spawn of the sunsphere

Knoxville isn't alone in having an iconic giant [dildo] observation tower in its skyline. Though rarer in the U.S., these things seem to be everywhere in Europe and Asia. A quick stroll through Wikipedia's list of towers in the world came up with the following:

Kuwait Towers [Kuwait]
They've got three, count'em, THREE spheres.

Fernmeldeturm Nuernberg [Germany]
Is that some gold tinted glass I see?

Baghdad Tower (!) [Iraq] (formerly International Saddam Tower)
Iraq has its own mirror ball tower. That hasn't been blown up.

Berliner Fernsehturm [Germany]
Built to show off East Germany's disco prowess- Fernsehturm means "git down oont boogey."

Oriental Pearl Tower [China]
As decreed by the People's Government: "Nobody will beat China at giant pink-tinted sex toys. Nobody."

Colonius [Germany]
"OK, OK, we get it- Germans love big phallic towers."

As you can see, Knoxville is in that grand global fraternity called "Cities That Built Big Towers That Don't Serve Much Purpose." Where does our Wigshop rank among the big boys? At 266 feet, we come in at 487th in the world. Oh well... For better or worse, our Sunsphere is not quite as odd as we might have thought.