Thursday Thoughts # 71
from The First Third by Will Kostakis
"and it was him waking up the next morning wondering why he was in bed with a letterbox and me having to explain the events of the night right back to him."
from The Complete Evaporated History of The World Since The Dawn of Time (author unknown)
"Historians can really write about anything. However what they like most is History. History is the story of the Dissent of Man, and in particular of the *large scale, organised Dissenting we call civilisation.
*small scale, disorganised dissenting is called crime and is written up by Police.
Today's Thoughts:
I like my phone, my mobile phone, it keeps me in touch with people and will be handy for calling an ambulance if I ever need one. Police too, should that ever be necessary.
But I prefer to use text messaging, it gives me time to formulate an answer if I need that time, and it is easier to understand written words.
I don't like talking on the phone. Holding it to my ear for more than a few minutes makes my ear hurt, which is a good enough reason for not doing so, but as well, I have problems understanding a lot of people on the phone. Particularly if they have an accent. I have some hearing loss which doesn't help.
The biggest problem I have is when I'm setting something up. Phone calls which require exchanges of information on how to (or where and when to) do anything usually take some time and the longer this takes, the more flustered I get.
On top of all that, I have a pre-paid mobile which doesn't carry a lot of credit, (I could put more on, but usually I've spent the money on cat food or something else) and I'm always worried the credit will run out while in the middle of a conversation. Then if I want to or need to text someone, I can't until I can afford to recharge.
Right now, I'm making enquiries about setting up an ADSL account for my computer instead of the prepaid blocks of data allowance I've been used to. I sent the company an email. They replied with a phone number where I can get the answers I need.....if that's preferable.
Well, it isn't, so I replied by email and said so, then asked my questions. Now I'm waiting on another reply.
Hopefully I'll get everything organised and have a monthly payment account for unlimited data allowance.
************
Last Tuesday night, I watched the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory and straight after that was an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?"
This is a show where celebrities trace their ancestry to find out who they are and where they've come from. This episode featured Jim Parsons, aka Dr Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory. He was born and raised in Texas, but had heard the paternal family history was French and there were connections in Louisiana.
He went to New Orleans and discovered a great-great-great grandfather who was a doctor. Back in those days a lot of people claiming to be doctors hadn't actually been to medical school, but this particular Doctor had and was properly qualified and had a paper published in a medical journal. Dr Hacker had lived and worked through the Yellow Fever epidemic of the time and his paper was written about that. He died on a steamboat named Gipsy when the boat caught fire.
Further research had Jim going to Paris France, then on to Versailles, where he discovered a 7 times great grandfather, Louis Trouard, who was a marble supplier to King Louis the 15th and was setting up his son who had studied architecture, to be part of the Royal Architects Association.
(I may have some of the facts a bit wrong, for instance the Royal Architects Association may have been called something else).
Anyway, this great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Louis Francois Trouard, was eventually appointed as Architect to the King.
We saw Jim Parsons meet the researcher who told him this information inside a very lovely, classy, yet simple, church which was the work of this six times great grandfather.
How fabulous is that?
I know nothing of my own paternal history and my maternal history only goes back as far as ancestors in Sweden in 1834.
"and it was him waking up the next morning wondering why he was in bed with a letterbox and me having to explain the events of the night right back to him."
from The Complete Evaporated History of The World Since The Dawn of Time (author unknown)
"Historians can really write about anything. However what they like most is History. History is the story of the Dissent of Man, and in particular of the *large scale, organised Dissenting we call civilisation.
*small scale, disorganised dissenting is called crime and is written up by Police.
Today's Thoughts:
I like my phone, my mobile phone, it keeps me in touch with people and will be handy for calling an ambulance if I ever need one. Police too, should that ever be necessary.
But I prefer to use text messaging, it gives me time to formulate an answer if I need that time, and it is easier to understand written words.
I don't like talking on the phone. Holding it to my ear for more than a few minutes makes my ear hurt, which is a good enough reason for not doing so, but as well, I have problems understanding a lot of people on the phone. Particularly if they have an accent. I have some hearing loss which doesn't help.
The biggest problem I have is when I'm setting something up. Phone calls which require exchanges of information on how to (or where and when to) do anything usually take some time and the longer this takes, the more flustered I get.
On top of all that, I have a pre-paid mobile which doesn't carry a lot of credit, (I could put more on, but usually I've spent the money on cat food or something else) and I'm always worried the credit will run out while in the middle of a conversation. Then if I want to or need to text someone, I can't until I can afford to recharge.
