Evening star., 1924-09-02
THIS AND THAT
Oh, the bulldog on the bank,
Ana the bullfrog in the pool:
The bulldog called the bufifrog
1raeu old ua,ar fonr ~
BY C. f. TRACEWELL.

/ II
Radio" do without the analogy of
the stone thrown into the pool7
| The stone and pool have been doing
major duty since radio first swept
| the country a few years ago to bring
entertainment and instruction into
countless homes throughout the
! United States.
Radio waves are sent into the air
ana reach your receiving set just as the
waves reach the edge of a pool after
a stone is thrown into the water"
| Yes, sir, that is what happens.
Radio writer's missed a bet, how
ever, when they overlooked the bull
frog. How much more interesting
| they would have made their writings
| If they had used the live bullfrog =.
/ stead of the inanimate stone,
| A lively bullfrog, plunging into the
center of the pool, would send was.z
to the edge in quite as efficient =
manner as the stone. while his re-
sounding "ker-chunk" would set up
a set of sound waves in additios
Future instructors in radio arr II
spectfully urged to investigate the
! bullfrog.
What has the average radio fan
| not suffered at the hands and brains
| of the faithful radio writer's. who
| have labored earnestly to instin into
! his head some Of the first principles
! of this latest art among the sciences"
Hopefully he takes up the latest
easy lessons" Here, at last. he feels,
! he will find the unadulterated truth
! about this mysterious thing that he
| has taken into his house and bosom.
He opens the pages, reads carefully,
| signs, puts them down again.
He has been reading radio books
and magazines for a year, yet he
understands as little about radio as
he did when he started Somehow
he feels that the writers are to blame
| for this state of ignorance, although
he admits they have struggled man
fully, in season and out, to make him
understand impotence, wave lengths,
frequency, the difference between
kilocycles and kilowatts, how "audio"
differs from radio" the use of grid
leaks and inductance and a hundred
other matters of Importance.
All he gets out of it, at last, is a
headache and the knowledge that
grid leak is often not necessary at
all in his set; that there is a good
deal OF pure bunk" in much of the
theoretical advice that the radio i'm
pulses will continue to hurtle through
the air and into his set, whether he
knows anything about their astonish-
ing progress or no.
He is grateful to the faithful au-
thors of radio literature. but wishes
sometimes that they would let him
alone. He cannot resist the latest
simple lesson" 1t has a fascination
for him akin to that of the lamp
for the moth. But he knows when
he begins that he will understand no
more when he ends.
x x X
Why wives do not like radio is one
of the mysteries to which the radio
authors might devote their attention
with profit.
Women. as rule, do not care to
listen in. There may be few who
do. just as there are some ladies who
enjoy playing chess. but the number
is not large. Probably there are not
1000 women in Washington who
really enjoy listening in on a radio
concert or other broadcast event Just
as there is not one woman in a mil
lion who will read Walt Whitman's
Leaves of Grass" there is scarcely
one girl in thousand who really
| listens to radio.
Any woman knows she would
rather be reading the advertisements,
or darning socks. or roller skating
out OH the sidewalk, or admonishing
little Johnnie for banging littler
doing any one of the hundreds of
things a woman can find TO do.
If there is loud speaker" in the
home she must listen per force, but,
just let Mister go down town. and
no sooner is he off the block than
the radio goes off the air.
Being utterly unable myself to ex-
plain the mystery. 1 took it up with
some of my friends.
Why is it that women do not like
radio?" ! asked.
Because it gives them a headache"
said one man.
Because they can't talk" declared
a second. You see, when the radio
is going there is nothing to it but
listen. especially if you are using
headsets. That is the real reason
women do not care for radio
Jealousy" was the laconic reply Of
third. They are jealous of radio.
that is all, just the same as a dog
is when it sees you pet a cat"
A radio set to a man, however, isl
like the fascination exerted by hisI
first love. l think women would bel
wise to recognize this. regarding it'll
as the old love returned in new
form. Love me, love my radio. The|
will never be found beneath thel
white lights fooling around with
other women.
Men have keeEer appreciation of
mystery than women, and their
taking to radio like ducks to water
proves it. To a woman, "radio"sis
just a practical article. mostly con-
posed of messy wires, sort of brother
to the photograph.
IT. Il;
lightning, cousin to electricity and
youngest and fairest child of Applied
Science, Phi. D., B. s. and NJ. A.
To him a radio receiving set is
thing to wonder at, first of all.
Wherever you find a man tinkering
with radio you will find. grown up,
the child who thrilled over fairy
tales.
1t takes imagination to appreciate
radio. This fair layout of bright
wires and curious instruments. housed
in a little box. is greater wonder
than Aladdin's magic lamp. Had that
lamp been placed upon the famous
magic carpet the combination wogld
have been far short, in essential won
der, to the simplest radio set today.
With political campaigns befhgI
conducted in ether, women broad-|
casting messages from sea to fire de-
partment to go and turn out the gas
left burning at home, and dealersI
preparing for the Fall, radio sinI
America enters into it's most inter-I
esting phase.
Political speeches might be given
ether with good effect; but the sort
of ether used in radio simply spreads
them out for all to hear.
Those interested in radio can sec
nothing in but continued
betterment and good. Retail dealers,
however, should stick to their guns
during Summer, and not fill up theirl
windows with electric fans. This "a