2024-11-23 cablesoft

So we all know about twisted-pair ethernet, huh? I get a little frustrated with a lot of histories of the topic, like the recent ~~neil breen~~ serial port video, because they often fail to address some obvious questions about the origin of twisted-pair network cabling. Well, I will fail to answer these as well, because the reality is that these...

There were thousands of reports: strange aircraft, floating through the sky. A retrospective sum of press accounts finds that some 100,000 people were reported to have witnessed aerial intruders. Despite the scant details associated with most reports, an eager press repeated the claims with fervor. The claims became more fantastical. Prominent...

Histories of radio broadcasting often make a particular focus on the most powerful stations. For historic reasons, WBCT of Grand Rapids, Michigan broadcasts FM at 320¸000 watts. Many AM stations are licensed to operate at 50,000 watts, but this modern license limit represented a downgrade for some. WLW, of Cincinnati, once made 500,000. Less is...

At the very core of telephone history, there is the telephone operator. For a lot of people, the vague understanding that an operator used to be involved is the main thing they know about historic telephony. Of course, telephone historians, as a group, tend to be much more inclined towards machinery than people. This shows: websites with...

I have quipped before about "underground datacenters," and how they never succeed. During the late decades of the Cold War and even into the '00s, the military and (to a lesser extent) the telecommunications industry parted ways with a great number of underground facilities. Missile silos, command bunkers, and hardened telephone exchanges were...