---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <54fcb503-747d-4b48-859f-9e0e5763273f@googlegroups.com> Date: 14 Sep 2019 12:55:27 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Utility pole sentimentality The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that there's a burst of sentimentality over a utility pole scheduled to be replaced. ... the pole had been marked for replacement while a new, seemingly younger-looking pole lay on the sidewalk next to it. On the old pole, riddled with staples, was a 150-word typed sign topped with "Good-bye." It went on to bid farewell to the neighborhood in a wholesome, yet oddly fatalistic fashion. since then, more than 35,000 people from South Philly to India have hit the "like" button.... full article with pictures, including the farewell note, at: https://www.inquirer.com/news/utility-pole-sign-south-philadelphia-goodbye-new-old-twitter-viral-20190913.html This isn't new. There was a famous Bell System ad of the company saving a pole that had memories of a fallen soldier. https://books.google.com/books?id=llYEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA57&dq=life%20telephone%20pole%20memorial&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false ------------------------------ Message-ID: <94e962a7-da90-4b81-96b6-44119289579f@googlegroups.com> Date: 14 Sep 2019 13:32:43 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: History 1961 TSP console toll switchboard Around 1960, the Bell System developed an automated console switch- board to handle operator-assisted long distance calls. These included collect, person-to-person, credit card, third-number billing, and time-and-charges. For the caller, the big change was to dial 0 + area code + number. For the telephone company, this allowed the switching equipment to connect the call and record billing information instead of the operator connecting it manually hand via cords and recording the information by hand on a toll ticket. It was a huge boost in productivity. In addition, on pay phone calls, the console screen told the operator how much money was needed, eliminating a rate table look up. The system was known as TSP, Traffic Service Position. An improved version was known as TSPS, or Traffic Service Position System. Today, all of that is essentially obsolete. Long distance telephone calls today are so cheap there is little need for those special classes of calls. Payphones are almost gone. Advertisement in LIFE magazine in 1961. https://books.google.com/books?id=blMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=life%20dec%2022%201961&pg=PA175#v=onepage&q&f=false Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_Service_Position_System WE writeup http://etler.com/docs/WECo/Fundamentals/files/13-TSPS.pdf ------------------------------ Message-ID: <56AF03E6-8AF7-4C54-B95E-FF03E662B557@roscom.com> Date: 14 Sep 2019 18:48:48 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Why people believe obviously fake videos and images I create fake videos. Here's why people believe even the obvious ones People will accept anything as true if it confirms their beliefs - regardless of whether a video or image has obviously been manipulated. https://www.fastcompany.com/90404007/i-create-fake-videos-heres-why-people-believe-even-the-obvious-ones ------------------------------ Message-ID: <229CDAC3-B137-403A-8ED9-6EE490C49B9A@roscom.com> Date: 14 Sep 2019 13:05:03 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Phone Companies Hate Robocalls, Too By Claire Suddath I received nine robocalls this week. Last week, it was 11. My voicemail is full of concerned telemarketers letting me know that I'm a "strong candidate" to have my student loans forgiven, that I qualify for "medical-grade braces" (for my teeth? my legs?), that I can make $6,000 per month working for a website called dataentryjob.org that I'm not going to visit because I'm not an idiot, and that I've qualified for a free cruise. Of the 26.3 billion robocalls that Americans received in 2018, I'd estimate that I personally received a billion of them. It feels that way, at least. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-01/sunday-strategist-phone-companies-hate-robocalls-too ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sun, 15 Sep 2019