![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistThe phone rang and Seth answered it. Seth usually does; I don't care about the telephone and it's never for me. But this time it was. He stood at my doorway and said, "Jenn wants to talk to you," but I only heard that someone whose name starts with a J wanted to talk to me. Not that it matters, really. "Hello?" I said.
"Did Jules Verne invent the elevator?"
"No," I said. I was about to say Garrett Morgan did, but wasn't that was the safety elevator? And anyway the question was so odd I thinik it made my brain freeze for a second or something. Besides, part of my brain was already taken up with wondering how the heck I thought of Garrett Morgan.
"He didn't?" She seemed so dismayed. Or mad at me for saying so, or something.
"No!"
"I don't know," she backpedalled, "I don't even know who he is."
"He's ... a writer, but ... " Then a thought struck me. "He wrote about an elevator that went to the Moon, I think--" It's been so long; I read Jules Verne probably half my lifetime ago.
"That's what I meant!" she said.
"--but that's not the same as inventing the elevator!"
"Yeah, well, whatever," she said. "The elevator that goes to the Moon, yeah."
"And he didn't invent it anyway, just wrote about it." Jenn, of course, was uninterested in such trifles, though I found this an important distinction.
I do like that Jenn's telephone conversations (yes, she does talk to me now; she is coming back to Morris and she is still married) start out with some direct purpose. The first thing she said last time was, "What kind of computer should I buy?" What? Whadaya mean, what kind? I asked. Exactly! she said. I didn't even know what kind of kind she was talking about ... but Jenn, though asking direct questions, does have a way of disorienting me with them. (She actually ended up with a ridiculous computer, which I thnk is nice because it gives me new things about which I can make fun of her. Today, for instance, I told her my computer has three gigabytes of memory and she said she thought hers had 512. Really, I said in my most incredulous voice. Then she asked me what K meant and I figured that she was probably talking about her RAM, of which she might more plausibly have 512 anything, and it'd have a K after it. I laughed at her, off and on, for a few minutes.)
"Did Jules Verne invent the elevator?"
"No," I said. I was about to say Garrett Morgan did, but wasn't that was the safety elevator? And anyway the question was so odd I thinik it made my brain freeze for a second or something. Besides, part of my brain was already taken up with wondering how the heck I thought of Garrett Morgan.
"He didn't?" She seemed so dismayed. Or mad at me for saying so, or something.
"No!"
"I don't know," she backpedalled, "I don't even know who he is."
"He's ... a writer, but ... " Then a thought struck me. "He wrote about an elevator that went to the Moon, I think--" It's been so long; I read Jules Verne probably half my lifetime ago.
"That's what I meant!" she said.
"--but that's not the same as inventing the elevator!"
"Yeah, well, whatever," she said. "The elevator that goes to the Moon, yeah."
"And he didn't invent it anyway, just wrote about it." Jenn, of course, was uninterested in such trifles, though I found this an important distinction.
I do like that Jenn's telephone conversations (yes, she does talk to me now; she is coming back to Morris and she is still married) start out with some direct purpose. The first thing she said last time was, "What kind of computer should I buy?" What? Whadaya mean, what kind? I asked. Exactly! she said. I didn't even know what kind of kind she was talking about ... but Jenn, though asking direct questions, does have a way of disorienting me with them. (She actually ended up with a ridiculous computer, which I thnk is nice because it gives me new things about which I can make fun of her. Today, for instance, I told her my computer has three gigabytes of memory and she said she thought hers had 512. Really, I said in my most incredulous voice. Then she asked me what K meant and I figured that she was probably talking about her RAM, of which she might more plausibly have 512 anything, and it'd have a K after it. I laughed at her, off and on, for a few minutes.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-05 12:49 pm (UTC)I had a Commodore Vic20 in the 80's that had 4k of ram. Some digital watches have more than that now.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-05 12:59 pm (UTC)Don't mind me; I'm just old-school when it comes to technology. Well, lots of other things too, actually. Blame it on the fact that I never liked video games past Atari and Nintendo.
Verne's Moonshot
Date: 2003-08-05 01:44 pm (UTC)Verne wrote a book about an artillery shell fired to the moon.
The Elisha Otis invented the Safety elevator. However, I would hazard that the elevator is a much earlier invention given 1: Thomas Jefferson's invention of the dumb waiter, 2: elevators used in mine shafts.
Louis XV had an elevator built for himself in 1743....
Hope you don't mind me being pedantic ;-)
Re: Verne's Moonshot
Date: 2003-08-05 01:55 pm (UTC)It doesn't surprise me that my brain would cross-wire all that stuff. It's the problem with having a bad file organization system in my brain.
I knew elevators were way olde than anything we'd been talking about, but I'm not surprised that they weren't always very reliable.
Like the file organization system in my brain.
As anyone who's seen kate and leopold would know...
Date: 2003-08-05 06:51 pm (UTC)Re: As anyone who's seen kate and leopold would know...
Date: 2003-08-05 07:05 pm (UTC)Though Hugh Jackman's cool, even when he doesn't have razorblades come out of his hands.
And apparently this movie also contains two actors I really do like, namely Breckin Meyer and Bradley Whitford. (Not that that means I'm any more likely to watch it.)
Re: As anyone who's seen kate and leopold would know...
Date: 2003-08-05 07:10 pm (UTC)Re: As anyone who's seen kate and leopold would know...
Date: 2003-08-06 08:41 am (UTC)