Category: Technology

The things this Hero’s undergone!
Fantastic–who’d believe it?
But Junior wants the program on;
Ergo, I’d better leave it.
But Ah how simple were the days
When one just closed a book
Upon some pinhead’s dopey ways!
Today I ‘m stuck–I look.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, September 6, 1950

“I want the fight.” “Let’s watch the play. “
“The circus.” “No, the news.”
Thus , a quickie peek at our
Television views.

Father has no word to say,
Sad fellow, upon whom
It didn’t dawn to have TV
Installed in every room.

by Ray Romine Sunday, October 8, 1950

It’s said they’ll broadcast odors too;
The prospect has me cowering.
Some of these things we hear and view
Could be overpowering.

by Ray Romine Wednesday, July 12, 1950

I think the neighbor’s radio
A super one, as such things go;
I’m sure the tonal quality
Is excellent as it can be.
I even like its walnut finish,
But when I sleep–the whole thing’s dinnish.

It obeys your slightest wishes,
Up to washinng dirty dishes;
And though it has but little static,
What it has is automatic.
When it entertains a crowd,
It may not play good, but it does play loud.
What made it cost (and it was higher)
Was its better amplifier.

It has, I think, a foreign band;
And you don’t tune this set by hand.
It has twelve tubes and electric eyes.
There’s just one thing I criticize:
It lacks a button (catch that tear)
To turn it off from over here!

by Ray Romine Saturday, October 12, 1946

She turned the volume to the right
As far as it would go,
And went about her household tasks .
God bless the radio!

But now, her television set
Has stilled that Voice of Doom,
For she can’ t turn it up and watch
From any other room.

The neighborhood makes this decision:
It approves of television.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, July 5, 1949

Because they bring us heat and light,
We do not ask if it is right
That we must view unsightly wires
That sag in sorrow from the spires
Of what, before man made them these,
Were proudest, stateliest of trees.
Nor do we mind raw metal guards
On guy wires decorating yards;
Or what this modern living brings:
Those grotesque roof-top gallows-things
0f unsightliness the most unsightly
Which bring us television nightly.
We tolerate, let us confess,
What suits US–even ugliness.

by Ray Romine Tuesday, February 3, 1953

Modern man, for his appliances,
Should thank, instead of arts and sciences,
The inventor who laid off gadget-prying
To come up with instalment-buying.
He was outdone, though, by the clown
Who brought us to No Payment Dowm.

by Ray Romine Friday, July 14, 1950

Electronic computators?
Why all the stir and fuss?
For years we’ve watched our budget
Out-computating usl

by Ray Romine Friday, September 18, 1953

When they invent the Time Machine,
How it–with me–will rate:
I’ll move it up to those retorts
I think of just too late!

by Ray Romine Wednesday, January 15, 1947

The camera he Is using
Is the very latest out,
With many more attachments
Than a hiking Eagle Scout;

His tripod and extension tubes,
His case and his light meter
Are spanking new, and make his
Hobby MUCH completer.

He has a new projector, too–
A Super-duper job;
A ritzy screen, and room to seat,
In his new home, a mob.

But all this newness, one reflects,
Is but the outside wrapper.
He is, I think as he shows slides,
The same old shutter-snapper!

by Ray Romine Friday, April 17, 1953