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I've always had a bizarre nostalgia for telegraph operators. When I was a Boy Scout as a kid, we had to learn both morse code and semaphores. I wonder if they s

I've always had a bizarre nostalgia for telegraph operators. When I was a Boy Scout as a kid, we had to learn both morse code and semaphores. I wonder if they still learn them today (I suspect not). Edit: Yay, it looks like that merit badge still exists: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Signaling http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Signaling

palish 15y ago
I had no idea a "semaphore" meant something other than how it's used in programming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line
- m0nastic 15y ago
  Amusingly, that's even a different definition for what I was referring to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_semaphore (although principally the same thing).
  - hugh3 15y ago
    I only learned about semaphores from Monty Python. Coincidentally, that's the same place I learned about Wuthering Heights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oHw6niE9e8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oHw6niE9e8
  - scoot 15y ago
    I think that was Palish's point?
a-priori 15y ago
As a Venturer Scout, about a decade ago, I got my advanced amateur radio license and, for a while, started working on Morse code. Never did get the 5wpm Morse qualification, and I forget the code now.