OT Things to ponder

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

My internet connection is quite tenuous at the moment, but I'll try to post.

I was discussing with a friend how each generation has witnessed an event where they do not forget where they were or what they were thinking when it happened. For example:

December 7th, 1941

November 22nd, 1963

September 11th, 2001

September 13th, 2009 when Kanye accepted Taylor's VMA award on her behalf (and Beyonce's) while she was right there on the stage.

For my wife and I, January 28, 1986 is our 'flashbulb' memory. Very vividly remember that as well as 9/11.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

My internet connection is quite tenuous at the moment, but I'll try to post.

I was discussing with a friend how each generation has witnessed an event where they do not forget where they were or what they were thinking when it happened. For example:

December 7th, 1941

November 22nd, 1963

September 11th, 2001

September 13th, 2009 when Kanye accepted Taylor's VMA award on her behalf (and Beyonce's) while she was right there on the stage.

For my wife and I, January 28, 1986 is our 'flashbulb' memory. Very vividly remember that as well as 9/11.

I remember that day clearly, but I was more mystified why everyone was so shaken. It was a tragedy, but an experimental spacecraft blew up on launch. But then those sorts of things don't shake me much. When they do happen I'm much more concerned about the possible reaction and the possible long term consequences of the reaction.

Bill

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

My internet connection is quite tenuous at the moment, but I'll try to post.

I was discussing with a friend how each generation has witnessed an event where they do not forget where they were or what they were thinking when it happened. For example:

December 7th, 1941

November 22nd, 1963

September 11th, 2001

September 13th, 2009 when Kanye accepted Taylor's VMA award on her behalf (and Beyonce's) while she was right there on the stage.

warspite1

No idea what happened on the first two, the third date rings a bell but can't quite picture it. The last one of course I remember very well and exactly what I was doing at the time. Only one other flashbulb date comes close for me personally:

8th January 2016 - Justin Bieber makes UK chart history with the top 3 chart singles all at the same time

[geofflambert]

A recent civil suit has been adjudicated. Take notes as there will soon be a movie based on this starring George Clooney. An existing establishment, named Baker's Dozen, a bakery in fact, filed a trademark infringement suit against a newcomer that styled itself Baker's 13.
Can you guess who won and why?

Baker's 13, because in the words of the judge, "The kneads of the many outweigh the needs of the fewer".

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: wdolson
an experimental spacecraft blew up on launch.

An experimental spacecraft? I think the loss of the Challenger was more than that.

It involved an onscreen obliteration of seven of our best and brightest, including a teacher and an Israeli. There was significant coverage of the launch because of teacher Christa McAuliffe and a good deal of pre-launch press attention because of this. It marked the worst disaster (in terms of loss of life) associated with any space program to that time.

It was terribly shocking.

I don't know why Colombia's destruction two decades later didn't hit me more viscerally than it did.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: wdolson
an experimental spacecraft blew up on launch.

An experimental spacecraft? I think the loss of the Challenger was more than that.

It involved an onscreen obliteration of seven of our best and brightest, including a teacher and an Israeli. There was significant coverage of the launch because of teacher Christa McAuliffe and a good deal of pre-launch press attention because of this. It marked the worst disaster (in terms of loss of life) associated with any space program to that time.

It was terribly shocking.

I don't know why Colombia's destruction two decades later didn't hit me more viscerally than it did.

I'm guessing in great part because of you experiencing Challenger and 9/11 2001.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: wdolson
an experimental spacecraft blew up on launch.

An experimental spacecraft? I think the loss of the Challenger was more than that.

It involved an onscreen obliteration of seven of our best and brightest, including a teacher and an Israeli. There was significant coverage of the launch because of teacher Christa McAuliffe and a good deal of pre-launch press attention because of this. It marked the worst disaster (in terms of loss of life) associated with any space program to that time.

It was terribly shocking.

I don't know why Colombia's destruction two decades later didn't hit me more viscerally than it did.

