AT&T Long Lines "Oak Hill" Tower, San Jose, CA. 2021.
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AT&T Long Lines "Oak Hill" Tower, San Jose, CA. 2021.
All the pixels, with no static or fading, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51261791084
@mattblaze I was 11 and living in nearby Almaden Valley when this was built. We thought it was ugly.
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With a few exceptions (mostly towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure beautiful. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.
But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. Perhaps we'll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as visual blight, the same way decades after they're (inevitably) gone.
Infrastructure is heroic.
@mattblaze That evolution of use, owners, makes it look like an antenna museum display.
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With a few exceptions (mostly towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure beautiful. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.
But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. Perhaps we'll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as visual blight, the same way decades after they're (inevitably) gone.
Infrastructure is heroic.
Bonus microwave tower photo: Western Union Tenleytown Tower, Washington, DC, 2020.
The first commercial terrestrial microwave network wasn't actually AT&T, but rather Western Union (the telegraph/telegram company).
A few remnants of the network survive. This hexagonal concrete tower, built in 1947 down an alley in Tenleytown, Washington, DC, was part of the first experimental link in the network. The cupola of the tower is actually a plexiglass radome concealing microwave antennas.
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Bonus microwave tower photo: Western Union Tenleytown Tower, Washington, DC, 2020.
The first commercial terrestrial microwave network wasn't actually AT&T, but rather Western Union (the telegraph/telegram company).
A few remnants of the network survive. This hexagonal concrete tower, built in 1947 down an alley in Tenleytown, Washington, DC, was part of the first experimental link in the network. The cupola of the tower is actually a plexiglass radome concealing microwave antennas.
(Western Union today is mostly a retail money remitter and check cashing outlet for the unbanked, but back in the day was a significant part of US telecom infrastructure, providing data communications including telegraph, teletype, and telegram services).
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undefined oblomov@sociale.network shared this topic
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(Western Union today is mostly a retail money remitter and check cashing outlet for the unbanked, but back in the day was a significant part of US telecom infrastructure, providing data communications including telegraph, teletype, and telegram services).
@mattblaze I thought the only purpose of Western Union today is as a vehicle for scamming elderly seniors out of money. 🤔
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@mattblaze I thought the only purpose of Western Union today is as a vehicle for scamming elderly seniors out of money. 🤔
@ai6yr Pretty much. Whatever was left of their original business model collapsed with the Internet.
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Bonus microwave tower photo: Western Union Tenleytown Tower, Washington, DC, 2020.
The first commercial terrestrial microwave network wasn't actually AT&T, but rather Western Union (the telegraph/telegram company).
A few remnants of the network survive. This hexagonal concrete tower, built in 1947 down an alley in Tenleytown, Washington, DC, was part of the first experimental link in the network. The cupola of the tower is actually a plexiglass radome concealing microwave antennas.
@mattblaze Have you been out to visit the old Atomic Physics Observatory in DC?
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@mattblaze Have you been out to visit the old Atomic Physics Observatory in DC?
@20002ist I have not! Where? What?
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@20002ist I have not! Where? What?
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@20002ist Neat. Will have to check it out. I love "Department of Terrestrial Magnetism". So specific.
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@20002ist @mattblaze Ooh, and right near Rock Creek Park.
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@20002ist @mattblaze Ooh, and right near Rock Creek Park.
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@20002ist Neat. Will have to check it out. I love "Department of Terrestrial Magnetism". So specific.
@mattblaze @20002ist That department is referenced several times in Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb".
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@deadsuperhero so, now it's time for *me* to put *you* on the spot.
As is probably clear from the last 12 hours of active conversation on the thread you started, you've got an audience and a network that really brings people together.
I wonder, how comfortable you are using that convening power more often? As in, when are we having the WeDistribute conference? 😉
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@kappazeta @leodurruti c'è stato un periodo in cui era un problema, poi un po' sono state introdotte delle misure per bloccarlo (che però io non sto usando) ed era fondamentalmente sparito, e oggi e ieri è apparso di nuovo
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Lollobrigida al posto di petrecca...una italia tutta lollo!
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Lollobrigida solo tredicesimo posto
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@leodurruti
davvero? pensavo che xmpp fosse (sostanzialmente) immune...
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@heluecht @deadsuperhero hey, is anyone interested in participating in the API task force?
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@thegiddystitcher (the best kind of Friday night :D )
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@valhalla I think I shall go for a walk.
(maybe catalogue some stamps later, wild Friday night)
