What’s the purpose of those antennae with the triangular platform at the top?

Cecil replies:

They’re for cellular telephones, the former yuppie plaything that has now become a necessity of life. The genius of cellular, of course, is that you can divide any region into an increasingly large number of progressively smaller “cells” (the area served by a single antenna) as the number and density (no offense) of mobile-phone users increases. So the cellular antenna will ultimately become as common a feature of the urban landscape as the dandelion, and about as attractive.

Cecil Adams

Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com.