S.o.t.D. - Acid Track – Dillinja

Acid Track – Dillinja 

Just a monster of a track.

S.o.t.D. - To Mend – Bluetech & Lynx & Janover

To Mend – Bluetech & Lynx & Janover

It could just be that it’s Bluetech, but I just played this song about a dozen times in a row.

Repair Manifesto

Nature By Numbers

Short and sweet animated piece about geometric principles in nature. Appropriately accompanied by Wim Mertens’ Often A Bird. This artist is also responsible for something I posted before, the gorgeous Isfahan, about geometry in Islamic architecture. By Cristóbal Vila of Etereae Studios.

S.o.t.D. - No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age

No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age

I don’t like these guys enough to want to go see them live, but I like this choppy tune.

Inspired to take up chess

I’ve played a little bit of chess, but seeing these, if they were available commercially, I might be inspired to get serious about it. Very impressed by the work of Brandon Griffiths. Just plain impressed by imaginative custom chess sets of any sort, but Lego and Star Wars makes these extra cool.

More photos here: Star Wars: A New Hope Lego Chess Set

More photos here: Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back Lego Chess Set

More photos here: Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi Lego Chess Set

Makers: Passionate Apprentices

I burst into laughter about this one, since this man, bladesmith John Hounslow-Robinson is essentially a 20 years older, Australian version of my pal Jarkko. Dreads, beard and all.

I reckon I would get on very well with this guy. I’m sure people with a pickle up their ass undoubtedly see him as a dirty hippy who lives in a ramshackle, cobbled together compound. But I see someone living a more genuine and fulfilling existence than they undoubtedly lead. And he seems to be doing a pretty good job of inspiring and teaching two young men some worthwhile skills. And Linden - that kid is fantastic.

And I’ve always been intrigued by Tasmania, and this video only stokes my interest in living there. I know it’s not so easy to move to Australia, but if there was a chance.... Not that I mind in the slightest where I live now, but the idea of living in a place that remote, with so much of it unsullied by roads and development, is really appealing. I loved my time in Australia, but the hinterland out past Slobart piques my interest.

S.o.t.D. - Sirenes (Carl Craig Remix) – 777 {System 7}

Sirenes (Carl Craig Remix) – 777 {System 7}

Self Repair Manifesto

Labyrinth pt. 3

I played no part in this phase of it, but I wanted to show the finished results.

Originally the idea was to paint this with cans and brushes, but lines on the road, and markings in parking lots are all done with spray paint. Much faster, easier application, quicker drying time, and it will last just as long.

Hamilton Falconwatch

The most compelling television here in Hamilton is not the pouty lipped blonde who tries to read the news....but a closed circuit camera on the Peregrine Falcon nest atop the Sheridan hotel. It can be watched in Crackson Square and I have seen as many as two dozens people gathered around it on their lunch hour watching.

One of the eggs they’ve been sitting atop of has just hatched. I’m glad they’re making a comeback. I hope efforts like this will make even more people appreciate them, and appreciate how we almost managed to wipe them out. 

To see more photos, go here: 
http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/

AFOL: a Blocumentary

I’m an AFOL. And proud of it! Nerds of the world unite!

I admit to watching the portion from about 1:50 to 3:00 several times. I am in awe of Mr. Hussey and his collection. Wow.

S.o.t.D. - Like Rats – Godflesh

Like Rats – Godflesh

Not much for any genre of heavy metal, but I LOVED Godflesh.

S.o.t.D. - Worlock – Skinny Puppy

Worlock – Skinny Puppy

Rabies may not have been their best record, but this track off of it remains one of their tracks I still really dig.

Labyrinth pt. 2

Labyrinth painted with white spraypaint to more permanently mark the lines.

S.o.t.D. - Eye of a Needle (Lemon D. Remix) – Art Of Noise

Eye of a Needle (Lemon D. Remix) – Art Of Noise

I liked Art of Noise in the 80s, but I like this decade later D&B twist on them a lot too.

Time Team – Experimental Archaeology

I just learned that after a twenty year run, BBC’s Time Team is no more. Bummer. But with two decades of shows in the can, they’ll live on in syndication.

One of the things I appreciated most about the show was when they would get someone to demonstrate how something was done. Cast a bronze axe, weave a basket, build a boat, make a wagon wheel, chip an arrow head, etc. Sure, digging stuff up is interesting, and seeing objects in a museum is always cool, but to see the processes involved in making something, really brings it into sharp focus. Some would argue that some of it may not have been entirely accurate, they feel certain aspects would have been done slightly differently, but all in all, I think it gives people a better, and richer appreciation for history than a mere static display ever could.

