Wednesday, May 11, 2011

2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten

Thought for the day:  Can't think; too dumb. Inspiration won't come. Bad ink, worse pen. Good luck. Amen.

Just dropping in ...
Today's thought for the day comes straight out of my old autograph book. Remember them? In the late '50s, my friends and I all had them, but we didn't follow famous people around in hopes of snagging a signature; we passed them around our classrooms, or handed them to our favorite relatives. Everyone would scribble a poem or draw a silly picture in the book, sign it, and then either return it or pass it on to the next person.

I have no idea whatever became of my dog-eared autograph book with the red cover and gold lettering, but I still remember some of the words and pictures that were in there. The Can't think; too dumb poem popped into my head this morning when I tried to come up with a topic for today's blog. I considered just dropping in for a quick howdy and then taking off again, but then I remembered something else that was written in my autograph book: 2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten. 


Ah, HA! Those words epitomize the presentation at last night's amateur radio club meeting!

Have you ever heard of a spark gap generator? In the early 1900s, spark gap was THE technology for amateur radio communications. It was also loud, dangerous, and highly inefficient. In the 1920s, better, safer modes of communications evolved, and spark gap became outlawed in 1927.

But STILL, spark gap is an early building block of radio history. A fascinating part, and something few people today know anything about or have ever experienced. But glory be, we experienced it up close and personal last night.

Blue Lightning in action


Over a period of several years, amateur radio operator Hal Kennedy painstakingly built an honest-to-God spark gap generator, which he brought to our meeting last night. Constructed of vintage 1910 parts and technology, not only is his Blue Lightning historically accurate, but it's also a one-of-a-kind work of art. In the early 1900s, amateurs put these things together as quickly and inexpensively as they could, without giving any thought to their appearance. Hal, on the other hand, not only built it to work like the rigs of 1910, but he also paid close attention to the aesthetics as well, using linseed oil and wax to give the mahogany a deep warm glow, and cleaning and polishing the copper into a fiery beauty. Since the completion of his ambitious project, Hal's been providing countless enthusiasts with the rare opportunity to see history in action.

No one would argue that a spark gap generator should have a place in today's modern world, but its place in history is too good to forget. No doubt, it's still loud, still inefficient, and still dangerous, but despite all the labor-intensive work involved, it was also a labor of love, and I'm extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to see it dim the lights with my own eyes.

Spun any good yarns lately?


There was an article in last night's paper about a young lady who uses yesterday's technologies to make blankets. She does it all, from the initial planting of cotton seeds to the finishing work at the spinning wheel. My sister-in-law has a spinning wheel, too, and recently won several blue ribbons for some of the items she's created with it. 

Me, I have a cow horn. Yep, a genuine cow horn, that I use to make kielbasa by hand. And when I was studying for one of my amateur radio exams, I was rather enjoying working out the square roots longhand, until my hubby laughed and handed me a calculator. And even though I know it would've been much easier to mass produce post cards and labels, for the eight years I served as our state's section manager, I still chose to handwrite as many as 75 post cards every month to congratulate our state's newly-licensed amateur radio operators and welcome them to the hobby. 

Sure, the modern ways make life easier, more efficient, and less labor intensive, but sometimes, there's nothing more satisfying than doing something by hand. Sewing, crocheting and knitting, building, painting, writing, cooking from scratch. Nothing like it.

How about you? Is there anything you still enjoy doing the "old-fashioned" way? After all, the old ways may be gone, but they are also much 2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten. 

If you aren't into any of that, did you have an autograph book? Remember any of the entries? (As I remember, my dear husband's poem compared my shape to a B-52 ...)

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.



28 comments:

  1. We made our babies the old-fashioned way. Does that count? ;)

    One thing that amazes me every time I go to pick up a pen now is how difficult it has become for me to write more than a few pages of longhand. My fingers rebel, and clamor for me to go back to my keyboard.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Blast from the past. My mother found my autograph book and gave it to me about 10 or so years ago. It was fun looking back. However, some times we think those times were better and maybe they were in many ways, but what we have in this moment, the friends, the experiences and being able to still to be vertical makes today better than ever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually, I have heard of a spark gap generator! It's come up several times in my research for the story I'm writing -- loosely based on Tesla's work. I don't understand the darn thing at all. My husband keeps trying to explain it to me...

    It looks really cool! My hubs would love to play with that!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sewing, crocheting and knitting, building, painting, writing, cooking from scratch.

    Yup, I still do all those things. I have my own power tools now, but when I didn't, I used the old-fashioned kind. I also iron. Every day before I wear it. I hang my clothes on the line. I think that's about it. I hate new technology. Well, except for CD's and DVD's.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, Ladies. Thanks for your comments.

