4 ms·

>And what's more magical than to pull some Latin American station out of thin air? Pulling the entirety of Wikipedia and Youtube out of thin air? That being s

>And what's more magical than to pull some Latin American station out of thin air? Pulling the entirety of Wikipedia and Youtube out of thin air? That being said, I totally agree - I love books, my manual film camera, dream of owning a typewriter (but have no use for it) and love records.

tomjen3 9y ago
I nearly broke myself at some point because I started to realise that just by typing on a computer I was broadcasting things through space, hammering rays of light under the Atlantic, and getting a reply back in miliseconds. If I think too much about it, I almost can't do anything because that is magic, made real. Another good way to break yourself is to go into any reasonably sized supermarket and look, really look, at all the different products and where they come from, then imagine the insane amount of work that goes into making that possible. I mean a typewriter is pretty cool and all, but it doesn't really compare to sending messages through space, at the speed of light.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Fair enough but that part of the magic is so beyond what a young kid can understand without all the context involved that it is magic that can't be decomposed. The elements involved are closed off to inspection.
  - tomjen3 9y ago
    I think you may be underestimating your kid here. Try to walk him trough the steps and see if he can't grasp at least some of the magic.
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      As good as we can, consider it done. But that's still not the same as being able to trace the wiring or to follow the mechanical linkages. What I found really interesting is that they have no problem understanding vacuum tubes but fail at understanding transistors which are essentially the same thing only going from a literally transparent glass tube with inner bits that you can see to a little black piece of plastic with three metal legs sticking out. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

tomjen3 9y ago

I nearly broke myself at some point because I started to realise that just by typing on a computer I was broadcasting things through space, hammering rays of light under the Atlantic, and getting a reply back in miliseconds. If I think too much about it, I almost can't do anything because that is magic, made real. Another good way to break yourself is to go into any reasonably sized supermarket and look, really look, at all the different products and where they come from, then imagine the insane amount of work that goes into making that possible. I mean a typewriter is pretty cool and all, but it doesn't really compare to sending messages through space, at the speed of light.

jacquesm 9y ago
Fair enough but that part of the magic is so beyond what a young kid can understand without all the context involved that it is magic that can't be decomposed. The elements involved are closed off to inspection.
- tomjen3 9y ago
  I think you may be underestimating your kid here. Try to walk him trough the steps and see if he can't grasp at least some of the magic.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    As good as we can, consider it done. But that's still not the same as being able to trace the wiring or to follow the mechanical linkages. What I found really interesting is that they have no problem understanding vacuum tubes but fail at understanding transistors which are essentially the same thing only going from a literally transparent glass tube with inner bits that you can see to a little black piece of plastic with three metal legs sticking out. There's a lesson in there somewhere.