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Adalbert is a forum for me, to post ephemera, photography, poetry, occasional travel notes, and various spontaneous motions. Cover photo: Parsonage where my great-grandfather spent his early years. Taken near Liegnitz, Silesia, ca. 1870. The "xothique" portion of the web address is a nod to Clark Ashton Smith's fictional continent of Zothique.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Toe to Toe with the Rooskies II

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Another relic from the Alaskan project my father worked on in the late 1950s (see entry of  3 August 2012).  I am pretty sure the White Alice network, or anything concerning it, no longer falls under the label of "classified" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Alice_Communications_System -- in fact, the government decommissioned the antenna array decades ago.  White Alice -- wasn't that a Jefferson Airplane Song?
 
In Hodges' biography of Alan Turing, he indicates that American usage made "classified" a synonym for "top secret," rather than referring to levels of classification.  Classification level:  Top stupid.   Then, the American habit of saying "hello" repeatedly through the day irritated Turing during one of his stints here.
 
The guy on the phone looks as if he's about to issue some kind of doomsday order.  Serious business, no doubt.

5 comments:

  1. Fascinating stuff! A few remarks:
    - The guy on the phone is probably about to say: 'hello'.
    - So the Alaskans couldn't hardly phone to the other states before the 1950's, unbelievable.
    - Alice White ain't that bad looking.

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  3. I like the checked pattern of "Scoop" and its shape, it looks like a modern work of art.

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  4. Yes, it does -- unfortunately most or all of those antennae are no longer extant, apparently. Maybe we'll have to go back to that way of communication if the satellites ever fail.

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  5. I strongly suspect the shot of the man holding the phone was staged for the camera. Rob, I'd never heard of Alice White before this, looked at the wiki about her. I agree. Perhaps ex-governor Palin could revamp the network, in case Putin gets any ideas.

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