Today's Summer Daily Fun

Morse Code

Learn an international signal language:  Morse code is fun, and very useful.  It's made up of dots and dashes that are translated into long and short taps, lights or noises of some sort.  For example, during the day tap on something or use a whistle; at night use a flashlight to send your signals.  Here's the code.  For lots of fun, try out the Java Morse Code Translator.

Where Morse Code came from:  Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) was a painter and founder of the National Academy of Design.  In 1832, while on a ship returning from Europe, he developed the idea of an electromagnetic telegraph.  Experiments with various kinds of electrical instruments and codes resulted in a demonstration of a working telegraph set in 1836, and introduction of the circuit relay.  This made transmission possible for any distance.  With his creation of the American Morse code, the historic message, "What hath God wrought?" was sucessfully sent from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland.

Important Tip:  Although the code is set out here in dots and dashes (also called "dits" and "dahs"), the best way to learn it is by learning the sound of the letters.  You should learn to recognize that the sound "ditdah" is equivalent to the letter A.  You should NOT try to memorize dots and dashes or count them on your fingers or in your head.  To see a very cool Shockwave Morse Code demonstration check this site.  (A new web browser window will open.)

- Don't like this one? -
Pick a Random Summer Daily

Don't Forget to Come Back Tomorrow

BlackDog's Summer Camp