Foo - Who Else Feels They Were Born in the WRONG Century?

Take me, for example, other than the convenience of the internet, there isn't really much about the 21st or the 20th centuries that really trips my trigger! I think the ideal society would be Renaissance Italy with the internet and bicycles.

Your take?

Not the wrong century, but the wrong time. I think I was born about 30 years too late.

Sometimes I feel like I was born when everyone else was, so it's hard to compete against such a large population. Maybe it's just me ...

I like the technology so I think I would like to see the 25th century.

In real life if I had been born even 20 years earlier, I would not have survived more than a few days, even then I was not expected to live and my father was told to make the funeral arrangements...

As interesting as we find previous times to have been, there were definitely downsides that would put quite a damper on the nostalgia we think we feel for those times. I too am fascinated by the Renaissance, but recognize that I would have died at about age 30 from appendicitis. It would be stimulating to take a vacation in that era, but I hear one of the other downsides is that their bicycles sucked. :D

Me, I'd be most tempted to go back in history and advise Hannibal on putting the coup de grace on Rome, but that would seriously muck up a lot of history. :o

Sometimes I think it would've been cool to have lived during the middle ages or something, but then there'd be no Foo or mountain bikes. I was born at the perfect time. :)

If you think about what I said, I said WITH the internet. I meant socially, and not technologically. The renaissance was a time of great awakening and if they'd had the knowledge we now have today it would have been a true Golden Age.

I should have sailed on a 19th century whaler out of nantucket and
been known for my scrimshaw.

If I were born much earlier medical science would not have been able to keep me from drowining in the fluids my own lungs created. Makes me appreciate the times we live in.:)

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. You decide

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters
Since I was three feet tall.
You've seen it all, you've seen it all.

Watch the men who rode you,
Switch from sails to steam.
And in your belly you hold the treasure
That few have ever seen, most of them dreams,
Most of them dreams.

Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.

I've done a bit of smugglin'
I've run my share of grass.
I made enough money to buy Miami,
But I pissed it away so fast,
Never meant to last, never meant to last.

I have been drunk now for over two weeks,
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks,
But I've got to stop wishin',
Got to go fishin', I'm down to rock bottom again.
Just a few friends, just a few friends.

I go for younger women, lived with several awhile
And though I ran away, they'll come back one day.
And still could manage a smile
It just takes awhile, just takes awhile.

Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupation's
Just not around.
I feel like I've drowned,
Gonna head uptown.

Jimmy Buffett - Mother Ocean

I have that song here at work, so listening to it now

My mom always said I was born about a decade or two too late. I was born in 1970, but she always said I should have been a teenager/20something in late 60s because I'd have made a great hippy.

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. You decide
That's always been my absolute favorite Buffet song. "A Pirate Looks At Forty".

If you think about what I said, I said WITH the internet. I meant socially, and not technologically. The renaissance was a time of great awakening and if they'd had the knowledge we now have today it would have been a true Golden Age.


Imagine what Jimi Hendrix music would be like if he had today's technology available !

I was born at the right time in my opinion. My basic aptitude served me very well in the computer revolution. I came in at about the right time and I think I am leaving about the right time too. Now I get to participate in a time when many people are thinking about sustainable development, which I also enjoy. I might actually get to be a pioneer in two major change overs.

What I told my wife I think is correct - if I had been born earlier, I probably would have been burned at the stake.

Jimmy Buffett - Mother Ocean

I have that song here at work, so listening to it now
Margaritaville Tequila - If I had a bottle here:beer: at work, I would so be makin some blender drinks and toasting you!

Take me, for example, other than the convenience of the internet, there isn't really much about the 21st or the 20th centuries that really trips my trigger! I think the ideal society would be Renaissance Italy with the internet and bicycles.

Your take?
yeah, cars dont do it for me, I wish I had a horse to travel on:o

Imagine what Jimi Hendrix music would be like if he had today's technology available !
Oh yeah! Or how about Paganini? Or Wagner, or Mozart?

Oh yeah! Or how about Paganini? Or Wagner, or Mozart?
Kill the Rabbit in 5.1 Dolby surround, AWESOME!!!
http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/buttons/opera/opera_.jpg

yeah, cars dont do it for me, I wish I had a horse to travel on:o

You know, I HATE cars - always needing to fix the things. I would prefer a bike, if too rough than that, a horse. It is really a great way to go, once you learn how to ride.