Another BBC show, or more accurately, series of shows, that ply a similar vein are the Farm series. Tales From the Green Valley, Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm and Wartime Farm. Too much history deals with the broad sweep, the battles, the kings, etc. I find the day to day lives of common people and what they did infinitely more compelling. I went for a tour of Dundurn Castle a few weeks back. The basement where the day to day running of the place happened was far more interesting than any of the fancy frou frou on display upstairs to impress the elite.

S.o.t.D. - Acadian Driftwood – The Band

Acadian Driftwood – The Band

A bit outside the range of what I usually post, but good tunes is good tunes.

S.o.t.D. - Interlude – Fresh and Low

Interlude – Fresh and Low

Not so fond of the hi-hat in this, and I think I would pitch it down a bit if I was playing it out, but the bass and the rhythm is so good. Even as a 98 year old invalid, I think this would make me move.

S.o.t.D. - Back in 92 – Presto & Lowd

Back in 92 – Presto & Lowd

Some hiphop I like.

Makers: Victor Osborne - Hatmaker

I have to admit that I haven’t given a lot of thought to how hats are made. And by hats I mean older forms of mens hats - fedoras, trilbies, bowlers and the like - using wool felt. Interesting to see the forms used and the process involved in making them. 

http://victorosborne.com/

S.o.t.D. - First Birds Of Morning (Lusine Remix) – Stewart Walker

First Birds Of Morning (Lusine Remix) – Stewart Walker

Something about Lusine’s sound and style that does it for me.

Artspiration: Frank Cho

While I think Adam Hughes does a fantastic take on modern pin-ups, I still think he’s edged out ever so slightly by Frank Cho. I think it’s the hips mainly.

Shanna the She-Devil. I should tend to those scratches for you.

Ms. Marvel. I’m seeing some stars.

Black Widow. The world would be a better place if more women walked around in tight black catsuits.

Red Sonja. She looks like she might be a bit pricklish, but I’m willing to try winning her over with my charm and wit.

Brandy. I wish she lived next door.

And just for good measure, another image of Shanna. I sometimes toy with the idea of a pinup tattoo. Doubt it would really fit into my grand scheme of things now, but if I ever did, she’d be toting an AR.

S.o.t.D. - Smoke Bomb – Ursula 1000

Smoke Bomb – Ursula 1000

It’s smokin’, and it’s da bomb!

Dundas EcoPark

Terrific documentary about the part of the world I live in and why I like it so. Nice to see aerial footage of the areas I go wandering in.

Touches on the importance of preserving swathes of nature for the health of the flora and fauna, but also because it improves cities, and the quality of life of the people that inhabit them. This area is part of the area that will be encompassed by the proposed Cootes to Escarpment Park. Also touches on the history of the native inhabitants (the earliest known examples of agriculture in Ontario was found here), and a little of the history of European settlement, such as the creation of the Desjardins Canal.

S.o.t.D. - You Got To Change – Griz

You Got To Change – Griz

Fantastic, trip-hoppy head nodder. Featuring sampled horns from the Reverend Al Green’s “Hangin’ On”.

For Greater Knowledge....

Things that drive me nuts on forums

I frequent a few forums. Just like the myriad of interests I highlight on here, I go to a few disparate forums. I have for about a decade now. Great way to learn, share what you know, meet fellow enthusiasts, and just plain old having a connection with other human beings.

But increasingly forums drive me nuts.

While it’s great that the internet allows anyone to ask any question that pops into their head, it also allows people to ask the most inane questions imaginable. The “I’m looking for Audi R8 quality but I want to pay Kia Rio prices” threads are one in particular.

“I’m looking for a sleeping bag, that will keep me warm down to -40, pack down to something the size of a softball, fit my 400 pounds, weigh half a pound, come in a colour that pleases my aesthetic tastes....and I want it for $30.”

“I’m looking for a back pack that is super light, really comfortable, totally waterproof, huge volume, have the exact pocket arrangement I want, in a pleasing shade of chartreuse...oh and about $50.”

