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Remember rotary phones? I do.

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I was in San Diego last week and had the wonderful opportunity to go to the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum. While touring the bridge an adorable little kid no older than ten pointed to a rotary telephone and asked what is that? J  I was a bit surprised at the lack of recognition of a telephone and thought to myself I’m either getting too old or technology is letting us take things for granted. I’m hoping it was the latter! My dad once said: “gratitude has the shortest memory of all!”

I don’t know where he got the phrase or if it was some ingenious moment of pure wisdom but boy is he right! If you go to HowStuffWorks.com and read their How Telephones Work you’ll see the 1st sentence has the same sentiment as my father: “Although most of us take it completely for granted…”

Reflecting on this makes me wonder about technology. Of course the main goal of technology is to make everyone’s life easier and more enjoyable. I know that’s why I’m here along with most of my colleagues. Here’s a brief list of things I use practically every day but haven’t really thought twice about how they came to be:

· Cell phones – When was the last time you used a payphone?

· The Internet – How many times a day do you hear, “you could look that up on the internet.”

· MSOLM – Countless problems solved with minimal headaches and counting!

· Combustion Engine – Along with oil drilling, refining, etc., etc., etc.

· Internet Radio – Along with wireless headphones make this superb personal entertainment.

· Digital Cameras – Me and my Canon DSLR are one…I’m giving away left over film if anyone wants it.

· Electricity – Thanks Ben!

 

I hope that by being a consumer for these things I’m thanking those individuals responsible for creating all the things that let me get on with my life. That of course and a few of my $$$ finding a way into their pockets.

What other technologies/things have you embraced and not looked back on? 

P.S. – Dad, thanks again a million times over for getting me that mountain bike I was drooling over!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 21, 2005
    > Remember rotary phones?

    As a matter of fact I saw one two days ago in a recycle shop in case any nostalgic customers drop in. I think it was priced at 2,100 yen.

    And as a matter of fact, if I could attach a modular plug to it, I'll bet it would work with my modem. I don't pay the extra fee for tone dialling, so my phone and modem dial using pulses, including VoIP calls that are interpreted by the modem and/or ISP. If tones are needed for some purpose after dialling, I press the * key and the phone switches over until I hang up.

    > When was the last time you used a payphone?

    Last week as a matter of fact. When getting a wired phone with ADSL, I didn't want to continue paying for a cellular phone and modem in addition.

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    March 04, 2008
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    May 29, 2009
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    June 16, 2009
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