Image: Oxum

Let’s face it: satellite television dishes are a pretty common feature of the urban (and not so urban) landscape; they seem to appear, as if at will, virtually wherever there’s space! Even so, the impression left by the following images goes beyond this sense of pervasiveness, showing not only the ubiquity of satellite dishes in the modern world, but also they way they show up in incongruous and just plain weird places — everywhere from castle walls, to desolate mountain tops, to dusty roads being pulled donkeys (yep, you heard right!).

This first photo shows a vista over Istanbul. Puzzlingly entitled “Encrypted” (perhaps because satellite TV encryption must provide jobs for a large workforce in a city with such densely packed dishes!) this mind-boggling image shows just how ever-present satellite dishes have become on the global scene. How many dishes? Count them, and you tell us!

10. Boarded Up

Image: Don O Brien

This boarded up old store building in Ohio seems like an unlikely place for anyone to be making use of a satellite dish — but there it is, in plain sight. If it wasn’t left behind by the previous occupants (surely the most likely scenario) perhaps the new tenants are getting ready to restore the old building, and are making a start by installing a satellite dish. In any event, this pic seems an ideal place to begin, highlighting as it does the curious meeting of old and new we’ll be seeing more of…

9. Creative Installation

Image: Martin Wunderwald

How many dishes can we fit into a few square feet of allotted space? That must have been the question asked by the creators of this odd but also beautifully spherical artistic spectacle in Krakow, Poland. It certainly gets across the idea of satellite dishes being a form of technology that provides us with a “global vision”! And if that’s too highbrow for you, just imagine this installation rolling towards you like a runaway boulder!

8. Medieval Reception

Image: Mike Searle

This 15th-century fortified tower, situated in Cork, Ireland, is the wonderfully named Kilgobbin Castle. Although many centuries old, the recently restored castle seems to have found a 21st-century function as a telecoms mast. See, if you look carefully you’ll spy a satellite dish clinging to its ancient walls. This photograph offers a glimpse into an anachronistic world where satellite technology has arrived early for the inhabitants of medieval stone forts. We wonder if they’re watching the Jousting Channel inside!

7. Ee-Awning

Image: Zac Shepherd

This fascinating photo was taken in The Gambia, West Africa. Entitled “Rolling Down the Road,” its photographer, Zac Shepherd, has managed to capture the odd sight of a satellite dish being transported via donkey cart, while an oncoming storm is brewing in the background. Beautiful and bizarre, the picture shows the lengths people will go to in order to get a satellite dish into their lives — though this giant specimen can clearly also provide shade or shelter!

6. Peak Condition

Image: David Robertson

At the summit of the wonderfully named Cort-Ma-Law, a mountain in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, intrepid hikers will find this lonely looking satellite dish, which seems like incongruity itself! As photographer David Robertson points out, someone must have gone to a good deal of trouble to secure the dish and two “CCTV in operation” signs to the marker at the top of the 1,742-foot (531 m) mountain. Why was it put there? You tell us!

5. Tree Want More

Image: Russel Wills

These next two interesting photos neatly illustrate the idea of contrast we’ve seen in this post, capturing as they do the oddly isolated — and weirdly natural-seeming — locations in which satellite dishes can sometimes be found. The first, taken in the beautifully named village of Killiecrankie in Scotland, has a faintly mysterious feel, as if the woods have grown over a former habitation. A tree certainly seems a strange place for a dish to be mounted…

Image: Matthew Guy

The second satellite dish in this entry is actually enjoying the luxury of a large garden; it’s been positioned almost 100 feet (30m) away from the owner’s house. As photographer Matthew Guy explains, “It’s so big I am glad it’s not on the house!”

4. Multi-Colored

Image: View Thru My Global Lens

These brilliantly painted satellite dishes were spotted adorning the side of an apartment building in an Amsterdam neighborhood, and while seeing so many of these dishes clustered together certainly speaks of bizarre placement, in truth it’s as much the creative thinking that went into this display that meant we simply had to include it in our list!

Image: www.DishTech.net

Featuring an even greater multitude of the brightly painted dishes, this shot sweetly captures the way in which each dish seems to be vying for space on an apartment block. And come to think of it, the vibrant colors do make these peculiar parabolic antennas seem more out of place in their somewhat more drab urban setting.

3. Lost Bunker

Image: Brian Ingalls

This mysterious satellite dish is described by photographer Brian Ingalls as being part of a strange bunker in the backwoods. Certainly not your average dish — nor your average site for one! The remoteness of the location seems clear — though whether the satellite signals are quite so easy to detect here remains to be seen. In any event, it’s a curious pic neatly highlighting the point that these dishes get everywhere!

