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I live in City A and want to send messages to my friend in City B. We both have a coop of carrier pigeons on our respective roofs. We meet up one day, and swap
by hguant 11y ago
I live in City A and want to send messages to my friend in City B. We both have a coop of carrier pigeons on our respective roofs. We meet up one day, and swap a number of pigeons. Now, if I want to talk to my friend, I just go up to my pigeon coop, select one of his pigeons, attach my message, and let the bird fly home.
It's like swapping private keys, except it can only happen in person.
- FilterSweep 11y agoWhen you exchange the number of pigeons, do they need to observe the travel back to City A to set directional bearings, or do you need to keep them in darkness so they will return to City B out of pure instinct? Apologies for my ignorance, asking for myself and a friend....
- hguant 11y agoAccording to this [1] nature article, homing pigeons have an innate sense of where 'home' is and can use the Earth's magnetic field to point themselves in the right direction, thanks to iron in their beaks. They don't need to 'learn' the path, like some migratory birds - they have a built in GPS. Which is kind of neat, when you think about it. [1] http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/news041122-7.html http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/news041122-7.htm...
- oneeyedpigeon 11y agoAnd if you attach one of your own pigeons as a passenger with every message you send ...