Thursday, November 12, 2009

A Weird Problem for a .-- . .. .-. -.. Person

I wonder if anyone else has the curse (-.-- ..- .-. ... .) that I have. It's a problem I have had since I learned Morse Code in the Air Force. Ever since then, my mind is always sending or receiving code in the background of my mind. For example, while doing a crossword puzzle today, the clue was: 7 letter word for "chains". Immediately, my mind began coding .-.. . - - . .-. ... (fetters). That code was being generated and transmitted by my brain subconsciously.. and I only realized it when I made an effort to concentrate on what was being transmitted in my head at the time.

When I was going to radio operators school, I had trouble with the Morse Code for "p" and "c", so I began to repeat the code for "percent" in my mind, over and over... (.--. . .-. -.-. . -. -) because of the presence of code for "c" and "p". It worked, I learned those code letters; the repetition caused the code for those letters to no longer be unlearnable... however, this learning aid never stopped generating and continues to generate in my mind when I am not thinking of other things.. even today.. over 50 (!) years later.

Let's see what is generating right now. Based on what I am involved it, it is not generating the usual "percent", but rather -... .-.. --- --. (blog) Let me make this clear.. this generation of Morse Code in my brain is continuous. Something is being coded every minute. Sometimes I even wake up with a "code in my head" ... Although this is a pun...(.--. ..- -.) I am serious about this.

This is a problem for me, but not a big problem. I guess it is like when I was stationed in Germany for almost 4 years.. at the end of that time, I was thinking in German and translating into English in my head. (Yes.. the Morse Code then spelled out German and English words.) So, I guess that Morse Code is like a language that lies in the background of your brain. However, after I got back to the US, in a few weeks I was thinking in English and German was shoved out of sight for a while.

But Morse Code seems to go on forever, generating in the background.

Another language I was a fluent in was French, but it never took over my brain and lies dormant.

So, why does Morse Code refuse to lie dormant, but continues to generate in the background.

Anyway.. if anybody is reading this who has (or had) "the Morse Code in the background" situation, could you let me know how you got rid of it.. if you did.

--. --- --- -.. -... -.-- . (Goodbye)
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3 comments:

Chris Vaughan said...

.... . -.-- / .--. --- .--. --..-- / .... . .-. . .----. ... / .- / .-- . -... ... .. - . / -.-- --- ..- .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. .. -.- . ---... / .... - - .--. ---... -..-. -..-. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . .-.-.- ... -.-. .--. .... .. .-.. .-.. .. .--. ... .-.-.- -.-. --- -- -..-. .--- - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - --- .-. .-.-.- .... - -- .-..

Joe Vaughan said...

Thanks, son. It must have been fun to write that translation program. Is Java hard to code?

I always had problems with the punctuation signs in code. The only ones we had to use in the service was periods and commas.. and it was ok to spell the word instead of tapping out the code for the character.

Some of my fellow radio operators were picked up for NSA work with Russian code right out of code class.. but my fingers would not let me type faster than 20 words per minute at the time and that was 10 words to short, I seem to remember.

Love. Dad

Joe Vaughan said...

.. and I'm still not good with plural subjects... "ones" and "was"