Location of ALL Austin Moonlight Towers

Moonlight towers are one of the really fun things left from the end of the 19th century in Austin. There is a dark story behind their creation that you can read here. They have been decimated by construction permission, accidents and "accidents", as well as benign neglect. Expensive work was done not too long ago to refurbish them and prevent further failure for some time to come. I was trying to answer a question about an old photo tonight that showed a moonlight tower in the background. In my research, I found this map at the Austin History Center Web site. If you are interested in the topic, all current and past tower sites are marked on the map.

Comments welcomed.

Buggin' the 21st Century

A friend sent a link to this blog post today. It was written by a fellow who uses one of my favorite tools: A semi-automatic key or bug. That is what the manufacturer of them, Vibroplex, calls these wonders of very old technology. I won't stand in the way of the nicely written blog post. Enjoy!

Comments welcomed.

This ole house

This is another of the wonderful images from the same collection as the last post. This one is from a place that commenters say is now practically downtown Houston, though in May of 1943 it doesn't appear to be quite the busy street that it likely is now.

I like the wraparound porches, the turret, the laundry, the spilling over of the baskets of fruit to the front of the house and the soft drink advertising on the store. I like the delivery wagon and the horse. The composition is excellent.

Comments?

This display of photos from much earlier times needs folks to view it. The example image I included above is a good example, though there are both images of things and people in it. One person who commented on the photo decided it should have been called, "Burning Ring of Fire". That appealed to the punster in me.

But the image itself is a thing of beauty. This image shows a moment in the process of putting a new steel tire on a locomotive wheel. (Who knew they even DID such things?)

Comments? (either this shot or the whole of the collection)

Spring cleaning for the French attitude

I guess I had pushed this whole story from the dusty archives of French history, begun slightly before my birth but carried out almost my entire life, under a mental carpet. This BBC story does an admirable job of characterizing it, putting it into perspective, and allowing American thoughts to engulf what enormity it has in the form of a hold on the lives of almost all French citizens living today. Some may know and escape from the lie, but there must be many, many who haven't or don't want to do so. Their current president may make holding back almost impossible. Time will tell.

Building a triode

What can I say? The Holy Grail of music has seemingly (at least during our lifetimes) been the perfect amplifier. That piece of electronica which can reach the world with music.

Or if you're a ham radio operator, reach the world with your own voice or digital signal or Morse Code: to communicate completely and sufficiently with those whom you'd like to carry on a conversation.

The linked blog posting deals with a video that celebrates a kind of amplifier. The first amplifier, to be exact. The triode vacuum tube as realized by Lee De Forest so long ago. That tube started in many ways the modern electronic age. It is when the writer found, as the MAKE blog post says,

...this documentary about the 2006 European Triode Festival in the Netherlands, celebrating the 100th anniversary of this game-changing electronic component. To celebrate, a copy of the De Forest Audion (the first triode) was replicated. This video documents the build.

One of the most watched videos of the whole MAKE blog was one where a triode was constructed.

The Anti-Ky-WHAT?

For those who've been keeping up with all the controversy and discussion of what the 2,000+ year old Greek device (Antikythera) found, crusty, rusty, and decrepit in the body of a sunken ship must have been originally used for, here is a video of a model a museum curator (Michael Wright) has constructed that includes all the known functions that have been identified for this old device. It is thought in some circles to be the first analog computer, though it is unlikely that this device was not based on earlier devices that used some of its principles. He constructed it in his workshop, which MUST be rather better filled with construction devices than mine is. You can see more about it here.