Tag Archives: geekery

Jimmy Carter Breaks a Record

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(Warning: useless political data geekery below.)

Today, former president Jimmy Carter has reached a milestone: he is now the longest-retired president in U.S. history. In other words, he has lived longer after leaving the presidency than any other U.S. president. He has been “ex-president Jimmy Carter” for 11,554 days: that’s about 31 years and 7 1/2 months.

How long has he been an ex-president? When Jimmy Carter left office on January 20, 1981, there was no MTV. There was no IBM PC. Lady Diana Spencer was not yet the Princess of Wales. Nobody had heard of AIDS. Since Carter left office, children have been born and have grown up to have children of their own. The Reagan era, the Clinton era, and two Bushes have come and gone.

Previously, the longest-retired president was Herbert Hoover. Hoover left office on March 4, 1933, and on July 5, 1958, he became the longest-retired president in U.S. history, surpassing John Adams. Hoover died on October 20, 1964, having lived 11,553 days as an ex-president:

Yesterday, Carter tied Hoover’s record, and today he surpasses it.

The day after Carter left office — after a quick stop home in Plains, Georgia — he flew to Germany to greet the just-released Iranian hostages.

Four days ago, he spoke via video to the Democratic National Convention to endorse President Obama’s re-election.

It’s been a long ex-presidency. He turns 88 in a few weeks. Longer may he live.

Baby Tech

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Last weekend Matt and I were using FaceTime to video chat with my brother, my sister-in-law, and my niece. Matt and I were in front of my iMac, so we were stationary, but my brother was using his iPad, and as he walked around the room, I watched my sister-in-law and my niece playing together. It was just like being there. I marveled that we were having this video conversation. I’m still amazed that this technology exists, something that used to seem straight out of Dick Tracy.

At one point my niece was watching me and Matt. She’s not yet two years old, and I wondered: can she comprehend this? Does she realize that we’re interacting with her, or does she think she’s watching us on TV? Or does she think we’re somehow inside the device? Is she confused by any of this?

And then I realized that she had no problem understanding that she was interacting with us. She didn’t even think about it. After all, when I was little, I watched TV and I didn’t think there were little people inside the box; I just knew that I was watching something on the TV screen. I didn’t think it was weird; I didn’t even question it. I just accepted it as part of the world.

So I’m realizing that my niece is growing up in a world where iPads and video chats and swiping your finger across a glass screen to make things happen is just the norm. To me, it’s this super cool thing that tells me we’re finally living in the future. But to her, it’s just the way the world is and always has been. She’ll grow up in a world where this technology has always existed.

What this shows me is that human beings are amazingly adaptable. In one sense, our natural habitat is the savannah, or the forest; I still feel some primeval connection to the earth when I walk through a tree-filled park. And yet I can totally take something like television, or flying in a big metal tube, or living in a big city, for granted.

If you traveled back in time, say, 10,000 years, and you kidnapped a pregnant woman and brought her back to 2011, and the woman gave birth, the mother would probably remain terrified by everything around her. But her child would grow up totally accustomed to life in the 21st century. Like my niece, this time-traveling ancient child would take iPads for granted.

The human genome is pretty close to what it was several milliennia ago. We are endlessly adaptable. It’s just so bizarre to me.

Prince Charles Breaks Record

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Somewhat related to my previous post:

This is somewhat late, but a month and a half ago, on April 20, Prince Charles became the longest-serving heir to the throne in British history.

The prince, 62, has broken the record set by his great-great-grandfather, Edward VII, having waited as of to take over from the Queen for 59 years, two months and 14 days, Clarence House said.

Charles became heir apparent at the age of three when his mother, Princess Elizabeth, acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952. He was nine when he was given the title Prince of Wales.

Edward VII was born the heir apparent on 9 November 1841 as his mother, Queen Victoria, was already on the throne. He became king when she died on 22 January 1901, having waited 59 years, two months and 13 days.

I feel kind of bad for Charles.

(Here’s the list of people who have been first in line to the British throne.)