UKC

Millenials seem to be hogging the limelight these days as they indulge in their internecine warfare with their grandparents, but this place needs a space for the quiet generation in between: the cool generation. The Poland of generations, sandwiched between two awful larger rivals.

We gave the world Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon, so most of you should be grateful. That's our generous nature. My thinking is that the dates of birth to be eligible are about late 1962 to early 1982. Though there are various opinions on that. Many think that it extends to 1961.

Curiously, it looks like true political power will mostly leapfrog us, because of the electorate bulges around us, though Macron is late GenX. What the Millenials complain has been done to them by the Baby Boomers, they will probably finish off for the rest of us out of spite.

Happy days

In reply to Cú Chullain:
Thought Billy Idol was dead for a mo'

In reply to Cú Chullain:

no, 1956 is not too early - no bus passes for us at 60 but the baby boomers do get them - My brother and I regard ourselves as the same generation and he was born in 62

In reply to Cú Chullain:

I'm late Gen X (79) and I can stand the moaning of early Gen X'ers.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Bear Grylls was born in 1974.... What was that you were saying about our generous nature?

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Ben Moon...

Always now think of him first for the tribute he made to his dog, Denali. A film that spoke for many, me included, who have shared lives with dogs.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

This article has it right, we invented the internet, mobile technology, pretty much every genre of music worth listening to, have the most fun, had the best drugs, best at being smug, while the boomers all voted brexit and the millenials are all posting pictures of their breakfast on Instagram and popping benzos and anti depressants. We did everything right and nothing wrong unlikevthe whining snowflakes and swivel eyed loons. We wouldn't be where we are without gen x!

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/millenials-gene...

In reply to Cú Chullain:

can we get some t-shirts printed?

In reply to Escher:

pretty sure the internet was invented by the boomer generation (Tim Berners-Lee was born mid 1950s & the web came after the net), "much every genre of music worth listening to" is very arguable - jazz, classical & rock was pre-Gen X, as was much electronic music. I guess punk was on the threshold of late boomers/early Gen X (given punk 'exploded' in 1976, those at the start would be from the boomer generation).

But does it really matter ?

In reply to Doug:

We invented senses of humour too

In reply to Cú Chullain:

1965 - count me in.

the generation that shrugs its shoulders when confronted by all the bullshit.

In reply to Doug:

Listened to 'I wanna be your dog', The Stooges. Formed 1967. Iggy born 1947. Baby Boomer.

MC5: Rob Tyner. Born 1944. Just before the Baby Boomer era.

Any earlier proto-punk / punk sounds?

In reply to Escher:
I definitely wrote a communications package (TALK, 8080 assembler) that could conditionally execute, send and receive code or data for remote executiion and cause host code to be executed resulting in the creation of code that my package could then download and execute in 1984 (CP/M) allowing automatic comms with other computers or even a dumb terminal - it had some of the characteristics of a browser in text only of course!


And a text processing package called "Wurd" that astonished the Survey department as it ran on a machine formerly thought to be obsolete and of little use.

In reply to Doug:

personal computing was invented in the mid 70s (assuming that you ignore the claims that PDP8s were "personal") so you are definitely on the right track about the age of some of the folk. The internet preceded Berners Lee and I saw my first demo of it in about 1981/2 at Durham University on an evening course

In reply to wercat:


I take it that it didn't come with a spell checker...?

In reply to ripper:


Slogan: ‘We could put on a pretty good riot’

In reply to pasbury:

or

"we stood by and let Brexit happen because we failed to galvanise either of the major political parties to stand against it. Instead we argued in endless circles on internet forums in meek imitation of the next generation, when we could have shown them what engagement looks like and led them into action for the future they overwhelmingly voted for"

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Every generation thinks it's the best.
Every generation thinks it invented sex and being cool.

Although, I can categorically say that my generation is middle of the road.

Cheers,

BB

In reply to bouldery bits:

You certainly can.....

If the surveys are to be believed, the millennials are the first generation ever to want less sex, drugs and rock N roll.
No wonder they spend so much time whinging.

In reply to Stichtplate:




All of those would require actually doing something. We don't actually do stuff you see. Much easier to stay in the warm and watch Netflix.

In reply to bouldery bits:


Good point. The telly is much better.


(not nearly as good as all that other stuff was though!).

In reply to Stichtplate:

The irony is that I'm sat on UKC instead of going for a run...

In reply to Cú Chullain:

This thread has been a barrel of laughs since the boomers and millenials turned up. Kinda proves the point!

In reply to wercat:


Around that time for an exam I wrote a programme that did double entry book keeping and other accounts stuff. Thought it was a bit of a pointless gimmick, but at least it passed my exam and helped with my accounts homework. Think in hindsight I was a little short sighted.

In reply to Escher:

Go on, do something fun then.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Have a reread of Wercat's replies above and then have a lay down. The most fun you can have with your clothes on.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

I’m from ‘86. Please for the love of God don’t lump me in with the millennials.

In reply to Escher:

Yeah. Mad.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

A question; what is the average age of National heads of state worldwide? Executive ones that is.