These questions drive me completely nuts. Look, you nickle and diming cheapskate. You can have some of those features. All of them? And at the most ludicrous price point imaginable? It’s this idea that there is a bargain version of everything. That totally unique, high quality item is made by a skilled artisan working in a first world country. No, the Walmart version doesn’t exist. Stop your snivelling questions about where you can find something of equal quality for an eighth of the price. Let me introduce you to the concept exemplified by a sign behind the counter of one of the first places I worked. “Fast. Cheap. Good. Pick two.”

Which dovetails into feeling compelled to tell everyone it’s out of your price range. I don’t care and neither does anyone else. Whenever someone posts something of superior quality some sockpuppet invariably feels compelled to state how expensive they think that is. So what? This is the best you can contribute to a thread? “Well, I can’t afford that.” Terrific. Thanks for that scintillating tidbit of information.

The inability to grasp the concept of the search button. Which dovetails into another annoyance, the same damn question over and over and over again. Your question has been asked many times and answered many more times. Are people really so oblivious as to not have a clue that a search feature exists, or are they really entitled douche bags who think that they don’t have to bother to look for the answer and expect everyone to go out of their way to re-write all that information all over again, just for them? Forums really don’t need ten threads covering the exact same topic. If it gets asked more than once, merge them, and make it a sticky. Forums at this point should start to function more as a clearing house for info, than as a place for every new to the internet mope to blunder in and ask the same ad nauseum question over and over and over again.

Questions that could essentially be answered with a Google search are another subset of that. LMGTFY.

Reviews that consist of “I just got this in and it looks great.” Really? I realize you’re desperate to belong and all, but could you post a more useless waste of bandwidth? What good is that? Get back to us after you’ve used it for a year. I don’t care that it looks good, I care that it performs good.

Even worse than that are “I just ordered this” posts. I want to reach through my computer and slap those drips.

Stating “gosh, I’d post pictures, but I don’t know how.” This was acceptable a decade ago, when forums were new, but by this point, I don’t think there is a forum in existence that doesn’t have a little tutorial on the very simple process of how to host and post photos. Look it up or get off the internet.

Makers: The Clockmaker

My dad was (among other things) a clock maker. Or a horologist, to use the technical term. I now kick myself that I didn’t take more of an interest in it when he was still alive, as it’s one of those supposedly dying, but still in demand skills. I’ve given some thought over the years that I should perhaps pursue it as a vocation. I figure I would be good at it and enjoy it. I like precise, finicky work, fixing things, solving problems, have great manual dexterity, etc. Alas, here in Canada at least, there is only one school that teaches it left in Canada, but it’s a French speaking school in Quebec, and it is slated to close. To pursue it at this stage in my life, would mean overcoming some very big hurdles.

This film about Cape Town clock maker Darryn Clark/Time Menders, gives an idea of some of what it all involves. As this video mentions, there are many skills that it touches on - metal work, woodwork, chemistry, mechanics, micro mechanics, etc. 

S.o.t.D. - Tristesse – Kollektiv Turmstraße

Tristesse – Kollektiv Turmstraße

For it being “minimal” there is an amazing amount to this track. Video accompanies this piece of aural loveliness perfectly.

S.o.t.D. - All Yours (S.P.Y. Remix) – Submotion Orchestra

All Yours (S.P.Y. Remix) – Submotion Orchestra

Hell yes!

S.ot.D. - You – Bicep & Ejeca

You – Bicep & Ejeca

Euphoric.

S.o.t.D. - When Autumn Comes – Stephen J. Kroos

When Autumn Comes – Stephen J. Kroos

Okay, so it’s actually spring, but this track is so damn good I had to share it. I just couldn’t wait a half year. Besides, if you’re in Hobart or Bloemfontein or Rio Gallegos, it’s autumn.

S.o.t.D. - The Seer Returns – Swans

The Seer Returns – Swans

Lots of bands I was into long ago I don’t care that much if I never see them live today, but Swans I’d go to a live show of in a heartbeat.

S.o.t.D. - Strange Parallels (Codemonkey Remix) – Tripswitch

Strange Parallels (Codemonkey Remix) – Tripswitch

Artspiration: Adam Hughes

In my world it’s a tossup between Adam Hughes and Frank Cho as to who draws the most splendiferous babes. I tossed a coin and decided today would be Adam Hughes day.

http://www.justsayah.com/

The cover of the latest Fables: Fairest, that I enjoyed a lot. As is to be expected.

CatWoman. Oh Selena, you naughty thing you.

The Baroness. Yes I wish to be part of whatever nefarious plot you dream up.

Lara Croft. I’ll go raid tombs with you.

Wonder Woman. Wondrous indeed.

