Will there be a surge of birthday parties for 50 year olds around August 9, 2016?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
43880
)
November 9th, 2015
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Great Northeast Power Blackout of 1965. Anyone over the age of 60 remembers where they were when the lights went out. The power went off around 5 PM, just when it was getting dark. It was great! So peaceful!
That night we kids lit candles and enjoyed reading under the covers with our flashlights. But what did the adults do? Did my parents hop between the sheets?
Was there a mini-surge of “Blackout babies” in 1966? Did the birthrate increase around August 9 the following year? Those babies will soon be celebrating their 50th birthdays around August 9 2016. Is there some way to check out this vital statistic?
I’m guessing a lot of kids were conceived that night.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
12 Answers
Do you have a brother or sister turning 50 next year in August?
No. My brother and I were out riding our bikes in the street.
My mother was really sick at the time so I doubt they did anything. :-(
In November, 1965 I was at UC Berkeley listening to “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds, and Simon & Garfunkle’s “Sounds of Silence”.
We were coming back from Micky D’s.
There were four of us, Dana, Frannie, Barbara and myself. Dana was driving and found the best place to park the car in the college parking lot, the corner closest to the front doors. Evening classes were to start at 6 PM.
Dana was backing into the space but his rear bumper hit the spun aluminum light pole.
“B O N G” and the sound decreased . . . lights out.
Dana freaked he thought he had shorted out all the lights in the lot. But then no radio in the car and all the lights at the college were out too.
There_was_ a boomlet in the Northeast! I remember reading about it in Time Magazine.
There will be a bigger boomlet of fifty year olds in May/June 2052. I know three 9/11 babies myself, even though my social group was past babies by then.
Oooo! @zenvelo. I’d like to find that article. That is precisely what I’m looking for!
It’s 9.5 months from the date not 12 months. So May babies would be 50 years.
I was living in NYC during that 1965 blackout! All I did that crazy night was walk 50 or so blocks from work to my apartment and eat cold beans.
I wouldn’t mind being 50 again.
Inversely, I wonder if birthrates dropped 9 months after September 11, 2001. It was a mood killer.
@filmfann There were a LOT of 911 babies, especially in the DC area. A typical reaction to high stress and being home without anything else to do to get your mind off of the attacks and to get close to lovers/wives/husbands.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
