Remembering, Relating, and Celebrating!

A few days ago, I decided to try out one of my IPOD applications to find out what happened on that particular day in history.

What I discovered that in 1799, Rosetta Stone was discovered. It happened during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign. A French soldier discovered the black basalt slab which was inscribed with ancient writings near the town of Rosetta. As it turns out, this artifact, with it’s three different scripts-Greek,Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic-was the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphic, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2000 years!
Fast forward to today and in the world of smart phones, word processors, IPADs, and tablets, could someone 2000 years from now pick up an IPAD and decipher what the world would have been like in our time. If it’s anything like my cellphone, the battery life is 15 minutes – 10 if I’m accessing the web. My phone is not “smart” but that’s a whole other column for the day in history that we’re discussing the phone toss across the Potomac!

I am sure that there would be some teeny tiny component that would enable our future inhabitants to unlock life’s secrets in the 21st century. I was totally amazed when I download my photos from my old phone onto a itty bitty card (no bigger than my fingernail)! It just may take some time and ingenuity to find the correct power source and charger. As in my experiences of getting new cell phones, nothing is ever compatible to what you have.

At one time, I had kept up with all the latest trends, 8tracks, vinyl, cassette players, walkmans, and stereos. I even re-wired my stereo system in my bedroom and mounted the speakers on the wall. Plus, I wired my stereo speakers in the back window of my 1963 Mercury Comet (with a white furry rug to match) And, I was so excited when you could record something on cassette tape by plugging a cord from the radio to the cassette player. No more maneuvering my two speakers around the recorder and hoping the dog doesn’t bark or sneeze in the background!
But over the years, technology zoomed pass me. I finally got an IPOD a couple years ago and am now thinking of an IPAD (at least it would be larger print for my aging eyes). I’m slowly but surely catching up!

So, as it turns out, when the British defeated Napoleon in 1801, they took possession of the Rosetta Stone which is almost four feet long and two-and-a-half feet wide. It is currently housed in the British Museum in London and has been there since 1802, excluding a brief period during World War I where it was moved to a separate underground location to avoid possible damage from falling bombs.
Thank you Rosetta Stone for you place in history! You are not just another language software program. Bonjour!