I was 14 years old in 1972 when astronaut Harrison Schmitt aimed a Hasselblad camera out the window of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the moon and took a photograph of the full earth from 25,000 miles up. NASA dubbed that photo “The Blue Marble.” It showed the world the world, with surprisingly sharp edges against the even more surprising darkness of space. White clouds and blue water. Stark, round, real.
That was also around the time when small appliances began to breed and evolve into wondrous species such as the digital radio alarm clock.