Mr. Julius Howell was born in 1847, and did us the favor of sticking around long enough to get his voice recorded.  He was 101 years old at the time of the recording, and seems to remember events from the Civil War as though they were yesterday.  

From seeing General Lee riding through the woods, getting attacked (and shot) by advancing Union troops, and waking up one morning to see the flag at half mast, and finding out that President Lincoln had been killed the previous night.  

What an amazing 15 minutes from this (former) living time capsule.  It's a shame that more veterans weren't tracked down and had their memories recorded so we could get a better understanding of the day to day life of someone in the late 1800s, and how the Civil War really affected those involved.  Regardless, this man's unique accent and speaking style gives us a rare glimpse of how the famous Generals and Leaders of the time, be it Lee, Jefferson, or Monroe,  may have sounded while conversing about battle tactics under a full moon and enjoying  a warm glass of rum or whiskey and a fine southern cigarette.  

A full day of this would not be enough.

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VCR, short for Video Cassette Recorder.  A device that put Blockbuster on the map.

A device that is ever so slowly receding from our vocabulary and out of our minds eye.  Could you even work one today?

They have their roots all they way back to the 1950s, and actually were able to produce HD quality images at the time of their demise when DVDs and HD televisions were beginning to become the new thing,

As you will see in this well thought out video, VCRs are quite complicated, and evolved through a number of iterations and updates thoughout their life.  This video does a very good job of explaining all of the technical bits without causing your eyes to glaze over.

And yes, be kind, please rewind.

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