Righto. To be fair I should be probably refer to the coded message as a cipher and the decoded message as the translation. Baudot’s original bit system was made for French, it got popular in France and then Britain and eventually the USA. It was later tweaked by another guy so the code put less wear on the machinery verse operators dexterity as Baudot had done. This is called Baudot-Murray code.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug5lUI-hs3s

This video shows a Baudot teletype machine and he explains the basic principles well. It also operates and he shows you how the electromagnet converts the signal pulses to a letter selection via linkages.

You can also hear how fast the signal is as it’s running. No way a human operator could tap that out. The first few decades of telegraphy were human controlled, hence why Morse’s code was popular since it was tailored for human abilities. Once telegraphy got established, lines were run and the technology was generating money you start to see automatic machines come around to speed things up.

The first automatic machines worked by punching the code out on a paper ribbon first, then you ran that message through a special telegraphy key. This allowed Morse code to be sent as fast as possible. Registers were common place since the beginning so recording the signal to be decoded to english was simple. This was the era of “battery rooms”, since it was all DC powered and a proper DC generator hadn’t come around yet. Also the era of rooms filled with operators, often women, coding messages into punch-card-ribbons to be sent and decoding register ribbon into english.

Post Civil War we see all of this mature into new coding methods, multiplexing (where Edison made his first fortune), binary transmission systems like Baudot code and eventually transmission of voice. Ironically, Alexander Graham Bell was working on a multiplexing telegraph device (harmonic telegraph that used 4 tuned forks to send multiple codes of various frequency that 4 tuned receiver forks could receive independently of each other across a single line) when he figured out voice could be sent.

One of these tuning forks metal reed had become struck to the electromagnet and Watson plucked it free. Bell, in another room, heard his devices corresponding fork undulate when it was plucked free. He didn’t hear the solid pulse you’d normally hear, he heard it undulate. Bell had studied hearing his whole life (his wife was deaf) so he understood immediately when he heard the undulation that sound could be sent electrically. So he gave up the harmonic telegraph (which didn’t work well because tuning forks were finicky as hell–it wouldn’t be until vacuum tubes came around that it became practical) and started working on the telephone.

Lots of fun history. A distinct period of innovation in the broader Industrial Revolution. When a guy who could understand mechanical movements could invent something that’d make him like $800,000.

Basically. Dash, dot and pause could vary depending on the operator. Baudot code is more like dividing each second into 5 spaces (so 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, and 5/5 of a second) and sending either a pulse or no pulse at each time period to generate a 5-bit character code.

These early machines used electromagnets and gears to operate so a long pulse, short pulse and pause couldn’t be converted to a system that’d mechanically instruct a machine to convert it to a letter. All the inventions that coded and decoded and printed messages used a proprietary code and not morse code (based on my research.) Since “wire services” usually owned their own lines they could transmit any code they’d like so long as it wasn’t a voltage so high it’d damage the wires (you could also swap polarity.)

With a bit based system it’s much easier to build a machine that can convert those signals into a printer. Theres a few videos online of Baudot type printers being restored and running and you can see how it converts these pulses into movements which select a specific typewriter-letter-hammer before the “print” command slams it against the paper. Really ingenious stuff and amazing they could make these things work using gears, cogs and mechanical linkages.

The first ~10-20 years of telegraphy were the age of morse and typing out code by hand. Ironically, at first they used registers to record the code then translated it but during the Civil War operators figured out they could just transcribe by listening. Then “sounders” were introduced. Post Civil War is when automatic machines started coming around, the first ones using morse code but you’d punch the code into a strip of paper then run it along a set of contacts to send the code quicker than a human could.

During the 1870’s-1880’s the fun really began as multiplexing became possible and precision manufacturing/interchangeable parts allowed way more complex devices to be assembled. Adding machines, typewriters, teletype.

Even the stock ticker system uses a similar method to Baudot’s 5-bit binary. A special signal, not morse code but some other code transmitted by telegraph wire, was used that the ticker was designed to operate on. Those signals drove the mechanisms that rotated the printing wheel so they could print the stock name and price.

