Repurposing

I love this—the traditional red phone boxes are mostly gone now, just like pay phones in the U.S., but many of them have been repurposed into mini-libraries, or, like this one, a defibrillator in case of emergency.

Life in the Nineties

I am trying to be ruthless in my latest round of closet cleaning, and have hauled several huge garbage bags to the basement without making any appreciable difference in the levels of junk I possess.

Among the things I got rid of: the New York Times from November 1992 announcing Bill Clinton's election, and a copy of Newsweek from a few months later covering the incoming administration. What was more interesting in that issue was the “Best Of” lists for 1992, including this cutting edge “pocket phone.”

Seriously. That thing is a phone?

Best Product of 1992:

For telephone junkies, the best came in small packages: Motorola introduced the world's lightest cellular phone. The MicroTAC Ultra Lite (price $945), the first portable to weigh in under half a pound, has been ringing up record sales since it was unveiled in September. As tiny as it is, the MicroTAC is expected to extend Motorola's big lead over such rivals as Fujitsu (which just introduced a similar phone with a new return-call feature). Pocket phones are the fastest-selling segment of consumer electronics. Total sales of pocket phones topped 1 million units last year, compared with 87,000 four years ago.

 

Urban poetry

One of the quaint Colonial communication devices in Newport.

Can you hear me now?

All these pictures of overhead lines reminded me of this wonderful photo in the Atlantic's World War I series: a German officer proudly demonstrating his mobile telephone.

I would have guessed that field telephones were a much later invention. Of course, the fact that it apparently required a minimum of four men trailing behind you laying out the cable (and presumably winding it all up again later) made it a little impractical for widespread use.