Maxwell Street Polish

A Maxwell Street Polish consists of a grilled or fried length of Polish sausage topped with grilled onions and yellow mustard and optional sport peppers, served on a bun. The meal traces its origins to Chicago's Maxwell Street market, and has been called one of "the classic foods synonymous with Chicago".


The sandwich is widely said to have been created by Jimmy Stefanovic, a Macedonian immigrant, who took over his aunt and uncle's hot dog stand in 1939 (now called Jim's Original) located at Maxwell and Halsted in Chicago's old Maxwell Street market district. The Express Grill, which is located right next door to Jim's, advertises itself as the Original Maxwell St. Polish on its marquee, although it arrived after Jim's and serves almost an identical menu. Due to their virtually undivided storefronts and 24-hour service at the original Halsted Street location of both stands, Jim's Original and Express Grill had an added element of confusion for the casual observer not attentive to the change in signage a matter of feet in distance. Despite the competition, the Maxwell Polish sausage sandwich soon grew to be one of Chicago's most popular local offerings, along with the Chicago-style hot dog and the Italian beef sandwich.

Sæhrímnir

In Norse mythology, Sæhrímnir is the creature killed and eaten every night by the Æsir and einherjar. The cook of the gods, Andhrímnir, is responsible for the slaughter of Sæhrímnir and its preparation in the cauldron Eldhrímnir. After Sæhrímnir is eaten, the beast is brought back to life to again provide sustenance for the following day. Sæhrímnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.
The enthroned figure of High quotes this stanza in the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning and specifically states that Sæhrímnir is a boar. However, some scholars have translated the Poetic Edda attestation, which the Prose Edda attestation quotes, as not referring to the creature as any specific type. Those scholars who recognize a difference between the taxonomy of the creature between the two sources have commented on the matter, further issues have been raised about the apparently contradictory etymology of the name of the creature in relation to its apparent status as a boar, and some scholars have theorized that the ritual killing of the animal may ultimately stem from religious practices in Germanic paganism.

Toe

Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being digitigrade. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being plantigrade; unguligrade animals are those that walk on hooves at the tips of their toes. The toes are, from medial to lateral:

The human foot consists of numerous bones and soft tissues which support the weight of the upright human. Specifically, the toes assist the human while walking, providing balance, weight-bearing, and thrust during the gait.

Humans typically have five toes on each foot. Exceptions include polydactyly (more than five toes), and syndactyly or amputation (fewer than five toes). The four smallest toes consist of three phalanx bones, while the largest consists of two phalanx bones and two sesamoid bones. Many of the flexor tendons are shared, making it impossible to move individual toes independently; however, some prehensility, or grasping capability, does exist for most humans.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, or fó tiào qiáng, is a variety of shark fin soup in Cantonese and Fujian cuisine.  The soup or stew consists of many ingredients of non-vegetarian origin and requires one to two full days to prepare. A typical recipe requires many ingredients including quail eggs, bamboo shoots, scallops, sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, chicken, Jinhua ham, pork tendon, ginseng, mushrooms, and taro. Some recipes require up to thirty main ingredients and twelve condiments.

There are many stories on the origin of the dish. Among them, a common story is about a scholar traveling by foot during the Qing Dynasty. While he traveled with his friends, the scholar preserved all his food for the journey in a clay jar used for holding wine. Whenever he had a meal, he warmed up the jar with the ingredients over an open fire. Once they arrived in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, the scholar started cooking the dish. The smells spread over to a nearby Buddhist monastery where monks were meditating. Although monks are not allowed to eat meat, one of the monks who was tempted by the smell jumped over the wall to where the scholar gathered for cooking. A poet among the travelers said that even Buddha would jump the wall to eat the delicious dish.