In reply to bouldery bits:


You're right. Glad I went for the run. Even though I got told off for not dressing as an elf.

In reply to Flinticus:


Errmmm... youtube.com/watch?v=lR6TSe1Gqfo&

In reply to captain paranoia:


It was an oil construction site - I fully realised I had got the first letter wrong but I didn't think I'd get T--- past Roger Stonebridge, our boss (who incidentally contributed a number of photos and appeared in some for Martin Moran's book)

In reply to summo:
it's worth looking for the 1978 Horizon programme "The Chips are down" on Youtube which brought TV viewers (and politicians) suddenly to the realisation of what was coming. It caused consternation first followed by the launch of the government Microelectronics Education Programme and MFA (Microelectronics for all) and computer literacy stuff like the BBC Computer programme. Perhaps why you did your project on programming.

When I did my govt sponsored training in 1981/2 (Durham Technical College) there were still lots of people being trained for typewriter repair! Now that was farsighted ...

In reply to wercat:


I agree. Although these days there is a case for everyone learning to type at school(Not on a typewriter though). The number people who are 2 finger typers even though they spend their day at a keyboard is pretty high.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Can you change the upper limit to 79? I was born in 80 and don't want to be part of the privatisation and "over management by nincompoops that don't know what they're doing but have a spreadsheet with spurious figures," generation...

In reply to jonnie3430:

I don’t think a millennial would use the term “nincompoop”. To be honest, I’m surprised to hind it being used by anyone under 70.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

I think maybe Gen X where the last generation to grow up in general ignorance of the global problems like climate change, over fishing of the seas, deforestation, land degradation, water shortages, desertification, decimation of insect life by pesticides, mass extinctions etc. Not to mention fear of AI taking all the jobs, drone warfare. Acid rain and the ozone hole seem small fry in comparison.

In reply to RX-78:

Disagree. I'm of Gen X, as are most my mates, we are all very aware of these global problems, and were well ahead of the general population in highlighting these issues.

In reply to RX-78:

I think Nuclear apocalypse was a big concern at the time.

In reply to RX-78:


That's very disingenuous of you.

In reply to Skip:

Absolutely, we were in the vanguard of, most, of this in the 80s (b.1967), as I recall. Maybe not so much the AI takeover...

In reply to The New NickB:

It was used ironically. Sigh.

In reply to jonnie3430:


You probably need to work on your delivery!

In reply to RX-78:

.......fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes.The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria

In reply to bouldery bits:

I was born in the early 70s, it may have been a concern to my parents but not to me and my friends as we grew up. Gorbachev came to power in 1985 so the spectre of nuclear war was not so strong

In reply to krikoman:

Not sure what you mean by that?

In reply to RX-78:

I was born in 74 and those 'Protect and Survive' public information broadcasts scared the shite out of me.

youtube.com/watch?v=XXx5Y2Fr2bk&

In reply to Cú Chullain: For a terrible moment I thought Billy Idol had died.

In reply to RX-78:
I was born in 75. I remember a comedy programme announced the ‘4 minute warning’ the punchline being “except for viewer in Scotland and Northern Ireland”. For a few seconds it scared the shit out of me.

Edit: It was Naked Video.

In reply to The New NickB:

Interesting then, as a child born in 1970 i didn't pay much attention to those things, it all seemed a world away from growing up in Ireland. Just as foreign as the possibility of skiing or holidays to warm places.

In reply to RX-78:
I was born in 69 and the Cold War loomed large right through the 80's. The regular testing of the air raid siren 100 yards from our house plus daily military jet flights from the nearby airfield reinforced a definite background hum of menace.

In reply to wercat:

I believe that no one has received a bus pass at 60 since 2011.

In reply to Tom Valentine:


Yes, not the best definition of the baby boomers.

I find the differences between generations quite interesting. My aunt was born in 1935 and her life experiences were very, very different from those of my Dad, who was born in 1950.

I have a sister and brother who are 16 and 18 years my junior and whilst their life experiences have been different from mine, the difference is much, much less than people born either side of the war.

In reply to Cú Chullain:


After that it will be cloudy, with scattered showers.

In reply to Stichtplate:

Couldn't agree more.
"Threads" might only have been a docudrama but its effect on classes of mid eighties schoolkids was devastating, especially here in South Yorkshire.

In reply to mrphilipoldham:

I couldn't agree with you more. I was born in '85 and I don't identify as a millennial at all.

I didn't know that "millennial" was supposed to include people born in the '80s until recently, actually. I find that idea as ridiculous, today, as I did when I heard it for the first time.

We're just children of the '80s. Nothing else. A micro-generation that doesn't fit into either of the bigger, posh ones with fancy names on either side.

In reply to Xharlie:
there are several generations of millennials - we turn a millennium once in 1000 years and therefore any person who lives through such a period is a millennial in any real sense of the word. My mother was millennial as born in 1932 she lived through the last decade of the old millennium and the first of the new.

There are fewer generations of "New Millennials" and without that qualification the term "Millennial" can not be assumed by those in those generations.


Don't let the word-bandits take away our meanings