If I were born much earlier medical science would not have been able to keep me from drowining in the fluids my own lungs created. Makes me appreciate the times we live in.:)

+1

Most of us prolly wouldn't have made it past our first two years.

I think the ideal society would be Renaissance Italy with the internet and bicycles. Your take?

I never think that way. If we lived in that time we wouldn't be spending our days admiring Michaelangelo's newest works and dining with the Medicis, we'd already be dead, or else slaving in a field or quarry, or scarred with pox and socially outcast, living in hovels.

Right now, we live in a time and place where western societies have reached a peak of comfort and health, and both the past and future may not measure up. Make the best of it!

Tom, you can be a "renaissance man" in any era!

He just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena, taking his sword to other gladiators like him. They woulda tossed him girls like Nancy back then.

Imagine what Jimi Hendrix music would be like if he had today's technology available !

Reportedly, Jimi got some of his antics from Buddy Guy, who was called the "greatest guitarist alive" by Eric Clapton.

I saw Buddy in Philly in early April. At 70 years old, he still put on quite a show! :D One of the things he is famous for is using an extra long guitar cable so that he can meander through the crowd while playing. He did it wirelessly that evening and was everywhere! :)

At work, I often wish I was born about 15 years earlier. That way, all my good ideas wouldn't already be tried and published by others. (Of course, if I were born 15 years earlier, I wouldn't have known as much organic chemistry since not as much was known, so it may well be that I wouldn't have as good ideas.)

I think I was born too damn early. I WANT A FRIGGEN JETPACK!!! Or at least to teleport somewhere. I want between now and Star Trek time...so I could have all the cool toys, without the socialist utopia. I need some anarchy to go with my transmogrifier.

I should have been born between 1736 and 1756 in the colonies. That was the time many of the greatest thinkers both domestic and foreign roamed the earth.

I think I was born 15 minutes too early. :(

Reportedly, Jimi got some of his antics from Buddy Guy, who was called the "greatest guitarist alive" by Eric Clapton.

I saw Buddy in Philly in early April. At 70 years old, he still put on quite a show! :D One of the things he is famous for is using an extra long guitar cable so that he can meander through the crowd while playing. He did it wirelessly that evening and was everywhere! :)

Albert Collins (RIP) did that as well. He'd just wander around and play his Telecaster. I once saw him at Perkin's Palace in Pasadena, and he wandered up and sat down in the empty seat next to me for a bit while he played.

I also saw Buddy Guy. He was mesmerizing.

Sorry for the threadjack, but I'll stay right in the here and now.

I think being born around 1880-90 would have been ok, You would get to see all the great events of the 20th century unfold, but eyeglasses were allready developed to the point where I could have SEEN them, hehe.

Of course, had I been born, here, in Ohio, in my family in the 1880's I'd have ended up 1. Farming, or 2. Kicking cars in a railroad yard or 3. Building houses/barns. Unless there was a convenient war somewhere.

I'd love a time machine though! There are thousands of times/places I'd love to visit, just not live there.

Yes I do, I would have loved to have lived in the past. To many time periods to pick from. I don't care about when I would die, seeing as you usually end up living a full life.

I would like to have been born the day warp drive is invented. They'd have the bugs worked out by the time I was
ready to join Star Fleet.

Beam me up, Scotty.

I don't know because I don't remember my past lives, have no clue what the next ones hold, so I have no way to compare them to this one. :p

I really should have been born in the 520s BCE. That was my kind of time.

Or maybe the 2130s, once humanity has started rebuilding after nuclear armageddon. Same difference, really.

What about 100 years or so later? Then maybe they'd have at least figured out what I have, and hopefully a way to cure it. Worst part is the name. Chronic fatigue syndrome sounds too much like dog ate my homework syndrome. :(

I think we are all where we should be. We've all chosen to expereince what and where we currently are and have probably already experienced those things the we seem to long for it's just a matter of whether we remember it or not.

I have often wished that I could have been born in the late 19th century. The world was still a huge place - you could "get lost" for real. Great invention, discovery and success were still possible for a single man to achieve.

Of course, being born then meant that two great wars lay ahead, but I have a feeling I would have been fighting the wars in an engineering department somewhere, rather than on the battle field.

