to each their own...

Those who think their own generation was any different have got it twisted...


At one time parents were driven mad by their teens being on the one and only phone line for hours at a time. They thought it stupid, what could you be talking about for SO long?

At one time parents could not understand why their teens were glued to MTV each and every day. They thought it stupid, a little movie made for one song??

At one time parents were driven crazy by the way their teens emulated the way Elvis moved his hips. They thought it stupid, that's not dancing...that's almost sex!!

I could go on and on. Fads are nothing new and no matter what ANYONE says, we've all been sucked into one at one time or another...and someone thought you stupid for it...



My point is this...You can call it dumb, stupid, a waste, whatever...but to those that like it, it won't matter one bit what 'you' think. It's not your thing, it theirs. And to that I say, have at it! Nobody should have to explain the why and whats of the things they enjoy, especially to people that will think less of them simply because of those things, without ever getting to know the person.

Funny. My parents used to complain that I was on the phone all the time. Now they complain that we don't talk on the phone enough with texting, etc.

LOL - I don't particularly like talking on the phone OR texting!

robertduval14 said:to each their own...

Those who think their own generation was any different have got it twisted...

At one time parents were driven mad by their teens being on the one and only phone line for hours at a time. They thought it stupid, what could you be talking about for SO long?

At one time parents could not understand why their teens were glued to MTV each and every day. They thought it stupid, a little movie made for one song??

At one time parents were driven crazy by the way their teens emulated the way Elvis moved his hips. They thought it stupid, that's not dancing...that's almost sex!!

I could go on and on. Fads are nothing new and no matter what ANYONE says, we've all been sucked into one at one time or another...and someone thought you stupid for it...

My point is this...You can call it dumb, stupid, a waste, whatever...but to those that like it, it won't matter one bit what 'you' think. It's not your thing, it theirs. And to that I say, have at it! Nobody should have to explain the why and whats of the things they enjoy, especially to people that will think less of them simply because of those things, without ever getting to know the person.

There is a big difference as while the IQ levels have not changed, hopefully, the intelligence level of today youth is horridly inferior to that even thirty years ago.

When a cashier asks me, not jesting, if a half-dollar was real money; I look younger than my age, a lot younger twenty years ago, and when I got a summer job while being a non-traditional college student, the employer who thought I was just another college dope head, was amazed at the speed I did my work while never having to tell me to get off of my lazy buttocks; when students cannot calculate how to make change without a calculator; a male asks you what may be making noise on his new computer rich automobile, you tell him his kniffer bearing is rubbing against his johnson rod and he thinks you are serious.

No it is not the same, all the past fads did not reduce the level of education youth had to attain in society, past fads did not lead to mass of humans acting with the intelligence level of lemmings.

A Chinese fellow I did some landscaping work for asked me why we were letting our country go from being a worlds leader with an educated populace turn into a population of semi-literate followers of the very things that was wrong with his country .

NO , it is not the same.

---
ON a side note, a show on PBS had a panel of parents, age difference in the group was about twenty years, asking why to days kids were not doing what they did in their youth and all ---- even the oldest ones finally said ---- it was their fault as they were so concerned about not upsetting the boat, and not following the local society standards, (i.e. anything that would have others calling them bad parents, even if things they avoided were the exact things their parents allowed and they loved) that they were not allowing their children the freedom to learn about society and life they had when they were young .

That summer was no longer the season kids could go out and explore and learn, sometimes the hard way, as they had their kids forced into routines that they feared not doing would be looked bad upon by their neighbors.

I take It nobody but me actually plays? Should of been called "why I hate Pokemon go" thread

Seems some equate a game as an indicator as to why 'they' are better then 'them' and the downfall of modern society.

Except for a few word games, I don't play games on my phone. But if I did it would be Pokemom Go because it is physical and I get to walk. Friends have posted where they find Pokemon. Funny photos!

I'll stick with Candy Crush. LOL I'm on level 1102. But, I have been playing it for about 4 1/2 years!

AnnaZ said:I'll stick with Candy Crush. LOL I'm on level 1102. But, I have been playing it for about 4 1/2 years!

love the old commercial that shows the lady playing 'Candy Crush' at her kitchen table with actual hard candies and a hammer... 'Level twoooo'.

I remember that commercial. Always got a kick out of it!! It ranks up there with the old Bertoli commercials with the old lady crossing the road and a kid tries to help her and gets bashed by her purse or cane for it.

I disagree that the intelligence level of "today's youth" is inferior -- it is simply applied in different directions.

