UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > Websites

Notices

Websites Found an interesting website? Post the details here and share it with the rest of us. Please stick to websites that are in some way related to our hobby/interest.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 27th May 2020, 5:13 pm   #1
OscarFoxtrot
Heptode
 
OscarFoxtrot's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
Default When landlines were considered dangerous

One of the most serious, unreported, disabling, anti-social diseases in America today

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/w...ief-history-of

Suggest we all stay clear of "Nothing but narcotics …, as destructive of real life and real living as cocaine"
OscarFoxtrot is offline  
Old 27th May 2020, 5:52 pm   #2
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

We were completely safe in Britain.

We had the pricing structure of the General Post Office to protect us from any risk of telephone addiction.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 28th May 2020, 1:05 pm   #3
Skywave
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chard, South Somerset, UK.
Posts: 7,457
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

The article overlooks three important facts of human nature:

1. People - especially children - have the need to explore their world and learn as much as they can about it: various forms of 'media' provide for that.
2. People are intrinsically socially-orientated: they need to be able to communicate with others. Hence, forms of two-way communications will always be in demand.
3. Many people fear change - the older generation especially. Such change threatens their established modus operandi and life-style.

Just my viewpoints on this interesting article.

Al.
Skywave is offline  
Old 28th May 2020, 4:26 pm   #4
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skywave View Post
Many people fear change - the older generation especially. Such change threatens their established modus operandi and life-style.
Naturally. But it's not just the elderly, many of them have seen such profound changes that it no longer fazes them. Social media (yes, that again) can give younger people as much unease so the tables are turned, or at least blurred.
AC/HL is offline  
Old 29th May 2020, 12:48 pm   #5
turretslug
Dekatron
 
turretslug's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,385
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

In what has now become a wearily familiar litany of "bonkers reasons for calling helplines", I heard a radio report at the beginning of April that someone in the UK had called a health helpline on the grounds that they had made a long phone-call to China at the height of its Covid-19 crisis and were worried that they could have caught it down the phone-line....
turretslug is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 12:09 am   #6
Richard_FM
Octode
 
Richard_FM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 1,999
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

I heard that Howard Hughes used to believe that germs could be spread by phone lines.

One of my school history books had some quotes from the time of the first railways, with people expressing some worries about potential damage trains could do, many proved to by laughably wrong.

I heard that there were some concerns that daytime television would affect productivity, which was why broadcasting hours were restricted for a long time.

Supposedly in South Korea similar reasons were given for their late adoption of colour broadcasting, thinking that if TV became too popular then people would spend too much time watching it.

There was a bit of a worry about colour TV in Ireland of a different kind. It was said that the Irish government were worried that the mass importation of colour sets would effect their balance of payment.

This might explain their drip feed of funds to RTE to upgrade their facilities so it took until the mid 1970s to have a full colour service.
__________________
Hello IT: Have you Tried Turning It Off & On Again?
Richard_FM is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 7:03 am   #7
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

Some of the pontifications on new technology have got it quite wrong even in light of things known at the time.

When the first railway was about to be tried, the proponents stated that it could travel as quickly as twenty miles within the hour.

Medical people predicted problems. That, at such profound speed, passengers would experience difficulty breathing and might have nose-bleeds.

They seemed completely unaware that people had been reaching these speeds for centuries by the simple expedient of sitting on a horse. Mind you, some of those people experienced difficulty breathing and ****** noses after they'd 'come off'.

In any field, before making a pronouncement, it is quite important to do some basic research.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 7:04 am   #8
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

Oh, really!.... the automatically censored word above was the adjective meaning bleeding.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 12:44 pm   #9
Ted Kendall
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 3,657
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

And Microsoft are going to use AI to select and edits stories for their new service...
Ted Kendall is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 1:16 pm   #10
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

AI would presumably have read the sentence though, and ignored it. In the meantime hemorrhaging will keep the current technology happy.
AC/HL is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 4:50 pm   #11
julie_m
Dekatron
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

It's not as though we've never made the opposite mistake, which is much worse, before. At least if something initially believed dangerous turns out to be much safer than originally thought, we're all still around to laugh about it. Not like people who thought something was harmless, until they found out the hard way that it wasn't .....
__________________
If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on a pile of failed experiments.
julie_m is offline  
Old 30th May 2020, 5:35 pm   #12
mark_in_manc
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
Default Re: When landlines were considered dangerous

(I read this thread title quickly and registered in my mind 'when landmines were considered dangerous' )
mark_in_manc is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:11 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.