miracle of our day

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Rifleman1776

Rifleman1776

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Joined
Dec 18, 2004
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Mountain Home, Arkansas, USA.
In another thread here, Dario is discussing the possible purchase of a flute for his daughter. Dario is in Texas. I saw the thread and remembered our daughter still has one in our house. I found the flute, photographed it with my digital camera and posted a picture on Dario's thread. All this within a few minutes after first reading the thread. I then sent an e-mail, of course, via the miracle of the Internet, to my daughter. She lives in Colorado and happens to not be at home right now. However, she picked up the e-mail on her Blackberry combo cell phone/e-mail, Bluetooth enabled high tech thingy and promptly e-mailed her response back to me. I then posted her reply on Dario's thread where he, and folks around the world are able to read it. I know this is common stuff for all of us these days. But, as an old timer, I still marvel at the wonders of our time. I love it.
 
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That's a great story. I marvel at technology now a days also. I still don't know exactly what a "Blackberry combo cell phone/e-mail, Bluetooth enabled high tech thingy" is though. On the down side of technology, I yearn for a TV remote control that only has three or four large buttons, a cell phone that doesn't charge me for hitting the wrong button, and a clock radio that does not take me three months to figure out. :D
I hope this transaction works out well for Frank's daughter and Dario!
 
Frank,

I work in IT, so some of these "miracles" don't impress me as much on a day to day basis. That being said - I'm of an age where I watched the change rapidly from album -> tape -> cd -> mp3 so change for me happens pretty quick.

However, I am old enough now to be a bit in awe. My favorite discussion item when it comes to technology is a discussion I had with my grandmother. She passed away a couple of years ago, but was in her mid-90's when she did.
The discussion was that given the rapid changes in technology over my lifetime - I don't know which I can't comprehend more...

1 - Going back the ~50ish years before me to when she was born (no electricity!)... TV was a 'fact of life' for me, much less power - so I have a very tough time imagining her childhood and what she had seen in her life.

or

2 - If I make it to 95, what things will be like in 50 years. Given the speed of changes recently, I have no idea what 50 more years could give us.

If you think you have enough vision to know what things will be like in 50 years, more power to you. I carry more power in my phone than my first computer. If you had told me in high school that before my 20th reunion, every current high school kid would carry a phone in their pocket, I would probably have laughed at you.

It is amazing times we live in.
 
We got the cell phone thing figured out----they don't work here----it's fun watching someone try and use it sitting in the driveway---you know they get mad at the phone----Someday I would really like to see how FAST DSL is--they ain't got that either. Guess that's just part of living in the country.
 
Dean,

I was born in the provinces of the Philippines (rural 3rd world county [:0]) and never had electricity at home until 1969. Listening to radio was the technology height I got then. Even after 1969 no TV....so in a way I've lived, experienced and seen some of what your grandma did (though I am not as old ;))
 
I recognized the look my girls gave me when I said, "Why... When I was a kid, we had no computer!"

It was the same look I gave my father when he told me, "Why... When I was a kid, we had no TV!"

My father recognized the look too, it was the same look he gave his father when he said, "Why... When I was a kid, we had no radio!"

Tradition is a good thing.
 
I didn't mean to get too philosophical. Well....we are snowed in today...so maybe I did. [:p]
Enneyhow, even though I love, and use, modern technology, I try not to forget how we got to where we are today and what the past was like. As most of you know, one of my passions is reenacting life of the pre-1830s in America. As a writer, I greatly value the use of a computer with word processing and instant access to information via the Internet. Nevertheless, I try to remember that nothing would be possible without the miracle of the mind of man. Writing with a computer is nice. But people, like Martin Luther, in the early 1500s wrote over 500 books using a quill pen. Since the day I got my first computer, in 1985, I have kept a reproduction ink pot with quill pen on top of the computer as a reminder that even if the plug is pulled, we still will have the ability to record our thoughts and ideas.

20083416456_quill.jpg
 
It won't take 50 years to be surprised with the speed things are moving now.
Last week, my 14 year old son saw a turntable I have in the attic, asked me what it was, I told him, next comment:
WHAT'S A RECORD?
Boy do I feel old now.:(
 
I think of all the formats on which I've listened to recorded music over the years: vinyl, 8-track, open-reel, cassette, CD, MP3. I've bought a number of albums on most of those formats. The record companies get to sell their wares to people again and again as each new format takes over. :(

Soon there will be a new generation of kids we'll have to explain CDs to.

Cheers.
 
This reminded me of something my son said about three years ago.He was seven and I was looking through a drawer trying to find something or another and there was a couple of old 45's in the drawer and he said hey Dad what game is this can we play it.And I said no son that is not a game that is a record,it has music on it.He said WOW this must be really old.[V]
 
Technology don't scare me...I've still got a teenager living at home:D

But yes, amazing advances. When I was in high school there wasn't even calculators, seems like only ten years later they were so miniaturized they were putting them in wrist watches.
 
Originally posted by R2

I still prefer steam driven telephones!:D[}:)]
Click to expand...

Well, not quite steam driven. But, the telephone pictured I help make. My father had a contract to make several thousand of these when I was a kid and I helped in his shop. Long way from that to a tiny cell phone, all in one lifetime.

200835134359_telephone%20xsmall.jpg
 
Originally posted by karlkuehn

Yeah, technology is great and all, but how the heck do you get rid of the flashy "12:00" off the danged VCR!? [:p]
Click to expand...

OO Buchshot? [:0]
 
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