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45+ Years to Sunnyvale, California: a pilgrim's journey...


Faicuai

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...Right from the very first time I ever saw that large (projected) RGB screen with a "humongous" screenplay of Star Raiders, I always wondered how was that possible, who made it and where those people came from... 8-)))

 

...After many years, the opportunity came, by means of an entirely different venue, but somehow taking place on the same area (Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and San Jose)... Some of us may have not fully understood it, but it turns out that these places are intimately connected with each other, and (most importantly) with our past and present (of almost all members of this forum). Even more interesting (and humbling) is to see these places up-front, with your naked eye:

 

(click on images for maximum detail)

 

1. Hewlett-Packard Garage (the birth-place of Silicon Valley, and we already know how the world changed after... The place is secured, maintained and protected, with no access to the public):

 

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2. Steve Jobs Garage (this is a multi-frame pano so you get a better perspective in one pass... Actual people live here, and there are trespass warnings all over... it is well known what that place means and what happened here):

 

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3. Atari Head Quarters (1265 Borregas Avenue): quite a LARGE building, seems mostly empty (no signs it is being used, although appears to be registered to U.S. Department of Defense)... but very well maintained from the outside... it takes up a whole block... Like the time stopped and stood still there... LOTS of companies surround it, including Juniper, etc.

 

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As a bonus, and another place often overlooked but of integral importance, is INTEL's Museum, where you will re-discover the world-changing legacy of Robert Noyce, whose invention is deemed as important (for humanity) as the wheel itself:

 

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And some extras from Intel's treasure-chest (including the 4004, Intel's first-ever commercial chip running @ 740 Khz):

 

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Without any of these developments, nor Atari nor this Forum may have ever existed. I would wholeheartedly recommend everyone to take some time to check these places out, next time you visit San Francisco's beautiful bay area...

 

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Cheers!

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These are excellent pics! I was lucky enough to have to go out to work occasionally to Sunnyvale and I drove by the Atari HQ quite a few times.. I didn't get out to Jobs place or the HP 'birthplace' though - love the pictures!!

 

THANKS!

 

There is one more place that is worth visiting (between Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, it is a tight area, everything is close), which is the Computer History Museum... I could not do it, as I had a limited amount of time, in one particular day, to pick and choose these locations...

 

Stanford University campus is also there (in Palo Alto) and I have to say it is beautiful, indeed:

 

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Have a million more pictures, but I guess this gives a good glimpse on the area...

 

​Cheers!

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Around 88 or 89 I went on a road trip with my family to California for the usual vacation stops like Disney and Universal, but I requested we visit that Atari HQ office. I was pretty excited to visit 'mecca' and they gave us a few bits of paraphernalia, can't remember what, but I remember a baseball hat and a 'atari player on board' window cling... can't expect too much more for just showing up I guess. went back years later and the building was now Proxim - the atari sign out front on the street was just covered up with a cover with the new logo..

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There is a story that most people here? have probably not heard of? Concerning the appearance/development of electronics - that the breakthrough of the modern IC was through reverse engineering of crashed UFO technology.

I first read about this back in the 90s' from a posting about the American Computer company - and this was later repeated - when Colonel Corso detailed his background with the US Army. Testimonies about UFOs and such related matter are given in the Disclosure Project. If you are good at spotting people lying versus those giving a genuine account then you have a good number of people to view - as to whether they are being genuine or not?

This kind of story should not be much of a surprise - if you ever wondered how the Nazis managed to come up with some very clever designs in their wonder weapon technology - because it is said that they took a great interest in ancient accounts of wonderful technology recorded in our ancient past - and of their great interest in the occult - such that they made use of psychics in their inner circle.

The truth rarely comes out in today's modern world - the real story behind historic events. There are so many lies that go on and on - and maintained - that the so called true story ends up being like some kind of science fiction story - but we are living in science fiction times. Give credit where credit is due - but there are those who won't acknowledge where outside credit is due - because they think man was always ingenius enough to work things out for himself - and that he always worked alone.

