Thread: The demise of the gadget
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Old 12-09-2016, 10:13 AM   #12
barryem
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shalym View Post
People today don't think of their TVs as "gadgets", but I can assure you that my grandfather did.
When I was in about the 3rd or 4th grade, probably about 1948 or 1949, our teacher explained that television worked by sending a glow zig-zagging across and down the screen creating the false appearance of an image that wasn't really there, and that that would soon make everyone go blind.

This was in Austin, Texas where TV hadn't been seen yet but I'd been to visit my great grandmother in New York and I'd seen a TV and spent hours watching it and I hadn't gone blind. When I explained this in class I got in a lot of trouble for contradicting my teacher.

I'm 76 now and my vision isn't as good as it used to be so maybe she was right after all. Terrible gadget, TV.

Barry
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