Old Codgers and Young Whippersnappers

I was an adjunct instructor at Ozarka College In northern Arkansas in 2001 to 2006, where I taught computer classes in the evenings, usually two classes per semester, at facilities in Melbourne and Ash Flat. Every desk had a computer, tied into the main system at the Melbourne campus.

The students generally came in two varieties -- youngsters not far out of high school who had considerable computer skills and older people who wanted to learn about computers so the could make use of their home PCs.

One thing I learned along the way is that a teacher never stops learning. For example, there is a big difference between young whippersnappers (younger generations) and old codgers (older generations).

One semester at the Melbourne facility, there were 18 students in my Microprocessor Applications class. Four of them were older students, in their 40s and 50s. These four students had impeccable attendance records and the four highest overall grades, based on computer projects and tests. The rest of the students were a year or two out of high school. With few exceptions, they had spotty attendance and didn't seem to put forth an effort equal to their older counterparts. By the way, everyone in that particular class was a female student, thus these differences had nothing to do with gender.

One semester at the Ash Fat facility, I had 11 students in my Introduction to Computers class. There were five older students, ages 30 to 75, and six students fresh out of high school. Once again, the five older students had good attendance records and the five highest overall grades, even though they knew less about computers at the outset than the youngsters.

This isn't exactly a scientific survey, but from my point of view old codgers seem to have a strong ethic to succeed while young whippersnappers have a strong yearning to slide through life with the greatest of ease.

Having interviewed and hired people in the past as the Lead Programmer and General Manager of a Computer Software Company, it's been my experience that the best workers are the ones who actually show up and put forth an effort once they get there. A strong work ethic and eager attitude (beyond the false persona of the interview process) were always major requirements when I hired people.

Having finished college is also a must. An employer is more willing to hire someone who has demonstrated they can finish what they started rather than some hotshot who quits in the middle. Being smart is secondary to a good work ethic. And being a class clown only helps if you want to become a comic or a writer.

There seems to be a generation gap throughout society these days. Many young people don't want to take responsibility for their own future. It's as though they expect some outside force, such as an omnipresent government, to control their world so they can just float through life without encountering too many obstacles or making too many decisions.

In a recent poll of 100,000 high school students, only 51% believe newspapers should be allowed to publish content without government approval and 20% feel people should not be allowed to express unpopular views. Apparently fascism is a desirable concept among an alarmingly large percentage of the youth of America.

Obviously, there are real differences between generations.

Young whippersnappers worry about the driver's test – old codgers worry about the vision test.

Old codgers remember where they were when JFK was assassinated – young whippersnappers remember where they were when INVASION OF THE ZOMBIES came out.

Young whippersnappers arrange for their next KEG – old codgers arrange for their next EKG. 

Old codgers move to Arizona because it's warm -- young whippersnappers move to Arizona because it's cool.

Young whippersnappers often have long hair – old codgers often long for hair.

Old codgers fought wars for freedom of speech – young whippersnappers believe in freedom of speech as long as you get government approval first and don't say anything disagreeable.

If you want to get ahead in this world, show up and do the work. If you want to goof off, move to San Francisco. I've been there a few times -- it didn't take very long to get past it, but I still have a little bit of goof-off in reserve.

If you believe in freedom, fight for it. If you want to be a slave, empower those in charge to monitor everyone more closely and suppress unpopular thought, and perhaps build "re-education" centers for those who stray.

Government is dominated by those who yearn to control others. It becomes increasingly powerful by eroding liberty, requiring conformity and demanding obedience.

When you lose your individuality, you lose your soul.

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Quote for the Day -- "What a teacher is, is more important than what he teaches." Karl A. Menninger

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Bret Burquest is the author of 9 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY and 11:11 EARTH TIME (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where Old Codgers continue to pass skills onto Young Whippersnappers.

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The Illusion of Time

Time is a very precious commodity -- I often wonder where it has all gone and how much I have left.

I even lose an hour every spring when we switched back to Daylight Savings Time and won’t get it back until fall. Daylight Savings Time was a temporary measure introduced by Congress during World War One to conserve energy. Like most temporary measures heaped upon us by the government, it’s still with us. Perhaps, one of these days, word will drift back to Washington that World War One is over. Be sure to let them knew we won.