 

Harvey

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No mysterious ancient or secret technology required for any of this stuff - aerodynamics, rocketry, missiles, nuclear technology and electronics all builds on basic physics (albeit in different fields). The development of each branch of engineering physics is well-documented in the historical records, from Archimedes to the present day. Just read some books (real ones, not found in occult or conspiracy theory nonsense sections of the library). Better yet, take a college class in physics, engineering, or chemistry. Or preferably all three.

 

No aliens required. :)

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Agreed. Integrated Circuits were not a huge leap for us. It was the inevitable evolution of technology, each "thing" (to use the technical term) building on what came before us. It's not like we went from learning how to create fire to building 8-bit computers over a weekend.

 

As the T-shirt I recently got my daughter for her birthday says:

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True geniuses are not recognised for what they are - were. Tesla is a supreme example of this. Was he crazy in his later years or not?

People are starting to acknowledge Tesla for what he contributed to our modern life - but in earlier decades - he wasn't.

Viktor Shauberger is the Tesla of water - if Viktor's work is recognised - the power of water would be fully realised.

John Hutchinson is another genius of sorts - but more of an experimenter - he does things which seem to be impossible. His work should be repeated in universities etc - instead of being ignored.

 

Anything to do with UFO, aliens - ancient advanced technology etc - is firmly linked with science fiction - and is not regarded as part of our own history and present day, etc.

Yet Christopher Dunn goes around with his metal ruler pointing out artefacts in Egypt - which simply cannot be created with copper chisels and stone pounders, etc. An aerospace engineer who highlights sharp straight edges and finely polished surfaces - which defy explanation.

 

Use your own brain to work out - what is real and what is not real? Don't go simply with what is accepted by the masses. Do your own research, do your own observations - go by your own life experiences etc.

 

Harvey

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Use your own brain to work out - what is real and what is not real? Don't go simply with what is accepted by the masses. Do your own research, do your own observations - go by your own life experiences etc.

 

Harvey

 

Use your own brain to ... take a college class in the subjects I mentioned. Everything is worked out from first principles. No magic alien bullshit required. :)

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There's people that think the F-117 and B-2 stealth technology was aquired from crashed alien craft.

 

Truth of the matter is - the Germans designed a flying wing aircraft in WWII which had stealth (radar deflecting) elements in the design.

With a computer helping design and a flight computer running the unstable airframe, the strategy of deflecting as little radiation back to it's source as possible was entirely doable in the 1980s.

The radar absorbing materials and paint - given we've had teflon for decades and cars and houses can now be held together with glue, it's expected progress of material science.

Edited by Rybags
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And the little fact that initially the Stealth craft wasn't so stealthy when it was wet or being rained on...Just a little niggle :)

 

I'd liked to have seen some of the German inventions under the Nazi's, they claimed to have a working prototype of a flying saucer that they made but their almost fanatical love of Black Magic and the Dark Arts worried me but I would have liked to have seen The Bell working.

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What I tend to believe in - is that humanity goes way way way back in time and that there is probably some grain of truth to the legends of the world - which in essence say that the 'Gods' were aliens as such - taught mankind the art of civilisation - and even lived amongst us for a time. And they were giants.

This seems to date back to the time of the megalithic builders - who use interlinking blocks to form large walls - this kind of building is present in Egypt - dating back to it's foundation work there - and it is seen elsewhere in the world. Also the technique of joining blocks with a metal I join - that is flat. The greeks used a metal I as well, but instead of flat it was raised.

Did they copy this idea/technique or did they come up with their own method to secure the blocks?

Puma Punku is hard to explain - but it looks like a cataclysm occurred which scattered the H-blocks apart. Does this indicate a worldwide cataclysm that occurred at this time?

The H-block construction shows advanced technology present?

 

We know cataclysms have occurred that would have wiped life out - to restart all over again - and the story of Atlantis is about one being man made - Atlantis and Mu becoming war like to one another and eventually wiping each other out in some Atomic like war. If man is of the order of 4 to 5? million years old - do you really believe we were primitive for most of that time - and that only civilisation developed in the last 14,000 or so years?

And if you believe that humanity must have developed elsewhere in the universe - given millions of earth like planets out there, and millions of years - that space faring humans were travelling the universe - for millions of years?

