An Interactive Autobiography
Click photos for captions - Click blue links for visuals
 
My Journey Across the Mellenium
Charlie
“If your life is worth thinking about, it is worth writing about” Robin Sharma
My story begins in Cincinnati, Ohio and, as of this writing, ends in Scottsdale, Arizona. In between Ohio and Arizona I have lived in 8 different decades, 2 different centuries and 2 different melleniums. The Menu that appears on the left of each page will guide you through the chapters and stories of my life.

I began writing my autobiography in 2001. I designed it to read like a newspaper where each "news story" was an event in my life. I called my newspaper The Good Times because my life had been a good time. Like every good newspaper, The Good Times included an "editorial page" so I could "vent" and a clever version of "classified ads."

As I continued to write, the new version grew to 14 pages. But on cell phones and tablets my "newspaper" appeared in miniature. So, after 21 years, it was time for The Good Tomes to set aside its four-column newspaper design and adapt itself to mobile devices.

As the stories grew, many images came to mind. Between my albums and the help of the internet and Google Earth I was able to bring those images to life. But I decided to make the new photos "optional" so they did not detract from the stories. So, you must click a blue link (not underlined) to see the image. If you want to see a slide-show of all the images in a story you can use the "<   >" icons that appear on the right and left sides of the images.

I grew up in one of the greatest centuries ever. The first decade of the 20th century saw many inventions that changed the world; the automobile, the airplane, radio, air conditioning, the vacuum cleaner, the electric cash register, the safety razor, EKG, fingerprints, windshield wipers and talking movies. By 1920 there were more inventions; the pop-up toaster, the helicopter, traffic signals, short-wave radio, the electric razor, the Band-Aide, Scotch tape, the self-winding watch, instant coffee, frozen food and 3-D movies.

I was born in 1940 and in 1945 the first programmable, electronic, general purpose, digital computer was developed. It paved the way for astounding new technology. Over the next decade television joined radio, automobiles came with radios and air conditioning, jet engines revolutionized flight, color replaced black & white, tape replaced records, discs replaced tape and "digital chips" replaced them all.

But 20th century sciene didn't stop at Earth. It went into "outer space." We walked on the moon, orbited the earth while living in a space station, rocketed into space with people and cargo and glided back to Earth in a space shuttle. We sent robots to Mars, explored our entire solar system, and searched into other galaxies with telescopes located in "outer space."

At age 60 I crossed the mellenium from the 20th century to the 21st century. Technology continued to astound me. The Internet put untold volumes of information at our finger tips. Correspondence traveled instantly over the Internet by email. Social media let us share photos, videos and the events of our daily lives with family and friends instantly, wherever in the world they might be. And cellphones replaced the telephone, television, camera, movie camera, newspaper, books, turntable, stereo, dictionary and the encyclopedia.

Satellites provide arial views and close-up images of the entire world, land and sea. GPS safely guides us to unknown places anywhere in the world. Computers come in all sizes; desktop, laptop, tablet, cellphone and wrist watch. Shop for everything from Apples to Zippers on the Internet using your computer or mobile device, click a "button" to place your order, and it is delivered to your doorstep the next day.

Meanwhile, drive-in movies, vinyl records, tape recorders, vacuum tubes, rotary phones, film, and typewriters had all become extinct. But these relics of the past were not the only items on the long list of extinctions. My America was also on the list!

Today the America I grew up in is in trouble. It is overrun with illiteracy, poverty, drugs, homelessness, crime, fear, run-away inflation, out-of-control spending, and enormous debt. It is about to topple into Socialism and all the new generations know how to say is "Shut up old man. It's our America now!." Good luck with that!    


©Copyright 2000  Charles Tyrrell - Anthem, Arizona. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the author
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