lazboy

After 145 years, it has come to this?

The Fate of Western Union Telegrams

I got a few telegrams from when I was born. I guess it was a prestige thing back then; a luxury communique, if you will.

As one era begins, another is usually ending.

A bit more here:

LiveScience.com

and here:

NPR

Ironic example: in 1974, Western Union launched the first U.S. communications satelllite.



Major bonus points if you can complete Sam's sentence, "What h..."

Additionally, everyone knows in what time zone they live. But do they know why we even have time zones? They can thank the telegram (sort of).

Okay, the railroads started it, but then we had something like a hundred, conflicting time zones. When you are moving at sub light speeds (i.e. by train), the time changes about one minute for every twelve-and-a-half miles that you travel east or west.

Towns on railroad lines have clocks visible to the train (library or town hall) so that conductors (and passengers) could adjust their timepieces to local time.

But then came the telegram and the advent of lightspeed communication. Suddenly, you could talk to a person faster than you could travel to them. NEAT!

So in 1883 we got time zones and, later, the transmission of GMT to Podunk, Nebraska (et al).

Oh, and as much as I hate cell phones, I think I would hate the telegram delivery boy even more. Fuck you, telegram delivery boy!