quirky

← All Posts

Currently filtering posts by tag quirky

The Telephone Songs

Posted by

  quirky telecom

2 min read | 496 words | 506 views | 0 comments

Depending on how old you are, you may remember watching a video called "Telezonia" when you were in grade school, instructing young children how to use the telephone in a musical and playful way.

If you do, hats off to you! If not, that just means you're probably young.

The most famous Bell System instructional video was called "Adventures in Telezonia". There were multiple videos made over the years with this name, but the most popular one was released in the 1970s. The plot? According to AT&T Archives, which releases Bell System videos, "It starts off like a typical short film cautionary tale, but once they take a trip inside the telephone, things go terribly weird. This film is a cult classic."

The music has become a classic in and of itself, too. Below are a… — Read full post

Limes Are Not Unripe Lemons

Posted by

  quirky

1 min read | 243 words | 341 views | 0 comments

Limes and lemons are typically flavors found in carton drinks; for whatever reason, they're not popular fruits for solitary consumption (though I happen to like both limes and lemons). I was speaking the other day with someone who uses lemons, and only lemons, frequently as a cooking ingredient. I was surprised when she asserted that limes and lemons are the same fruit. Obviously, this is not true; she backtracked and asserted instead that limes are just "unripe lemons".

While there are nutritional differences between limes and lemons I won't disclose here, the fact remains that saying limes turn into lemons is like saying windows turn into doors. Limes and lemons are completely separate fruits. A bit of research will turn that up. … — Read full post

What The Color Coded Tape Means On Store Columns

Posted by

  quirky telecom

1 min read | 222 words | 372 views | 0 comments

Many stores like Walmart and Sam's Club, especially the older ones, color-code their poles. Have you ever noticed colored pieces of tape at the top of some of these poles? Yes, they actually mean something!

  • Blue — Blue tape at the top of the pole indicates that there is a telephone at the bottom of the pole.
  • Yellow — Yellow indicates a spill clean-up station is located at the bottom of the pole.
  • Red — Red indicates that a fire extinguisher is located at the bottom of the pole. Hopefully, you'll never need to look for this one.

Some poles may have more than one piece of tape. For example, a pole may claim a blue piece of tape and a yellow piece of tape. That means both a telephone and a spill clean-up… — Read full post

A Cool "Telephone Trick" That Will Impress Your Friends

Posted by

  quirky telecom

1 min read | 77 words | 597 views | 0 comments

  1. First, pick any 7-digit telephone number. For example — 567-1234
  2. Now, punch in the first 3 digits of the number you chose
  3. Multiply the number by 80
  4. Add 1 to the result
  5. Now, multiply that answer by 250
  6. Now, add the last four digits of your telephone number to the result from Step 5
  7. Add the last four digits of your telephone number again
  8. Subtract 250 from your result
  9. Now, divide the number by 2
  10. You should now end up with the number you chose

AM/FM Radio Numbering — What's The Deal?

Posted by

  quirky tech

2 min read | 317 words | 418 views | 0 comments

Millions of people regularly listen to terrestrial radio. AM (amplitude modulation) is an older standard than FM (frequency modulation) and is easier to implement. AM signals can travel between 100 and 300 miles while FM signals are limited by the curvature of the Earth, giving them a maximum distance of about 50 or 60 miles. While AM signals fade with distance, FM is consistent within the receiving area, making AM ideal for news broadcasting and FM ideal for music.

All FM radio stations end in an odd number (88.3, 96.1, etc.), though this is purely conventional and regulated by the FCC. AM frequencies are measured in kilohertz, while FM frequencies are measured in megahertz. AM stations range from 520 kHz to 1710 kHZ, with stations spaced 10 kHz apart, while FM stations range fr… — Read full post

A Couple Videos Guaranteed to Get You Laughing…

Posted by Contributor

  quirky tech telecom

1 min read | 132 words | 345 views | 0 comments

Someone once said that laughter is the best medicine. Even if you're not sick right now — I'm sure we could all use a little laugh right now. Well, I wanted to take a minute and share out some videos I've seen in the past that are guaranteed to get you laughing. If they don't well, let me know and we'll chat. This first video addresses the notion that desktop computers are stationary and stay in one place — all the time. Well, in this video, some students have decided to attend a lecture and they bring their desktops with them, computers, keyboards, monitors, dial-up modems, and all. In this second video, you'll witness what happens when… — Read full post

Walmart CEO — Impostor or the Real Deal?

Posted by Contributor

  quirky

2 min read | 462 words | 385 views | 0 comments

A couple years ago, I received an angry email from the CEO of Walmart. Yes, you heard that right. But was this email really from the CEO of Walmart, or was it an impostor eager to wreak havoc by submitting support tickets? This question has bothered me ever since I received this message from the "CEO of Walmart", and looking back at it, it seems unlikely that this email was sent from the actual CEO of the world's largest superstore. However, until anyone offers to step forward as the sender of this email, I will continue to attribute the ambiguity and hilarity that ensued after reading this email to him,

Why did I receive an email from the CEO of Walmart? A few years ago when I offered local services through a local school, I decided to create a webpage dedicated to some of the p… — Read full post