It’s called the Telectroscope and the story of how it was built and how the system of lenses and mirrors allows you to view straight from London to New York is right here.
It brought to mind the 1935 movie The Tunnel, which I saw on PBS when I was eight or so. It’s an epic story about the construction of a sub-Atlantic tunnel between London and New York.
I don’t know why everyone is so jazzed up about linking these two cities. It’s not like they have that much in common except for the wealth, culture, and high cost of living.
There’s a great scene in The Tunnel where the architect of the tunnel has to drive a nuclear drillhead through a submarine volcano. Everyone knows the North Atlantic is lousy with those volcanoes.
Also: I have finally passed up Bruce Sterling in the topical information department. A full twenty days after I blogged the super-exciting news that Amitabh Bachchan has his own blog, Sterling also reported that story on his Wired blog.
Although Sterling seemed to like it a lot better. Can’t say I’m a big enough fan to actually read the actual text of Bachchan’s blog. The man writes like Immanuel Kant. No doubt another sign of the Bachchan genius.
