1,000 Channels

Farnsworth's Green Street Lab (x Sansome, S.F.)

The sign reads: In a simple laboratory on this site,202 Green Street, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, U.S. pioneer in electronics, invented and patented the first operational all-electronic "television system" on September 7, 1927. The 21 year-old inventor and several dedicated assistants successfully transmitted the first all-electronic television image, the major breakthrough that bought the practical form of this invention to mankind. Further patents, formulated here, covered the basic concepts essential to modern television. The genius of Green Street, as he was known, died in 1971. California registered historical landmark number 941. .....

I'm old enough to remember when TV was in black and white, carried channels 2 through 13, half of which were empty and the remainder had set operating hours, was tuned by a rotary click-stop knob that you had to get up to change and MTV had music on. Now we have the proverbial 1,000 channels with nothing on, containing all the ideology and product placement one can swallow. Thank-goodness this remote has an off switch. And I'm going to use it as soon as this bikinis on the beach show is over... Dang, we never did that when I was a kid, or at least not on television.

Green Street Edison (PDF added 7-17-09)