I'm guessing in great part because of you experiencing Challenger and 9/11 2001.

Aye. I think that's part of it.

There was a certain naivety to the dangers of the space program in the 1980s before Challenger too.

A certain "nothing can go wrong" feeling to the point of indifference almost. We never expected it. Apollo I was twenty years previously. To a young man naive to the dangers of space exploration, that was a messy end to all that. In a big ****ing hurry. Seven astronauts-most ever dying in a single accident-boom. Gone. Just like that.

[Orm]

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

Indeed. But Christmas is fast approaching and I rather think of happy children than sad events in our past.

Sorry for being such a downer.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

Indeed. But Christmas is fast approaching and I rather think of happy children than sad events in our past.

Sorry for being such a downer.

warspite1

Why don't you start an "Ormster's Happy Christmas Thread" in the GD forum?

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Why don't you start an "Ormster's Happy Christmas Thread" in the GD forum?

That is a nice idea. Although I wouldn't know how to make even one post. [:D]

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Why don't you start an "Ormster's Happy Christmas Thread" in the GD forum?

That is a nice idea. Although I wouldn't know how to make even one post. [:D]

warspite1

[:(] Oh....that's a bit of a problem then.... [;)]

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

I think there is more to it besides just how we humans are wired. It also is a result of the nature of good vs. bad events.

Good events often tend to be the trigger date for a developement. They are by nature less likely to result in any radical immediate change.

Good events often result in no change at all compared to status quo ante - just compare good vs. bad event in a terrorist attack scenario (bad guys get caught and everyone continues with their lives vs. bad guys blowing up people and everybody in the vincinity knows about someone who died or got injured). Or a different example would be continued peace talks to avoid conflict versus war breaking out.

But I also agree with you that it is depending on how we are wired: Mankind at it´s root is optimistic by nature. Event people calling themselves pesssimists don´t expect immediate radical deterioration of their situation - or the situation of others. A bad event is much more likely to contradict expectations which increases its´ effect.


Interesting topic.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Orm

Could we ponder on nice things now? Please.

warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

I think there is more to it besides just how we humans are wired. It also is a result of the nature of good vs. bad events.

Good events often tend to be the trigger date for a developement. They are by nature less likely to result in any radical immediate change.

Good events often result in no change at all compared to status quo ante - just compare good vs. bad event in a terrorist attack scenario (bad guys get caught and everyone continues with their lives vs. bad guys blowing up people and everybody in the vincinity knows about someone who died or got injured). Or a different example would be continued peace talks to avoid conflict versus war breaking out.

But I also agree with you that it is depending on how we are wired: Mankind at it´s root is optimistic by nature. Event people calling themselves pesssimists don´t expect immediate radical deterioration of their situation - or the situation of others. A bad event is much more likely to contradict expectations which increases its´ effect.


Interesting topic.

warspite1

LoBaron are you not a parent? [;)] I remember where I was when my first born came along - good, flashbulb memory, but no change? She was like a flippin; hurricane [X(] and the second one was worse* [;)]

[:D]


*not really gorgeouses [:)]

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

ORIGINAL: warspite1


warspite1

I guess its just the way we humans are wired. The Flashbulb moments are for most of us the 'bad things' in life. I suppose the happy flashbulb moments are mostly personal and therefore irrelevant to most other people?

I think there is more to it besides just how we humans are wired. It also is a result of the nature of good vs. bad events.

Good events often tend to be the trigger date for a developement. They are by nature less likely to result in any radical immediate change.

Good events often result in no change at all compared to status quo ante - just compare good vs. bad event in a terrorist attack scenario (bad guys get caught and everyone continues with their lives vs. bad guys blowing up people and everybody in the vincinity knows about someone who died or got injured). Or a different example would be continued peace talks to avoid conflict versus war breaking out.

