INSIDE THE BABY BOOMER REVIEWCould Everest Really Be Shrinking? Books I’m reading And I thought the Hubble Telescope was top of the line! Barbie’s Birthday |
The Baby Boomer Retirement Review is a Newsletter – of Sorts
So, what’s the deal with the newsletter format? Why a Baby Boomer Retirement Review? Well, some of it is about writing more and attempting to stretch my not-so-techie web skills. And some of it’s about volume. The sheer volume of info that I absorb from all the reading I do. Plus, I’m almost sixty and there’s just a lot of stuff rattling around in my head. I was hoping to be an influencer by now, but I just can’t remember what for. Did I mention I was almost sixty. So, the newsletter format is another avenue to practice skills, generate conversations, and keep my marbles (I mean seriously, there’s only so much Sudoku a girl can play).
Aside from wanting to keep my marbles, I want to connect with my peers. My generational peers that is. Our cohort is huge, we have a lot going on! So this is my attempt to share all the funky flotsam and jetsam that I come across that never quite makes it into a regular blog post.
Could Everest Really be Shrinking?
So, the what’s the deal with the picture of Mt. Everest? No, I’m not going there, although a trip to Nepal would be fabulous. No, it’s not a cheesy reference to perseverance and tackling challenges. So what’s the connection? Apparently, Mt. Everest might be shrinking…just like me!
My family doctor called the other day to tell me the results of my bone density scan. “You’re getting older,” he says. “You’ve got osteoporosis and you’re shrinking,” he says. I told him that I didn’t doubt it as all the women in my family do. But I almost said “no sh*t Sherlock.” I didn’t. I’ve mellowed in retirement.
Mellowed…and apparently shrunken! Okay, so let’s circle back to the possibility of Everest shrinking. The day my GP called telling me about my “older” bones losing calcium, I had just watched a PBS video about how Everest might now be smaller. It was like kismet! Both of us shrinking on the same day? What are the odds?!
“Just a lot of stuff rattling around in my head.” That’s because I read or watch things like this – Be Smart on PBS. Joe Hanson has a great explanation of the entire mountain-height-shrinking-growing thing. Maybe it’s just me that made the mental leap between my dwindling height and the erosion of the mountain over time because my family doc called to tell me I was old. Or perhaps you see it too, great! But if you do see the connection, please feel free to ignore any other similarities that I have to Joe’s references to “bulging around the equator” and “gravity lumps”!
Books I’m Reading
It’s not uncommon for me to have several books on the go. And I admit to preferring paper versions over devices for reading. Full disclosure though, I’m also an Audible junkie. Books, magazines, and cereal box nutrition labels are the monkey on my back!
Purely by happenstance, the books that I just finished reading this week turned out to be diametrically opposed to one another. The first is The Age of AI: And Our Human Future. It’s written by a trifecta of experts.
Three heavy weights for certain. I don’t like really like the term expert. Back when I worked for government, an expert was “anyone with a brief case more than 30 miles for home.” These three authors are totally legit!
Eric Schmidt, began his career at Google when it was just a “start-up”. He’s a tech wizard who helped create and build all Google’s infrastructure. Daniel Huttenlocher, was the first ever Dean of MIT’s Schwarzman College of Computing. And lastly, Henry Kissenger…yes, that Henry Kissenger. The one with the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s the Chair of Kissenger Associates now, an international consulting firm.
Not a Baby Boomer at 99 years of age, but he is definitely renown in our generation. Not retired either!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere and becoming more ubiquitous by the week. The book’s authors contend that, “AI is transforming human society in fundamental ways. Not since the Age of Reason have we changed how we approach security, economics, order, and even knowledge itself.” It’s not quite Skynet yet, because currently AI is not self-aware, but this book gives a great understanding of how close we all are.
The Terminator : In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Sarah Connor : Skynet fights back.
Now contrast the AI book with this one, The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century by Richard Polt. It resonates with me partly due to nostalgia or possibly an innate desire to swim upstream like salmon. It’s probably why I still write with a fountain pen for crying out loud. But it also speaks to me from an anthropology perspective. The typewriter revolutionized how fast we could share information, it created unforeseen jobs, and it diversified the work force by creating good paying jobs for women. For a time it was very democratizing and paid better than average for most job of the day.