2. Great Outdoors

Image: Katja Forbes

There’s nothing quite like the great outdoors for getting a little perspective on life, the universe and all that… The peace and quiet of nature can be beautiful to experience, but let’s face it, we need to stay in touch with the rest of the world while we’re there! Which is where the satellite dish comes in! Sitting atop a camper van spotted in Normandy, France, this dish goes to show you can be off the beaten track and tuned in at the same time!

1. Satellite City

Image: Jamie Barras

This picture was taken in Istanbul and neatly shows the density of dishes in the city once known as Constantinople. The captivating Turkish metropolis is known for its contrasting glimpses of the ancient alongside the modern — a recurring theme in this collection — and this shot clearly shows it’s not short of satellite dishes either! No wonder this place has been dubbed “Satellite City”…

Image: Oomid

Istanbul makes another appearance in this final pic, and as you can see, it’s an impressive shot. We’re not sure how many satellite dishes there are here, but needless to say, it’s a lot!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Image: Julien Celdran

Satellite dishes have bestowed a plethora of marvels upon the modern world, aiding in space exploration, allowing for increased security from military attack, and of course, helping to provide an amazing choice of television services from all over the globe! However, despite the fantastic range of TV that satellite dishes help to offer, not everyone is keen on their appearance. Or maybe it’s just a question of people feeling the need to personalize the dish that brings so much…

Image: Julien Celdran

The following images show the imagination employed and the artistic efforts that some have gone to in order to conceal these symbols of the modern age. We bring you the ten most awesomely disguised satellite dishes we could find.

10. Smileys

Image: Manfred Werner

These two happy satellite dishes show what is possible when you put a smile on something’s face! The first is to be found at the alternative cultural center known as the Arena, in Vienna, Austria, where we’re sure it fits in just fine!

Image: Mju Tabor

The second smiley dish, meanwhile, was snapped in Heidelberg, Germany. Guaranteed to cheer up those who keep their eyes peeled, these dishes create a welcome break from the usually somewhat grayer appearance of satellite dishes! Great idea!

9. Brickwork

Image: Blasius Bojthe

Here are a couple of awesome dishes sharing a similar idea, the first of which comes to us from London, England. Cleverly camouflaged — they actually blend in with their respective brick walls — these dishes show what is possible with some skill and no small amount of imagination.

Image: Richard Holt

Okay, okay — you’ve got us — the first of these brickwork-painted TV satellite dishes is actually a Photoshop job, and we kind of suspect the second of these is, too. Then again, one can never be sure. What do you think?

8. Sundial

Image: Giovanni Dall

This beautifully altered — and creatively repurposed — satellite dish can be found in Taormina, Sicily. Painted to look like a sundial, it bears the inscription “Pigghia e potta,” which means, “Get it and take it away.” We hope no one heeds this command, as we think it looks great just where it is! (The message actually refers to the Sicilian sunshine!) We wonder if this dish-cum-sundial actually can tell the time as well as receive a signal…

7. Easel Job

Image: Anne Murphy

Displaying the artistic lengths that truly creative individuals sometimes go to, this delightful effort looks perfectly at home outside with its depiction of the great outdoors. Sitting in a relaxed spot in the garden, this painted and wonderfully “scenic” dish certainly looks more at ease-l than in its usual habitat on the side of a building!

6. Sqish

Image: Sqish

“When is a dish not a dish? When it’s a Sqish!” reads the tagline of this product, which comes to us from England. The Sqish is a kind of satellite dish created to be as discreet as possible.

Image: Sqish

Whether it’s in the form of the awesome dish pictured above or one of the many other cool designs, Sqishes have been made to blend in with their environment as much as possible. Calling this disguise technique “sqishoflage,” the makers clearly have some interesting ideas on how to make the outward appearance of satellite dishes more interesting!

5. Almost Overgrown

Image: Amund Nedland

Peeking out of the corner of this cool picture is an all but hidden satellite dish. Found perched on the roof of a building in Bergen, Norway, the dish is surrounded by dense vegetation — which has totally covered the brickwork — but it has somehow managed to stay just about in sight. Great image!

4. CIA Smiley

Image: Melissa Nysewander

Another smiley face next, this one found on the satellite dish of a former CIA tracking system. Apparently, the Americans knew that the system was under Soviet surveillance, so they went and painted on the big smiling face! Well, anything that brightens up the world just that little bit is good by us. A bit of humor certainly couldn’t have done the Cold War any harm!

