Notices by Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)

Taft (Connecticut Avenue) Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC, 2019.

Presidential-grade pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49245011451

#photography

Marina, San Diego, CA, 2012.

A rising tide of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/8270972060

#photography

Philadelphia Inquirer Building, Philadelphia, PA. 2017.

All the pixels, none of the ink or paper, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/32309131520

#photography

There were three AT&T radiotelephone sites in the continental US, each with its own transmit and receive antenna farms: Ocean Gate, NJ (shown here, serving the North Atlantic), Miami (serving the Caribbean and the Gulf), and Point Reyes, CA (serving the Pacific).

All the sites have by now been razed, either for redevelopment or as nature preserves. The antennas are mostly gone now.

Shortwave "Discone" Antenna, Former AT&T High Seas Radio Transmitter Site, Ocean Gate, NJ, 2009.

All the pixels, none of the per-minute toll charges, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4141766569

#photography

Captured with a DSLR and a 24mm shifting lens.

During the 20th century, AT&T operated a shortwave "radiotelephone" service for vessels on the high seas. Ships could contact an operator, who could connect them with any landline telephone number they wished.

The North Atlantic station, callsign WOO, occupied expansive transmit and receive "antenna farms" in marshlands near the shore in central New Jersey.

Rendered obsolete by satellites, the service ceased operation on November 9, 1999.

Ships on the high seas still occasionally make some use of shortwave radio, but its importance has greatly diminished over the last few decades. The Coast Guard still maintains a "watch" on emergency shortwave frequencies, listening for distress calls, but most transoceanic ships are now equipped with more modern, higher-bandwidth satellite communications systems.

These places are what the Internet looked like a century ago.

I should note that while the site had a number of discone antennas like this one, they were mostly there as backups in case the main antennas (including truly massive wire rhombics pointing toward various oceanic regions) or transmitter combiners failed. The old Bell System did not mess around.

Here, by the way, is what I believe was the last published frequency list and schedule for the High Seas service. (A souvenir of my last visit to the station before it went off the air.)

I understand the urge to delete ones’ Twitter/X account, and for many people, that’s a sensible choice. But I’m just leaving mine intact but dormant (as it’s been for a couple years now), and for some, that may be a better option.

The reason is that there are a lot of links to tweets and threads that have accumulated over the years, including from many prominent news publishers. I don’t want to support X, but I also don’t want to contribute to memory-holing this history.

It’s a balance.

RFK Jr is going to completely revitalize the medical leech farming industry.

Lighthouse, 2014.

Too many pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/15393439037

#photography

Trump appears to be selecting his senior appointments not for their ability to advance any particular policy agenda, but simply to maximize recklessness and damage.

@thepacketrat @gregotto You have to admit you probably didn't have a good answer to this ready.

FAA "BRIJJ" Station, Foster City, CA, 2024

All the the pixels, for authorized personnel only, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/54128020212

#photography

Captured with the Rodenstock 40mm/4.0 HR-Digaron-W lens (@ f/6.3), Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 50), Cambo 1250 Camera.

This humble, somewhat dilapidated shelter, a few miles south of SFO airport, once housed a medium wave aviation beacon (NDB). It currently hosts a variety of aviation surveillance sensors. Its location is also waypoint on the way to SFO runway 28R.

This kind of infrastructure, integral to modern aviation safety, is almost invisible if you don't know where to look for it.

Infrastructure is quietly heroic, and deserves to be seen that way.

@vaurora A practical use for antimatter

This seems like a good place to re-up an academic job at Georgetown that will be a great opportunity for someone.

We've got an open position for a Professor of Computer Science, Ethics, and Society. This will be a senior appointment (with a named chair) in CS, with a joint research appointment in the recently formed Center for Digital Ethics.

I'm part of both CS and CDE, and I've found Georgetown to be an amazing place for interdisciplinary work (and amazing students).

https://apply.interfolio.com/129971