The summer of 1969 was three of the most influential months in American culture. June: Stonewall riots; July: moon landing; August: Woodstock music festival.
Read about Kitty Hawk in the newspaper at 16 years old, in 1903. Watch men walking on the moon on your TV, at 82 years old.
Fuckin’ unreal. Hang out with people who lived through the 20th century, if you ever can, though they are reduced in number now. The perspective they have on things is hard to match. I knew a woman who grew up with black servants in the house who couldn’t vote, then marched with MLK, then watched Obama get elected president. And that’s everything. Every single aspect of human life, basically, except for a few of the very basics. She was always sort of surprised and amused that I had a “phone” that was a smooth black rectangle that I would control by “stroking” (as she called it) this smooth black surface.
I watched her meet a new person of her generation. First question: Was your husband in the war? Answer was yes. Second question: Did he live? He’s not trying to give offense, he just wants to know your situation. He was in the infantry…
I mean it makes perfect sense. From her perspective, I would just pull it out of my pocket and start gently rubbing it carefully with my finger, or prodding softly at it. She just thought it was weird. Why are you doing that? Okay, your device’s principles are strange.
She actually never got completely used to “buttons” as she called it, any kind of machine that you had to use a separate control setup for other than just the direct valves or levers involved. Turning the steering wheel makes sense, turning the knobs on the stove makes sense. Any time she put something in the toaster oven, though, with its multiple modes and controls, she would just savagely twist or push any knob she could find until the thing started making heat, and then when she was done, she would remove the object and leave the door open to let the thing gradually figure out things out on its own and shut off. “Life is short, man, don’t bother me with your goddamn buttons, I don’t care.”
When my mom got her first smartphone, she had such a hard time with buttons. She would either poke at the quickly and tentatively (she thought she’d get a shock), or push really hard. She finally figured it out, but it took far too long.
Battle of Little Big Horn was in June, 1876.
The first telephone call was made March 10, 1876.
Man Walked on the Moon in 1969. A few weeks after the Stonewall Riots.
The summer of 1969 was three of the most influential months in American culture. June: Stonewall riots; July: moon landing; August: Woodstock music festival.
Read about Kitty Hawk in the newspaper at 16 years old, in 1903. Watch men walking on the moon on your TV, at 82 years old.
Fuckin’ unreal. Hang out with people who lived through the 20th century, if you ever can, though they are reduced in number now. The perspective they have on things is hard to match. I knew a woman who grew up with black servants in the house who couldn’t vote, then marched with MLK, then watched Obama get elected president. And that’s everything. Every single aspect of human life, basically, except for a few of the very basics. She was always sort of surprised and amused that I had a “phone” that was a smooth black rectangle that I would control by “stroking” (as she called it) this smooth black surface.
I watched her meet a new person of her generation. First question: Was your husband in the war? Answer was yes. Second question: Did he live? He’s not trying to give offense, he just wants to know your situation. He was in the infantry…
Stroking screens ha ha
I mean it makes perfect sense. From her perspective, I would just pull it out of my pocket and start gently rubbing it carefully with my finger, or prodding softly at it. She just thought it was weird. Why are you doing that? Okay, your device’s principles are strange.
She actually never got completely used to “buttons” as she called it, any kind of machine that you had to use a separate control setup for other than just the direct valves or levers involved. Turning the steering wheel makes sense, turning the knobs on the stove makes sense. Any time she put something in the toaster oven, though, with its multiple modes and controls, she would just savagely twist or push any knob she could find until the thing started making heat, and then when she was done, she would remove the object and leave the door open to let the thing gradually figure out things out on its own and shut off. “Life is short, man, don’t bother me with your goddamn buttons, I don’t care.”
When my mom got her first smartphone, she had such a hard time with buttons. She would either poke at the quickly and tentatively (she thought she’d get a shock), or push really hard. She finally figured it out, but it took far too long.