I received this e-mail this morning, thought I'd share it:

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things. Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of this year's incoming freshmen.

Here is this year's list:
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1982.

They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not know he had ever been shot.
They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
There has been only one Pope.
They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.
They have never feared a nuclear war.
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums. The expression you sound like a broken record means nothing to them.
They have never owned a record player.
They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.
They may have never heard of an 8 track. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 33 cents.
They have always had an answering machine.
Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV.
They have always had cable.
There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
They have never seen Larry Bird play.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII and the Civil War.
They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: Where's the beef?, Id walked a mile for a Camel, or de plane, de plane
They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
McDonalds never came in Styrofoam containers.
There has always been MTV.
They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

Do you feel old yet? pass this on to the other old fogies.


-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), January 12, 2000

Answers

Goodmorning Ladylogic, You have been very sweet and nice latley. Is it a change of heart? or do you feel compassion for us poor doomers? (Smile - chuckle).

By-the-way, do you happen to work for compuware? Someone, somewhere said that you did, and I thought you might know my brother. He is a technical writer in Columbus, Ohio. Anychance you might know him?

Thanks for being nice to us and I hope you have a nice day! 8)

sincerely,

Joseph

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), January 12, 2000.

A helluva lot older than when I woke up this morning.

Thank you so much!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), January 12, 2000.

Very amusing!

I got a version of this back in 1997; I am reposting it here.

There are a few different ones, most notably the "Star Wars" reference(it has since come back out in the theaters, so it is no longer just a video phenomenon).

Time for an industrious Gen-Xer to recompile all of these tidbits for us!

Peace,

Don

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Are you feeling old? If not, consider this:

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.

The Iranian hostage crisis occurred before they were conceived.

They have no memory of a time before M-TV.

"New Wave" is their PARENTS musical generation.

Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, the Pretenders, the Kinks, the Sex Pistols -- are all old music they have heard of, if they have heard of it at all.

They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era.

They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.

If they have heard the name "Oliver North," it was probably as a losing Congessional candidate, or perhaps in some obscure survey history text's reference, such as might be made to Huey Long or Teapot Dome.

Black Monday 1987 is a significant to them as the Great Depression.

Their world has always included AIDS.

Having not lived through the Disco Scare, they can romanticize the 1970s.

They see "Family Ties" as something middle aged ladies watch.

They watched "Star Wars" years ago, when they were kids -- on video.

Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums and cassette audiotapes.

From their earliest years, a camera was something you used once and threw away.

As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.

The oil crisis is history or which they probably know nothing -- and why anyone WOULDN'T buy a suburban is beyond them.

Most of them have probably never seen a real nun, even if they went to Catholic schools.

So, my superannuated friends, why don't we all get together and feel obsolete over some Geritol Tea?

-- Shimoda (enlighten@me.com), January 12, 2000.

Yeah, and the little twirps probably haven't ever seen a descent Geritol commercial. I remember laughing at those back in the '60's and 70's. BTW, is that stuff still available? does it really work? Hey, Maaa......

-- I'm gitin' (old@fast.com), January 12, 2000.