Dick Tracy Watches

Dick Tracy was a cartoon character invented by Chester Gould. The strip made its debut in Oct. of 1931. 

As I was growing up in Utah, I used to spend summers in Escalante, where my grandparents lived. I would go out at night with my flashlight and catch night crawlers. I would sell these worms to anyone who wanted to go fishing. 25 cents a dozen. I started at 15 cents a dozen but since I had no competition, I raised the price to 25 cents. I was able to have spending money to buy the things that I wanted. One of those things was comic books. I would go down to Whities cafe and read them for hours before deciding. They let kids do that back then. If you needed to find me, that’s where I would be. 

Dick Tracy was the superhero of another generation. A story of the good guys against the bad guys. It was great fun to read the latest adventure of Dick Tracy. He used forensic science and gadgets to solve his mysteries. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?

I always thought it would be cool to have one of his gadgets, the famous 2-way wrist Radio. How everyone would envy me.

I was living in Huntington Beach, California in 1980 when that wish came true. I enrolled in a Ham Radio course taught by Gordon West in the community college. I learned the Morse Code and the rules of the FCC. I took the test and passed. I got my novice license, and with that license I purchased a 2-meter radio. I upgraded my license to a Tech, then a General and finally the Advance class license. With my version of Dick Tracy’s radio, I could talk to my friends across the state without using the phone. I carried that radio everywhere with me. I had a headset, that enabled me to ride my bike down the sidewalks along the beach and keep watch. I volunteered in the civil defense program that the city had and when they needed help, I would be called. Cell phones were still on the drawing boards. There were a few people who had bag phones and car phones, but they were rare. I remembered one of the lessons by Gordon West. He showed how the high frequencies could burn you if you got too close to the antenna. A high frequency burn. I was cautious when I got other radios and set up the antenna systems on my roof. I talked to others like me, all over the globe. It was a great hobby.

I have never forgotten the lessons that I learned in that Ham Radio Class.

I heard of great gadget to catch worms. It seemed like a good idea, so I got the parts and made some electric shockers. It really worked. You put the wires in the ground and plugged in the cord and in a couple of minutes the worms were wiggling up through the dirt. All you had to do was to pick them up. There was a problem though, the worms all died in a short time. I had electrocuted them. 

Have you ever tried to fry an egg on a hot sidewalk in the middle of the summer when the sidewalk was so hot you couldn’t walk on it? I have. That didn’t work.

The microwave oven could cook an egg and it does. Every day millions of people use them to cook dinners and make popcorn.

The microwave oven was invented after world war 2, developed by Raytheon from radar technology. Tappan developed the units but they were still too large and expensive for general home use. The countertop microwave oven was first introduced in 1967 by the Amana Corporation.

Most of us have a microwave oven now, they are cheap and do a good job of heating things. There is a problem with them. They kill the food and the vitamins and change the properties of the food. I read about a science class project done by a grade school girl. Here is the link: www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp

She took purified water and divided it into 2 parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan, after cooling, she watered one plant. The second part she heated using the microwave to boiling and after cooling, she watered the second plant. Want to guess what happened? The microwaved water killed the second plant after only a few days.

Now ... here is the big problem. Cell phones use microwave technology. You wouldn’t even consider putting your head in a microwave oven and turning it on ... would you? That is in essence, what happens every time you use your cell phone. Studies have been done showing cell phones are safe. Do you know who pays for those studies? I do.

How long will it take to kill us? The results are already beginning to show up. It is not mainstream news, it rarely gets the coverage it deserves. Tumors. Some people who use cell phones are getting tumors on their bodies. Usually on the side of the head where the phone is used the most, or on the side of the body where the phone is carried. Cell phones are always on. The only way to turn them off is to remove the battery. They are always searching for a signal, a microwave signal. They respond with a microwave signal. Hmmmm?

I am one of the few people who don’t carry a cell phone. I have been tempted. They have so many cool gadgets built into them. I learned a lesson 31 years ago in that Ham Radio class. When you play with microwaves, you get burned. 

Dick Tracy has faded from the comic strips now, most people have never even heard of him. His famous two way wrist radio lives on. We now call it a cell phone. I hope that we don’t fade away like those good old comic strips. We would never put our head in a microwave oven ... would we?