“While serving as the 3rd president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson discovered a piece of technology that he could simply not live without. It was the Polygraph: a machine that made direct copies of handwritten letters. In 1809, he wrote that “the use of the polygraph has spoiled me . . . I could not, now therefore, live without the Polygraph.” (history lesson provided by Brian Resnick @National Journal) As it turns out, neither can modern-day presidents. With the president in Hawaii, he affixed his signature to the Fiscal Cliff Bill via the autopen, a technological great, great grandchild of the machine Jefferson so loved. No one seemed to miss the signing ceremony.
07
Jan 2013
