Part of being unable to comprehend technical things is the pure amazement that things happen "automatically" at a certain time. It's very like magic. Considering that I never saw a TV until the age of 10, maybe I'm easily impressed?
I saw my first television when I was six years old. We were driving through some town, and MY FATHER STOPPED THE CAR! Really, unless someone was about to lose their cookies (me, mostly), that just never happened. He parked the car and we walked across the street to look into the window of a radio shop at the first TV any of us had seen. I remember the picture was snowy, and the broadcast was of a football game. I don't recall how many years later it was that we got a TV, but there was only one channel--Channel 3. CBS, I think; out of Eureka.
You do appear to have a very nice puppy there, puddle.
I was 16 and in college (UChicago routinely accepted kids after 10th grade) when I saw my first TV show. I'm not certain whether there had been a TV set in a store window in town before that, but it couldn't have been much earlier -- that was about the time they put up the repeater that let us get the signal from Memphis. It was a year or two later that Arkansas got its first TV station -- nominally in Pine Bluff (there's a story about that).
Alan, indeed. As Bobbye (who rescued him from the kill shelter) put it: this is the puppy I've been waiting for. . .
We just did stage one of the separation anxiety test. I went to the store. Half hour. No problems, he barked when I left, I told him to cool it, he did. He was glad to see me when I came back, but no destruction of any kind. Whew!
Clarke's Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The inverse of that is, I suppose, that magic is merely technology that is too advanced for the observer to understand. And, actually, that strikes me as a very good definition of magic. It seems to me that magic and psychic phenomena like telekinesis are not airy fairy abnormal, supernatural happenings that can't be understood, but rather real, solid systems that we simply don't understand yet.
Alan...you really had me going, there. I was really getting creeped out until you related that where you're Dad saw the TV was a store and not someone's house! LOL!! :-D (Gosh I miss the old animated laughing emoticon!)
Got a low-grade fever, took a short nap, then finished my Library book because it's due this week and someone has it on hold after me.
Tomorrow is a day in town, while managing this mean old cold. I"m going to buy a mask to wear in the car when I make the 3 hour trip Thursday night to take the bride-to-be to her parents' house . Her wedding shower is Saturday and I don't want her sick for it!
I just checked and Howard Dean is still first.
ReplyDeletePart of being unable to comprehend technical things is the pure amazement that things happen "automatically" at a certain time. It's very like magic. Considering that I never saw a TV until the age of 10, maybe I'm easily impressed?
I saw my first television when I was six years old. We were driving through some town, and MY FATHER STOPPED THE CAR! Really, unless someone was about to lose their cookies (me, mostly), that just never happened. He parked the car and we walked across the street to look into the window of a radio shop at the first TV any of us had seen. I remember the picture was snowy, and the broadcast was of a football game. I don't recall how many years later it was that we got a TV, but there was only one channel--Channel 3. CBS, I think; out of Eureka.
ReplyDeleteYou do appear to have a very nice puppy there, puddle.
I was 16 and in college (UChicago routinely accepted kids after 10th grade) when I saw my first TV show. I'm not certain whether there had been a TV set in a store window in town before that, but it couldn't have been much earlier -- that was about the time they put up the repeater that let us get the signal from Memphis. It was a year or two later that Arkansas got its first TV station -- nominally in Pine Bluff (there's a story about that).
ReplyDeleteAlan, indeed. As Bobbye (who rescued him from the kill shelter) put it: this is the puppy I've been waiting for. . .
ReplyDeleteWe just did stage one of the separation anxiety test. I went to the store. Half hour. No problems, he barked when I left, I told him to cool it, he did. He was glad to see me when I came back, but no destruction of any kind. Whew!
For our hummingbird lovers.
ReplyDeletehttp://clas.uconn.edu/news/news_2011_05_02c.htm
Clarke's Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
ReplyDeleteThe inverse of that is, I suppose, that magic is merely technology that is too advanced for the observer to understand. And, actually, that strikes me as a very good definition of magic. It seems to me that magic and psychic phenomena like telekinesis are not airy fairy abnormal, supernatural happenings that can't be understood, but rather real, solid systems that we simply don't understand yet.
Hmmm... End of rant.
Thanks, Cat. That is amazing info. Interesting read.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Susan. I thought it was really amazing.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting, but I *still* don't understand how they do it, lol!
ReplyDeleteMagic!
ReplyDeleteCat wrote, "Magic!"
ReplyDeleteRight. Now who's going to write that story?
It's kind of cool the way the new thread just begins each day automagically at midnight. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlan...you really had me going, there. I was really getting creeped out until you related that where you're Dad saw the TV was a store and not someone's house! LOL!! :-D (Gosh I miss the old animated laughing emoticon!)
ReplyDeleteAwesome little birdies, they! >O
ReplyDeleteOr rather: -O
ReplyDeleteGot a low-grade fever, took a short nap, then finished my Library book because it's due this week and someone has it on hold after me.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is a day in town, while managing this mean old cold. I"m going to buy a mask to wear in the car when I make the 3 hour trip Thursday night to take the bride-to-be to her parents' house . Her wedding shower is Saturday and I don't want her sick for it!
Under the Wing...