3. Suburban Camouflage

Image: Copyright 2010 Raymond D Andrews Jr

Next up, we have an awesome image of a truly blink-and-you’ll-miss-it satellite dish. Secreted away in the garden, this dish is decorated with the green foliage pattern of the garden hedge around it and is definitely blending in with its environment! Where is it again?

2. Let’s Dance

Image: Mary Hockenbery

Another beautiful display of artistic ability, this dish is brightened up by the joyful depiction of a dancing couple. In actual fact, it’s not a working satellite dish but rather a super clever way to recycle one — turning it into a garden feature that makes you totally forget its former purpose. If only all technological accessories looked so good!

1. Custom Created

Image: Julien Celdran

Artist Julien Celdran has worked with satellite dishes on two separate occasions — in 2003, in neighborhoods north of the French town of Borges, and more recently in Brussels, Belgium, in 2010-2011 — and we’ll think you’ll agree, the results are pretty spectacular. Interestingly, the designs were not painted on but instead were digitally printed onto stickers, and the project was a collaborative one, completed with the help of the residents.

Image: Julien Celdran

The people chose the ornamental decorations based on decorative objects from inside their homes — from fabrics and jewelery to carpets and curtains. Aiming to take “good taste” outdoors to address the local community while publicly representing cultural and individual difference, the project is also a perfect example of brightening up the environment. Magnifique!

Image: Julien Celdran

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

At first, the draw of reality TV was the drama and excitement that came from the lives of real people. Yet of course, the entertainment industry being what it is, it was quickly decided that real people doing real things was just a little too boring. Instead, producers started putting their real-life “characters” into increasingly bizarre situations, and then just fabricating events completely. Some of these moments are simply staggering in their phoniness, begging the question: why do we bother calling it reality TV at all?

10. Bear Grylls and the “Wild” Mustangs

In the Sierra Nevada episode of Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls makes much of the fact that these are some of the few wild horses left in the United States. He talks about how he hopes against hope that he can catch and ride one of these extremely wild animals.

It’s amazing how quickly he gains the trust of the horse, although it doesn’t let him ride it. That itself is remarkable, as the horses were tame animals from a nearby trekking station. This was by no means the only time Man vs. Wild was called out on fakery, but it was one of the most blatant.

9. The Hills – Final Scene

If the wooden acting and obviously rehearsed lines weren’t a clue, the fact that this finale was perfectly timed and placed to send the series off with a bang was a little coincidental.

http://youtu.be/y55iuIjuj6U

There’s also the way they kind of hinted at it with the final clip of a Hollywood backdrop. And if that’s not enough for you, Audrina basically admitted it in an interview: apparently it was an open secret as the show began to draw to a close.

8. The Snooki and Angelina fight on Jersey Shore

While your gaze is probably drawn to the two girls fighting on the sofa, try to keep an eye on JWoww’s feet.

We have socks, then no socks, then socks again. If this was a genuine fight, then how on earth did JWoww manage to sneak her socks on and off again? And why would she bother? This was very clearly filmed with more than one take and spliced together. It seems the tans aren’t the only fake things on this show…

7. Joe Millionaire

Given that it was a show about women vying to become the bride of a millionaire whom they had never previously met, Joe Millionaire was never going to provide the classiest of entertainment. The TV-watching public was, however, shocked to see that one of the contestants had performed an intimate act on the eligible bachelor behind some trees in efforts to better her chances.

However, after the show had aired, the contestant stated that no such incident happened: the producers had added sound effects and used a piece of dialogue from earlier in the day — “Think it’ll go better laying down?” — to trick viewers.

6. The “Love Triangle” on Laguna Beach

Everyone loves a love triangle — the drama, the tension, the will-they-or-won’t-they — and the producers of Laguna Beach thought they had one ready to go with Lauren, Kristin and Stephen.

The only problem was that Lauren and Stephen just weren’t interested in one another that way, according to a story editor who worked behind the scenes. Not to worry, though: with the magic of editing you can make even mortal enemies seem like lovers. So, making it appear as if there was sexual tension between the two friends was a breeze.

5. John and Kate Plus 8 – Family Christmas

According to Kate Gosselin’s sister-in-law, this whole episode is faked. The sister-in-law says that producers came up with all the ideas, as they felt that viewers would like to see some thanks given to those who helped Jon and Kate raise so many children.

It turns out the caroling and cookie-making “traditions” were anything but, as Kate’s sister-in-law says they were purely for the cameras. Then there are all the extra shots of Kate cooking and baking, which the sister-in-law says were simply put in to promote a cookbook.

4. Deadliest Catch – Wave Footage

Deadliest Catch is often the go-to example of a reality TV show that avoids fakery. However, it seems that even this show is not immune to the demands of trying to capture ever-more exciting scenes live on camera.

