What is Digg?36 Comments
- SwordofKahless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I wonder if any of the cables still work.
- Comatose51, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I recently finished "A Thread Across the Ocean" which was about laying down the first successful cable.
Cyrus Field had a strong reputation for being extremely fair. When he made his first fortune by buying up a bankrupt company and settling its debt by paying dimes on the dollar, he turned the company around and later paid all the creditors back the full amount plus interest, as if the company he brought never went banktrupt. This act itself would later prove to be useful when his first attempt at laying the cable failed and he never bankrupted himself. People were willing to lend him the money because of his reputation for being honest and fair. - pmcall221, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6They scouted an area across the Atlantic before hand that was flat.
The insulation used for the wire was also used for the first golf balls. - RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about the under sea cables 110 years ago. The message still applies today.
The Deep-Sea Cables (1896)
The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar --
Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind white sea-snakes are.
There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of the deep,
Or the great gray level plains of ooze where the shell-burred cables creep.
Here in the womb of the world -- here on the tie-ribs of earth
Words, and the words of men, flicker and flutter and beat --
Warning, sorrow and gain, salutation and mirth --
For a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor feet.
They have wakened the timeless Things; they have killed their father Time;
Joining hands in the gloom, a league from the last of the sun.
Hush! Men talk to-day o'er the waste of the ultimate slime,
And a new Word runs between: whispering, "Let us be one!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipling - JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Very interesting article, and a story I was completely ignorant about. It piqued my interest enough to make me want to look up a larger text on the topic. I only hope that more articles like this show up here!
Thanks for the submission, Capin. - Ryan_KW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The first cable doesn't work, but the cable station in Heart's Content, NL is still there. You can tour it to see all the equipment used to make the cables work. That's just as damninteresting!
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/diglib/library/hearts-content/museum/muse.html - B0jangles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The article doesn't quite emphasise how important the Great Eastern was in laying the first Atlantic telegraph cable. Only it's sheer bulk could of allowed the connection between the New world and Great Britain.
This is a much better article on it: http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.62/chapterId/1290/The-Great-Eastern-as-a-cable-laying-ship.html - djNullSpace, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Please... like they teach this stuff in school! At least not where I was, and I attended one of the best public schools in CT... evidently.
- Comatose51, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Meant to say "he nearly bankrupted himself..."
- Shadar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This article doesn't even scratch the surface of how interesting the Trans-Atlantic Cable's story actually is. You should all check out the Modern Marvels on this subject which can be found on P2P if the History Channel isn't replaying it any time soon.
I promise you it will be an hour you're glad you spent... very good MM, perhaps the best one I've seen. Amazing is the only words I have for Mr. Field's. One of the most determined men in the history of our world. - gd007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3good article.
- capn_caveman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4You're welcome... damninteresting just so happens to be my favorite blog on the internet so if you liked this submission then check out the rest of the site. It's very aptly named. And no, I don't work or write for them :-)
- rhinopig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@pmcall221
Looks like somebody watched Connections3 ! - nycjap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you found this article interesting, check out the great exhibit on the trans-Atlantic cable at the Museum of American History in DC. Really cool stuff.
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Great Eastern sank Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was originally meant to be a luxury ship but the huge costs of building it coupled with bad luck forced the original constructors to sell it. It was unique in that it was double-hulled, something not replicated for more than a century after it was built. If my memory serves me correct, it once struck an iceberg bigger than the one that sank the Titanic and the crew never noticed a thing.
- pmcall221, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@rhinopig
Yes I did watch Connections3 and 2. I miss that program. :-( - miken32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Find this interesting? Read Neal Stephenson's huge essay for Wired from ten years back. Still one of my favourites.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html - Barryke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Exactly what mankind thinks about Digg.com in ten years.
- Barryke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I got this on school. I'm dutch.
- TopherT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2What do you do about contenental drift? Sure we're talking about slow movement, but if these wires are anchored it must be a factor to consider.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, really... did you people think we used steamships to communicate with europe untill 1960? wtf?
- pritch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Looking back, it seems incredible that something like this could work. The signal-to-noise must have been awful!
- dave024, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0QUOTE PRITCH"Looking back, it seems incredible that something like this could work. The signal-to-noise must have been awful!"
tat1,cantat , S/N comparable to local networks, and also broadcast quality on TAT1 - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I say that's one long tube. No wonder the interwebs are so slow.
- Tonepoetic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0TopherT: Continental drift wasn't an issue, since the cables weren't anchored to anything. They were just loose and lying on the ocean floor. And yeah, almost the whole run of the first cable is a huge plateau. It was a pretty ideal spot.
- Tonepoetic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And actually, it could have been done without the Great Eastern. They succeeded with two smaller ships; it was just a crappy cable.
- physdave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The article leaves a lot of the story out, almost to the point of being misleading.
As Comatose51 said, Cyrus Field was not the nutter he's often portrayed to be,
and there were a few other major players, perhaps even equally important, in
making this happen which gets glossed over.
The cable failure at 100V wasn't the operators' fault, either, it was a lack of
understanding of materials properties in cold saltwater under pressure. The
operators first used it with "normal" cable voltage, something much lower,
and as the cable corroded and voltage leakage occurred (although they
didn't know that), they kept jacking up the voltage to compensate. It
eventually failed, but due to saltwater penetration, not operator mishandling.
The full story is fascinating, for the terminally curious. Numerous books have
been written about it. - brodie57, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'M WELCOME! THANKS AGAIN
- Chongo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Never learned this in school.
When we would ask, the teacher would say... "Ronald Reagan makes it possible". Then the teacher would jot something down in some sort of ledger. - ghm101, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6These cables are- damn interesting (ha)
Anybody know what they did about the deep ocean trenches?
did they just avoid them?
did they run the cable down in to them and then up the other side?
just curious..:) - seventoes, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2your welcome?
- cr3ative, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Ouch - they didn't use coaxial cable!
- fuggo, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2his welcome?
- monergism, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Do the Diggers not listen in school?
- fatcat, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1this is older then computers
- franksmith, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0COOL!!!
Thanks!
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