S.o.t.D. - Bright Lights (Lenzman Remix) – Die & Interface

Bright Lights (Lenzman Remix) – Die & Interface

Well, well. Turns out Lenzman, whose remixes I’ve been really enjoying, is a Dutchman. And I enjoyed this one as well.

Labyrinth pt. 1

Helped a friend do a preliminary layout for a 40 foot labyrinth at his son’s school yesterday.

The very classical labyrinth design we’re going with. There are many, many variations, but we opted for this one.

Even with my height it’s tough to get a good overall view of it. Once it’s been painted I’ll make a more concerted effort to get a good overview shot.

By the time this is ready to be painted all these marks will be gone, but as the old adage goes, measure twice, cut once. Or paint, in this instance. It was essentially just a practice run, a rehearsal. We made a slight booboo, in that we figured out curves and that crossing point after that. Should have done the crossing first, and then everything else. We know now for the next time, and figured out some techniques for how to most effectively lay it and mark it out for painting.

Looking forward to doing this. I know there are all sorts of spiritual aspects to labyrinths, that they are used as contemplative, meditative exercises. But I’m just a geometry geek who likes spirals.

Some more info about labyrinths.
http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/

S.o.t.D. - Grillen im Park – Kollektiv Turmstraße

Grillen im Park – Kollektiv Turmstraße

Das ist gut.

S.o.t.D. - Secret of the Forest (on piano) – Chronos Trigger

Secret of the Forest (on piano) – Chronos Trigger

From the soundtrack of a video game I am totally unfamiliar with (that could be said about video games in general), but I’m glad I found this. Japanese pianist performing. Beautiful.

S.o.t.D. - Black Sands – Bonobo

Black Sands – Bonobo

I really think Bonobo approaches genius level. I could listen to this on repeat for hours. Stunningly beautiful. Melancholy, yet uplifting.

Bibliophilia: The Unwritten by Mike Carey

The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words – Mike Carey

The Unwritten: Inside Man – Mike Carey

The Unwritten: Dead Man’s Knock – Mike Carey

The Unwritten: Leviathan – Mike Carey

The Unwritten: On To Genesis – Mike Carey

A smart, engaging story about stories and the power they have. One of the very best graphic novel series out today.

I especially liked how the story was propelled forward by interspersed panels that showed television broadcasts, forum posts, web pages, newspaper reports, twitter feeds, etc.

Recommended!

S.o.t.D. - Music Is The Key – J.M. Silk

Music Is The Key – J.M. Silk

Classic hit from the glory days of Chicago House.

Love Letter To Plywood

Red Skies Over Cootes

Last remnants of sunlight setting behind the Niagara Escarpment over Cootes Paradise.

Why Wilderness?

Shamelessly stealing this infographic from the Wilderness Society, because I really, really agree with this and want to spread the message they’re advocating. Namely that children are done a disservice, and frankly, harmed both physically and mentally by not getting them outside. I really don’t think a lifetime of sitting in front of screens of one sort or another really does kids any favours whatsoever.
(Do a right click, “Open Image in New Tab”, then click on it once in order for it to come up in the original size, or just go to the link above.)

S.o.t.D. - Fall Apart – Death in June

Fall Apart – Death in June

Still love D.i.J., despite everything.

S.o.t.D. - One Through Seven – Dosh

One Through Seven – Dosh

Discovered this artist playing all the music in iTunes on the shop computer on random. The track I liked most from the one album on there, The Lost Take.

Hamilton From 21 Floors Up

It was Doors Open Hamilton this past weekend and availed myself of the opportunity to go up to the 21st floor of the Stelco Tower, one of the taller buildings here. Still have to contend with glass and the resulting glare, so the west side was a complete bust, and the south side was questionable also. Still fun to go up there and get a different perspective on the city.

Looking northish, towards Burlington/Waterdown.

Looking eastish, towards Toronto.

Looking southish, towards Stoney Creek.

S.o.t.D. - Losing My Religion – R.E.M.

Losing My Religion – R.E.M.

Another song from the early nineties I liked a whole lot then and still listen to quite happily today.

Bibliophilia: Richard Stark’s Parker, Vol. 3: The Score – Darwyn Cooke

Richard Stark’s Parker, Vol. 3: The Score – Darwyn Cooke

I really hated the character in the first two graphic adaptations, but I didn’t find him quite so cretinous in this noir/heist story. And I absolutely loved the stark monochromatic artwork by Darwyn Cooke. It really helped to give it a period feel. His ability to nail the clothes, architecture and cars of the late 50s, early 60s helped a lot too.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

I rarely repeat anything, but this is one I have posted in past, and will likely post again in the future. With swimming season once again rapidly approaching, I figure it was a topical post.

