Are we connected ?
Flashback to kampong days..
As a child I remember vividly the communications systems we love to experiment with. Oh how exciting they were.. Really.. my childhood friends Patrick and Joseph used to collect empty match boxes and empty sardine cans while we saved to buy long kite flying threads ..
We were no scientists but it was a beautiful game just to talk to each other on these tin can and match box "telephones".. For those who have yet to try it.. Just get two empty match boxes or empty tin cans.. punch a small hole in the middle of the tin cans and string them together with a tight thread.. stand 50 feet or more from each other and just enjoy this timeless experiment.. Your sound travels on the string as one talks into the match box and of course the other listens..
Fast foward to our teen years..
There was a time not so long ago when having a house telephone was a real luxury. Our family phone number was just 3 digits and we used a simple black antique rotary dial fone. Not many realised it but the phone operator must have been the best informed person .. he would be the equivalent of our modern day party line system admin ;)
Fast forward now to 2007..
And I am easily able to conduct a poor mans video conference with our son in New Zealand, a daughter in Kuala Lumpur, another daughter in Singapore and our son and daughter in Australia.. and all from the comforts of the living room at our little secret gardens in the woods ;) The facilities at Eagle Plateau and constantly being upgraded and further improved with home grown recycled electronics to allow us to enjoy modern comforts to the fullest !
I often wonder what the future of communications will be.. but for now, I am just so pleased that even as our children are working and /or studying so far away in distant lands, they remain very close and indeed very reachable that we participate in their daily joys and frustrations as they share with us online, their activities for the day !
The world has indeed become smaller..
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Sunrise at Eagle Plateau
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2 comments:
Hello. Excellent блог. I completely divide with you those quivering feelings which you have received from game with a string and banks, иметируя phone. Once in the childhood I too spent such experiment. We talked to the friend, using such device, being thus on balconies of different buildings. Yes, telecommunications have really stepped forward. And I remember time when phone was the pleasure accessible not many. My family also had phone, the truth with 5 figures, and now we talk to them on distance of 6000 kilometers using mobile communication and, sometimes, IP a telephony. I am sorry for before by means of translate.ru
Hi Thanks for sharing your experiences too. Yes those younger days are always so much fun to recall. We didn't need much to keep us thrilled and entertained and yet the influence is so strong. My curiousity from experimenting with those matchbox telephones have led me to later become interested in electronics and communications and I also have an Amateur Radio callsign now. But the future of communications will be even more exciting in the years ahead. Already, I am able to get online from my little remote family retreat at Eagle Plateau
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