Are we a primitive human race nowadays? Or are we an advanced human race? Which club do we belong to?

 

Harvey

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Seriously, this is getting absurd. You want to talk about ancient aliens and vague bugaboo-mystical stuff, there's better threads and forums than this one.

 

However, I suggest you take some college-level classes in math, science and engineering. A single undergraduate freshman year at any decent university would help your scientific literacy immeasurably.

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Are there any organized tours of these various important and historic sites, or is it necessary to locate and visit each one individually?

 

Is there some consolidated list with the addresses (and hours, if applicable)?

 

I'd love to visit, but I'm not much of a driver (especially in Southern California traffic), and I'd waste more time looking for the places than actually seeing stuff, especially since (I assume) most are located in industrial areas.

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It's been proven time after time that what scientists believe to be fact, turn out to be wrong! Taking college-level classes can only teach you what they currently think is the truth...

 

For example:

The earth is not flat.

The coelacanth isn't extinct. along with other fish and animals.

Particle relocation (transporter theory) is possible.

Time travel is possible.

 

And there are many more...

 

People who claim others are scientific illiterate only prove to be illiterate to certain facts themselves.

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It's been proven time after time that what scientists believe to be fact, turn out to be wrong! Taking college-level classes can only teach you what they currently think is the truth...

 

For example:

The earth is not flat.

The coelacanth isn't extinct. along with other fish and animals.

Particle relocation (transporter theory) is possible.

Time travel is possible.

 

And there are many more...

 

People who claim others are scientific illiterate only prove to be illiterate to certain facts themselves.

 

No, you're confusing rote memorization of factoids with "education." They're not the same. And if you took a year (or two, or eight ...) of serious education beyond high school, you'd understand that. If education teaches any single thing, it's how to learn BY THINKING CRITICALLY. Starting from first principles, deriving equations, seeing and understanding patterns (and distinguishing real patterns from looking at clouds and seeing castles), reading critically and recognizing biases ...

​It's clear that there's painfully little of that going on these days. :-o

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No, you're confusing rote memorization of factoids with "education." They're not the same. And if you took a year (or two, or eight ...) of serious education beyond high school, you'd understand that. If education teaches any single thing, it's how to learn BY THINKING CRITICALLY. Starting from first principles, deriving equations, seeing and understanding patterns (and distinguishing real patterns from looking at clouds and seeing castles), reading critically and recognizing biases ...

​It's clear that there's painfully little of that going on these days. :-o

That's just rhetoric ;)

 

A person doesn't need college courses to learn, I've taught myself electronics, math, computer programming and other topics that you'd scoff at for not being able to comprehend...

In 5th grade I was getting D's in math, but I learned to recognize patterns in numbers and got A+'s from then on though high school and beyond.

 

While in the Air Force, I took the I.Q test. Mine is 178, what's yours?

Edited by AtariGeezer
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My IQ? Enough to get into Mensa. And the Air Force Academy. And several other institutions of learning, higher and lower. How far can you run? How much can you bench press? How many carcasses have you butchered and how many brick walls have you built? How many pieces of spaceflight hardware have you designed? How many children have you raised to adulthood? Blah blah blah. We're one step from "My dad can beat up your dad!" Please. More irrelevant factoids (see above). Not worth belaboring further because it sidesteps the point.

​You are making the classical mistake of conflating the concepts of knowledge, education, and intelligence. None of those are the same things, though of course a Venn diagram would probably have some overlap. And of course, those three are not wisdom either, which can't be learned, only earned over time. I have known my fair share of self-taught geniuses, and I've known more than a few who suffered badly from Dunning-Krueger Syndrome - not that they would believe anyone who tried to tell them. I've also known people of average intelligence who are millionaires by sheer dint of hard work, good judgment and the willingness to listen to carefully-selected people who could be trusted with details and work they could not themselves do. And everyone in between. But basic scientific literacy doesn't require any specific level of intelligence, merely a willingness to learn, to think critically, and understand the difference between fact, opinion, hypothesis, theory and law.

 

Frankly, I think it's absurd I have to defend the very concept of scientific literacy and the education that goes into developing that on a computer forum.

 

And with that, I'm out.

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