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Article Published January 26, 2002 
Editor's Corner
By: Rick Roberts, rick@globalgenealogy.com Corrections/ Comments - How old is Grandpa? The Global Gazette recently re-printed a piece titled 'How Old Is Grandpa?'. It was originally broadcast by Ted Leitner on 760 kfmb radio in California and shared with us by one of his listeners. We published it as it was broadcast and listed the source. The article was meant to be a light-hearted bit for the amusement of Global Gazette readers. However our email box quickly filled up with dozens of corrections and some stiff criticism. Many Global Gazette readers pointed out historical inaccuracies in How old is Grandpa?. The email that was the most representative of all of those received, was from David E. Weekly... also of California. We did not research the accuracy of the content of David's email. David's comments are printed here with his permission.
Re: http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazrr/gazrr74.htm I have some comments on the essay. My apologies, but sometimes I feel the need, when faced with information like this, to search out the truth and make it known. =) "Grandpa" was born in 1944, according to the math provided... Television: First operated on September 7, 1927 by Philo T. Farnsworth, with patents for similar ideas by Vladimir Zworykin being patented as early as 1923. The BBC started broadcasting TV in 1932, updated to a higher-resolution version in 1939. US-based black & white broadcasting begain in 1939, courtesy NBC. The first US-based color television broadcast signal was made on June 25, 1951 by CBS. So it might be more accurate to say that grandpa predated color television broadcast instead of saying he predated television altogether. Penicillin was invented in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. By the time grandpa's birth rolled around, Fleming had been knighted for his discovery. Penicillin was used extensively to cure soldiers in WWII, the same soldiers that, returning home, would have fathered babies such as our "grandpa." Quite correct about polio, though: Dr. Janas Salk developed the first vaccine against polion in 1955. Clarence Birdseye invented, patented, and pioneered the frozen foods market in 1923, bought out in 1929 by the company that would become General Foods. Frozen food was first served to the public in 1930 under the trademark "Birds Eye Frosted Foods". This far predated grandpa. Electrostatic ("xerox") photocopying was invented by Chester F. Carlson in October 1938. Haloid Company bought the patents in 1947 and named the process xerography for "xeros" (dry) + "graphein" (writing) in Greek. Haloid experimented with many different machines until perfecting it in the "914", released in 1959. This machine used plain paper and became wildly popular. So it's fair to say that grandpa was born before Xeroxing was common, but not before its invention. Contact lenses: officially Post-Grandpa. =) The first contact lens was first successfully tested on its inventor, Dr. Otto Wichterle, in April 1957. Frisbees: The Greeks are known to have engaged in discus throwing prior to 400BC. Specifically-designed (cookie-tin-shaped) plastic flying saucers weren't common until the mid-50's though. Yale students were known to be throwing cookie tin lids around in the early 1900's, however, yelling "Frisbee!" (The Frisbee Pie Company was a local bakery.) "The Pill" - not approved by the FDA until 1960 for public use. You win. =) Radar: Sir Robert Watson-Watt produced the first practical radar system in 1935 and by 1939 England had a chain of radar stations in operation. This predated grandpa. Credit cards: First issued in 1951 by Diner's Club. You win. =) The magnetic strips were only added in 1970! (Which are subsequently slowly being replaced by smart cards.) Laser: the first optical laser was produced with pink ruby crystals in 1960. You win, but Einstein did much of the foundational work in 1917 (http://home.achilles.net/~jtalbot/history/einstein.html). The Laszlo Biro patented the ball-point pen in 1938 and sold it in Buenos Aires, Argentina starting in 1943. Close call either way. =) Nylon pantyhose were first sold in New York City on May 15, 1940. Beats grandpa. Air conditioning: coined by Stuart Cramer in 1906, refrigeration of large spaces (by means other than ice) had been employed as early as 1889, when it was used in large cities to preserve foods and even documents. The seate was air conditioned one year after the House, in 1929. This far predates grandpa. The first mechanical dishwasher was invented in 1850 by Joel Houghton. The first freestanding dishwasher with permanent