Right now, I'm making enquiries about setting up an ADSL account for my computer instead of the prepaid blocks of data allowance I've been used to. I sent the company an email. They replied with a phone number where I can get the answers I need.....if that's preferable.
Well, it isn't, so I replied by email and said so, then asked my questions. Now I'm waiting on another reply.
Hopefully I'll get everything organised and have a monthly payment account for unlimited data allowance.
************
Last Tuesday night, I watched the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory and straight after that was an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?"
This is a show where celebrities trace their ancestry to find out who they are and where they've come from. This episode featured Jim Parsons, aka Dr Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory. He was born and raised in Texas, but had heard the paternal family history was French and there were connections in Louisiana.
He went to New Orleans and discovered a great-great-great grandfather who was a doctor. Back in those days a lot of people claiming to be doctors hadn't actually been to medical school, but this particular Doctor had and was properly qualified and had a paper published in a medical journal. Dr Hacker had lived and worked through the Yellow Fever epidemic of the time and his paper was written about that. He died on a steamboat named Gipsy when the boat caught fire.
Further research had Jim going to Paris France, then on to Versailles, where he discovered a 7 times great grandfather, Louis Trouard, who was a marble supplier to King Louis the 15th and was setting up his son who had studied architecture, to be part of the Royal Architects Association.
(I may have some of the facts a bit wrong, for instance the Royal Architects Association may have been called something else).
Anyway, this great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Louis Francois Trouard, was eventually appointed as Architect to the King.
We saw Jim Parsons meet the researcher who told him this information inside a very lovely, classy, yet simple, church which was the work of this six times great grandfather.
How fabulous is that?
I know nothing of my own paternal history and my maternal history only goes back as far as ancestors in Sweden in 1834.
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I never hold cell phones to my ear...... tooo much radiation. I always use speaker and I never carry it with me when I'm out. I'm just too old fashioned and I use my land phone most of the time. I've never watched the Big Bang show and I don't know if we can get the ancestry one. That would be a show I'd like, too. I don't know where I came from either. They used to tell me they found me beneath a cabbage leaf. No wonder I like cabbage.
ReplyDeleteManzi--The Big Bang Theory is great--very funny!!
DeleteI don;t like any phone conversation longer than 2 minutes...texting is great.
ReplyDeleteBy the time you get to your great grandfather x 7 you are probably related to around 5 million other people.
ADSL is more convenient, and once you're set up (which is the laborious part), all should be better.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a mobile phone - dislike them intensely. I use hubby's when we're out, and only briefly at that.
However, having to branch out further and sell my work online - especially on instagram - requires me to have a mobile phone, so I'm getting a second-hand one from my son, and only for online sales.
I can't believe how much money they can use up!
Imagine finding out about such an amazing family history!
The Soviets destroyed all my family's records after the war, so I can't investigate further :(
I only have my landline phone.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I've owned and used a mobile phone was back in 1998 when my late brother fell ill. I was managing a motel in Mackay in the early days of his illness and I didn't want to be using the business phone with my frequent calls to the hospital in Townsville. Then Grahm was transferred to a hospital in Brisbane and I relocated south, back to Gympie to be closer to the city and Graham. I was travelling back and forth each day in between working, and I needed the mobile then.
After Graham's passing on 6th June, 1998, I tossed the phone away. And I've never again had the need for one. Maybe one day again I might...but not yet...
I text 24/7 but I never, ever pay for it. Those smartphones, with all the "apps" can actually be quite awesome, because many of those apps allow you to text, send photos and call for free.
ReplyDeleteI use one called Kakao Talk which both The Other Half, and Sephyroth have as well, so not only can I send free texts to my partner, but also to my best friend in the US. I can also send them photos and call them for free via this app. The app is 100% free.
I use another one called Wechat, which is popular with my family because my Chinese Aunt got everyone signed up on it - it is used a lot in China. So not only can I free text with my Australian family, but I can also free text my Chinese cousins. We exchange photos a lot via this - and you can send one photo to all your people via one quick screen. This one also allows free calling, saving my Chinese Aunt endless international call fees. This app is also 100% free.
If I call and text from home on the wifi, it does not even charge me for data. My smartphone knows - because it is smart, and because I set it up this way - to connect to my wifi first, and connect to the network second.
The only person I have to text manually is my Uncle, who strangely is not on Wechat. But he is new to the smart phone, and I am sure my Chinese Aunt will hook him up with wechat soon.
I do not have facebook messenger on my phone because I do not like the little faces popping up when someone sends me a message. I know a lot of people are using that - once again totally free, and you can send free texts to everyone on your facebook list easily with it.
Anyway, that is how communication happens here.. :)
For some reasons you would think talking on the phone to companies is no longer needed. It is the companies that want to do things verbally. They just hate putting anything in writing that you can later produce and prove them wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite happy with my pre-paid 2004 Nokia and only a few people have the number. I take it with me in case I fall down in the street or the nursing home needs me.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a challenge for me to find out about my German side of the family since my great grandfather was illiterate and all I know is that he arrived in S.A. from who knows where.
I go down the prepaid path myself. And try not to use any phone any more than I have to.
ReplyDeleteI know nothing about my background. My father couldn't/wouldn't talk about it, and my mother lied.
Manzanita; I don't worry about radiation, I don't get enough calls to worry about it. Most people who know me use text messaging. Sad that you don't know where you came from.
ReplyDeletejoeh; my ex is a great one for long conversations. He phones when he is drunk and rambles on and on and on. I hold the phone away from my ear and just listen to his voice without really paying attention. Once he has used too many swear words I tell him off and hang up.
Vicki; so sorry to hear your family records have been destroyed.
You're right about the amount of money phone calls can use up, texting is cheaper and right now my provider has a deal where I get xxx number of free texts if I recharge with a certain amount of $$ by the end of the month. The amount is within my budget, so I'll recharge and I can text to my heart's content.
I've been putting off the ADSL plan, but now that my pre-paid blocks run out more often I find that paying up for more works out to the same amount or more than the monthly plan would cost.
Lee; I gave up a landline phone when I moved here, I never used it once I had the mobile and learned how to text, so I decided I wasn't going to pay line rental for nothing.
Snoskred; 24/7? Surely you sleep now and again! :) I don't have a smart phone and don't want one, I know I don't have to have all those apps that are available, but without all the apps, what's the point of having one? A simple flip phone does me just as well.
Andrew; well, that's too bad for the companies, they're going to have to deal with me by email.
JahTeh; I had a prepaid Nokia until I bought the flip phone, I loved it, but kept forgetting to lock the keypad so worried about accidentally dialling numbers when the phone was in an overloaded backpack. That never happened, but I eventually bought my Samsung flip phone which is now about 8 years old.
You could come to SA and wander about in the German areas, Hahndorf etc, to see if anybody looks like you or recognises you as looking just like an ancestor (*~*)
Elephant's Child; I liked the pre-paid, but since they changed the data amount so I get less for the same $$, I find myself running out too often. So a monthly plan is now the way to go. For me.
Both my parents lied to me, so even though I have the family tree my mother made, I can't 'really' be sure just how true it is. My father told me he was one of eight kids, I later found out he was the middle child of only three.
My side of the family has been traced back as far as the middle of the 15th century. A few notables Like Admiral George Bowyer who fought the battle Glorious ist of June with Adm/lord Howe 1793.The younger Bro of George was adopted by Lord Atkins, Name Richard Bowyer Atkins, became the first judge advocate of Parramatta NSW, read about this despot.on google. A pub in Radley Oxfordshire the 'Bowyer Arms', was the former home of Adml George no other pub has this name.
ReplyDeletesome of the digging back has unearthed some startling facts an axe executioner a hangman. several highwaymen, politicians also a general who fought for England in the American war of independance. And me of course stirring the can in blog world.
That's an impressive history you have there Vest.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a talker on the mobile but is was very handy when my parents were alive especially my dad. He would phone me each morning so i would know he was alive, then i would phone him back ao he'd know i received the call. This afforded me not to have to be home each morning...
ReplyDeleteADSL plan should be good, then you will notice the difference of not buying in data blocks..
Family history can be very fascinating..
My mobile is lazy it often hides from me and no one rings on it much, most people ring on the house phone which is fine by me, it has no voicemail so you will only get me at night and thats ok too more chatty at night.
ReplyDeleteMerle.............
Margaret-whiteangel; that's a very good reason for having one. I'm sure my kids and I will have the same arrangement when I get older.
ReplyDeleteMerle; mine never hides from me, I always know exactly where it is, but I don't get hardly any calls, not even telemarketers and that's fine with me.