full of “PDFs” that all they were was a TIFF from a flipping fax machine because the medical industry is stuck in the past by HIPAA pretending faxes are secure while actual data needs half a million worth of fake “security” surrounding sending and receiving it from another business entity.



They’re over on Slack and Discord. What’s a message board? :)



Should learn just for fun. You’d like.

I’m too old to answer the questions but like most others I think the younger folk are doing fine. I’m the oldest of all the cousins and they’re all doing cool stuff. Half-sister just wrapped up that NASA rebuild of the Apollo control room after three years.

I’m sure all my mentors in IT and telecom hated my lack of detail back when I was learning it, too. Now I’m the old guy who rants at the youngsters that if they had just planned the project a little better... save us all a lot of grief.

But they pay me to fix those mistakes now, like they paid my mentors... lol. Yay for sloppy work. Keeps me employed. :)
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I kind of learned. My dad had a 1993 Porsche Carerra 2 that he taught me a few times. I just never was that interests in learning because I knew I probably wouldn’t get a car with manual transmission.
 
alfadog said:
Sure you've heard it before but not too late by any means. I was 46 when my son was born. My only. My ex already had four and I asked her about a fifth when we were dating. She had no problem with that and that sealed the deal for me. One of the best things I have ever done in my life if not THE best and a constant source of pleasure for me. My son is my best friend.
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Good for you. I really mean that and not being sarcastic.
I never wanted kids and was lucky enough to find a good woman that agreed. But we are both glad that there are good people out there that aren't as selfish as we are to have and raise the next generation of plumbers, nurses and Social Security funders.
 
JOhnH said:
Good for you. I really mean that and not being sarcastic.
I never wanted kids and was lucky enough to find a good woman that agreed. But we are both glad that there are good people out there that aren't as selfish as we are to have and raise the next generation of plumbers, nurses and Social Security funders.
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Well, I don't think I was criticizing anyone's choices (and you are not implying that I was) and don't consider you selfish (I don't know you). I was simply sharing my experience and my joy of being a parent.

PS, the next generation of astronauts, cancer researchers... and Social Security funders.
 
:goofy::goofy::lol:
Zeldman said:
Some 30 year old must have come up with that....

At 60 I can still do everything I did at 40, just not as often or as fast....

:lol::lol:
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I am about to turn 50 and so is my wife, so I thought I came up with it
 
alfadog said:
Sure you've heard it before but not too late by any means. I was 46 when my son was born. My only. My ex already had four and I asked her about a fifth when we were dating. She had no problem with that and that sealed the deal for me. One of the best things I have ever done in my life if not THE best and a constant source of pleasure for me. My son is my best friend.
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In a lot of ways waiting until you're older to have kids has benefits. You're more seasoned and patient, and have had time to do the things that you want to do so it's easier to not feel like the kids are preventing you from doing some things.

The negative part is you don't get as much time with them, and probability of having (and getting time with) grandkids later on is lower.
 
steingar said:
Apparently there are lots of dinosaurs who believe using an old-fashioned transmission and being able mechanically adroit enough to repair vehicles is the epitome of civilization and that there is something fundamentally wrong with anyone who can't do it.
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Yep.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
In a lot of ways waiting until you're older to have kids has benefits. You're more seasoned and patient, and have had time to do the things that you want to do so it's easier to not feel like the kids are preventing you from doing some things.

The negative part is you don't get as much time with them, and probability of having (and getting time with) grandkids later on is lower.
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It's also a lot easier to play on sports teams with your kids (you'd be surprised how many parent/kid combos there are in adult flag and softball leagues) when the age difference is 20ish years vs 40 or 50ish years.
 
EdFred said:
It's also a lot easier to play on sports teams with your kids (you'd be surprised how many parent/kid combos there are in adult flag and softball leagues) when the age difference is 20ish years vs 40 or 50ish years.
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My version of sports teams with my kids would involve us all racing Cobras.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
My version of sports teams with my kids would involve us all racing Cobras.
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I get the feeling that most of this board is severely lacking in hand eye coordination when outside of vehicles.
 
EdFred said:
I get the feeling that most of this board is severely lacking in hand eye coordination when outside of vehicles.
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I play a mean game of ping-pong. Or I used to. I haven't tried in perhaps 10ish years.
 
EdFred said:
I get the feeling that most of this board is severely lacking in hand eye coordination when outside of vehicles.
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I just never cared for playing sportsball.

"Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports. . . all others are games." -Ernest Hemingway
 
Yeah, but that dude was a drunk that killed himself, so take the opinion for what it's worth. :D

That said I don't agree with the pedestals that people put sports figures on
 
EdFred said:
Yeah, but that dude was a drunk that killed himself, so take the opinion for what it's worth. :D
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Character is complex.
 