Mach Five

The Mach Five (マッハ号, Mahha-gō) is the racing car Speed Racer (Go Mifune in the Japanese version) drives in the anime series of the same name (known as "Mach Go! Go! Go!" in Japan). The car was designed, built, and created by "Pops Racer" (Daisuke Mifune), Speed Racer's father. It features a set of special devices which Speed Racer uses throughout the series. In the original 1967 series, the Mach Five is a white racing car with an 'M' written on its hood (which does not stand for "Mach 5", but instead stands for "Mifune", both Go's last name, and the name of his father's motor company). In the 1993 American remake, the design was completely changed.

Its name probably derives from the fact that speeds above Mach 5 are known as hypersonic. However, the Mach Five cannot reach Mach speeds. The name is also a pun in two languages: the word for "five" in Japanese is "go". However, the "go" used for the car's name is a suffix attached to the names of ships, etc. Thus, the car is known in the Japanese version as simply the "Mach".

An actual race car that most closely resembles the Mach Five would be an early Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, designed by Scaglietti around 1958 through 1961. Another possibility of inspiration could be the Ford GT40, which was a very popular and successful racecar, mainly in Le Mans and other Touring series, in the 1960s. Another similar car is the Chaparral 2C.

Vox Phantom

The Vox Phantom is an electric guitar, originally released in 1962 by the Jennings company. It is unique for its distinctive, pentagonal shape, which became part of the iconic representation of the British Invasion. Originally made in England, manufacturing was later relocated to Italy.
Features of the Vox Phantom included 2 or 3 single-coil pickups, open-back tuners, and a Tune-o-matic bridge inspired by similar Gibson bridges. Later models included a Bigsby-inspired tremolo, designed by Vox's founder, Thomas Jennings. It included a round leather-coated pad on the back for comfort while playing. A 12-string version, the Phantom XII, was also made. Both 6 and 12 string guitars were also made as "Stereo" versions; capable of operating in stereo with a special cable which connected to two ampflifiers simultaneously. This enabled complex panning and switching effects that were in vogue as Psychedelic rock was popular.
Another variant of the Phantom guitars was the "Special". This included on board effects such as fuzz, Tremolo, and repeat percussion. Effects were operated by a series of push buttons along the bottom neck side of the pick guard.
The guitar shared many of the practical problems of similar unusually-shaped guitars, such as Gibson's Flying V. Its shape made it difficult to play sitting down, and its polyester finish scratched easily at its corners.
Numerous copies of the Vox Phantom's distinctive five-sided body design were manufactured, by companies such as Teisco and Kawai under the Domino brand name. Contemporary copies are also manufactured by companies such as Eastwood Guitars (called the VG6) and Jay Turser (called the Phantasia). Jack Charles of Phantom Guitarworks continues to build excellent replicas of this and other VOX models.
The 1998 USA VOX Reissue Phantoms, Teardrops and Mando Guitars were designed and produced by John Hawkins of North Coast Music who had been an existing VOX/KORG supplier since 1992. Various components including necks, pickups, finishing and hardware for the guitars were produced through existing North Coast vendors such as LaSido. Final assembly was subcontracted to a small Minnesota based builder, Kevin Smith of Tonesmith guitars.
For 2011 VOX reintroduced the Phantom in its Apache series. The travel guitar hosts a 2-channel guitar amplifier, speakers, several rhythm patterns, and an E-String tuner.

Nalukataq

Nalukataq is the spring whaling festival of the Inupiaq Eskimos of Northern Alaska, and is characterized most famously by the Eskimo blanket toss.

After the spring whale hunting season, successful crews celebrate with a Nalukataq festival. These take place in June, and are scheduled to avoid conflicts between villages to allow friends and relatives from distant communities to share the bounty and the fun. In Barrow, for example, Nalukataq is usually in the third week of June. Other villages may be in the week before or the week after. Scheduling depends on how many whales were caught as well as other factors.