There was once a time when there was no such thing as time.  Life on earth proceeded from future to present to past without much dismay.  Then along came some idiot who invented the alarm clock and spoiled it for all of us.

Time was probably invented by a bunch of German scientists, ingenious old geezers with bad haircuts who needed another factor to add to their mathematical equations.

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Albert Einstein

They started by defining one complete revolution of the earth around the sun as a Year and one complete period of rotation of the earth on its axis as a Day.  Unfortunately, this resulted in 365.24219 Days per Year and caused much confusion among calendar creators.

At that point logic no longer seemed to matter so they split a Day into two equal divisions of 12 periods called Hours.  Then they divided each Hour into 60 increments called Minutes and each Minute into 60 increments called Seconds.

It all seemed to make sense to the German scientists at the time, probably too much schnapps.

Interestingly, the conception of 60 minutes and 60 seconds dates back 6,000 years to Babylon in the ancient Sumerian Empire (present day Iraq).

The Sumerians were the first known people to develop a written language. They also developed the sexagesimal numbering system, based on the number 60. This base 60 system has filtered down to today -- 60 minutes, 60 seconds, 360 degrees in a circle (6 X 60), 24 hours in a day (6 + 6 + 6 + 6), 12 signs of the Zodiac (6 + 6), 12 months of the year (6 + 6), etc.

In our endless search for perfection, the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., has an accuracy of 1 millionth of a second and will gain or lose less than 1 second every 10 million years.  Not to be outdone, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been given a government grant to design a space clock that will be at least ten times more accurate than previous devices.

Apparently, time is so valuable it must be measured beyond rational comprehension -- it's always comforting to know our tax dollars are going to such worthwhile purposes.

To the young, time is endless.

To the elderly, time is fleeting.

To the ambitious, time is money.

To the suffering, time is agony.

To the philosopher, time is an illusion.

To the physicist, time is a dimension.

There is a time to reap and a time to sow.

And a time to end a topic -- time to go.

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Quote for the Day -- "Time flies like an arrow -- fruit flies like a banana." Groucho Marx

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Bret Burquest is the author of 9 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY and 11:11 EARTH TIME (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where time you enjoy wasting, is never really wasted.

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Circle of Right and Wrong

In 2001, a Chinese jet fighter collided with an American spy airplane over the China Sea, near the Chinese mainland.  Thus an argument ensued.

USA: You have no right to collide with our aircraft and force it to land.

CHINA: You have no right to violate our space.

USA: International law recognizes anything beyond a 12-mile limit as international waters.

CHINA: We recognize a 200-mile limit.

USA: We are within our rights by international law.

CHINA: You are spying on us. This is an act of aggression.

USA: We do it to keep the world safe from the likes of you. Besides you spy on us too.

CHINA: We spy on you because you are attempting to dominate the world.

USA: We are merely trying to keep the peace.

CHINA: You act as though you are the world’s self-appointed police force.

USA: It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.

CHINA: How would you feel if we sent spy planes off your coastline?

USA: We wouldn’t like that at all.

CHINA: You should mind your own business.

USA: We must patrol the globe to keep evil like you contained.

CHINA: You are an evil empire that always has to have your own way.

USA: We are a democracy. It is our obligation to keep tabs on the rest of the world.

CHINA: If you keep secrets from your citizens, you have no democracy.

USA: We must keep secrets so we can always have the upper hand on evil.

CHINA: We must also keep secrets because of evil like you.

USA: No you don’t because we are the good guys.

CHINA: If you are the good guys, why is it nobody likes you?

USA: Britain likes us. So does Israel. Canada seems to like us too.

CHINA: Big deal.

USA: We intend to keep spying on you.

CHINA: Stay out of our air space or there will be another incident.

USA: You have no right to collide with our aircraft and force it to land.

CHINA: You have no right to violate our space.

USA: International law recognizes anything beyond a 12-mile limit as international waters.

CHINA: We recognize a 200-mile limit.

USA: We are within our rights by international law.

CHINA: You are spying on us. This is an act of aggression.

And so on…

The argument continues in an endless circle -- both sides are certain they are right. But in the scheme of things, only one side can be right.

Unless, or course, neither are right.

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Quote for the Day -- "The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it." George Bernard Shaw

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Bret Burquest is the author of 9 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF REALITY and 11:11 EARTH TIME (available on Amazon). He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and where silence is the hardest argument to refute.

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