Drowning people don’t look the way movies and television portray them. Not just people with small children should read this, but I think it’s important for everyone to be able to recognize the signs of someone drowning. Far too many people drown every year, just in this province alone. Thank you to Mario Vittone for writing this.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Please read it and share it widely.

Dusk on the Bruce Trail

S.o.t.D. - Constant Craving – K.D. Lang

Constant Craving – K.D. Lang

I think this is pretty much a perfect piece of music. The pedal steel guitar part especially, totally does it for me.

S.o.t.D. - Green Garden – Laura Mvula

Green Garden – Laura Mvula

Being the arbiter of cool that I am, I can officially announce that this lady will be the next big thing.

Bibliophilia: Energy Flash: A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

Energy Flash: A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture – Simon Reynolds

Having been a part of this scene, reading a history of it by someone who was both a participant in and scholarly observer/chronicler of the topic, was great. To be honest, while I’ve read many things about various performers/creators/genres within the broad rubric of “rave”, an erudite treatise about it and its many guises from the beginning, and its broader cultural implications, in one volume gave me a renewed appreciation for it. Reynolds is a really good writer about music, regardless of the scene. And an index that goes on for many pages.

Bibliophilia: Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher

Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-wing Nature Lovers and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (or at Least the Republican Party) – Rod Dreher

The right wingers I know think I’m a left winger; the left wingers I know think I’m a right winger. I can’t win.

I don’t like the prime minister of the country I live in, but I’m not too enthralled about most of the alternatives. In the country to the south of me, I thought Bush was terrible, but don’t think Obama is much better. I can’t stand unions, but dislike many corporations just as much. I could care less what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their home, and think all consenting adults in a committed relationship deserve equal civil rights. I feel responsible adults should be allowed to own anything they want, especially “military style, full powered, high capacity, folding stock, bayonet lugged, pistol gripped, carbine type machine guns”. At this juncture in humanities evolution, I don’t think our biggest problem is a lack of people, and also think it’s up to the individual to decide if they want to carry a child to term. I still think national defense is vitally important, and have very little patience with mush brained twits who think we should just do away with the military altogether. I still think capitalism is the best option, but decry its excesses. I don’t like big government, but loathe big business even more. I think some people need to be removed from society forever and placed in confinement, and think police are justified at times in making life unpleasant for people who victimize the weak and defenseless. I think the war on drugs is a colossal failure on every level and needs to be stopped immediately. I believe in a compassionate society, but also don’t think the taxpayer is a limitless ATM machine. I have very little patience with people who point out the evils of the US, while remaining strangely quiet about the far more egregious excesses and empire building by other regimes. I think religion is a big crock, and while I think you can believe in whatever fairy tale higher power you want, do not try to force your beliefs on me, and I also do not want policy decisions to be coloured by faith of any stripe. And I especially dislike when the “good book” is little more than a dustcover on a tome of ignorance and intolerance. I recycle, believe global warming is real, care about the planet I live on, try to live frugally and lightly on the Earth, avoid agribusiness products and support local organic food producers. Etc.

I think you can get the sense that my beliefs don’t fit into any one easily defined slot.

So I was intrigued to read a book that made me hopeful that not everyone in the US who identifies as a conservative, is part of one monolithic hegemony. That many of them seem to believe in some downright “lefty” beliefs. There is still the whole religious, stop abortion thing, which I just can’t get down with. But if they want to encourage local organic farming practices, gun rights, protect nature, curb the excesses of big business, alternatives to our mindless consumer culture, I think some common ground can be found. While I don’t agree with it entirely, it gave me hope that there are people in the US, “conservatives”, who are as uncomfortable as I am with the direction the American Right has taken in the last few decades.

A Crunchy Con Manifesto

1. We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream. We like it here; the view is better, for we can see things that matter more clearly.

2. We believe that modern conservatism has become too focused on material conditions (money, power, and the accumulation of stuff), and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character. The point of life is not to become a more satisfied shopper.

3. We affirm the superiority of the free market as an organizing economic principle, but believe the economy must be made to serve humanity’s best interests, not the other way around. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.