It turns out the scary scenes from the season four opener, similar to the season six clips shown here, were filmed in October, while the flooded boat was filmed in September. At least, that’s what a leaked production outline shows. Discovery Channel deny that the production schedule was accurate, but do admit that they did not have shots of the scene that caused the damage and had to film another version.

3. The City – Whitney’s Job

In this trailer for The City, we hear Whitney profess that she would never have taken her fashion design job with Diane von Furstenberg if she wasn’t “serious.” Weird, then, that she apparently doesn’t spend much of her time actually working.

http://youtu.be/Q27eqPxd_T8

According to inside sources, Whitney is barely ever in the office, and the need for continuity in case of re-shoots means that other employees can’t actually move anything on their desks!

2. The Real World: Chicago – 9/11 Reactions

When the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 took place, the cast of The Real World: Chicago were at Wrigley Field baseball stadium for a photo shoot. However, that didn’t stop the producers from staging their reactions to watching the destruction unfold “live” on television.

http://youtu.be/HXVmcXphykM

It seems that their emotional response was real, but the fact that the program-makers felt the need to fake a live viewing for better ratings is quite simply disturbing and disrespectful.

1. Survivor – Jonny Fairplay’s “Dead” Grandmother

This bit of fakery wasn’t actually the doing of the show-runners, although they could have blown the whistle if they had wanted to. The sheer audacity of pretending that your grandmother died in order to get sympathy votes is simply unbelievable.

What’s more, Jonny Fairplay didn’t just leave it at that; he manipulated the other contestants into giving up their chances to spend time with a family member so he could hang out with his friend and hear about how his grandmother “died.” All the while, she’s sitting at home, hale, hearty and happy as a clam. He then proceeded to swear on his grandmother’s “grave” when he needed to convince people of his honesty.

Image: Wikipedia

In the last 20 to 30 years, the satellite dish has become an ever more frequent addition to our local environments. Most American towns and cities have had access to satellite television for a generation, and that broad white dish is a familiar sight on the sides of many modern homes. What is not always acknowledged about satellite TV reception is that size isn’t always everything: dishes intended for home use actually shrank in the early 1990s. However, for dish antennae used as radio telescopes for capturing distant observations of space, size really does seem to matter. Here, then, are the ten largest such dishes on Earth.

10. The Dish, USA

Diameter: 150 feet (46 meters)

Image: Steve Jurvetson

Ensconced in the foothills of Stanford, CA, the radio telescope known simply as The Dish is a landmark visited by around 1,500 people every day. Yet, while undoubtedly a popular site for hikers and joggers, The Dish is also actually still operational today, used by both academics and other researchers. Built by the Stanford Research Institute in 1966, this 150-foot-diameter (46m) behemoth was initially intended for study into the chemical make-up of our atmosphere but, with its powerful radar antenna, was later used for communication with satellites and spacecraft — notably the Voyager probes sent forth to explore the outer solar system.

9. Algonquin Radio Observatory, Canada

Diameter: 150 feet (46 meters)

Image: Bquine

The Algonquin Radio Observatory is to be found in the verdant Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. The centerpiece of the observatory is its 150-foot (46m) parabolic dish (“parabolic” refers to the curved surface that directs the radio waves), which became famous in the 1960s for its participation in the earliest successful tests of a technique known as “very long baseline interferometry” (VLBI). VLBI allows for the simultaneous observations of an object by many telescopes to be combined — leading to far more powerful results. Nowadays, the Algonquin site is active as a control point for GPS and is operated by Thoth Technology. With a dish this big, we bet they could also pick up some interesting TV shows!

8. Large Millimeter Telescope, Mexico

Diameter: 164 feet (50 meters)

Image: yuri-islas (flickr)

Mexico’s Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) is a relatively recent addition to the list of largest single-dish radio telescopes. Inaugurated in 2006, this 164-foot (50m) instrument constitutes the biggest and most responsive single-aperture telescope for observing radio waves in its own frequency range (approximately 0.85 to 4 mm, in case you were wondering!). Providing astronomers with valuable information regarding star formation, the LMT is located in the state of Puebla and sits atop the Sierra Negra — the fifth highest mountain in Mexico. A joint Mexican and American project, it cost $116 million and took ten years to be built.