Nalukataq serves two purposes: First, it is a celebration of thanksgiving for success. Second, it is the first of several times during the year when quaq (frozen whale meat) and muktuk (whale blubber and skin) are distributed to the community. The ability to produce and distribute wealth amongst the community is highly valued in Eskimo cultures, and whaling captains, who always give away large portions of their whales, gain great stature and respect within the village for every whale they catch.

Festive clothing is commonly worn to the event, and highly decorated mukluks and parkas of seal, caribou, wolverine, wolf, and fox are abundant.

Boy's Surface

In geometry, Boy's surface is an immersion of the real projective plane in 3-dimensional space found by Werner Boy in 1901 (he discovered it on assignment from David Hilbert to prove that the projective plane could not be immersed in 3-space). Unlike the Roman surface and the cross-cap, it has no singularities (i.e., pinch-points), but it does self-intersect.
To make a Boy's surface:

1. Start with a sphere. Remove a cap.
2. Attach one end of each of three strips to alternate sixths of the edge left by removing the cap.
3. Bend each strip and attach the other end of each strip to the sixth opposite the first end, so that the inside of the sphere at one end is connected to the outside at the other. Make the strips skirt the middle rather than go through it.
4. Join the loose edges of the strips. The joins intersect the strips.

Boy's surface is discussed (and illustrated) in Jean-Pierre Petit's Le Topologicon. Boy's surface was first parametrized explicitly by Bernard Morin in 1978.

Finial

The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods or applied to chairs and furniture. These are frequently seen on top of bed posts or clocks. Decorative finials are also commonly used to fasten lampshades, and as an ornamental element at the end of the handles of souvenir spoons. Architectural finials were once believed to act as a deterrent to witches on broomsticks attempting to land on one's roof.

Mofongo

Mofongo is a fried plantain-based dish from the island of Puerto Rico. It is generally made from fried green plantains (although fried yuca or breadfruit are possible) which is mashed together with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork cracklings or bits of bacon. It is often filled with vegetables, chicken, crab, shrimp, or beef and is often served with fried meat and chicken broth soup. Mofongo relleno is mofongo stuffed with stewed beef, chicken or seafood, with stewed sauce poured over.

A Dominican cookbook author says that mofongo in Dominican cuisine can be traced back to Puerto Rico but scholarship indicates the dish is ultimately of African origin and is a variant of a dish called "fufu" which is made from various starchy vegetables and was introduced to the Caribbean by Africans in the Spanish New World colonies such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. But unlike mofongo where unripened plantains are fried, then mashed, fufu is made of either green or semi-ripe plantain boiled then mashed.  Both fufu and mofongo are seasoned after the plantains are cooked and mashed.

Hofmeister kink

The Hofmeister kink (sometimes also translated Hofmeister kick, German: Hofmeister-Knick) is an automobile design feature seen on modern BMWs. It is a low forward bend in the C-pillar of the car, which is the piece of metal that separates the rear side windows from the rear glass. The kink formally debuted on the 1961 BMW 1500 at the 1961 Frankfurt Motor Show and was later named after then-BMW director of design, Wilhelm Hofmeister. In early models, the widened base of the C-pillar was sometimes adorned with the BMW roundel.

Apart from its pleasing effect, the Hofmeister kink is said by BMW to subtly highlight the fact that all BMW models have rear-wheel drive (or all-wheel drive biased to the rear).

Note that this design feature is not unique to BMW models. Similar C-pillar kinks have appeared on cars of other brands both before 1961 and since. For example, the 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Golden Dragon shows a considerable "Hofmeister kink" in its greenhouse design. However, the term "Hofmeister kink" is only used in reference to BMW automobiles, as it has become a distinctive styling cue used across all BMW model series.

Barbarian

Barbarian is a pejorative terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.
The term originates in the ancient Greek civilization, meaning "anyone who is not Greek", and thus was often used to refer to other civilized people, such as the people of the Persian Empire. Comparable notions are found in non-European civilizations.