But I also agree with you that it is depending on how we are wired: Mankind at it´s root is optimistic by nature. Event people calling themselves pesssimists don´t expect immediate radical deterioration of their situation - or the situation of others. A bad event is much more likely to contradict expectations which increases its´ effect.


Interesting topic.

warspite1

LoBaron are you not a parent? [;)] I remember where I was when my first born came along - good, flashbulb memory, but no change? She was like a flippin; hurricane [X(] and the second one was worse* [;)]

[:D]


*not really gorgeouses [:)]

It certanly was an immediate and radically bad event for my self determination, sleep, sex-life and purse...

I remember that date well. [:D]

[rockmedic109]

Dec 24,2002: My future kissed me on the front porch at 0453 in the morning after an grueling holiday baking marathon.

May 16,2004: Marrying the aforementioned. Having our first kiss as husband and wife.

Mar 23,2010: Seeing our first daughter step off the elevator in the Dalton Hotel in Changsha wearing four layers of clothing.

May 7, 2012: Seeing our second daughter in Nanjing for the first time as she stepped out of a Mini-van holding the bear we had sent her.

All of these joyous occasions are indelibly printed in my mind because of another date...

May 16, 2001: A rock slid off a hill and into a roadway just in time for my 1990 Toyota pickup to run into it causing numerous painful
and life-threatening injuries. As a result of this rock, an allied co-worker became a friend leading up to the Dec 24, 2002 event which
caused me to go to China twice, become a father, step-grandfather {soon to be for the third time} and enter the happiest period of my life.

That rock is now in our front yard.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

Dec 24,2002: My future kissed me on the front porch at 0453 in the morning after an grueling holiday baking marathon.

May 16,2004: Marrying the aforementioned. Having our first kiss as husband and wife.

Mar 23,2010: Seeing our first daughter step off the elevator in the Dalton Hotel in Changsha wearing four layers of clothing.

May 7, 2012: Seeing our second daughter in Nanjing for the first time as she stepped out of a Mini-van holding the bear we had sent her.

All of these joyous occasions are indelibly printed in my mind because of another date...

May 16, 2001: A rock slid off a hill and into a roadway just in time for my 1990 Toyota pickup to run into it causing numerous painful
and life-threatening injuries. As a result of this rock, an allied co-worker became a friend leading up to the Dec 24, 2002 event which
caused me to go to China twice, become a father, step-grandfather {soon to be for the third time} and enter the happiest period of my life.

That rock is now in our front yard.

Thank you for sharing.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

Dec 24,2002: My future kissed me on the front porch at 0453 in the morning after an grueling holiday baking marathon.

May 16,2004: Marrying the aforementioned. Having our first kiss as husband and wife.

Mar 23,2010: Seeing our first daughter step off the elevator in the Dalton Hotel in Changsha wearing four layers of clothing.

May 7, 2012: Seeing our second daughter in Nanjing for the first time as she stepped out of a Mini-van holding the bear we had sent her.

All of these joyous occasions are indelibly printed in my mind because of another date...

May 16, 2001: A rock slid off a hill and into a roadway just in time for my 1990 Toyota pickup to run into it causing numerous painful
and life-threatening injuries. As a result of this rock, an allied co-worker became a friend leading up to the Dec 24, 2002 event which
caused me to go to China twice, become a father, step-grandfather {soon to be for the third time} and enter the happiest period of my life.

That rock is now in our front yard.

Neat. [8D]

[AW1Steve]

I tend to find the "good memories" are personal. Graduations , getting married , birth of children , and individual achievements. The BIG memories are often bad , but generally things that are beyond our control. Moments like the "where were you when you learned of it" type. "Where were you" when Kennedy was shot , on 911 , when the Beirut barracks blew up, or when the Challenger blew up. There were not as many "good" events , like where were you when the Berlin wall came down, or the moon
landing occurred. Generally the big events are shared events , the and often were a shock , therefore not good. So I think that's the difference , the good memories are generally personal , the bad shared big ones that we were helpless to influence.