A Wok On the Wild Side

Today is the 141st anniversary of Edison's phonograph, a fact that gives me pause. When I was a small lad we still had 78 rpm records, just a short step from the gramophone. My parents had a player that ran on electricity, but we were still a couple of years away from having a changer, and meanwhile I suffered with my wind-up. When the 33 rpm record came along it was a technological miracle. It's a long way from people walking the streets with a wire dangling from their ears and a blank, distant stare on their faces.