I suspect there are very few of us who are "not today's youth" who would seem very smart if confronted with the issues that our grandparents or their parents dealt with. Young people today are facing an entirely different world than I knew back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. And, like we have all done over the years, they are getting through life as best they can. There have always been ignorant and lazy people, mean people, downright evil people, self-absorbed people, and so on. And there have always been brilliant, hard-working, generous-to-a-fault, caring, giving people. Part of the problem now is that we have access to news from all over the world 24/7, and a lot of times it looks pretty grim and hopeless. But, think about all the exciting things that have come about in the last 30-40 years... and I'm confident that the next 30-40 years are going to be even more amazing!

Yes, I'm so so excited to see horseweeds take over the entire continent of North America in the next 40 years, making North Americans to rely on food from the rest of the world.

But, think about all the exciting things that have come about in the last 30-40 years... and I'm confident that the next 30-40 years are going to be even more amazing! ---- Not to pick on you and this is not aimed at the person who wrote this, but I amazing is not how I would describe them ---- the U.S. government who went to the moon in less than ten years no longer has a commercial launch program, France and Russia do.
China is working on getting to the moon, and defense journals say this is for military reasons and the U.S. has pie in the sky scenarios to get to Mars, which does nothing to make life down here better but does not have the ability to even orbit the moon.
The U.S. government has contracted with the Russian government to get our our astronauts of the space station program up there because we do not have the ability and the list goes on.


I subscribed to the Progressive Farmer for several years but stopped because it was more depressing than informative.
The articles about the new bigger and biggererer farm equipment was very interesting.

One article speaking about corporate farms, neither for or against but saying that the loss of small farms was a serious problem as the corporate farms were the ones buying up the farms that could no longer financially survive, even with the persons running the farms having second jobs.

They were writing this to tell the readers how the companies, and banks, that feed the farm industry view farms.

Hobby -- anything under 600 acres

Small -- 600 to 2,000 acres

Anything in those two categories often had trouble getting financial aid, or could not buy supplies necessary to run a farm at the lower prices the large or corporate farms could and therefore had to sell the farm.

They also had a monthly article showing the prices per acre farm land was selling for across the U.S.
An amazing variation even in areas known for good soil.

The magazine did not pull any punches with the problems facing farming but after that I let the subscription run out.

With such a serious problem and reading the magazines politically incorrect not real bright future, this is the reason I find today's youths addiction to any electronic game to be destructively sophomoric , what will they do if sun flares screw with their digital world ----( as an aside, I used to read some defense magazines and this is a serious concern how this would effect today's digital weapons, not to mention a EMP created tens of miles above the surface could literally blind the country.)---- so I do not see this as a passing fad.

Waaaaaay back when PacMan was big, I played a few times a week.
I spoke to a computer geek who told me that to defeat it was really simple, as it was just a programmed computer.
I went from having trouble reaching level three to level eight in one day.
I never played a computer game again because he he told me the only skill necessary was to be able to repeat the same thing quicker each time.
It gave you fast fingers and nothing more, UNLIKE, [[rimshot]], pinball where the ball does not repeat the same pattern time, after time, after time, after time, after time, after time....

So if your computer car ever breaks down log into RpR fast auto fix emporium, I have a lot of kniffer bearings on my shelves.

My Son In Law is hooked on video games. I'm certain that habit started when he was very young. He's good at it. That technology has benefited him in his Navy career on a Minecraft, guiding an 8 ft robotic vehicle underwater, dismantling mines while he sits safely at sea level in front of a screen.

While our Young People may fall behind in ideas and skills that we grew up with, their knowledge of technology and about what the future holds brings just as many promises that sone cannot fathom. They don't understand cash transactions because they rarely use cash and prefer electronic banking, for example. Whereas many from generations before them absolutely refuse to embrace the change in technology, relying on dying systems such as a dial phone and landlines

Our Young People may not understand or appreciate things in the past that we knew. But I have faith they will take us easily into the next century's challenges without fears, just as our generation took us to the Moon.

bwv998 said:Yes, I'm so so excited to see horseweeds take over the entire continent of North America in the next 40 years, making North Americans to rely on food from the rest of the world.

What are "horseweeds" ?

Oh, never mind -- I googled it. At least they're edible, we can just develop some good recipes for them, and get the TV chefs to promote them, and soon they will be extinct.

ShadyGreenThumb said:My Son In Law is hooked on video games. I'm certain that habit started when he was very young. He's good at it. That technology has benefited him in his Navy career on a Minecraft, guiding an 8 ft robotic vehicle underwater, dismantling mines while he sits safely at sea level in front of a screen.

War is unpleasant.
Pilots from 'Nam used to say the war was different for them because they were thousands of feet above the fighting and did not see what their munitions did to people.

Now they are thousands of miles away.