4. We believe that culture is more important than politics and economics, and that neither America’s wealth nor our liberties will long survive a culture that no longer lives by what Russell Kirk identified as “the Permanent Things” – those eternal moral norms necessary to civilized life, and which are taught by all the world’s great wisdom traditions.

5. A conservatism that does not recognize the need for restraint, for limits, for humility, and good stewardship—especially of the natural world—is neither helpful to individuals and society nor, ultimately, conservative.

6. A good rule of thumb: Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.

7. Appreciation of aesthetic quality–that is, beauty–is not a luxury, but key to the good life. Beauty is more important than efficiency. 

8. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom. The cacophony of contemporary popular culture makes it hard to discern the call of truth and wisdom. There is no area in which practicing asceticism is more important.

9. We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the best way to rear up a new generation of friends of the Permanent Things is to beget children, and read to them o’ evening, and teach them what is worthy of praise: the wise parent is the conservator of ancient truths....the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”

10. Politics and economics won’t save us; if our culture is to be saved at all, it will be through living faithfully by the Permanent Things, preserving these ancient truths in the choices we make in our everyday lives. In this sense, to conserve is to create anew.

Bibliophilia: The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds

The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel – Gareth Hinds

I’m an uneducated bumpkin who has never read the Odyssey. Keeping with my uncultured rube status, a comic book version was a little more my speed. Reading this has increased my speed to the point that I now really want to read the actual book. I see what all the fuss has been about all these millennia.

S.o.t.D. - Viṣṇu – Volor Flex

Viṣṇu – Volor Flex

To Make A Farm

Watched this documentary on TVO last night and thought it was excellent. 5 people, two couples and one individual, and their fledgling efforts to farm in Ontario.

http://tomakeafarm.ca/

Bibliophilia: The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation – Jon Gertner

Tim Wu’s The Master Switch mentioned Bell Labs several times, and I was intrigued. Saw this sitting on the shelf at the library and grabbed it. 

Bell Labs was the R&D arm of AT&T. For a long time it was the biggest, richest corporation in the world, and the largest single employer. While there is a lot to be said against a massive monopoly, I wonder whether it was the case that only a company this large was capable of providing the level of service they did. They really saw their government granted domination of the market as a sacred trust. They felt it was their duty to provide a high level of service and quality to their customers. As the book says: “The overseers of the phone company, these top-hatted executives at AT&T, were mercenary and aggressive and as arrogant as any captains of industry. But the phone service offered to subscribers was reliable and of high quality and not terribly expensive.”

The things that we now take utterly for granted or have become obsolete, were at one time completely new technologies. Whole teams of chemists worked for a long time on sheathing for the phone cables that could withstand moisture and extreme variations of temperature. Then there were whole teams of chemists who had to spend years on devising an insulator to go between the sheathing and the cable. Whole fields were planted with poles of different woods, coated in a wide variety of chemical slurries and left there for decades to see which ones withstood the test of time and climate best. There were no such things as devices to measure signal strength or channel capacity - engineers at Bell Labs had to invent those. It’s easy to forget how incredibly complex the phone system was and is.

Another aspect of Bell Labs I thought was interesting was how everyone in different department was encouraged to go visit members of other departments to learn about what they did, to unreservedly help people from other departments if they came and asked for your help, and to spend time essentially “goofing around”. A lot of worthwhile things came from going off on wild tangents, or helping someone else with their harebrained scheme.

The place was filled with mad scientists (some delightfully so, some who took some sinister turns later in life), including Mervin Kelly, John R. Pierce,  Claude Shannon, William Shockley, Bill Baker and many others.

The place was solely or largely responsible for radio astronomy, vacuum tubes, transistors and solid-state electronics, lasers, microwaves, C and C++ programming language, Unix operating system, photovoltaic cells, information theory, pulse code modulation, cellular communication, solar cells and many, many other things. Tens of thousands of patents were awarded to Bell Labs over the many decades of its existence. It spawned 7 Nobel Prizes, as well as Turing Prizes, Comstock Prizes, Kyoto Prizes, etc.

As William O. Baker said to a Senate Subcommittee looking to dismantle the monopoly, the Bell Labs “allowed human creativity to be converted to human benefits.”

S.o.t.D. - Technology Works Dub – Keith LeBlanc

Technology Works Dub – Keith LeBlanc

On-U-Sound – still blowing my mind all these years later.

The images in this are culled from the work of Edward Burtynsky. If you haven’t seen Manufactured Landscapes, you really need to.