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I'm thinking, why would you lie about something that's so easily checked? Doesn't make much sense, really.

This page has a timeline. Note that it states that the DOJ requested the breakup with the initial filing in 1974, 10 years before the actual breakup occurred.

There are 16 valid touch tones, not 12. You just never get to see the rest of the system.

I am curious how they maintained this after the AT&T breakup, but I imagine that law that prevents majority foreign ownership of a US LEC has something to do with it.

This is not some ultra-secret network, it is a set of features that is only implemented on military phone switches. It's not widely known, but the frequencies are published, and you can buy surplus phones with the extra keys for cheap:

• http://www.surplussales.com/Communications/Phones. html
• http://www.navyrelics.com/tribute/touch_tone_info. html
• Here's the picture: http://www.surplussales.com/Images/Communications/ Telephones/tel-200809.jpg.
• And an Autovon picture http://www.navyrelics.com/tribute/images/66dial6c_ reduced_size.jpg

The 1963 Autovon system uses the four extra keys for priority, as follows: Autovon legends:

FO = Flash Override
F = Flash
I = Immediate
P = Priority

There are 16 valid touch tones, not 12. You just never get to see the rest of the system.

I am curious how they maintained this after the AT&T breakup, but I imagine that law that prevents majority foreign ownership of a US LEC has something to do with it.

This is not some ultra-secret network, it is a set of features that is only implemented on military phone switches. It's not widely known, but the frequencies are published, and you can buy surplus phones with the extra keys for cheap:

• http://www.surplussales.com/Communications/Phones. html
• http://www.navyrelics.com/tribute/touch_tone_info. html
• Here's the picture: http://www.surplussales.com/Images/Communications/ Telephones/tel-200809.jpg.
• And an Autovon picture http://www.navyrelics.com/tribute/images/66dial6c_ reduced_size.jpg

The 1963 Autovon system uses the four extra keys for priority, as follows: Autovon legends:

FO = Flash Override
F = Flash
I = Immediate
P = Priority

If you didn't get it, look here and here.

Remember the name of the guy who showed up at the Patent Office 2 hours after Alexander Bell did? Neither does anybody else

What about Manzetti who applied for a "advice of patent" 5 years before Bell? I believe the name you're referencing is Elisha Gray. Interestingly, Gray's "caveat" (meaning he didn't have one built yet) would have worked while Bell's patent application did not. I read somewhere that Bell stole an idea from Gray's patent, but that has been disputed. Bell's claim was challenged hundreds of times and they never lost one. Here is a detailed history of the invention, including the patent wars.

Ease of use - AOL Joe isn't l33t. No codes, no dongles, no Captain Crunch decoder wheels. Quick initial registration, download and double-click, get billed monthly.

Isn't that, no Captain Crunch decoder whistle?

Also--in the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley"--even I know a good deal of that movie was exaggeration and pretty flashy things, but blue boxes WERE shown--what did a blue box look like? Any URLs?

Hrm... they were blue :P

Actually, there ended up being hundreds of [color]boxes, back in the day, I once found instructions for making just about all of them. Of course, most of the cool ones wouldn't work anymore (more advanced, hack-proof phone system).

A blue box doesn't really have a 'look' to it anymore then a radio or an answering machine does. It just needs to be able to plug into phone network (or make the tones in the air, in front of the receiver, which is much cooler in my mind).

this page has some pictures, one of Capt'n crunch holding a small device up to a phone... hrm, according to this goggle search it's still possible to blue box in Chile

Amber Yuan 2k A.D

• #5 Crossbar The last of the electromechanical central office telephone switches, #5 Crossbar has an unmatched track record: No #5 switch was ever down for more than 30 minutes for any reason other than a natural disaster or a major fire. That level of reliability has not been matched in the electronic switching era. The distributed architecture of #5 crossbar made the switch as a whole much more reliable than its components and subsystems. When electronic switching came in, a much more centralized approach (two redundant mainframes driving a dumb switch fabric) was used, and it failed more.
• Centralized Train Control A technology from the late 1920s that made possible the safe operation of heavily travelled railroads with multiple tracks and complicated junctions. Everything was carefully engineered to follow the Golden Rule of Signalling - everything must fail to a safe condition. Even if signal lines are struck by lightning. Even if poles are knocked down. Even if ice freezes a switch or train stop device. Details here, including a simulator down to the relay contact level.
• Stainless steel The wonder material of the 1930s. It doesn't rust. It's very strong. It looks good. It lasts centuries, maybe millenia. It's expensive and hard to work, but if you want something permanent, it's the way to go. The DeLorean was made of stainless steel. Yet today, stainless steel is a niche product. Too permanent?
• Synchronous AC electric clocks. Plug it in and forget it. No batteries to change, lasts for decades, and the power company keeps it in sync. Yet hard to find today.