Jeff for America

I’m an observant person. I tend to notice things when they are changed. Come in my room and move a few things, a book or a frame’s angle, and I’ll probably say something to myself. Something like, “that looks different.” Anyway, there’s something I’ve noticed a lot lately and I just have to say something about it.

I was updating a profile for an online purchase and had to input the usual personal info they ask for when you update things like that. Name, sex, birthdate, etc. And I noticed something funny about the birthday years.

Then, earlier today I was making a purchase on Southwest.com and noticed it again.

So I checked facebook and there it was.

All different. And without an explanation I can fathom.

You see, all these sites provide varied years that you can choose as your actual year of birth. The 12 month, 31 day option is standard, but it’s all up in the air when you click and scroll down to choose a year.

Southwest, for example:

1891. Weird, huh? Then I got to thinking, maybe they base it on the oldest person alive. That way, their options would be inclusive of all people on earth. Makes sense. Well, made sense to me.

So, naturally, I looked up the oldest person in the world. And they were not born in 1891. They were born in 1896. Her name is Eugenie Blanchard and she lives in France. I swear.

Maybe Southwest is just really making sure not to leave anyone out. Then again, that 5 year gap between the oldest living person and the 1891 scroll down option might just be for the hell of it.

To make things more complicated, I checked facebook. Their cutoff, to my surprise, was 1900. Now, the century-mark makes more sense than 1891, but then again, they’re leaving some folks out. No matter their reasons (it’s probably up to the engineer who makes the software), I’ll never stop wondering, or scrolling down to check each time I enter my birthdate. It will haunt me as a habit until I die.

And I can’t help but feel kinda bad for Eugenie. She can never have a real facebook account. She can fly, though, and that is something.

- Jeff