The Internet and Blogs in 1837?

Here's something interesting I saw today on Refdesk.

Way back in 1837 Russian  Prince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoevsky wrote a futuristic novel that seems to have genuinely envisioned both the internet and (drumroll please) blogging.

I guess there's no idea on this Earth that hasn't been thought of at one time or another.

Take a look at this quote. [emphasis mine]

Finally, today we received a household journal from the prime minister, where we, among others, were invited to a soiree. You need to know that in many houses, especially those well connected, such journals are published, having replaced regular correspondence.

The journals usually provide information about the hosts’ good or bad health, family news, various thoughts and comments, small inventions, as well as invitations; in case of a dinner invitation, also the menu.

Besides, for communicating in emergency, friends' houses are connected by means of magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to talk to each other.

The World's Oldest Recorded Human Voice

I'm eager to share the exciting story I read today, but at the same time I want to clarify a few points. I really think the reporters relied too heavily on the press release for the story at the expense of a very important bit of information.

Scientists today released a brief 1860 recording of a woman singing "Au Clair de la Lune". If true, this would predate Edison's recording of a human voice by more than 17 years, placing this as the oldest known recording of a human voice.

It was 'recorded' by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville, a French inventor who used a device called a phonautograph. It used a hog's bristle to etch a line representing a sound on a piece of paper that had been darkened by lamp soot.

These papers lay forgotten in the French patent office for a century and a half before being discovered and then played with the help of computers

Click on the picture of the phonautograph to hear the recording. If it doesn't work, click here.

What I find mildly deceptive about the reporting (and don't get me wrong, I think it is a crime of laziness or omission, without wrongful intent) is that  the hoopla to cast aside Edison as the 'inventor' of recorded speech ignores an important fact:

The phonautograph was never intended to record sound and play it back. It was designed and used to visually record a sound, to create a record of its existence. It took the knowledge of modern audio historians to realize the implications and create a means of listening to the record.

To me it's like designing the first alphabet, putting together words,  then merrily filing the effort away without ever once stumbling across the fact that you just invented the written language.

Much of the glory is in the practical application of an idea, is it not?

The 1860 recording is impressive, to be sure, and fascinating to a stunning degree, but it was not a prototype of a CD player that was pushed aside in the history books by the conniving Thomas Alva Edison.

Even so, to Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, wherever you are: congratulations, and well done; you are remembered.

And that is the greatest reward of all.

Tags: Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, Edison,

Easter - Never this Early Again (well, in our lifetimes)

Here's some interesting facts about this (oddly early) Easter. I'd heard these before but saw them in print for the first time over at Sybil's Village Life journal.

No telling if it's strictly the truth or 60% internet make-believe (not of Sybil's creation, natch), but I'm betting on the former.

* * * * * *

Never This Early Again
=======================

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that
the Hebrews used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Found out a couple of things you might be interested in.

Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier
(March 22) but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the
rest of our lives!  And only the most elderly of our population
have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!).  And none
of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier!

Here are the facts:

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the
year 2228 (220 years from now).  The last time it was this
early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only
ones who were around for that!).

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in
the year 2285 (277 years from now).  The last time it was on
March 22 was 1818.  So no one alive today has, or ever will see
Easter any earlier than this year!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Tags: Easter