IIN That one of my friends didn't know how a rotary phone works?

I choose to find that amusing, since the only alternative is to feel ancient.

If you're at all interested in mechanical and electrical engineering, the way the old rotary phones work is kinda interesting. How many of them continued to function perfectly for decades says something about the design and production engineering of the time. The way pulse dial telephone exchanges operate is amazing. Listening and watching one of those in operation makes you wonder how the hell the system worked at all, with hundreds of stepping motors whirring and relay switches clattering away all over the place.