The Evolution of the Telephone

This is what our household telephone looked like when I was a kid.....

But technology evolved and soon we got a wall telephone and the annoying rotary dial was replaced with buttons that made sounds when you pushed them.....

Then came the cordless phone which provided greater convenience as you could talk while walking around the house.....

Not that the cordless phone has made a great difference to the more senior people that I've observed. Even now when the phone rings, I've noticed how members of the older generation still carry the phone over to the "phone table" before answering?!?!

Then about 5 years ago, one of my trendier aunties bought herself a mobile phone like the one below.....

As you can see, it was a basic, compact handset that allowed her to talk and send SMS. Although it did take her a couple of months to get proficient at sending text messages. The dictionary function was a tad confusing to use at first.

Finally convinced she was as technologically advanced as any youngster, my auntie recently upgraded to a new mobile phone with a camera and various applications.....

On one occasion she rang me (from her "phone table", I assume) and the following chain of events ensued.....

Auntie: "Minny, I've just taken some nice pictures of your cousins and our new house. I'll show them to you the next time you come down to visit."

Me: "Why don't you just send the pictures to my phone and I'll have a look?"

Auntie: "How do I do that?"

Me: "Just send them, like when you send me a text message."

Auntie: "I'm not doing that. I want to keep these pictures on my phone so I can look at them later."

Me: "You wont lose them. Sending an MMS just means you'll be sending me a copy of the photos."

Auntie: "But when I send an SMS, that doesn't stay on my phone."

Me: "That's because you didn't save the message first."

Auntie: "Well, how about this.....why don't I send the pictures to you, you can have a look, and then you can send them back to me?"

Me: *sigh* "Auntie, there's no need. The pictures will stay on your phone."

Auntie: "I'm not sending the pictures unless you promise to send them back. I don't want to lose the photos."

Eventually I relented and agreed that I would send the pictures back to my auntie after I had viewed them on my phone.

After we hung up, half an hour passed and I still hadn't received any of the pictures. I called my auntie back asking if she had sent the photos because I still hadn't received them. After checking her phone, my "technologically advanced" auntie realised she had sent them to my house phone number.

Right, I'll get my coat.....

Time Capsule

Back in the early-mid 1980's, the teaching faculty at my primary school had this bright idea to build a time capsule. Basically, the time capsule was constructed and painted to look like a space shuttle.

In order to take part, all the kids and teaching staff had to write a letter to themselves or to someone else and place it in an envelope along with any items that were relevant to the 1980's. The envelopes were then placed into this time capsule which would be buried at a designated site on the school grounds. Then when the year 2000 arrived, there would be a big reunion at the school and the time capsule would be dug up with the envelopes distributed to those present.

There was a big ceremony on the day the time capsule was buried. To add a greater dramatic effect to the time capsule being lowered into the ground, they played "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss. To you Philistines, that's the piece of music at the beginning of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Naively I thought to myself "Wow this is a great occasion! Can't wait to come back here in the year 2000 and catch up with everyone!"

Unfortunately the school closed down in the early 1990's. My damn envelope is still buried in that time capsule some twenty-odd years later. I would love to get my envelope back. After all, those Michael Jackson bubblegum trading cards contained inside could be worth a lot of money these days.

I can just imagine one hundred years from now, some treasure hunter will stumble upon my most prized childhood possession and exclaim "DANG! Michael Jackson was black?!"

Right, I'll get my coat.....

Evil Cat

I've decided to name and shame the big, overweight, unfit, fat, orange cat that scratched me the other day. Her real name is "Ginger". This is what she looks like.....

Look at that cold, steely gaze.....She's pure evil I tell ya!

This tub of lard doesn't do much all day. She mainly lies around looking grumpy, when she's not eating, that is. Look at her lying there on the bed like a beached whale.....

She's just begging for someone to pinch that fatty underbelly of hers.

For some reason, "Ginger" loves to dwell in cardboard boxes. She can't get enough of curling up in any boxes that are lying around the house. Most likely, the cardboard box and her thick layer of fat provides "Ginger" with comfortable insulation.


Look at her.....Looking so smug, comfortable and insulated.....

Make sure you don't disturb her though or the evil claws come out.

Maybe if "Ginger" scratches me again, I will have take it down the road to the nearby Chinese restaurant. You know what I'm saying?!

Maybe then it can get to dwell in a different type of cardboard box.....

WAH! Number 68: Sweet & Sour Cat!

Disclaimer: My family used to own a Chinese restaurant and I can vouch that no cat products were ever used as cooking ingredients. (Dog meat was by far much cheaper.)

Right, I'll get my coat.....