Historical Flavor: “One ringy dingy…”
Sandra Ardoin @SandraArdoin
If, like me, you still remember talking on a Princess phone, you also remember those words in the title and the accompanying snort from Lily Tomlin’s telephone operator character Ernestine on Laugh-In. In case you don’t remember, below is a sample. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvesMBkduQo&w=560&h=315]
Now Ernestine would never have been given the opportunity to pester poor Mr. Beadle if it hadn’t been for Alexander Graham Bell. On March 7, 1876, the Scotsman received his patent for the telephone.
Ah, who could forget the first words he spoke to his assistant, Thomas Watson, “Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Really? He couldn’t come up with something more clever and befitting the occasion?
Aside from the sheer genius of the invention and how it has progressed through the years, I think what struck me most about Bell was his age at the time of the patent. He was twenty-nine. (Watson was only 22.) Ah, I remember when I was twenty-nine…. Well, we won’t go there.
I don’t know why I was surprised by his age when we have among us these days people like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat, all in their twenties—younger than AGB—when their pet projects came to fruition.
So, let’s give a hand to those creative young’uns who have given us the wonders of technology that have provided our lives with more convenience—not to mention, a hectic pace, less privacy and more stress. 🙂
What is the ONE technological invention you could not live without?
Sandra Ardoin
As an author of heartwarming historical and contemporary romance, Sandra Ardoin engages readers with page-turning stories of love and faith. Rarely out of reach of a book, she's also an armchair sports enthusiast, country music listener, and seldom says no to eating out.
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Jennifer
Computer ?
Sandra Ardoin
Isn’t that the truth!? I’m not sure I could write a novel using longhand, and the typewriter would require too many copies. 🙂
Tori Kayson
Does a washer and dryer count as a technological invention? 😀
Sandra Ardoin
Works for me! Better than a washboard! 🙂
Gail Johnson
Ladies, you may think me strange but…I could live without a computer. I write everything with pencil and paper before putting it in a document. I could live without TV. Who needs it when you have books?! I think I could live without a phone! Yep, strange, I know. 🙂 Unlike Tori, I wouldn’t want to do without a washer and dryer. I’ve tried the old washers where you put the clothes
through the wringer. No, I’m not that old. I just lived around people who liked collecting old things. LOL.
Sandra Ardoin
Okay, not touching the strangeness factor! 🙂 I’m getting to the point I can do without network TV. We don’t watch much of it anymore—more Netflix. My grandmother used a wringer washer. It was kept in her kitchen. That still has to beat a washboard! (And I am that old! 🙂 )