Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Boomers Old and Older

I could have picked any number of items about retiring Boomers. It just happens to be this one, because I came across it today.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/younger-boomers-less-avoid-running-183834669.html

On The CBS Evening News a while back, Robert Costa referred to the aged presidential candidates as belonging to the Baby Boom generation. NO! Definitely no for Biden, and also no for Trump. Biden’s father was born in 1915, and Trump’s in 1905.

I am proclaiming a new qualification for the start of the Baby Boom, that better defines what actually drove the trend: People whose parents had their first child after WWII.

This implies young couples in their 20’s, as my parents were. Not someone whose father was born before America entered WWI, and certainly not a post-WWII baby with a father who was my grandfather’s age.

Max on Max

I flew on 737 Max 8 planes for some of my trips to Arizona after my father’s stroke and subsequent death. I remember my first flight on a Max, taking my seat and looking out the window. The engine was much bigger and closer to the ground than I’d seen before on 737’s. The first overseas 737 Max crash, Lion Air Flight 610, happened just one month after my final return flight from Phoenix.

The recent near-disaster on a Max 9 highlights that Boeing has yet to put its house in order. I’ve been waiting for the main story from last Sunday’s Last Week Tonight to be posted. It popped up on YouTube this morning.

John Oliver notes the poor safety record of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, with its triple engines. During my busiest business travel years I flew on DC-10’s. Even more frequently I found myself on another triple-engine plane, that Oliver doesn’t mention, the Lockheed L-1011. Fortunately, I never had a scare on either aircraft, but overall I preferred the L-1011 because it was quieter at cruising altitude, which gets back to my recent comment about tinnitus.