7. Parkes Observatory, Australia

Diameter: 210 feet (64 meters)

Image: Ian Sutton

Completed in 1961, Australia’s Parkes Observatory was one of several radio receivers used to pick up live TV transmissions of the lunar landing in 1969. As well as being part of this auspicious moment in history, the Observatory continued to provide NASA with valuable information during their other moon missions, relaying signals and providing coverage when our only natural satellite was on the Australian side of the Earth. More recently, between 1997 and 2002, it undertook the largest blind survey in search of neutral atomic hydrogen galaxies. Also on the CV: more than 50 percent of presently known pulsars — rotating neutron stars — were discovered at Parkes. Not a bad record for this beautiful-looking — and movable — 210-foot (64m) radio dish telescope.

6. Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, USA

Diameter: 230 feet (70 meters)

Image: Nasa

Commonly known as the Goldstone Observatory, this next astronomical site is situated in the expanse of California’s Mojave Desert. One of three similarly constructed complexes — the other two are located in Madrid, Spain and Canberra, Australia — Goldstone is home to a dish, known as the Mars antenna, which is 230 feet (70m) in diameter. This highly sensitive radio telescope — which was actually modeled on, and later upgraded to be bigger than, that of Australia’s Parkes Observatory — provides scientists with information that helps in the mapping of quasars, comets, planets, asteroids and more. The Goldstone complex has also proven its worth in the search for high-energy neutrino transmissions on the moon. Reckon it can pick up 3rd Rock From the Sun, as well?

5. Yevpatoria RT-70 Radio Telescope, Ukraine

Diameter: 230 feet (70 meters)

Image: S. Korotkiy

The group of three RT-70 radio telescopes that were developed by the Soviet Union is made up of the Yevpatoria planetary radar in the Ukraine together with those of Suffa — on the Suffa plateau in Uzbekistan — and Galenki (Ussuriysk) in Russia. They all share similar specifications, notably their 230-foot (70m) diameter dishes. The Yevpatoria telescope, in particular, has been used to observe asteroids and space debris. It is also known for the A Message From Earth (AMFE) project, in which, on 9 October 2008, a high-powered digital radio signal was beamed out towards Gliese 581c — a so-called “Super-Earth” (a planet whose mass is much higher than Earth’s but less than that of our solar system’s gas giants). If Gliese 581c supports life, perhaps the inhabitants will send us back some of their own TV! However, we’ll have to wait until the message reaches the planet in 2029.

4. Lovell Telescope, UK

Diameter: 250 feet (76 meters)

Image: Mike Peel

The United Kingdom’s Lovell Telescope — a radio telescope whose dish measures an impressive 250 feet (76m) in diameter — is located at Jodrell Bank Observatory in the north-west of England. Built in 1955, it was originally known simply as the “250ft telescope,” but was renamed after one of its creators, Bernard Lovell, in 1987. Among the telescope’s most notable achievements was the confirmation of the existence of the pulsar — then only recently discovered — in 1968 (with investigation into pulsars still very much ongoing at the observatory). The Lovell Telescope was also instrumental in the discovery of quasars — extremely luminous celestial bodies thought to be among the most distant object in the universe.

3. Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope, Germany

Diameter: 328 feet (100 meters)

Image: Hotstepper13

The Effelsberg Radio Telescope is situated just outside of Effelsburg, a village in the southeastern potion of Bad Münstereifel, a town in western Germany. Built between 1968 and 1971, the telescope is operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. Equipped to observe pulsars, star formations and the nuclei of distant galaxies, Effelsberg is one of the most important instruments in the world’s network of super-powerful telescopes. Since it began its work in the early 1970s, ongoing improvements have been made — including low-noise electronics and a new surface for the dish — which have helped keep it among the elite of astronomical research institutions.

2. Green Bank Telescope, USA

Diameter: 328 feet (100 meters)

Image: Geremia

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is located in the state of West Virginia, nestled in the middle of the United States National Radio Quiet Zone — an area of limited or banned radio transmissions, which greatly helps the telescope in operating to its highest potential. The telescope, which was completed in 2002, took eleven years to construct. Equipped with its massive 328-foot (100 m) dish, this fully steerable telescope has made several notable discoveries, including the discovery of the hydrogen gas-based Ophiuchus “superbubble,” which is located 23,000 light years distant.

1. Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Diameter: 1,001 feet (305 meters)

Image: H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

The largest curved focusing dish on Earth by far is to be found in the Arecibo Observatory near the city of the same name in Puerto Rico. Operated by SRI International — a research institute born out of Stanford University — and with supervision from the National Science Foundation, the Observatory engages in radio astronomy, radar observations of the solar system and the study of the atmospheres of other planets. The enormous dish was built in 1963 inside the depression caused by a naturally occurring sinkhole. This somehow seems apt, as data about naturally occurring phenomena — albeit millions of miles away — interacts with man-made technology in the most wondrous of ways at Arecibo.