The primary function of the word "barbarian", and its cognates, is to differentiate members of one's own society from people perceived as being outside of it, and to posit that one's own culture is superior. The word barbaros in Ancient Greek was an antonym for civis and polis. The sound of barbaros onomatopoetically evokes the image of babbling (a person speaking a non-Greek language).

The Greeks used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans and Carthaginians. In fact, it became a common term to refer to all foreigners. However in various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians and Aeolic-speakers) in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.

Zolar X

Zolar X is a proto-punk glam rock band, established in 1973, recently staging a comeback.
From 1973 to 1981 Zolar X became legendary on the west coast USA for dressing and acting like space-aliens 24 hours a day. They spoke ceaselessly in an "alien language" of their own invention, which would amuse, but often infuriate the public at large. They are referred to as "Los Angeles' first glam rock band" in the 1998 book Glam by Barney Hoskyns. Zolar X's origin is included in author Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen's quintessential 2001 book on the Los Angeles punk scene We Got The Neutron Bomb.

In the 1970s, Zolar X's outlandish image was matched by over the top performances, otherworldly stage sets, and their unique brand of glitter-space-rock. They were the house band at famed Los Angeles nightclub Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, which was recently immortalized in George Hickenlooper's 2004 documentary Mayor Of The Sunset Strip. Zolar X played historic gigs with Iggy Pop, Michael Des Barres, Jobriath, New York Dolls, among others. Ace Frehley of Kiss was a Zolar X fan and early supporter.

Zimmermann Telegram

The Zimmermann Telegram was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States. The proposal was caught by the British before it could get to Mexico. The revelation angered the Americans and led in part to a U.S. declaration of war in April.


The message came as a coded telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, on January 16, 1917, to the German ambassador in Washington, D.C., Johann von Bernstorff, at the height of World War I. On January 19, Bernstorff, per Zimmermann's request, forwarded the telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Zimmermann sent the telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany on February 1, an act which German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg feared would draw the neutral U.S. into war on the side of the Allies. The telegram instructed Ambassador Eckardt that if the U.S. appeared likely to enter the war, he was to approach the Mexican Government with a proposal for military alliance. He was to offer Mexico material aid in the reclamation of territory lost during the Mexican-American War (the Southeastern section of the area of the Mexican Cession of 1848) and the Gadsden Purchase, specifically the American states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Eckardt was also instructed to urge Mexico to help broker an alliance between Germany and the Japanese Empire.

The Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted and decoded by the British cryptographers of Room 40. The revelation of its contents in the American press on March 1 caused public outrage that contributed to the U.S.'s declaration of war against Germany and its allies on April 6.

The Great Daylight 1972 Fireball

The Great Daylight 1972 Fireball (or US19720810) was an Earth-grazing meteoroid which passed within 57 kilometres (35.4 miles) of the surface of the Earth at 20:29 UTC on August 10, 1972. It entered the Earth's atmosphere in daylight over Utah, United States (14:30 local time) and passed northwards leaving the atmosphere over Alberta, Canada. It was seen by many people and recorded on film and by space-borne sensors.

Analysis of its appearance and trajectory showed it was a meteoroid about 3 metres (9.8 ft) to 14 metres (46 ft) in diameter in the Apollo asteroid class in an Earth-crossing orbit that would make a subsequent close approach to Earth in August 1997. In 1994, Czech astronomer Zdenek Ceplecha re-analysed the data and suggested the passage would have reduced the meteoroid's mass to about a third or half of its original mass (reducing its diameter to 2 to 10 metres).

The meteoroid's 100-second passage through the atmosphere reduced its velocity by about 800 metres per second (2,600 ft/s) and the whole encounter significantly changed its orbital inclination from 15 degrees to 8 degrees.

If it had not entered at such a grazing angle, this meteoroid would have lost all its velocity in the upper atmosphere, possibly ending in an airburst, and any remnant would have fallen at terminal velocity. 

