HP, IBM…Will You Please Line Up Here?
February 28, 2014 9 Comments
The boys had been up in the attic together helping with some cleaning. The kids uncovered an old manual typewriter and asked her,
“Hey Mom, what’s this?”
“Oh, that’s an old typewriter,” she answered, thinking that would satisfy their curiosity.
“Well, what does it do?” they queried.
“I’ll show you,” she said and returned with a blank piece of paper. She rolled the paper into the typewriter and began striking the keys, leaving black letters of print on the page.
“WOW!” they exclaimed, “That’s really cool. But how does it work like that? Where do you plug it in?”
“There is no plug,” she answered. “It doesn’t need a plug.”
“Then where do you put the batteries?” they persisted.
“It doesn’t need batteries either,” she continued.
“Wow! This is so cool!” they exclaimed. “Mom, you know you are sitting on a gold mine? And you are stowing it away in the attic? The world needs something like this. We should license this right away to HP, IBM…for manufacturing!
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Credits: adapted from mikeysFunnies.com, originally from Jerry Lambert. Images from openclipart.com (3_children from ryanlerch and typewriter from andinuryadin).
Kaleidoscope 
David Frost, the English comedian and tv journalist died recently. Apparently he understood the modern world well enough to be an outstanding journalist (he’s the one who got Nixon to apologize) but he never understood the technology. A friend of his was out with him once and said he needed to stop at the cash machine. “Do you know how they work?!” asked David in amazement.
But in an attempt to fill the deep hole of ignorance, he asked his son to explain it to him. “Can you explain to me the difference between an i-pad and a digital?” he asked.
I’d say go get a patent on that typewriter!
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Thanks for sharing the anecdote.
With the profusion of new devices in the market studded with buttons there are at least some of us in the same predicament. .
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and no one can steal your works, writings from a computer in a dungeon somewhere 🙂
a lot of creators are contemplating on reviving typewriters you know? Read it in an article of Hindu.
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Won’t be surprised if it happens!
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stealing has been made so easy by hackers! it must be frustrating for those who have talent.
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About a week after getting my first smartphone my five year old son brought it to me and asked, “Why is it making this sound?” I told him that it was the phone ringing and he exclaimed “It’s a phone, too?!”
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The devices are on the way to become a magician’s wand! Thanks.
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This reminds us that we easily set aside valuable technology and items that have helped us one way or another. This is the reason why the younger generations often recycle something of the past because despite its age, it still does not fail to stir the people’s interests.
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Looks like it;-) Thanks.
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