I will also posit that I bet none of the dinosaurs could cook a full meal, hem a pair of pants, or sew on a button.
 
alfadog said:
My son is 20 and does not have a car (at least he doesn't have one that works - he does not want to fix the Saab 900S turbo that I bought for him a while back). We were just talking about it yesterday and he says that he prefers walking, skateboarding, Uber, public transpo. Young people today have an entirely different take on cars than I did as a youth. I couldn't wait to drive and own my own car.

And yes, he does just fine with a stick - taught him when he was 14 on my MR-2 Spyder and the Saab is a stick.
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I’ve seen that as well with a lot young people today. Friend’s family came to visit a couple months back and their 18 year old son only had a learners permit and had no desire to own a car. Here I couldn’t wait to take Drivers Ed over summer school and get my license and then be able to drive the family car. Just blows my mind.

To me, learning to drive and owning a car is no different than flying. They give me a sense of freedom, pride of ownership and a feeling of accomplishment. Now obviously the passion fades over time but even today, I’d much rather drive myself than Uber and much rather fly myself than take the airlines. I’m actually going to drive 10 hrs to the simulator next week vs going through ATL and flying out.
 
steingar said:
I will also posit that I bet none of the dinosaurs could cook a full meal, hem a pair of pants, or sew on a button.
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If you count me in the dinosaurs, you'd lose on all counts. I even learned to knit. (Not sure I could still remember how!)
 
Velocity173 said:
I’ve seen that as well with a lot young people today. Friend’s family came to visit a couple months back and their 18 year old son only had a learners permit and had no desire to own a car.
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My daughter was very eager to get her license. When she turned 15, she got her learners permit on her birthday, and we pretty much had her drive us everywhere we went for a year. On her 16th birthday, she took her test and passed, and has now been driving on her own for a year or so. I have no worries letting her drive, she was trained by the pickiest and most demanding driving instructor I know....ME!
 
steingar said:
I will also posit that I bet none of the dinosaurs could cook a full meal, hem a pair of pants, or sew on a button.
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Well of course they couldn't. There's no way a stegosaurus or triceratops could grip a needle to sew anything, and I'm pretty sure they didn't invent fire for cooking.
 
EdFred said:
Well of course they couldn't. There's no way a stegosaurus or triceratops could grip a needle to sew anything, and I'm pretty sure they didn't invent fire for cooking.
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And the Tyrannosaurus could maybe grip the needle, but he couldn't get it up where he could see to thread it.
 
EdFred said:
Well of course they couldn't. There's no way a stegosaurus or triceratops could grip a needle to sew anything, and I'm pretty sure they didn't invent fire for cooking.
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85915173.jpg
 
Bill Jennings said:
My daughter was very eager to get her license. When she turned 15, she got her learners permit on her birthday, and we pretty much had her drive us everywhere we went for a year. On her 16th birthday, she took her test and passed, and has now been driving on her own for a year or so. I have no worries letting her drive, she was trained by the pickiest and most demanding driving instructor I know....ME!
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My son was also eager to get a license and his first car, a cherry '85 Corvette. That he promptly wrecked the 'vette and had a minor accident with the replacement Saab that I bought him to go to A&P school (he didn't like it, the school) might have soured him a bit but I think it is more modern attitudes than that. He has a vintage 1972 Harley (Aermacchi) 350 Scrambler sitting in my shed for the last some years that he never rides.
 
JOhnH said:
That is true. And when I was young, a mechanic could get most cars to run better by gapping the points using a matchbook cover and gapping the spark plugs with a folded over matchbook cover.

Our bodies haven't changed as much as cars have, but our knowledge of them has, and it is all that extra knowledge that is needed is why DPTs are in demand. DPTs don't just help you walk using parallel bars any more. But my point in using him for the example was that even though he was spending all that time in the classroom, he was also out in the world using his hands and building things. He did some work for me and it looks amazing.
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My point was that we have added a lot of textbook learning to many professions. The extra time they spend in school is only used to justify their salaries, and does not reflect in the quality of service they provide. My daughter had a first grade teacher with a PhD. She was completely incompetent in the classroom.
 
sarangan said:
My point was that we have added a lot of textbook learning to many professions. The extra time they spend in school is only used to justify their salaries, and does not reflect in the quality of service they provide. My daughter had a first grade teacher with a PhD. She was completely incompetent in the classroom.
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My point is that your point is pointless.
Yes. A PhD for a first grade teacher is ridiculous and probably counter productive to those little minds. But "book learning" in a medical profession is rarely wasted. I would much rather have a Physical Therapist that has a deep understanding of what and why he is doing things to my body. Comparing a PhD teaching 1st grade to a medical professional is outlandish.
 
steingar said:
Apparently there are lots of dinosaurs who believe using an old-fashioned transmission and being able mechanically adroit enough to repair vehicles is the epitome of civilization and that there is something fundamentally wrong with anyone who can't do it.
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Yep. There are lots of skills from days gone by that are no longer necessary. My father told me about his days tending their family's coal burning furnace. That's not a skill any of us need now, and I'm in favor of letting those skills atrophy.

