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A form of communication based on tactile patterns, ideally variations of finger pressure leaving little sign of hand/arm motion, for the purpose of covertly conveying information. The difficulty of transmission would probably require a suspiciously long period of contact for the transmission of all but
the simplest messages. Still, the content of the message would be concealed.
Deafblind Manual Alphabet
http://www.deafblind.com/card.html Or just learn this, and if you run into someone cute with a red-and-white cane, you can at least say <rub open hand with flat palm, touch middle finger>. [jutta, Mar 31 2001]
wireless touch communication
http://fox.nstn.ca/...actile.html#ts_comm This company has built a "tactile stimulation chair". On this page, they're just throwing around ideas about what to do with their patent; one of the ideas is a hand-sized touch pad connected to another by wireless, allowing for "silent communication" like what djymm's interested in. [jutta, Mar 31 2001]
[link]
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Obviously, speaking in a foreign language would still reveal that there is communication taking place; not good enough for cheating at poker. |
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(And note that, statistically, switching to Mandarin is not be a good strategy for concealment either; more than twice as many people speak Mandarin as speak English.) |
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Oh! In that case, bring 'em on; Lamarr the merrier. |
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I was thinking this was an idea for a new way for Winston to communicate freely and openly in 1984. |
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I got your original meaning, UnaBubba. The line of demarcation lies in not needing to choose a language of exclusion depending on context from your set of languages shared with the intended, um, talk-at-person. *sigh* Discretion is bundled into the language, rather than depending on gaps in the linguistic knowledge of passers-by. |
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Don't know it this makes the idea any more appealing or not. |
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If two hands (or one hand and two fingers) were used you could use the binary ASCII codes for charachters. |
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From Thomas Edison's diary, as quoted in "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage: |
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"My later courship was carried on by telegraph. I taught the lady of my heart the Morse code, and when she could both send and receive we got along much better than we could have with spoken words by tapping out our remarks to one another on our hands. Presently I asked her thus, in Morse code, if she would marry me. The word 'Yes' is an easy one to send by teleggraphic signals, and she sent it. If she had been obliged to speak it, she might have found it harder." |
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Ravenswood: I thought Braille was an arrangement of dots, each being a representation of a letter or number? Why would it be meaningless? |
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Much as I hate mobile phones, I think that just sending each other a text message would fit the bill nicely here. |
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I'm pretty sure there has been a traders' argot composed of hand-preesure symbols, meant to be done under long sleeves so that transactions could be agreed on privately anywhere. |
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Can't find an online reference, though. |
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Ravenswood: You're right, that would be confusing... |
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Baked i think for people who are deaf and blind. Works by touching the palm of a persons hand in similar way to signlanguage. |
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