It Was EIGHTY Years Ago TODAY!

Before we all settle back this evening in front of our wide-screen, High Definition flat-panel video display to watch the latest in blockbusting home entertaiment; or before we cozy up to our computers to witness the world’s latest hi-jinks via YouTube, it might be constructive to remember how it all began: in a makeshift loft in San Francisco, on September 7, 1927, when a young inventor named Philo T. Farnsworth successfully transmitted the image of a simple straight line from the bottom of one empty bottle to the bottom of another — as depicted in this newsclip from the recreation celebrating the 50th Anniversary of that event in 1977:

From this humble beginning the greatest advance in the history of human communications (before the Internet, I guess…) was launched.

While we’re at it, here is the footage from the Emmy Awards nod to Mrs. Farnsworth on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary in 2002:

"The Medium is the Message" — Marshall McLuhan, 1968

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