My younger daughter is now on the long and winding road hopefully leading to nursing school, and for that reason I was reviewing a knowledge test quite often given to pre-nursing students. Her weak spot is complex math, so I went through the math section. For the most, it was simple stuff, basic algebra, lots of unit conversions, proportions and ratios. Then came along a question on Roman numerals. WTF? My daughters' school doesn't teach them any longer. What do these people think that a doctor is going to note a patient's chart to give XXV mg of a medication every VIII hours? Let it go, they're not necessary.

alfadog said:
Sure you've heard it before but not too late by any means. I was 46 when my son was born. My only. My ex already had four and I asked her about a fifth when we were dating. She had no problem with that and that sealed the deal for me. One of the best things I have ever done in my life if not THE best and a constant source of pleasure for me. My son is my best friend.
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I was 42 and 44 when mine were born. It's funny, the woman I had been dating before the one I married had no interest in children, and if we'd stayed together, I'd be childless. It would have been easier, but I'm glad I didn't miss out on having a family.

Ted DuPuis said:
In a lot of ways waiting until you're older to have kids has benefits. You're more seasoned and patient, and have had time to do the things that you want to do so it's easier to not feel like the kids are preventing you from doing some things.

The negative part is you don't get as much time with them, and probability of having (and getting time with) grandkids later on is lower.
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That's true. You're also usually more settled financially. The downside if you wait as long as I did, you have to hope that you'll be able to stay in the workforce well into your 60s. I will be 62 next month, and my youngest is a senior in high school. She wants to go to nursing school, and it's a very real possibility she'll take five or even six years to do so. That's pushing it, I work in a field that isn't very friendly to older people. The other thing is as we age the mortality rate increases. My father died of heart disease at age 62.

Ted DuPuis said:
My version of sports teams with my kids would involve us all racing Cobras.
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Start them with karts.

Bill Jennings said:
My daughter was very eager to get her license. When she turned 15, she got her learners permit on her birthday, and we pretty much had her drive us everywhere we went for a year. On her 16th birthday, she took her test and passed, and has now been driving on her own for a year or so. I have no worries letting her drive, she was trained by the pickiest and most demanding driving instructor I know....ME!
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My eldest had to be pushed into getting her permit, which we did because Georgia gives under 18 year olds a restricted license. It takes 18 months from when a minor gets his/her permit until he/she can drive with a friend in the car. She was grateful we pushed her. The younger one wanted to go on her birthday, but we couldn't make that happen, it was about three days after. Now we have four drivers and four cars. Fortunately, two incomes as well.
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah but can you drive a stick shift???
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Man I almost put that in my previous post. Shoulda/woulda/coulda

Yep, learned on a diesel VW rabbit 4 speed. I have an Audi S7 now with the triptronic but my previous ride was an old Jeep Wrangler manual trans for the previous 8 years.
 
EvilEagle said:
Man I almost put that in my previous post. Shoulda/woulda/coulda

Yep, learned on a diesel VW rabbit 4 speed. I have an Audi S7 now with the triptronic but my previous ride was an old Jeep Wrangler manual trans for the previous 8 years.
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I used to have a diesel wabbit stick. I traded one of my Alfas to a guy for the wabbit, a huge 4-door Pontiac that I gave my Dad, and some cash.
 
alfadog said:
I used to have a diesel wabbit stick. I traded one of my Alfas to a guy for the wabbit, a huge 4-door Pontiac that I gave my Dad, and some cash.
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I saw an Alfa Romeo Spider come up on Facebook the other day... was very tempting. I always liked those cars.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I saw an Alfa Romeo Spider come up on Facebook the other day... was very tempting. I always liked those cars.
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Just picked this on up in PA and left it at my house in TN. Going up there again this month. Picked it up off CL. Rich folks toy been sitting in their garage last five years, less than 60k original miles.

IMG_20190806_171423554.jpg
 
I’m 25. (Wow - been here almost 10!!! years)

I can change a tire, drive a manual, sail, play a couple of instruments halfway decent, cook, and in almost 5000 hours of flying in Alaska have never scratched the paint.

The latter is a testament more to the instruction and tutelage I have received from members of this forum through the years rather than my own personal ability.
 
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