    Linda- How funny, and I'll tell you why. Initially, there was another line in this blog, which I opted to delete. It was: (Keep it clean, Linda!) HA! Somehow, I just knew you'd go there. Great minds think alike, eh?

    I still find it easier to think while writing with pen and paper, but end up turning to the computer so I don't waste so darned much paper.

    Starting Over- Oh, no, I definitely don't think those "good old days" were better. Not at all. Don't want to go back to those days, but it sure is fun to visit from time to time. Very neat that your mom found your old autograph book.

    Dianne- Oooh, I'm intrigued that you're writing something based on Tesla's work. He was kinda like the original mad scientist with some of his projects, and I've read some really interesting books about him. If your hubby would like to see some more pictures of Hal's spark gap generator, click on the Blue Lightning link within my post. We didn't get to play with it as much last night as we would've liked, because every time one of us used it to send CW, the exit sign would stutter in rhythm with the spark (which looks very similar to a welding arc) and the security system would go bonkers. We were afraid the police would come. But it was totally neat. (Is your hubby a ham?)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, Anne. Geez, if you were older, I'd have to wonder if we'd been separated at birth. Sounds like we do a lot of the same things, except for the power tools part. (I'm too much of a klutz to trust myself with them!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm a homebrewer, so I make beer and mead from scratch.

    I do lots of cooking from scratch too--bread, jams, etc.

    But no autograph book. Sounds like a great idea for kids today--I think they would really enjoy something like that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ARRRRRGH! My own blog wouldn't let me post a darned comment! OK, let's try again, using Chrome, and see what happens...

    Hi, Heidi.

    My husband used to make beer and wine, too. It was all well and good until the one time the beer mixture boiled over ... onto and down into the electric stove. Talk about nasty!

    Not sure if today's kids would enjoy an autograph book or not. It may be a little too low-tech for them, but it's a good thought. I'll have to talk to some of our grandkids about it. Thanks for the idea. And thank you for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I never had an autograph book, but that has got to be a priceless item the older you get! I would love to have one around from my younger days, all the memories it would spark!

    I agree with you on the satisfaction of doing things the old-fashioned way. I always have a great sense of accomplishment! I like to crochet, but haven't done it in awhile. I'm also learning to sew (with a machine, but still...) and it's still amazing when I look at a finished project and think "I MADE that!"

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Alexia. Darn, blogger's been messing with me today. Chaned my username, but let's see if I managed to get it squared away again.

    Yeah, I kinda wish I still had my old autograph book, just to look at it one more time. All the relatives who signed it are gone now, so it'd be nice to see their silly poems and pictures again.

    There's nothing like doing it yourself, is there? I even built a radio transmitter and receiver, just for the experience. Taught me a lot about components and soldering, but once I was finished with them and made sure they worked, I was happy. All I wanted was the excperience of doing it.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love old fashioned gizmos, but am happy to write on a COMPUTER.

    I inherited my grandmother's autograph book, circa 1906-1907. It's a hoot - although I had to go the extra mile to have some of it translated, it was in old-script German that even a 70+ year old German friend could not read.

    Writing in Flow

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi, Beverly. Thank you so much for stopping by, dear lady. Oh, how wonderful to have your grandmother's autograph book! I hope you were able to translate enough of it to get the gist of the postings, anyway.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sorry, everybody! Blogger ate all of your wonderful comments. If I can, I'll restore them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I remember taking autograph books on vacation. One year we went to California and while my brother was looking for baseball players, I was trying to get autographs from movie stars! Those were fun memories. I'm impressed that you have a cow horn! Julie

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi, Julie. My mother-in-law gave me the cow horn many years ago, but what's funny is SHE uses a gizmo that attaches to her electric mixer! I kinda like using the horn, though. Slow, easy, and relaxing, once I find the darned casings for a decent price. (not a product that's much in demand around these parts, unless ya wanta buy like ten pounds of the stuff!) Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We made our babies the old-fashioned way. Does that count? ;)

    One thing that amazes me every time I go to pick up a pen now is how difficult it has become for me to write more than a few pages of longhand. My fingers rebel, and clamor for me to go back to my keyboard.



    Posted by Linda G. to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 3:47 PM

    ReplyDelete
  17. Blast from the past. My mother found my autograph book and gave it to me about 10 or so years ago. It was fun looking back. However, some times we think those times were better and maybe they were in many ways, but what we have in this moment, the friends, the experiences and being able to still to be vertical makes today better than ever.



    Posted by Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 4:47 PM

    ReplyDelete
  18. Actually, I have heard of a spark gap generator! It's come up several times in my research for the story I'm writing -- loosely based on Tesla's work. I don't understand the darn thing at all. My husband keeps trying to explain it to me...

    It looks really cool! My hubs would love to play with that!



