Somewhere, I still have the stack of congratulatory telegrams sent to my parents' hotel room on the night of their wedding in 1963. They had a small wedding and lots of friends and relatives who were not included wanted to send their best wishes.
Ping. More jobs lost.
I wondered for years why there were still offering this service. It was more expensive and less functional than so many of the alternatives.
Western Union has not failed. It long ago refocused its main business to make money transfers for consumers and businesses.
Primarily to Mexico, that is.
My very first actual job when I was 15 was pedaling a bicycle around St. Petersburg FL for Western Union.
"In a crude way, the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet"
Back in the days of 300 baud modems, I often remarked how I could send and decode morse faster.
Remeber:
There are 10 kinds of people in the world,
those who understand binary,
and those who do not
I have the telegram that my dad sent to his parents announcing he has made it across the Atlantic during WW2.
Isn't there some sort of a tariff we can impose to keep tragedies like this from happening? /smirk
Hope the guy who sent the last message isn't waiting for a reply
WHAT! How am I supposed to let the Nigerian Banker know I've sent the money?
bump
.. - ...
-... ..- ... .... ...
..-. .- ..- .-.. -
Bush's fault?
-... ..- -- -- . .-. / ... - --- .--.
---... -....- -.--.- ... - --- .--.
Bummer Stop
:-) Stop
Morse Code Translators
http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html
or
http://www.omnicron.com/~ford/java/NMorse.html
... - --- .--.
Western Union man,
bad news in his hand,
knocking at my door,
selling me the score.
Fifteen cents a word to read,
a telegram I didn't need,
says she doesn't care no more,
think I'll throw it on the floor.
Got your cable just today,
killed my groove I've got to say.
Western Union, ditdadadada ditdadadada ditdadadada
Now you've gone away and
how it's sad to say you're gone.
I remember what they said,
now I'm going out of my head.
Telegram just had to say
you learned your lesson all the way
Telegram just had to say
you learned your lesson all the way
Western Union, ditdadadada ditdadadada ditdadadada
I'll be on my way 'cause
there's another girl for me.
I'll be sure of her
and things will be as they were.
Western Union, Western Union...
Wow, never saw this coming. Western Union certain didn't telegraph their intentions.
Wonder if they feel re-morse?
But many small historic moments pass us by, usually they are drowned out by the self same television coverage of things that will later prove to be of no more historical interest to anyone other then those immediately affected by the event.
End of eras fall into that category. When did elevator operators become replaced by the automatic elevator, or typewriters by the word processor. Or to go further back in time, to when horse and buggy replaced by the automobile, or trains by airplanes? There is no firm date, as the change was slow and subtle until it was just done.
Few even give a thought to the change, they just continue on with their life. Last month was the end of an era that almost past completely from noticed.
"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative."
Now I have never sent, nor received a telegram, but, perhaps because of movies, telegrams have been a part of my life. I think if I had known ahead of time, I would have sent someone a telegram, just so I could say I had. But now the opportunity has passed.
Will the telegraph be missed? No, technology has long passed it by, and perhaps except for legal reasons, should not have stayed around as long as it did.
Like the rotary phone, the phone exchanges with names (I can still remember our phone in National City was GRANGE or “GR”), the three TV networks, black and white TV, life before computers, it is just another sign that the times change and we are getting older.
May 24, 1844 = Shavuos, the giving of the Law at Sinai.
Exodus 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Samuel = "His name is El"; "Heard of El"
Historic Message, 24 May 1844
This paper tape recording of the historic message transmitted by Samuel F. B. Morse reads when decoded, "What hath God wrought?" It was sent by him from the Supreme Court room in the Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore. Morse's early system produced a paper copy with raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator. Across the top of this historic achievement Morse has given credit to Annie Ellsworth, the young daughter of a good friend, for suggesting to him what message to send. She obtained it from the Bible, Numbers 23:23.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/atthtml/morse2.html
12.4. But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase:
Telegraph, lit. distance writing. It is finished; no more decoding ping.