grahamfitter
Expedition Leader
The Origin of Texting
Tuesday 9/6. Rain continued overnight and didn't show any signs of letting up in the morning so we pointed South to the Avalon Peninsula on the Southeast corner of the island where the rain ended only to be replaced with fog.
The normal nice weather was restored on our arrival to St. Johns, Newfoundland's largest city with a port and a distinctly Irish feel. Signal Hill rises over the city, the site of a fort that the French surrendered to the British in one of their many petty squabbles. On Signal Hill a century later, an Italian named Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the first transatlantic wireless telegraph, much to the distress of the companies who had run long wires across the pond for the same purpose. Marconi probably would never have guessed that, another century later, teenagers would prefer to communicate using an endless stream of short text messages rather than engage in real speech.
We wandered through the streets in search of a suitable place to spend the evening. The bar with the loudest folk music was selected and after an evening of local fish and beer we retired to the camp site a few kilometers away at Pippy Park in town.
Where the rain with its buddy, wind, joined us for an all-night party. Where we learned that the cheaper tent field doubles as a wind tunnel. Where we learned that the little green Nemo Obi-2P tent that looks more like Yoda swallowed Darth Vader really doesn’t care that we didn’t pay the extra five bucks for a more sheltered site.
Tuesday 9/6. Rain continued overnight and didn't show any signs of letting up in the morning so we pointed South to the Avalon Peninsula on the Southeast corner of the island where the rain ended only to be replaced with fog.
The normal nice weather was restored on our arrival to St. Johns, Newfoundland's largest city with a port and a distinctly Irish feel. Signal Hill rises over the city, the site of a fort that the French surrendered to the British in one of their many petty squabbles. On Signal Hill a century later, an Italian named Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the first transatlantic wireless telegraph, much to the distress of the companies who had run long wires across the pond for the same purpose. Marconi probably would never have guessed that, another century later, teenagers would prefer to communicate using an endless stream of short text messages rather than engage in real speech.
We wandered through the streets in search of a suitable place to spend the evening. The bar with the loudest folk music was selected and after an evening of local fish and beer we retired to the camp site a few kilometers away at Pippy Park in town.
Where the rain with its buddy, wind, joined us for an all-night party. Where we learned that the cheaper tent field doubles as a wind tunnel. Where we learned that the little green Nemo Obi-2P tent that looks more like Yoda swallowed Darth Vader really doesn’t care that we didn’t pay the extra five bucks for a more sheltered site.
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