Aesthetically, it’s a gorgeous looking (and sounding), incredibly durable, and functional machine. War correspondents took it to the battle fields with them. Polt was able to write an entire book about typewriters. Some of it is tongue and cheek of course. But it does have a real cult following. I mean not Rocky Horror Picture Show kind of cult following. But still, they do get together a lot! They even have their own manifesto. It’s embraced by poets and creatives everywhere. If you’re not up for the read. They made a movie out of it with Tom Hanks, John Mayer, Sam Shepard, and author David McCullough called the California Typewriter. Their Typewriter Manifesto is as follows:
If Books Aren’t Your Thing
The Peak, a Canadian business blog/podcast/website all about news, tech, and economics. I read it every morning, takes five minutes!
The Hot Goddess Blog is written by my friend Natalie. She writes about single life after a certain age, and travelling solo. One hip chick. She was a 6o+ intern at a bourbon distillery after she retired, and now she’s packing up everything a moving to Portugal. And FYI, the “hot” part of Hot Goddess is a nod to menopause and hot flashes! She’s brilliant.
And if blogs aren’t your thing. Here’s some engaging research on retirement from Statistics Canada about The Forces Pushing Toward a New Agenda of Reforms in Institutional Policies and Practices. I warned you, I read all kinds of stuff!
Did You Know Barbie Turned 63 This Year?
Yup, Babs is 63 years young. Usually when someone says a 63yr old women looks “plastic” it’s not a compliment! But our Barbie, she rolls with it.
Born March 9th, 1959. She’s a total Baby Boomer. And we Boomers are nothing if not nostalgic. Transformers, GI Joe, Avengers. All our old toys have been made into movies. And now, so that she won’t be left behind driving Ken around in her pink convertible, there’s a Barbie movie. Set for release July 21, 2023.
I have a year to warm up to the concept of a Barbie movie.
The cast does look awesome! But I seriously doubt that they’ll be enough to get me to watch it. I never really played with Barbie Dolls as kid. More of a tomboy. When she was seven years old I refused to buy our daughter Rachael the talking Barbie she wanted. Why such a b%tchy mom??? When I pulled the string that made her speak and she uttered the words, “math’s hard, let’s go to the mall instead,” it was a firm “hell no”!
I understand Babs is much more of a modern feminist these days; and I bet she’s woke too!
I’m severely maxed out on toy nostalgia from our youth. But what’s worse, we may have even pushed society’s tolerance for our generation’s love of the “good old days”. “Good old days”? Holy Sh*t! Have we become our parents!? Take a look at this 2015 article from The Washington Post – Baby Boomer Nostalgia is Already Oppressive. It’s About to Get Worse.
And I Thought The Hubble Telescope Was Top of The Line
A picture of dying stars, one of the early photos sent back to Earth from the James Webb Telescope.
As a kid, I sat glued to the black and white television watching everything Apollo! Neil Armstrong totally walked on the moon; I don’t care what the conspiracy theorists say! We made family pilgrimages to Wapakoneta in Ohio. That’s the birthplace of Neil Armstrong and home of the museum in his honor. And who didn’t sit riveted to watching NASA trying to bring home Apollo 13? Today we have more computing power in in our Smartphones than they had. And Neil Armstrong and friends basically went to space in washing machine. All hail Neil Armstrong!
Next we took “one giant step forward for man” in 1990 when we sent the Hubble Telescope into space. Those early photos were groundbreaking. Sure Hubble was broken for a while, but who cared? It still gave us glorious pictures of distant galaxies. But when was the last time you used a 30yr old camera?! Time for an upgrade.
Enter the James Webb Telescope, and voila “one giant step forward for mankind”. We can see farther into the past than ever before. It’s humbling! It’s as big a game changer to cosmology, earth science, and physics as Neil walking on the moon. All hail Neil Armstrong!
Typewriters changed how we communicated and did business. AI is changing how we create knowledge. James Webb will change how we view the universe. I’m changing some of the ways I share information and have created the Baby Boomer Retirement Review. And Barbie? Well, she hasn’t changed at all!
Cheers,
Cynthia
PS
Here’s the shameless plug and of course the self-serving Call-to Action. If you haven’t read my most recent post (honestly, I’m read by the 10’s, get on the bus) please do. It’s called Happy Anniversary to Me. I’ve been retired a year. The Call-to-Action? I’d appreciate it if you’d forward this to a colleague, friend, relative, or total freakin’ stranger! And if you’re reading this for the first time, please subscribe...you’d be number 11!
*all photos courtesy of iStock unless otherwise attributed.
Cynthia Ross Tustin retired early to pursue her passion for writing. Turns out, she's equally passionate about retirement! This author has spent 1000s of hours researching all the best that retirement has to offer. What you'll find here is a well-curated resource of amazing places to go and fun things to do as your retirement approaches. Not retired, no problem! There's plenty here for all of us that are "of a certain vintage"!