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The article doesn't seem to be exactly about using Morse code when kidnapped, unlike the title, but about instances of Morse and other code used in various circ
by yason 9y ago
The article doesn't seem to be exactly about using Morse code when kidnapped, unlike the title, but about instances of Morse and other code used in various circumstances today and in the past.
Having said that, to reflect the title itself I don't think Morse code has a very good bang-for-buck ratio for kidnapping.
Absolutely most people never get kidnapped, it's a very rare occasion statistically. Learning Morse code is not enough: you will have to use it repeatedly to keep remembering it, and I don't think you need Morse code very much in general life so you'll need to exercise your skills intentionally just in case a very unlikely event would happen. Further, to benefit from Morse code while being kept hostage you will need some medium through which to transfer knocks or beeps and you need another party who is both listening and can read Morse code.
It might make sense if your lifestyle calls for higher risks to be kidnapped, but even then I think there are wiser ways to spend your minutes trying to avoid being kidnapped in the first place.
- w-m 9y agoI think learning just the SOS distress signal (...---...) has a decent bang-for-buck ratio. And because of its frequent use in films there's usually not even much learning involved.
- trothamel 9y agoIf you want, just remember that groups of three of anything are a distress signal. It's why smoke detectors beep in groups of threes for example. Groups of three whistles indicate distress. Three flashes of light. Etc. Although I don't know how true this is, I've tried to keep to this in other interfaces, avoiding three-blink patters on lights when someone is not in trouble.
- jfries 9y agoJust don't panic when the cruise ship you're on signals that it is operating in reverse by sounding the horn three times.
- lb1lf 9y agoThere is cause for concern when hearing seven short and one long blast, though. (General alarm; something has happened. Better head for the muster station to find out what...)
- nasredin 9y agoFrom the recent El Faro sinking post here on HN: There's a General Alarm signal (above), but no Abandon Ship signal. The captain gives those manually. (I may be blatantly wrong!)
- lb1lf 9y agoTo the best of my knowledge (not a sailor, but my work has netted me several hundred days on vessels offshore), 'Abandon Ship' is always an explicit, verbal order from the captain (or whoever follows him in authority if he is incapacitated) The General Alarm typically calls for the crew to proceed (at haste!) to the muster station to be informed of the nature of the emergency and be put to work handling the situation. Luckily, I've only ever had to abandon ship during a couple of drills.
- automatoney 9y agoIn lifeguard training I've gotten, 3 whistles is what you do to start emergency procedures.
- emmelaich 9y agoAnd the emergency button in your car is a triangle. And the sign on the inside of your trunk / boot is a triangle.
- mondoshawan 9y agoFYI, general distress flag code is two black flags, one square, one ball. OTOH, flailing your arms in the air is also recognized as general distress. Just be alert. The world needs more lerts.
- jasonkostempski 9y agoEveryone my age learned SOS from a commercial jingle and/or playing Atari.
- tinus_hn 9y agoOlder people learned SMS from the Nokia sms tone :)
- digi_owl 9y agoAnd now i am old...
- codetrotter 9y agohttps://youtu.be/9QWez2Siw4g https://youtu.be/9QWez2Siw4g Woah I had no idea!
- jamesrcole 9y agoWhat jingle and what Atari game?
- anw 9y agoI believe he's talking about the SOS cleaning scrub commercial from 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVooUKtV3nQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVooUKtV3nQ For those that don't want to click, it's a commercial for a brand of dish cleaner named S.O.S. There are dirty pots and pans that clang out the S O S message in Morse code, with subtitles spelling out the letters as they come out. A screen appears at the end asking "are your dirty pots trying to tell you something?"
- hypofyse 9y agoNot Atari, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVFVQ85uB-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVFVQ85uB-E
- dfox 9y agoIt should be noted, that the popular distress signal is "...---..." and not SOS as it is sent as single symbol. Also it is not the only one special morse symbol used for distress (eg. ten dots is also an distress signal with slightly different meaning)
- ourmandave 9y agoI think its more about wardrobe choices. Wearing close that easily shred so you can hang small pieces of your shirt on nearby bushes as a trail. Or unique pieces of jewelry you can drop along the way for the Ranger to find. It also doesn't hurt to have at least 2 days of laundry in the basket so the blood hounds have something to scent from.
- hiccuphippo 9y agoIs there a shop that specializes in clothes for people propense to getting kidnapped?
- hackerman12345 9y agoThe gun and knife store. :P
- tigershark 9y agoLearning Morse is quite easy, it’s nothing compared to learning a new programming language or a new human language, so I don’t really see the waste of time in this case.