John Smith wrote:
Jim:

I just took it for granted that everyone experienced life a lot like me.

Not a valid assumption, John.

Remember when your were 21?

Yep. I remember all the way back to when I was 3 years old.

And how back then 50 year old people looked
like they had one foot in the grave? How 60 year old people looked as
if they were preserved in formaldehyde? And, were just about as
interesting to chat with as window drapes?

I don't remember older people that way at all, from when I was 21. Or
any other age.

Sure, when I was 21, someone who was 51 looked "old". That's natural -
someone who is 21 looks very young to me now.

But they did not look like they "had one foot in the grave", nor "were
preserved in formaldehyde". Just older.

A few were uninteresting old grumps. Others were *very* interesting to
chat with, talk to, learn from, spend time with.

When I was attending the University of Pennsylvania in the early-mid
1970s, there was one professor who was absolutely adored by all of us
EE students. He was Professor Cornelius Weygandt, who taught a number
of courses like Electrodynamics and Power Systems. He was at least 70
at the time and looked ancient to us.

But he had an energy that, for lack of a better word, was pure
electricity. He'd walk into class with a half-sheet of paper on which
was written a complex problem. He'd draw the problem on the board and
then proceed to show us how to solve it. No notes, no books, no
calculators, no slide rule, just his own knowledge. His explanations
were clear and precise, making complex concepts clear and
understandable to all. We would toss variations on the problems at him,
and he'd solve the variations too, with no preparation at all.

One time in Power Systems he gave us a homework problem from the book.
Looked simple but the answer made no sense no matter how we solved it.
The book had a misprint, and the numbers given could not exist in
reality. Of course the *real* lesson was to check your data. When some
students protested, he asked "Do you mean you trust everything that's
written in books without question? Next thing you'll tell me is that
you trust everything that comes out of a computer!"

Lesson learned.

Sometimes (outside of class) we could get him to tell stories of when
he was our age (he'd graduated from the same school in 1921) or his
work on the Differential Analyzer. Great stuff.

He's just one example - I have many more.

Now that you are old--suddenly you got blind?

No. But there are none so blind as those who will not see.

I am 55 and people even 65 are about as interesting as rocks

to *you*, maybe. Not to me.

--there is
that kind of difference which occurred in the 60's and has been
occurring ever since...

Consider that the problem may be *your* perception and interaction with
them. I know plenty of interesting people in their '60s, '70s, '80s,
even some in their '90s. Plus plenty of interesting younger people.
Their different perspectives are illuminating - all of them.

And if people are living longer, and staying healthy longer, then
there's no reason for them to step aside just because they're old. Ever
hear the phrase "60 is the new 40" or some such?

Get real--the only reason some old geezer type will have a younger woman
on his arm is for the money....

There's a lot more reasons than money. Sometimes a younger woman wants
a daddy figure. Sometimes she wants someone who's more experienced,
mature and stable. And yes, sometimes it's the money.

There are also men who prefer older women, for similar reasons.

I suggest you rent the film "Harold and Maude". (no, it's not
about Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore).

You can extrapolate on that to figure out how it applies here at amateur
radio...

From what I see, all ages have something to contribute - if they want
to.
And if those of other ages are willing to listen.

Take a look at the comments to the various restructuring proposals -
both the 18 current ones and the 1998 one that led to the changes of
2000. There
were fewer than 2500 comments in 1998. I'm not sure of the number of
comments to the 18 current proposals (they're all long past their
comment periods) but in total there are only a few thousand. And
support for continued Morse Code testing is in the majority!

All those people who supposedly don't accept the Morse Code test - yet
they cannot even bother to comment to FCC.


Say - if you really believe older folks should step aside, maybe *you*
should step aside for a younger guy like me!

Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2004/04/01/1/

John



Hello, John

I passed my amateur extra, 1st phone, and 2nd telegraph in 1966.
After
letting all my tickets expire, I simply re-tested and passed with no
study
my amateur extra (20 wpm) in 1993 as well as my GROL (which is
considerably
simpler than the old 1st phone).

I have worked with a lot of surface mount technology, computers,
programming
languages, and still know pi to 100 places.

What amazes me is that folks think that if you have an education that
is 15
years old or more or possess a license issued more than 15 years ago,
then
you can't possibly be up-to-date.

Sounds like you've got earlyheimers disease to me )

I passed the Extra in 1970 - at age 16. Graduated with BSEE in 1976 and
MSEE in 1992.

But my education isn't 15 years old, because it's an ongoing thing.

73 de Jim, N2EY