Next message: Frank R: "Re: Lunars calculator"
George H wrote:
"Frank Reed recently chose to tell us that he is 41 years old."
And so far, from people who've contacted me on and off list, that's the
lower limit of age for the list. I'm still very interested to hear if there are
younger people who follow this list. Anyone under 30? Anyone under 40???
And George joked:
"Remarkable, that. I had taken him to be MUCH younger."
Thank you, George. I also thanked you the first time you made this joke less
than a month after I joined the list back in December, 2003. Remember?? Back
when you all were so defensive about "Slocum's lunars"? Ahh, the good ole
days.
And:
"For anyone who thinks it to be relevant, I'm seventy"
I had guessed 72. Not far off. But just so we're clear, I don't care a bit
if you're 72 or 42. But to answer the question you posed as the subject of
this message, yes, it's relevant. The age distribution of the list is relevant
to me in a few ways:
1) A question of common culture. There are other lists that I follow, which
I judge to have a significantly younger age distribution, where I might make
a reference to an American adult cartoon called "Family Guy" and people might
find it amusing. It's exported to many countries so that aspect of common
culture is not in doubt, but it makes a great many pop culture references that
are generation-specific. If ya don't get the jokes, ya don't watch the show
--of course and nothing wrong with that. There's an episode that makes one of
the funniest latitude & longitude references I've ever seen in pop culture but
I haven't brought it up on this list for that very reason: it is not part of
our common culture given the age distribution of the list (I could be wrong!
anyone know the lat/lon bit I'm talking about?)
2) Who are we reaching? If this list is just for the education and amusement
of elderly men, well ok, so be it, but I think that's worth knowing.
3) The age distribution says something about the fate of celestial
navigation and the potential marketplace for products in the field. That's of interest
to me.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
