Carrier Pigeons in WWI

     The carrier pigeon was one of the most reliable sources of communication throughout WWI. Although the telephone and telegraph were available, the carrier pigeon was used in their stead because the new technology was still unreliable. Carrier pigeons are a one way form of communication, in that they only fly home. You can take a carrier pigeon hundreds of miles away from its nest, but it will always find its way back. The US army took advantage of this during war times by attaching messages about what was happening on the battlefield. The messages were made to be short, only a sentence or two. This allowed the message to be easily attached to the leg of the carrier pigeon and short enough to get their point across quickly. It was not smooth sailing for the pigeons though. They had to fly through heavy fire and were regularly injured from the barrage of bullets flying through the battlefield. But, even through this carrier pigeons were determined to deliver their messages. One "pigeon was shot in [its] left eye whilst carrying a message from a British seaplane attacked in the North Sea. Despite the injury, the bird was still able to deliver the message to its destination." This showed the tenacity and commitment carrier pigeons had throughout WWI.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-incredible-carrier-pigeons-of-the-first-world-war
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/08/unsung-heroes-of-world-war-i-the-carrier-pigeons/

Telegraphs and the Civil War

     The telegraph was one of the most important inventions used throughout the Civil War. Developed in the 1830s-1840s by Samuel Morse, the telegraph could send long distance messages along electrical wires. By using the telegraph people were able to send and receive messages in a shorter amount of time when compared to the postal service. This was thanks to morse code, a language developed for the telegraph. Morse code uses a system of dots and dashes that represent different letters and numbers. Once mastered communication between two people far away from each-other could happen quickly and seamlessly. This especially helped on the battle-field. During the Civil War "it allowed commanders to instantly communicate with each other and provide almost real time information about battle results, enemy troop movements, unit locations etc..." This definitely helped give a commander a leg up on the enemy. By being able to tell a unit far away which way the enemy was moving, they could regroup and strategize before they got there. It also would have helped keep the armies more organized. Overall the telegraph was an extremely important piece of technology during the Civil War and had the capability to change the tide of the war. 

https://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-technology
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/telegraph

The Impact of the Radio

With the invention of the radio in 1895 by Guglielmo Marconi, the world was introduced to a new form of communication. But it really took off in the 1920s when radios were being introduced into the household. "Radio had become a national pastime and many listeners gathered in their living rooms to listen to sports, news, concerts, sermons and "Red Menace" news." The last part of this quote is especially important considering the time period. The United States had just returned from WWI and was dealing with the after-effects of war, but at the same time, the country was going through a cultural boom, and the radio was a major part of it. It allowed people to stay connected with the latest news and gave them a new form of entertainment. From music to radio shows the 1920s had everything for the average listener, just turn on your home radio and prepare to be entertained. The radio revolutionized almost every industry, news, of course, but also music. Instead of having one chance to hear music live, people could now sit at home, scan to their local radio station and listen to their favorite songs without the hassle. Overall the radio revolutionized society in the 1920s from giving people a new form of receiving news to creating a new platform for entertainment.

http://www.debold.com/webdesign/webdesign4history/dane/science.html
https://public.wsu.edu/~bryan.mclaughlin/Radio/Who_Invented_Radio.html

History of Netflix

      The story of Netflix starts back in 1997 when Reed Hastings received a late fee for a movie he rented. Not soon after Hastings met with Mark Randolph about co-founding a dvd rental business, one where people rent movies and they are delivered through the mail straight to their house. The idea took off and in 1998 the two launched Netflix.com which would become wildly successful over the next couple decades. At this point they were charging for each individual dvd rented, but in 1999 Hastings and Randolph decided to launch a subscription service where for one payment a month the customer could rent as many movies as they wanted. This made it more appealing to consumers as it appears that one is getting more for less. 

     Randolph and Hastings continued to improve Netflix. In 2000 they added a code that would personalize the user's Netflix to what they might like to see based off of what they have already watched. This made it easier for consumers to find what they want to watch faster, as well as showing them movies they might not have heard of before. Between the years of 2003 and 2006 Netflix grew from having 1 million to 5 million members. Then in 2007 they added the feature that college students are addicted to to this day: streaming. This allowed the consumer to watch their movie on the internet instead of waiting for the dvd in the mail, which they continued to offer alongside the streaming service. 

     In 2013 Netflix branched out and started to make its own content. Such as, ""House of Cards", "Hemlock Grove", "Arrested Development" and "Orange is the New Black", all of which were major hits for the acclaimed streaming service. They continue to create new award winning content to this day, as well as improve the service to make their customers happy. 

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