    Posted by Dianne K. Salerni to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 5:08 PM

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sewing, crocheting and knitting, building, painting, writing, cooking from scratch.

    Yup, I still do all those things. I have my own power tools now, but when I didn't, I used the old-fashioned kind. I also iron. Every day before I wear it. I hang my clothes on the line. I think that's about it. I hate new technology. Well, except for CD's and DVD's.



    Posted by Anne Gallagher to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 6:25 PM

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi, Ladies. Thanks for your comments.

    Linda- How funny, and I'll tell you why. Initially, there was another line in this blog, which I opted to delete. It was: (Keep it clean, Linda!) HA! Somehow, I just knew you'd go there. Great minds think alike, eh?

    I still find it easier to think while writing with pen and paper, but end up turning to the computer so I don't waste so darned much paper.

    Starting Over- Oh, no, I definitely don't think those "good old days" were better. Not at all. Don't want to go back to those days, but it sure is fun to visit from time to time. Very neat that your mom found your old autograph book.

    Dianne- Oooh, I'm intrigued that you're writing something based on Tesla's work. He was kinda like the original mad scientist with some of his projects, and I've read some really interesting books about him. If your hubby would like to see some more pictures of Hal's spark gap generator, click on the Blue Lightning link within my post. We didn't get to play with it as much last night as we would've liked, because every time one of us used it to send CW, the exit sign would stutter in rhythm with the spark (which looks very similar to a welding arc) and the security system would go bonkers. We were afraid the police would come. But it was totally neat. (Is your hubby a ham?)



    Posted by Susan Flett Swiderski to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 6:35 PM

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi, Anne. Geez, if you were older, I'd have to wonder if we'd been separated at birth. Sounds like we do a lot of the same things, except for the power tools part. (I'm too much of a klutz to trust myself with them!)



    Posted by Susan Flett Swiderski to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 6:55 PM

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm a homebrewer, so I make beer and mead from scratch.

    I do lots of cooking from scratch too--bread, jams, etc.

    But no autograph book. Sounds like a great idea for kids today--I think they would really enjoy something like that.



    Posted by Heidi Windmiller to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 11, 2011 7:33 PM

    ReplyDelete
  23. af4fo has left a new comment on your post "2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten":

    ARRRRRGH! My own blog wouldn't let me post a darned comment! OK, let's try again, using Chrome, and see what happens...

    Hi, Heidi.

    My husband used to make beer and wine, too. It was all well and good until the one time the beer mixture boiled over ... onto and down into the electric stove. Talk about nasty!

    Not sure if today's kids would enjoy an autograph book or not. It may be a little too low-tech for them, but it's a good thought. I'll have to talk to some of our grandkids about it. Thanks for the idea. And thank you for stopping by.



    Posted by af4fo to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 12, 2011 9:25 AM

    ReplyDelete
  24. I never had an autograph book, but that has got to be a priceless item the older you get! I would love to have one around from my younger days, all the memories it would spark!

    I agree with you on the satisfaction of doing things the old-fashioned way. I always have a great sense of accomplishment! I like to crochet, but haven't done it in awhile. I'm also learning to sew (with a machine, but still...) and it's still amazing when I look at a finished project and think "I MADE that!"



    Posted by Alexia to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 12, 2011 11:44 AM

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi, Alexia. Darn, blogger's been messing with me today. Chaned my username, but let's see if I managed to get it squared away again.

    Yeah, I kinda wish I still had my old autograph book, just to look at it one more time. All the relatives who signed it are gone now, so it'd be nice to see their silly poems and pictures again.

    There's nothing like doing it yourself, is there? I even built a radio transmitter and receiver, just for the experience. Taught me a lot about components and soldering, but once I was finished with them and made sure they worked, I was happy. All I wanted was the excperience of doing it.

    Take care.



    Posted by Susan Swiderski to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 12, 2011 11:51 AM

    ReplyDelete
  26. Love old fashioned gizmos, but am happy to write on a COMPUTER.

    I inherited my grandmother's autograph book, circa 1906-1907. It's a hoot - although I had to go the extra mile to have some of it translated, it was in old-script German that even a 70+ year old German friend could not read.

    Writing in Flow



    Posted by Beverly Diehl to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 12, 2011 2:25 PM

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi, Beverly. Thank you so much for stopping by, dear lady. Oh, how wonderful to have your grandmother's autograph book! I hope you were able to translate enough of it to get the gist of the postings, anyway.

    Take care.



    Posted by Susan Flett Swiderski to I Think; Therefore, I Yam at May 12, 2011 2:33 PM

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ta DAAAAA! I was able to retrieve all of the missing comments. However, my apologies for all of the mug shots of me. Tedious, I know.

    ReplyDelete