Around 1,100 Air Force pilots fly remotely piloted aircraft, or drones. These planes soar over Iraq or Afghanistan, but the pilots sit at military bases back in the United States.

A new Pentagon study shows that almost 30 percent of drone pilots surveyed suffer from what the military calls "burnout." It's the first time the military has tried to measure the psychological impact of waging a "remote-controlled war."

The report, commissioned by the U.S. Air Force, shows that 29 percent of the drone pilots surveyed said they were burned out and suffered from high levels of fatigue. The Air Force doesn't consider this a dangerous level of stress.

However, 17 percent of active duty drone pilots surveyed are thought to be "clinically distressed." The Air Force says this means the pilots' stress level has crossed a threshold where it's now affecting the pilots' work and family. A large majority of the pilots said they're not getting any counseling for their stress.

Reasons For Pilot Stress

The Air Force cites several reasons for the elevated stress levels among drone pilots. First is the dual nature of this work: flying combat operations or running surveillance in a war zone, and then, after a shift, driving a few miles home in places like Nevada or New Mexico, where a whole different set of stressors await. The Air Force says switching back and forth between such different realities presents unique psychological challenges.

Second is the issue of demand. Drones have proven to be the key U.S. military tool in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. military officials say over the past decade, there has been constant demand for more pilots to fly these platforms. While training for drone pilots has increased, there are still not enough to meet demand, and pilots end up working longer than expected shifts, keeping these planes in the air 24 hours a day.

The particular nature of drone warfare is also a contributor to the higher stress levels. While the number is very small, officials who conducted the study said they did encounter a handful of pilots who suffered symptoms of PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder — directly linked to their experience running combat operations. Unlike traditional pilots flying manned aircraft in a war zone, the pilots operating remote drones often stare at the same piece of ground in Afghanistan or Iraq for days, sometimes months. They watch someone's pattern of life, see people with their families, and then they can be ordered to shoot.

Col. Kent McDonald, who co-authored the report, says the Air Force tries to recruit people who are emotionally well-adjusted, "family people" with "good values."

An 'Existential Crisis'

"When they have to kill someone," he says, "or where they are involved in missions and then they either kill them or watch them killed, it does cause them to rethink aspects of their life."

McDonald describes it as an "existential crisis."

Air Force officials say they are putting plans in motion to try to address some of the causes of the elevated stress levels in drone pilots. Right now, there are 57 drones flying in 57 different positions in the world at any given moment. That number surged this summer to 60, but the Air Force is going to cap the number at 57 for the next 12 months.

The cap is meant as a kind of "time out" to rethink how the drone pilots are being used. The service will use that time to re-evaluate shifts, train more drone crews to meet demand, and figure out ways to help pilots navigate between their professional and personal lives.

How will they deal with fratricide?

Yes, war is not a happy time. Nor is it a good thing. But it has gone from hand-to-hand combat to air warfare to Chemical Warfare what it is now, using technology and . War too has evolved.

I just know there are a lot of 20 something year old adults that sit around all day and play video games. Excuse me walk around and play video games all day now. They don't work, still live with mom, and have no desire to better their life beside making it to the next level on the game and they wonder why their parent's house is going into foreclosure. If you are over 18 and live with your parents you need to put the games away and get a job. I don't care if you are in school and if not then get 2 jobs. To whoever can't see how lazy America is getting just look around. The youth that does work hate their jobs and it's evident anytime you walk into a fast food chain or a retail store. they will either be hidden in a corner texting, saying they can't wait to get off, or walking around slower than a slug. I was going to say turtle but that would be giving them too much credit. Now everyone is applauding games like pokemon go because it get's there kids outside and active. Well maybe the parents should have stop being crappy parents and got the kids outside and active a long time ago but it's easier to put a game in there hands and say have it because the parents are too lazy themselves to deal with children. I know there are times when the youth will surprise us by working hard or are taking pride in their work but you'll only be lying to yourself if you say they are not few and far between.

Around here, anyone hiring LOVES farm kids, because, in their words.........."they know how to work". Our middle son's boss told us "I wish I could find a couple more like him". He's a welder.

We left our kids home alone a few times when we went on long weekends with our boating group. They had to milk, feed calves, and were generally "in charge" of everything while we were gone. They were all in school yet, and since they're 4 years apart in age from the oldest to youngest......they were all teenagers. We never worried about the farm when we were gone. I often said "how many urban/city parents would leave 3 teenagers in charge of a quarter million dollar operation and be reasonably sure it would still be intact when they got home"? Not many, I bet! Now our oldest is a machinist (motor work), middle son is the welder, and youngest is a Harley-Davidson repairman. They all live in the area.