Using a thorn to write

I'm not sure why, but I have a growing fascination with the letter thorn.  Maybe it comes from the fact that we have sounds in the English language that have no letter to themselves.  This is particularly strange since we used to have letters for at least some of these sounds.  In the case of sounds for th, those letters are thorn and eth.

Capital thorn: Þ

Lowercase thorn: þ

Capital eth: Ð

Lowercase eth: ð

Thorn represents the unvoiced th sound, as in the words thin, things, wither, and eighth.  Eth represents the voiced th sound, as in the words the, that, those, feather, and clothe.  When these letters were in common use, they were often used interchangeably, regardless to which th sound was actually used.  Additionally, the letter Y was often used in place of thorn since print type fonts of Medieval times didn't have the letter thorn.  This means, "Ye Olde Shoppe" was really pronounced "The Old Shop", no different than today.  In this case, the "Y" was a replacement for the letter thorn, which represented the voiced th sound of the word "the".  (Further discussion on English sounds that are missing letters.)

So, I've decided to play around with the idea of using thorn in its rightful place within the English language.  The following is a republished old article, where the letters th (representing the voiced and unvoiced th sounds) are replaced with the letter thorn.

INFAMOUS MINIATURE GOLF STORY

Ok...here's þe infamous Miniature Golf story..

Þis one time, like two years ago, I took Miriam to play Miniature Golf at a Golfland in San Jose.  She hadn't been to a Miniature Golf place in aeons.  So, we get our clubs, balls, scorecard and pencils, þen head to þe first tee.  Being þe gentleman þat I am, I let her go first.  She bends down by sticking her ass up in þe air as usual (þis being a family type place, mind you) to put þe ball on þe black mat.  It starts rolling around a bit, but finally she makes it stay in place.  While þis was going on, I'm watching her out of þe corner of my eye, just kinda waiting for her to get her ball to stop rolling around. Getting þe ball to stay in place was, of course, a pointless exercise given what she does next.

She swings. I hear a panicked "Oh!".  She's looking back at me, embarrassed, kinda laughing, kinda whimpering.  Þen I notice þe club is no longer in her hands. I briefly look around for it, confused.  Þen I realize, she's þrown þe club up in þe air during her swing!  I ask, "Where did you þrow þe club?"  Þen I realize furþer, þe club went straight up in þe air!  Worse yet, it hasn't come down yet!  Þen, my even more profound realization is þat it has now been 5 seconds, from when I was wondering why Miriam was embarrassed to þis moment (when I realized þe club was still up in þe air), and þe club was still up in þe air!  I shout at Miriam, "Get out of þe way!", while using pure instinct as to where not be when it finally decided to come back down to Earþ.  We boþ duck and run.  I turn around, worried þat þis magic club (which has now been in þe air for over 6 seconds) might land on someone else.  To my relief, it tumbles to þe ground safely, right on þe spot þat Miriam and I had just ran away from.

We laughed it off, and were relieved no one got hurt.  But to þis day, we wonder how þe hell þis club shot straight up out of her hands into þe air far enough to land in þe same spot a whole 7 seconds later!

Old School: Pager Code

Texting Before Text Messages Was A Thing

Messaging was very limited  Originally, messaging to digital devices had very limited functionality in the 1980s and 90s, as it was limited to just numbers (no letters). The idea was that you would message someone with your return phone number so they could call you back.  But, why require a return call when you could just say what you needed within the message itself? The Problem of Numeric Paging As a result of the numeric limitation, there were several types of pager codes in the 1990s before cellphones became common with inexpensive data/text plans. While some systems relied on users memorizing short phrases (known as Beeper Codes), the most versatile and comprehensive system was developed to handle any word: the Numeric Pager Look Alike Cipher. [For a full list of short-hand phrases, see our Beeper Codes Dictionary.] Numeric Look Alike Cipher The Look Alike Cipher is a formal letter-to-number substitution method. This system works by replacing letters with numbers that visually resemble them, similar to how you would create words using upside-down numbers on a calculator. However, unlike the simple upside-down calculator trick, the Look Alike Cipher can be read right-side up, making it instantly usable for encoding any word or message. This method was typed as a single number string and could be sent without forethought, making it the superior system for complex, on-the-fly communication. Using the Cipher  With the Look Alike Cipher, letters are simulated with number replacement, by one number, or two or three numbers in combination. This allowed messages to be read right-side up, from left to right. The full substitution cipher is provided in the table to the right, but here are a few examples of how messages would appear: HELLO becomes 43770 WISH YOU WERE HERE becomes 111154 4011 1113123 43123 (Note: Spaces were often encoded as a hyphen or a star, or simply left as a gap in later usage.) FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO becomes 401112 560123 8170 5311317 438125 860 Usage in the Texting Era The Look Alike Cipher remained a useful system even after texting and cellphones became common. Most early texting-capable cellphones didn't have a full alphabet keyboard, making the official SMS system tedious. Typing out words using this simple number substitution was often faster and easier. The use of pager codes began to decline when predictive text ('type-ahead') and eventually smartphones became common, eliminating the need for such clever workarounds. Today, the cipher remains a fun blast of retro communication for enthusiasts. Ready to Try It? You can instantly translate your own messages and see the cipher in action with this dedicated tool: Numeric Pager Code Encoder Tool	Letter	#
	A	8
	B	8
	C	6
	D	0
	E	3
	F	4
	G	6
	H	4
	I	1
	J	7
	K	15
	L	7
	M	177
	N	17
	O	0
	P	9
	Q	0
	R	12
	S	5
	T	7
	U	11
	V	11
	W	111
	X	25
	Y	4
	Z	2
	Space or Separator	- or *

Infinite Universe

Deep thoughts by me, "If the Universe is infinite, then all possibilities will be a reality, which means the Universe was simultaneously created by a God and came into existence without a god. The Universe itself becomes its own quantum superpositional object between all possibilities." [There is a flaw with this logic (infinity does not mean all things that can happen will happen), but it's still a bit of a mind-trip.]

This is America! Wait, what? [Infographic]

It is funny how many people are taught that "The Americas" is one continent.  Oh, and some people are bugged by the "arrogance" that Americans have for being the only people to call themselves "American" when there is a whole bunch of other countries here too.

Tuesday Two: Tracking balls

The aptly name  Bounce Imaging Explorer is a throwable camera that allows you to see around corners simply by rolling or throwing it into the area.  Great for cops, firefighters, and military.

You can track yourself, your kids, your phone and your car.  Now you track your luggage with Trakdot.  This device can send  text messages, emails or updates to an app.  This allows you to know where luggage is, even if the airline doesn't.

Who needs privacy?

Allie said just now, "I don't know why people post everything on Facebook. ...there's no privacy." I couldn't help but post this quote on Facebook just to be ironic.