From the Historical Foresight Department

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” 

–Western Union internal memo, 1876. Image: Early “selfie.”

• Editorial Note: That’s what the European Scribes  & Ink-Stained Wretches Union said about Johann Gutenberg’s crazy “printing press” idea in 1439.



• Another Fun TechnoFact: On Nov. 28, 1814, the Times of London was first printed by automatic steam-powered presses built by German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer, making newspapers available to a mass audience. The rest, I guess, is history. (Thanks to alert WORDster Kathleen Franklin)



PeezPix

Good Heart, Needs a Little Work

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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard