The Rise and Fall of the Visual Telegraph (2017)
36 points
by geox
18 hours ago
| 5 comments
| parisianfields.com
| HN
Rygian
17 hours ago
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For the discworld alternative, check the clacks [1].

[1] https://wiki.lspace.org/Clacks

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ttoinou
16 hours ago
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It’s also fascinating this didn’t existed 300 years sooner (with more towers because of poorer telescopes). Communication of information across a kingdom is so important
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ahazred8ta
13 hours ago
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There are many places called Telegraph Hill that used to be semaphore towers.
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dredmorbius
11 hours ago
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That would include the one in San Francisco, with which some readers may be familiar.
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trhway
14 hours ago
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If i remember correctly the laser optical transmission tech started as a "laser visual telegraph" between 2 PARC buildings rooftops in the Stanford Research Park here.
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anthk
15 hours ago
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Ah, so that's the origin of semáforo in Spanish, which the current meaning is "traffic light". And a semaphore on programming, too.
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Rygian
51 minutes ago
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The word "semáforo" literally means "carrier of meaning" from the Greek σῆμα (sêma) meaning 'signal' and ‒́foro meaning 'carrier'.

The visual telegraph is just one such instance of a "carrier of meaning".

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