plumbing was introduced in 1920 and by 1935, portable dishwashers had entered the market. Fully-automatic dishwashers with heated drying were introduced in 1940, but even then it wasn't until 1969 that dishwashers came built-in to houses. This might have been what the original author was referring to, but dishwashers had certainly been invented. A US patent was filed (and won) for a clothes dryer by George T. Sampson on June 7, 1892. Electical clothes dryers appeared around 1915. This is way, way before grandpa. Every family had a father and a mother. Nonsense. We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. "Automatic dating services" had been employed for thousands of years -- the only catch was that you had to marry the person and often got little choice in the matter. The forums of Greece, upon which we base our proud democratic system, was openly gay. Grandpa grew up before women could be paid equally to men (the Equal Pay Act of 1963) and before people with darker skin were granted equal rights to those of lighter descent. As for "group therapy" and "daycare centers" being late 20th century novelties...no comment. Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions. Before today's foolish & Satanic youths decided to sit down and blame others for their actions? This kind of shiny-eyed "things were better back then" rhetoric is an embarassment. We never heard of FM radios Harry Davis began regular broadcasts in Pittsburgh in 1920. The radio was hugely widespread by the time WWII rolled around. Yes, it was AM (crystal) radio, but to distinguish between AM+FM radio is a little silly. yogurt Never heard of yogurt?? Yogurt (also yoghurt) was invented around 2000 BC and has been consumed pretty continuously since then. How is this a newfangled invention? We had 5 & 10 cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards. Yup. And the average pay was well under $3000 a year, or about eight dollars a day. Given that current median pay rates are more than ten times as high, it's worth noting that there still are "dollar" stores around. Phone calls cost 35 cents. I buy my cans of Mountain Dew for 35 cents each. Stamps have also gotten more affordable. So what's your point? That things cost less? Perhaps, but they were also less affordable for nearly everybody. In my day, 'grass' was mowed...'pot' was something your mother cooked in Hardly. Marijuana was made popular in over-the-counter remedies at the turn of the century, with marijuana usage growing so endemic that the government funded the production of the classic anti-marijuana propaganda film "Reefer Madness" in 1936. Also note that the numerous problems that existed at the time with opium have largely been alleviated. 'coke' was a cold drink [laugh] The "Coca" in "Coca-Cola" refers to the coca leaf (containing cocaine) that was used in the original production of the flavored tonic in Pemberton's 1886 drink. Cocaine was removed from 1903 just as cocaine use (and abuse) was starting to explode. Cocaine was outlawed in 1914 and has been a popular and dangerous underground drug since then. Cocaine abuse is NOT a modern phenomenon. And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. Fortunately, the biologists of even the early 20th century were better schooled than to believe that Judeo-Christian public vows were required for reproduction of the species. =) Out-of-wedlock births were extremely common (one example of many: one of our nation's Forefathers, Jefferson, bore sons to women not his wife -- go back farther to Biblical times, with many who were blessed by God possessing concubines and/or multiple wives), but the women were given far less support or chance to succeed as today's society. Are we the worse off for trying to better respect individuals? I'm sad to see such a bit of backward-facing rhetoric. We live in some pretty fantastic times, with far more equality for those of all genders, beliefs, nationalities, ethnicities, and orientation than in nearly any other society. Information technology will continue to break down barriers and open up access to the wealth of human knowledge for all peoples; intellectual property production also demands high treatment of and respect for workers and the human creative process. Departing are the days of factory labor, mindless work, and dangerous employ; arriving (and here for a privileged few) are the days of the Englebartian Knowledge Worker, the thinkers, and the artists of the new world. It's not so bad -- enjoy it! I know a few "grandpas" who have with great amusement and excitement jumped into the modern era. It is fun! Cheers, David - david@weekly.org
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