Archive for April 16th, 2021

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 381

Friday, April 16th, 2021

Phone Phriday!

Okay. I’m not sure I’m going to actually make that a thing.

But for today, how about some more vintage fun from the AT&T Tech Channel?

“The Astonishing, Unfailing Bell System” from 1967.

This film focuses on the integrity and reliability of the entire Bell System network, circa 1967, to handle large quantities of not just voice information and phone calls, but also data, text via teletype, pictures, and television signals. It’s a series of small case studies in how the national system fit together to deliver all kinds of information, from tracking train cars to transmitting live television broadcasts.

Bonus #1: I’m sure some of my readers – the younger ones – may be asking the question “What is this ‘Bell System’ you keep going on about?”

“What is the Bell System?” from 1976.

Bonus #2: If you haven’t had enough nostalgia already, this might do it for you.

“AMPS: Coming Of Age” from 1979. This is about the early mobile phone network:

The Chicago test cellular network was built in 1977 by the Bell System and had tests during 1978; this film was made in 1979 after a year with 1,300 customers using the system.

This is the only one of the three with an intro, and the only one where I’ve set it to start after the intro.

Posted in Geek, History | Comments Closed

Things I did not know. (#6 in a series)

Friday, April 16th, 2021

I spent far too much time last night reading about celebrity perfumes.

But that wasn’t what I did not know. What I did not know was:

  1. The NYT used to have a perfume critic (Chandler Burr). For all I know, they may still have a perfume critic.
  2. “Upon her death in 2011, Elizabeth Taylor had an estimated net worth of 800 million dollars, the majority of it from her perfume brand. She famously claimed that her perfumes earned her more than all of her film roles combined.”

Posted in Bagatelle, Media, Movies | 1 Comment »