After reading a startling article in the paper I thought to myself what could cause such brutality to happen? But first the story: This Saturday a young man from Plattsmouth decided to call his ex-girlfriend in Weeping Water, NE. Nobody knows for sure what was said except those involved, but the teen called multiple times. On one of these phone calls one of the girlfriends male friends answered the phone and no doubt words were exchanged; among which were those of a challenge to a fight. Both of the people involved called many of their friends and gathered for the fight, which was to take place at the Plattsmouth teen's house. When both groups arrived a fight broke out between the groups and eventually moved inside. Those inside woke up the Plattsmouth teen's father who went outside. While outside words were exchanged and the father gets hit twice with baseball bats and subsequently is in a coma at the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha . Why do things like this happen today? One could argue technology, without cell phones and text messaging communication between the two groups would likely not have happened. Fights over girls are commonplace in history but today with the access to phones and cars situations can escalate quickly. One could also argue society, where teens are pressured to conflict because if he refuses to fight, he is labeled a, "wuss" or being, "weak." You could even argue that its nature and that its the hormones and testosterone in males that make them aggressive and that its no fault of the teenagers involved. Or maybe its evolution, maybe this is the next stage of human development. Looking back in recent history violent crimes along with gang related crimes have continued to rise. Could this be the direction of humanity's social evolution? In the past it had been survival of the fittest and perhaps in today's time it will be survival of the biggest gang instead. But in my opinion, I think a group of kids without self-control let things escalate before using common sense and stopping things before it was too late. And because of the kids' foolishness a man is in critical condition in the hospital due to the ignorance of a couple of kids who couldn't swallow their pride and decline to fight. If things like this continue to increase in frequency in the future, what a sad future that will be.

The telephone museum was a walk through the past literally and figuratively. When walking down the halls you can feel the history of the place. You see the progress of technology as the telephones began as primitive objects that progressively become more complex pieces of machinery. The exhibits depict the lives of families and how their daily life involved the telephone. In many ways telephones have gotten simpler and more complicated at the same time. They have gone from bulky things that require some skill to use; as you have to wear the device to use it, to easier manipulated rotary units. And to still simpler devices that are portable, wireless phones. Finally to the cellular telephones that we know today. These are easier to use, but also take more skill to work. Easier to use in that they are completely wireless phones that don't have a base unit plugged in to the wall, but more difficult in that they require programming and thorough knowledge of the phone to utilize the many unique functions of the modern cell phone (cell phone programming). In the museum you also can follow the technological progress of the maintenance of the modern telephone. From the primitive pole climbing boot hooks to the more modern lift trucks that you see in use today. At the museum you can also find a complete history of telephone wires and cables. The museum also had information on how all the wires were installed (wire installation). Along with all the other contents wiring has its own unique history told frame by frame by the different exhibits. The exhibits in general were very informative to the use and history of each unique object. It was also very impressive to learn that almost all of the exhibits and their contents were donated to the museum by different people who cared enough to preserve a small piece of history. That is what the essence of the museum was, a small part of a collective history, that by the efforts of those who contributed to the museum, can benefit anyone who cares to venture to see the historical contents of the telephone museum.