tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post2640542132090260217..comments2024-03-17T06:41:27.269-06:00Comments on McElmurray's Mountain Retreat!: Modern technology - by BruceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-1741524360505866502010-11-10T12:47:45.364-07:002010-11-10T12:47:45.364-07:00we had one of the big brown boxes on the wall and ...we had one of the big brown boxes on the wall and when we did get a regular phone, I was probably only 5 or 6 but I remember our number was 68-2602. the other thing I remember is my Dad's Social Security number. My bro, when he was just a little tyke, would sit on Dad's lap when he came home from work. Back then they wore a badge with their picture and their SS # on it for ID. I can still recall it (but probably shouldn't write it, even though Dad has been gone for 17 years).Carolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-82680740437247939722010-11-10T12:42:47.181-07:002010-11-10T12:42:47.181-07:002I don't remember what our ring was but I do k...2I don't remember what our ring was but I do know the next door neighbor listened in on our phone conversations. Almost everyone picked up and listened when the phone rang on a party line. I do recall our dial phone number was Ivanho7-0952.Brucenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-78181288500887598752010-11-10T08:43:36.424-07:002010-11-10T08:43:36.424-07:00Well, Bob wanted to get a Kindle last year and I w...Well, Bob wanted to get a Kindle last year and I was Scrooge. I told him we could read the ebooks on our computers for free.(I think alot more about free stuff now that we are both retired!)I love being able to change the fonts on the ebooks. I can't read small print easily or for long anymore. Our computers are not wireless, though, so while you will be able to take that kindle anywhere, we can only read here in the den where we are connected to the net. That gives you alot more freedom to ... say -- read outside, sitting in the sunshine under one of your beautiful trees. That's really gonna' be a neat experience. <br />This whole technology thing is both fascinating and scary. With the Amazon Kindle app for computers, when you go to the next page it actually looks like you turn a page -- you can hear the page turn. How's that for weird? Hearing a non-existant piece of paper flip over?! Then you can turn the edge down to save your place -- seriously. It folds down at the top righthand tip in a perfect little triangle, and when you open it again,(or log back on, or go back to it from checking your stove or the dog, etc.) it opens right back to that page. <br />Now I have experienced the ebook, but I am probably the last living adult American, (or at least one of the few) who has never had a cell phone. I know I could never push those little buttons correctly, but the grandkids all have them and they text away with their thumbs. It's a terrifying sight -- looks like a sci-fi flick when they are here in the middle of actually talking and end up popping in and out of the conversation with several other short text conversations going on at the same time. Julia said that one night when she was sleeping over at a friend's house, all the girls sat on the bed in a circle and texted each other instead of talking! I think they actually got more said that way. I just don't get it. :) The only images for library they might contemplate, other than the one at school, are whatever links come up when you google 'library'! <br />I remember those party lines, and I remember, "Number please?" said by a real, live operator. My Mom and Dad's number was 2833 and I said it into the phone to call home. Ah, those were the days... or were they? Kindle is a neat concept. It is a Brave New World indeed; some of it is pretty cool and the kids don't seem to be one bit daunted by it! My mom is still alive and she remembers ice boxes instead of refrigerators, and things like that! She would think that using a Kindle is somehow akin to perfidy I think, though. There is something about the smell and touch of type and paper that is a part of her. So far she has killed three computers -- dead. You can imagine how incomprehensible Northland is to her. Come to think of it, 5 years or so ago, the concept of ebooks and Northland online, and texting, and so much of the android app this and android app that of today was totally alien just a few years ago. I guess we are all doing really well adjusting, by golly! And if we get confused about some app for Kindle, we can just google it. (Uh,when did app get to be a noun and when did google get to be a verb?)Deirdrenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-88584715048559483612010-11-09T10:01:00.461-07:002010-11-09T10:01:00.461-07:00I am really looking forward to it...and hope I can...I am really looking forward to it...and hope I can wait 'til Christmas! We have so many books here and no one seems to want them. Hate the thought of throwing them out so will continue to search. Will go to booksforsoldiers.com sometime soon and see if any of them want what we have.Carolnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-80690374954674744312010-11-09T06:07:32.569-07:002010-11-09T06:07:32.569-07:00Bruce, the last time our sister in law (Bill's...Bruce, the last time our sister in law (Bill's brother David's ex) visited us a month or so<br />ago, she brought her Tindel and showed me the book she was reading on it. Her son got it<br />for her for last Christmas and I've seen the promotional at Barnes & Noble (or was it Borders?...one of them,) some time back. It is an amazing little gaget, but believe I'd miss holding a book in my hand. There's something about pulling a book off the shelf and holding it curled up in a chair or bed, and turning the pages...Kids of the future will be saying "library"----what's that?<br />Your essay made me think. <br />LoisLoisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178865360448684774.post-91650568813474995472010-11-08T08:16:07.361-07:002010-11-08T08:16:07.361-07:00Okay, its a Kindle not a Tindel. Not having TV un...Okay, its a Kindle not a Tindel. Not having TV until I was around 10 years old because it had not been invented yet - I'm lucky to grasp the purpose of the thing let alone get the name right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com