Mitch Gann’s

The most popular name to give a baby girl last year was Emily, for the 12th straight year. Jacob was the most popular boys’ name for the 9th straight year. (See the Social Security Administration press release.)

According to SSA data, in the prime Boomer birth year of 1952, the most popular names for girls and boys were Linda and James, respectively. Emily and Jacob did not crack the Top 100. In fact, Emily and Jacob did not make it into the Top 100 until 1973 and 1974 respectively.

Linda, #1 for girls in the early 1950s, now ranks 496th in popularity. James stayed in the Top 5 boys’ names until 1980, and is still a respectable 15th.

Mitchell has never been very popular. I am not surprised. You get a sense of that growing up. Mitchell was 157th most popular boys’ name in 1952, and is 304th today. It did make the Top 100 for boys from 1988 – 1997, for what that’s worth. But at least the name is solidly identified with males, never making the Top 1,000 names for girls. As for Mitch, it hit its peak in 1961 when it came in 397th.

Listen . . . Do you hear it? Do you hear the drum-beat?

Get out, Hillary. Get out, Hillary. Get out, Hillary.

Yeah, it’s time. The media say so, the money’s dried up, and Bill’s looking hang-dog.

Rack up one last meaningless win in West Virginia, Senator, and then exit, stage left.

See:

“Rahm Emanuel: Obama Is Our Presumptive Nominee” The Huffinton Post

“Obama Takes Lead in Superdelegate Tally” ABC News

“Obama Takes a Victory Lap” The New York Times

“How’s your health? Study says boomer health worse than previous generation at same age” Boomer Consumer:

Poorer health, more pain, and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks was reported by Americans in their early to mid-50s than what was reported by their older peers at the same age in years past, a recent study shows.

The overall, self-reported health of people in three age groups was studied by researchers from the Health and Retirement Study: those born in (1) 1936-41, (2) 1942-47, and (3) 1948-53. More pain, chronic health conditions, and drinking and psychiatric problems were reported by the youngest group than people who were the same age 12 years earlier.

Comment: On the other hand, I’m doing better than my dad was at my age. He drank more than I ever have, and he smoked three packs a day for much of his adult life. I avoided the smoking habit altogether (yes, including the alternatives to tobacco). But like Dad, I am prone to eating more and exercising less than I ought to. He checked out at 72. I’m 55 now, and soon to tick over another year.

Somehow I’m not feeling my normal wry, bouyant self.

Also see: Senior Journal story.

Here’s something for all of us boomers to look forward to. I just hope they give it warm hands. Or clamps.

uBOT-5 (Source: gizmag)

“Will robots step up to help care for the aging baby boomer generation?” gizmag:

. . . The uBOT-5 could assist the elderly in living independently, providing relief for caregivers, doctors and community services workers. The robot is designed both to make life easy for its owner and to act as eyes, ears and communications portal for loved ones and caregivers in remote locations. . . .

. . . Recognizing the fact that isolation and associated depression is a great challenge for the elderly, the team built in several specialized communications features. The robot can handle incoming and outgoing phone calls through its video touch-screen, speakers and microphones, alerting its owners who may not hear a regular phone ringing. Video call capability can make it easy for loved ones to keep in touch, as well as for medical caregivers to perform virtual visits.

Part of aging gracefully is to do it somewhere else. A new travel web site for baby-boomers called “Boomeropia” (www.boomeropia.com) boasts 30 travel categories. One that caught my eye was called “Glamping.”

As far as I can tell, glamping is roughing it in style. Destinations are places like the Adirondacks, where you can sleep in a yurt on an island in Upper St. Regis Lake, or Ayers Rock, Australia, where you can watch the sun rise from a king-sized bed in your “5-star” tent.

For the hard-core glampers, there’s the Three Camel Lodge in the middle of the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. You get to ride camels and horses, and eat in a ger. For you non-glampers, a ger is a really big yurt. The Khans ate in them all the time. You’d know that if you’d ever glamped anywhere.

Glamping it at the Three Camel Lodge, Gobi Desert, Mongolia, China.

(Source: Three Camel Lodge)