I don't know because I don't remember my past lives, have no clue what the next ones hold, so I have no way to compare them to this one. :p
So do you remember bedding JFK or your last minutes in the pool house?

You have to make the most of the time you're in. I love our time - its a time of great adventure and possibilities if you're keen to it. I can be on the other side of the planet in less than a day, for instance.

I do think some people lived in the wrong times though. Gawd, can you imagine what Tesla would do today? Actually he might well have concocted something to destroy the world given todays technology, so maybe its better he lived with his 19th century limitations....

I sometimes wonder if I would have fit in better in another era. But I'd really hate to go without the luxuries and conveniences that modern technology brings. So I'm not sure I'd take the trade off.

I should have been born between 1736 and 1756 in the colonies. That was the time many of the greatest thinkers both domestic and foreign roamed the earth.
What makes you think you'd have fit in?

At work, I often wish I was born about 15 years earlier. That way, all my good ideas wouldn't already be tried and published by others.
I feel your pain bro. That was the very thing that "burned me out" in grad school and made me switch from the thesis option to the non-thesis option.

I was working on my thesis....had a completely original idea of my own. I searched and searched and found nothing like it; my prof never said anything about having seen it before (not sure he was much paying attention though).

After working many angles and derivatives upon this theory for A YEAR, I looked up a referenced book one day and my exact idea was laid out in black and white in a book dated from the 1960s. :cry:

It totally drained all the gas in my engine.

Reportedly, Jimi got some of his antics from Buddy Guy, who was called the "greatest guitarist alive" by Eric Clapton.

I saw Buddy in Philly in early April. At 70 years old, he still put on quite a show! :D One of the things he is famous for is using an extra long guitar cable so that he can meander through the crowd while playing. He did it wirelessly that evening and was everywhere! :)

I saw Buddy Guy live in 1967 or '68 but I didn't know enough about the blues at the time to appreciate it like I should have. I was visiting my sister in Ottawa and he was playing on campus, or just off, and when I got home some of my friends who had a band grilled me about the show.

I don't know that Clapton thought of him so much as the greatest guitarist (or maybe he did), but rather as a great showman, from whom he learned a lot about stage performance.


I recently saw his performance in the movie Festival Express, and I really didn't like it...it was all screeching and not much melody. (Great movie, if you're into late 60s psychedelic rock.)

I think I would have really liked it here in the early 1400's. Ok no bikes but catch a buffalo and ride it should be exciting.

Joe
:beer:

After working many angles and derivatives upon this theory for A YEAR, I looked up a referenced book one day and my exact idea was laid out in black and white in a book dated from the 1960s. :cry:
What's the problem? Sounds like someone potentially had saved you a lot of work. ;)

I feel your pain bro. That was the very thing that "burned me out" in grad school and made me switch from the thesis option to the non-thesis option.

I was working on my thesis....had a completely original idea of my own. I searched and searched and found nothing like it; my prof never said anything about having seen it before (not sure he was much paying attention though).

After working many angles and derivatives upon this theory for A YEAR, I looked up a referenced book one day and my exact idea was laid out in black and white in a book dated from the 1960s. :cry:

It totally drained all the gas in my engine.


That shouldn't stop you. Many great ideas had been anticipated by others before the so-called discoverer or inventor came up with the breakthrough version. So you can come up with the breakthrough version of this idea.

What's the problem? Sounds like someone potentially had saved you a lot of work. ;)
I wish.....it was exactly what I'd already done. It couldn't save me any work because at that point I'd already done it (a YEAR's worth of it).



That shouldn't stop you. Many great ideas had been anticipated by others before the so-called discoverer or inventor came up with the breakthrough version. So you can come up with the breakthrough version of this idea.
I understand what you are saying, but as I said, I was "out of gas". I was starting to burn out before that......that event took all that was left. I spent about 3-4 weeks trying to find a nice spin on it to change the definition of the problem, but really couldn't quite come up with anything.

Anyway....it's ancient history now. I changed to non-thesis option (which required a few more classes to make up for the wasted "thesis hours") and graduated over 4 years ago with my Master's degree.

Oh yeah! Or how about Paganini? Or Wagner, or Mozart?

I was just thinking that. Can you imagine? Wow!

I totally should have been a cave man.

I totally should have been a cave man.
This doesn't surprise me at all!;)