Professor Walter's History Lessons

Nikola Tesla, the enabler of the couch potato

According to Wikipedia

"A couch potato is a person who spends most of his or her free time sitting or lying on a couch. This stereotype often refers to a lazy and overweight person who watches a lot of television. Generally speaking, the term refers to a lifestyle in which children or adults don't get enough physical activity."

The tool of the couch potato is the remote control.  With this item a person may change channels without leaving their seat.  Millions of people use remote controls, yet few are aware that they are over 100 years old.

On July 1st 1898, Nikola Tesla applied for a patent for the first remote control.  The US Patent office issued him U.S. Patent 613,809 in November of that year for his invention.  That year he demonstrated it at Madison Square Garden by controlling a small boat he had dubbed a "teleautomaton".  Tesla's invention was enhanced and used to pilot planes in the years that followed and in 1939 the Philco Mystery Control was released as the first powered remote control for a consumer product.  In 1950 the Zenith "Lazy Bones" was the first television remote control, although it was wired.  In 1956 the Zenith Space Command became the first wireless remote control.

Today the remote control is a core component of every home entertainment system opening up a world of programming without ever needing to leave your seat.

-Professor Walter

Be careful what you say, someone may be listening...

1946 was a time of rebuilding across the world as WWII reached it's conclusion.  The allies had won, and the axis powers were defeated.  Hitler and Mussolini were dead, Japan had agreed to unconditional surrender.  The Cold War was just beginning. 

In 1946 a group of Soviet school children gave a beautiful carved replica of the Great Seal of The United States to Ambassador Averell Harriman.  The Ambassador hung the seal in the Ambassador's residence, Spaso House in Moscow, prominently on the wall.  In 1952 a routine security check turned up something strange about the seal.

Within the seal was a small compartment, and inside the compartment was an advanced passive repeater.  The repeater would activate when 330 MHz radio waves were received from an external transmitter.  This meant that the Soviets could hear anything inside the office, and that no power supply was necessary on the device itself.  As such, when the device was dormant, it was virtually undetectable.  George Kennan, the ambassador at the time, spoke of the discovery in his memoirs.

'Quivering with excitement, the technician extracted from the shattered depths of the seal a small device, not much larger than a pencil . . . capable of being activated by some sort of electronic ray from outside the building. When not activated, it was almost impossible to prevent. . . . It represented, for that day, a fantastically advanced bit of applied electronics.'

While simple by today's standards, the device was quite advanced for the time.  According to Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., United States Ambassador to the United Nations, there were more than 100 similiar devices discovered in U.S. Missions and residences in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe.

So, always be careful what you say, you never know who may be listening.

-Professor Walter

"Just the facts, ma'am"

Started in 1949, Joe Friday was the Los Angeles Police detective in the radio show Dragnet.  In 1951 the show made the transition to television, while maintaining the radio show.  Often considered to be one of the first shows to popularize police drama, this show was created by its star Jack Webb.  Throughout it's long run the dry demeanor of the terse Sergeant Joe Friday became an American icon known by everyone.  The show's popularity outlived its creator, who passed in 1982, and continues to be a part of popular culture.  Ironically one of the most memorable catchphrases was never actually uttered on the show, "Just the facts, ma'am".

The phrase, actually, originated with Stan Freberg and his parody performance of St. George and the Dragonet.  Freberg was able to secure permission from Jack Webb, a Freberg fan, to use the same orchestra that was conducting the Dragnet show, often restarting, because the performers were laughing too hard during the performance.  St. George and the Dragonet combined the story of St. George and the Dragon with Dragnet, and the immortal phrase, "Just the facts, ma'am", was first made.

The satire went to #1 on the 1953 Billboard and Cash Box record charts.  The popularity was so great that Freburg revisited the concept later with Christmas Dragnet.

-Professor Walter