Freedom of the airwaves: Morse code was best
SO THAT was Freedom Day. It’s the one date I never forget because it was my late wife Liz’s birthday and one forgets a wife’s birthday at one’s peril. April 27 is also Samuel Morse’s birthday, the chap who invented the Morse code. He was born on April 27 in 1791, and I am sad that his wonderful signalling system is no longer taught or used. The beauty of the Morse code is that it can be transmitted by so many means. You could send a message to a next-door neighbour simply by tapping on a wall or flashing a torch. You could use a whistle or tap a finger on a friend’s hand to send a secret message. When I was a school kid I used to watch in fascination as the telegraph operator in the Noupoort Post Office used to tap out telegrams at an amazing speed. Ships’ radio operators routinely used Morse to communicate with other ships.
Radio beacons flashed out their identification codes in Morse.
We learned the Morse code as part of our radio licence requirements for sailing or flying qualifications. In the Scouts we were routinely taught Morse too, as well as the flag semaphore signalling system.
The important thing about sending a message in code is that it has to be thought out and sent as economically as possible. You don’t waste words when you’re sending them one careful letter at a time. The result is that messages actually mean something.
Now that’s gone and we send out messages all the time, mostly unthinkingly and casually on phones and tablets, filling the airwaves with incessant nonsense. “Cu l8er.lol wassup. Lol. Bi.” (I haven’t yet discovered whether “lol” means “laugh out loud” or “lots of love”.)
I have one young friend who peppers all her messages with “lols”, much the same as most people these days use the word “like” as a kind of comma like you know, like every like second like word. I like find it like very like irritating. Like I don’t like it.
Incidentally, looking back through history, I find that April 27 is also the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power station meltdown in 1986.
I am not against the use of nuclear power in principle, but Chernobyl certainly taught the world how dangerous it can be and how careful we need to be when using it. I’m pretty confident that within my lifetime we will see a huge swing to sustainable power. On my recent visit to Britain I was amazed at the number of large solar electricity-generating farms I passed. Quiet and safe; I think that’s the way to go. And if they are proving successful in wet, chilly England, just imagine how efficient they’ll be in sunny South Africa.
Last Laugh
A businessman sidled up to a politician and said: “I know you’re on the committee that’s considering my tender for a new airfield. As a gesture of goodwill, I would like to present you with a new Mercedes sports car.”
The politician was shocked: “How dare you try to bribe me! You know we are not permitted to accept gifts in return for favours.”
“Well, sir, how would you feel if I said I would sell you a new sports car for R1 000?”
“Ah! In that case I’ll buy two.”