653
submitted 2 years ago by Stamets@lemmy.world to c/tumblr@lemmy.world
top 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 85 points 2 years ago

His name was Almon Brown Strowger, not Stronger... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Brown_Strowger

And there is no source for this story on wiki, it cites another wiki, where there isn't any more source either. So it's possible that this story is made up, or at least not exactly how it happened.

[-] theKalash@feddit.ch 21 points 2 years ago

There is actually a link to the patent in the article you linked:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US447918

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 26 points 2 years ago

I didn't question that part, but the tale about the wife of the other undertaker, seems like it was only his imagination: https://lemm.ee/comment/7360184

[-] wander1236@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

"Stronger" is probably an autocorrect mistake

[-] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

What source are you referring to? One of the first citations is to this paper clipping https://www.newspapers.com/article/sioux-city-journal-originator-sought-rev/111684147/

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Have you read this? It tells a different story. Strowger didn't get the calls because some tin plate shorted the phoneline, it was his imagination that the phone girls were the culprit. So yeah, the story is not exactly the same, as I expected, it tells it from Stowgers point of view.

And where is this linked on wiki? I can't find it.

[-] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I did read - I agree its not the exact same story

Where was this linked

Also, apologies. I had actually clicked into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strowger_switch from the originally linked page

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 2 years ago

Doubt. Operators that literally patched your calls were the norm well into the 1960s.

[-] ichmagrum@feddit.de 10 points 2 years ago

Just because someone made an invention doesn't mean it was actually immediately used everywhere. Maybe it had an important flaw, was actually more expensive than human workers until decades later, or telephone companies were just stubborn.

100%

The electric car predates internal combustion. Electric carriages were around long before the internal combustion engine made a car move, yet here we are nearly 200 years (from the first electric motors moving people) later and only now are technologies compatible, reasonably priced, and produced in large enough quantities to be viable for the average person.

[-] Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I firmly believe that we need to bring back the directory operator as a proper customer service position. The number of times I have quietly stewed in my own hatred while an automatic phone system requires me to dance like a puppet on a string only to be deadended at a prompt has probably shortened my life somehow. I would easily make purchasing decisions based on whether a business allowed me an actual person to direct my call.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

But it’s a fun story and that’s all that matters to the internet.

[-] VelvetStorm@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Nah she destroyed it not him. Had she done her job he would never had made it.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

HE TERK ER JERBS!

[-] SapphironZA@lemmings.world 1 points 2 years ago

Dammit Mary!

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

Necessity is the mother of invention.

[-] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago

I know this is a common phrase, but I have such a strong association with it and the Lucky Seven Punk House skit from Portlandia.

[-] EatYouWell@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

No, laziness is.

[-] therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 years ago

The spur in innovation

[-] littlebluespark@lemmy.world -3 points 2 years ago

I mean, the holiday celebration statue of Baphomet was recently vandalized in a certain state building (ofc nothing happened to the walleyed dipshit), so Jesus' daddy is proven once again to be petty AF. "Divine" by definition, and so very butthurt, yep.

this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
653 points (99.1% liked)

tumblr

4643 readers
45 users here now

Welcome to /c/tumblr, a place for all your tumblr screenshots and news.

Our Rules:

  1. Keep it civil. We're all people here. Be respectful to one another.

  2. No sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia or any other flavor of bigotry. I should not need to explain this one.

  3. Must be tumblr related. This one is kind of a given.

  4. Try not to repost anything posted within the past month. Beyond that, go for it. Not everyone is on every site all the time.

  5. No unnecessary negativity. Just because you don't like a thing doesn't mean that you need to spend the entire comment section complaining about said thing. Just downvote and move on.


Sister Communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS