5 ms·

Why is this still all-caps - in 2013? It's not like there are any teletype lines left that cannot process lower case. Is this some kind of tradition or does NO

by iSnow 13y ago

Why is this still all-caps - in 2013? It's not like there are any teletype lines left that cannot process lower case. Is this some kind of tradition or does NOAA still use EBCDIC mainframes?

toddrew 13y ago
These messages are always in caps to send faster over slower systems. http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.htm http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.... I spent a decade as a communicator in the navy and radio teletype is still the primary method of communication at sea.
- tricolon 13y ago
  That makes sense. However, I argue that the NOAA could serve their warnings on the web in all lowercase for the sake of readability. Then again, that could be a quick hack for someone.
  - recuter 13y ago
    * { text-transform: lowercase; } If it bothers you so much. :)
  - loungin 13y ago
    Quick hack, maybe. But someone getting the time to do so is another issue. And these are old systems, you want them to do the work so you can read a tsunami warning that happens how often?
  - frankydp 13y ago
    They deliver the information on a number of formatted pages. This is simply the source document.
  - runjake 13y ago
    It's more readable in all caps, which is why they and the military do it this way. If it were all lowercase thing like Is and ls and 1s would get confused.
  - tomkarlo 13y ago
    NOAA / NWS advisories tend to have a lot of proper names. It looks really wacky if you just lower-case them (and it's non-trivial to convert them to proper capitalization automatically.) (I tried to do this back in about 1999. I don't think it's gotten much easier, although having geo APIs might help somewhat.) Also, apparently there's some international standards around this kind of info that require it to be upper case: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/blame-united-nations-all-caps-weather-service-bulletins http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/blame-united-n...
- iSnow 13y ago
  Interesting, thanks. I had no idea something like teletype was still operational, let alone in active use.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Especially for submarines, to communicate underwater you need very low frequency radio and the bandwidth is correspondingly low. Sure they can surface and get satellite signals but that's not always practical depending on where they are and what their mission is.
- mpyne 13y ago
  You might be interested to know that Naval message traffic is now permitted to use lowercase letters in some instances (think shore-side). This is an extremely recent change but I think I've even seen it used already with a message released from SECNAV.
andrewcooke 13y ago
fwiw the tsunami warning systems (one each coast) in the usa are currently in the process of selecting and implementing a major upgrade (i am working on one of the bids in a very minor role[1]) so you can expect changes in the next few years (but i have no idea about this particular issue). [1] which, incidentally, involved me sending thousands of SMS alerts to a co-worker yesterday evening as i ran through a replay of the chile earthquake, effectively DOSing[2] his phone. most entertainment i've had in months. beep. new magnitude estimate. beep. beep. beeeeep... :o) [2] it's ok, it's only a demo, promise.
deleted 13y ago
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by iSnow 13y ago

Why is this still all-caps - in 2013? It's not like there are any teletype lines left that cannot process lower case. Is this some kind of tradition or does NOAA still use EBCDIC mainframes?

toddrew 13y ago

These messages are always in caps to send faster over slower systems. http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.htm http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.... I spent a decade as a communicator in the navy and radio teletype is still the primary method of communication at sea.

tricolon 13y ago
That makes sense. However, I argue that the NOAA could serve their warnings on the web in all lowercase for the sake of readability. Then again, that could be a quick hack for someone.
- recuter 13y ago
  * { text-transform: lowercase; } If it bothers you so much. :)
- loungin 13y ago
  Quick hack, maybe. But someone getting the time to do so is another issue. And these are old systems, you want them to do the work so you can read a tsunami warning that happens how often?
- frankydp 13y ago
  They deliver the information on a number of formatted pages. This is simply the source document.
- runjake 13y ago
  It's more readable in all caps, which is why they and the military do it this way. If it were all lowercase thing like Is and ls and 1s would get confused.
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  NOAA / NWS advisories tend to have a lot of proper names. It looks really wacky if you just lower-case them (and it's non-trivial to convert them to proper capitalization automatically.) (I tried to do this back in about 1999. I don't think it's gotten much easier, although having geo APIs might help somewhat.) Also, apparently there's some international standards around this kind of info that require it to be upper case: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/blame-united-nations-all-caps-weather-service-bulletins http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/10/blame-united-n...
iSnow 13y ago
Interesting, thanks. I had no idea something like teletype was still operational, let alone in active use.
ams6110 13y ago
Especially for submarines, to communicate underwater you need very low frequency radio and the bandwidth is correspondingly low. Sure they can surface and get satellite signals but that's not always practical depending on where they are and what their mission is.
mpyne 13y ago
You might be interested to know that Naval message traffic is now permitted to use lowercase letters in some instances (think shore-side). This is an extremely recent change but I think I've even seen it used already with a message released from SECNAV.

andrewcooke 13y ago

fwiw the tsunami warning systems (one each coast) in the usa are currently in the process of selecting and implementing a major upgrade (i am working on one of the bids in a very minor role[1]) so you can expect changes in the next few years (but i have no idea about this particular issue). [1] which, incidentally, involved me sending thousands of SMS alerts to a co-worker yesterday evening as i ran through a replay of the chile earthquake, effectively DOSing[2] his phone. most entertainment i've had in months. beep. new magnitude estimate. beep. beep. beeeeep... :o) [2] it's ok, it's only a demo, promise.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]