MiG-15

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in daylight. The MiG-15 also served as the starting point for development of the more advanced MiG-17 which was still an effective threat to supersonic American fighters over North Vietnam in the 1960s. The MiG-15 is believed to have been the most widely produced jet aircraft ever made, with over 12,000 built. Licensed foreign production perhaps raised the total to over 18,000. The MiG-15 is often mentioned along with the North American F-86 Sabre in lists of the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War and in comparison with fighters of other eras.

Herbsaint

Herbsaint is a brand name of anise-flavored liquor currently produced by the Sazerac Company and originally made in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Herbsaint first appeared in 1934. It was the creation of J.M. Legendre and Reginald Parker of New Orleans, who learned how to make absinthe while in France during World War I. It first went on sale following the repeal of Prohibition, and was unique in its category as an absinthe substitute, as opposed to a pastis. Herbsaint was originally produced under the name "Legendre Absinthe", although it never contained Grande Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). The Federal Alcohol Control Administration soon objected to Legendre's use of the word "absinthe", so the name was changed to "Legendre Herbsaint".

The Sazerac Company bought J.M. Legendre & Co. in June 1949. Herbsaint was bottled at 120 proof and 100 proof for many years, but the recipe was modified in the mid 1950s, when Herbsaint began being bottled at 100 proof and 90 proof. By the early 1970s the 100 proof variation was discontinued, and the 90 proof version remains the predominant Herbsaint available today. In December 2009, the Sazerac Company reintroduced J.M. Legendre's original 100 proof recipe as Herbsaint Original.


The name Herbsaint originates from "Herbe Sainte" (Sacred Herb), the French/Creole term for Artemisia absinthium.

Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall (born March 30, 1926) is an American television and radio personality, singer, and actor.
He was the original host and "The Master" of The Hollywood Squares, from 1966 to 1981. He has almost fifty television, movie, and Broadway credits.

Peter Marshall was born as Ralph Pierre LaCock in 1926 in Huntington, West Virginia, to a show business family. Following his father's death, he moved to New York City to be with his mother, a costume designer. His elder sister, Joanne Dru, was an actress who is best remembered for her roles in the films Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and All the King's Men.

At the age of 14 he was a theater usher. In the 1950s, Marshall earned his living as part of a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, and they appeared in night clubs, on television variety shows, and in films including Starlift (1951), The Rookie (1959) and Swingin' Along (1962). He appeared in the 1958 episode "The Big Hoax" of the syndicated television series Harbor Command.

In London's 1962 West End production, Marshall appeared in the stage musical Bye Bye Birdie, a satire on American popular culture in the 1950s inspired by singer Elvis Presley receiving a draft notice into the Army. Marshall played the lead character of Albert Peterson, who writes a song for the pop-singing sensation Conrad Birdie (played by Marty Wilde). The production ran for 268 performances.

Although Marshall occasionally worked in film and television, he could not find regular work in the industry until his friend Morey Amsterdam recommended him to fill in for Bert Parks (who emceed the pilot) as the host of the game show The Hollywood Squares in 1966.

The show had a long run on daytime network TV and in syndication, making Marshall as familiar to viewers as the celebrities who appeared on the show. The easy-going and unflappable Marshall was a perfect foil for the wicked wit of such panelists as Amsterdam and his Dick Van Dyke Show castmate Rose Marie; Paul Lynde, Jan Murray, and Wally Cox. The Hollywood Squares was canceled by the NBC network in 1980, but production continued in syndication into 1981.

Marshall grew tired of hosting the show after several years and wanted to leave. Toward that end, he would make outrageous salary demands whenever his contract was up for renewal, hoping that he would be fired for doing so, but his demands were always met.

One of his memorable post-Squares roles was a cameo in the 1982 film version of the musical Annie, playing fictional radio personality "Bert Healy".  As of February 2009, his last feature film acting credit was the 1993 film Sista Dansen (The Last Dance).

Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy?