Telegraphy is a fun science. Real simple since it’s basically electromagnets clicking. But they really did a lot with that tech and as manufacturing improved and transmission quality improved they started squeezing more signals into a single line (multiplexing) as well as making these teletype devices which could print complete messages as a pretty quick WPM rate. And Baudots code was used right up to the early digital phone era in some cases.

Clever but inaccurate. You can try and convince people that the word “bawdy” also came from Baudot because he was a Frenchman that used his improved telegraphy code to share juicy details about the ladies he courted. I can’t say for sure he didn’t do that, what with being a successful Frenchman and all.

Haha damn. Good eye. Even proofread it twice. 😑

All knowledge, even “basic” knowledge, is learned. No one was born with the ability to write cursive or operate a manual transmission. Manual transmission drivers can even spot a newbie on the road when they pop the clutch and stall out. We all learned these skills.

The real issue in modern society is that we aren’t effectively teaching the newer generations these skills, whichever ones our society considers basic. Thats a problem far more complex than this post can really cover.

But I don’t think it’s too much to ask students to have way less screen time (no phones in school and less reliance on laptops/tablets for assignments and lessons.) I’d also go so far as to suggest schools do away with sports if they are unable to meet their academic mandates (school is for teaching academics, sports are a “pass-time” because they were activities we did with the free time we had. If you aren’t accomplishing the goals of your institution your institution doesn’t deserve the reward.)

Its well studied and in fact has many benefits. You’re just mad your cursive looked like shit and the teacher called you up to her desk in frustration as she tried to decipher an s from a r on your work.

Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

Brain and Cognitive Growth

Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

Motor Skills and Writing Ease

Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

Practical Uses

Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.

Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

Brain and Cognitive Growth

Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

Motor Skills and Writing Ease

Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

Practical Uses

Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.

Fair argument. Just wanted to point out that cursive has actual academic benefits. For one thing writing and drawing use both halves of the brain and since cursive is a form of drawing it engages both sides better than writing alone would. The information has a better chance of being retained that way.

Taking notes by hand also improves the odds of the information being retained with the added benefit of having a hardcopy to look back on if you forget. Like a grocery list. Taking notes is labor intensive so cursive was developed as a way to quickly write. Thats the whole point of it.

Luckily some schools are bringing back paper and pencil and teaching cursive because of the unmitigated disaster digital-only schooling has proven itself to be.

Edit Added some of the documented benefits of cursive handwriting since so many people are calling me out. Yes, cursive is good for you. Practice it, take time and improve the letters you write sloppily and you’ll learn to love it. I know, I was once like you and had to work to improve my cursive and now I love it.

Cursive writing helps improve brain development, memory retention, and fine motor skills.

Brain and Cognitive Growth

Stronger neural connections: Writing in cursive engages both sides of the brain, unlike typing or standard print.

Better memory: The continuous motion of linking letters helps students remember words and grasp new concepts.

Aids learning challenges: The fluid style helps students who deal with dyslexia or dysgraphia by treating each word as a single connected unit.

Motor Skills and Writing Ease

Finer hand control: Shaping connected letters builds hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.

Less hand fatigue: Smooth, flowing lines reduce the stop-and-start stress common in regular print writing.

Fewer letter reversals: Connected motion stops young children from confusing similar letters like “b” and “d”.

Practical Uses

Reading history: Knowing cursive allows people to read old family letters, journals, and major historical papers.

Personal signatures: It gives individuals a reliable way to sign official forms, checks, and legal documents.

This is a nothing burger with Fritessaus (a creamy mayo like sauce with mustard that is a Dutch condiment.)

They didn’t even move most of the gold. They sold their US holdings and bought UK holdings. And the reason probably has more to do with the Euro’s rearming for potential war with Russia than anything else. As much as I don’t like the orange madman this isn’t like the tariff situation with Canada.

And “going Dutch” is a term for a reason.

If we shutdown AI there’d also be a massive hiring spree and wages would probably tick up a bit to compensate. AI is just the latest scam to suppress workers and wages. They want perpetual suffering for us and infinite gains for themselves.