Why not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy? is a 1921 "readymade" sculpture by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp made the piece as a birdcage containing a thermometer, a piece of cuttlebone and 152 marble cubes. He crafted the cubes to look like sugar cubes. Only when lifting the cage does it become clear that it is much heavier than it would be if the cubes were made of sugar.

About the sculpture, Duchamp said:

It is a Readymade in which the sugar is changed to marble. It is sort of a mythological effect.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art displays the original as part of the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection. Several replicas exist, made by Duchamp, but only in the original are the cubes stamped "Made in France".

Far Out Space Nuts

Far Out Space Nuts is a Sid and Marty Krofft children's television series starring Bob Denver as Junior, a seemingly dim-witted but uniquely clever maintenance worker employed by NASA, and Chuck McCann as Barney, his grumpy, short-tempered co-worker. Patty Maloney played Honk, their furry friend who made horn sounds instead of speaking. One of only two Krofft series produced exclusively for CBS (the second being 1984's Pryor's Place), Far Out Space Nuts aired in 1975 for one season, and produced 16 episodes. Like most children's television shows of the era, Far Out Space Nuts contained a laugh track.

Like most of the Kroffts' productions, the show's opening sequence provides the setup of its fanciful premise: While loading food into various compartments to prepare a rocket for an upcoming mission, Barney instructs Junior to hit the "lunch" button, but Junior mistakenly hits the "launch" button. The rocket blasts off and takes them on various misadventures on alien planets.

M-28 Davy Crockett

The M-28 Davy Crockett Weapon System was a tactical nuclear recoilless gun for firing the M388 nuclear projectile that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War. Named after American soldier, congressman, and folk hero Davy Crockett, it was one of the smallest nuclear weapon systems ever built.

The Davy Crockett was developed in the late 1950s for use against Soviet troops had war broken out in Europe. Small teams of the Atomic Battle Group (charged with operating the device) would be stationed every few kilometers to guard against Soviet attack, using the power of their nuclear artillery to kill or incapacitate advancing troop formations and irradiate the area so that it was uninhabitable for up to 48 hours, long enough to mobilize NATO forces.

The M-388 round used a version of the W54 warhead, a very small sub-kiloton fission device. The Mk-54 weighed about 51 lb (23 kg), with a selectable yield equivalent to 10 or 20 tons of TNT (very close to the minimum practical size and yield for a fission warhead).
The recoilless gun proved to have poor accuracy in testing, so the shell's greatest effect would have been its extreme radiation hazard. Even at a low yield setting, the M-388 would produce an almost instantly lethal radiation dosage (in excess of 10,000 rem) within 500 feet (150 m), and a probably fatal dose (around 600 rem) within a quarter mile (400 m).

Bog iron

Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite (FeO(OH)). It was discovered during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron.
Iron-bearing groundwater typically emerges as a spring. The iron is oxidized to ferric hydroxide upon encountering the oxic environment of the surface. Bog ore often combines goethite, magnetite and vugs or stained quartz. Oxidation may occur through enzyme catalysis by iron bacteria. It is not clear whether the magnetite precipitates upon first contact with oxygen, then oxidizes to ferric compounds, or whether the ferric compounds are reduced when exposed to anoxic conditions upon burial beneath the sediment surface and reoxidized upon exhumation at the surface.
Iron made from bog ore will often contain residual silicates, which can form a glassy coating that grants some resistance to rusting.

Blue Box

An early phreaking tool, the blue box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functions by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism. The most typical use of a blue box was to place free telephone calls - inversely, the Black Box enabled one to receive calls which were free to the caller. The blue box no longer works in most western nations, as modern switching systems are now digital and no longer use the in-band signaling which the blue box emulates. Instead, signaling occurs on an out-of-band channel which cannot be accessed from the line the caller is using (called Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS)).

The blue box got its name because the first such device confiscated by Bell System security was in a blue plastic case.