luecke's fantastic "Inch Worm Army Message Board" gave me another idea - probably because I originally read the title as inch Worm "army message board", rather than "inch worm army" message board, if you see what I mean. So anyway - what about using this to pass encoded messages?
Imagine if you will, the inch-worm message board. Now, encode the position of each box on a two by two grid. However, the message board is actually made up of a number of smaller "sub-messgage board" squares. The positioning of the sqaures in relation to each other is changed daily according to a predefined random sequence.
Want to send a message to field ops?
A machine, looking much like a fax machine, takes in the coded message as type and scans it into memory. At the other end, the machine reads the message and "plays" it by simply opening the boxes elctronically as requested. Miraculously, the orders from HQ appear in caterpillar form on the wall.
Andy they already have their own camouflage uniforms too!
-- goff, Jun 24 2004

Inch Worm Army Message Board http://www.halfbake...y_20Message_20Board
Metamorphic messages [goff, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Even more ridiculous and unreliable than my office version… (+)
-- luecke, Jun 24 2004


When I first read the title, I thought it was going to be a sort of Caterpillar Army Field Telegraph or something. Caterpillars would be trained to march single file in a perfectly straight line. They could then be pointed in the direction of the destination party (perhaps from behind enemy lines), and the caterpillars could be trusted to climb over hill and dale to their destination. The actual communication would be sent in Morse code or binary by varying the colors of the caterpillars, so 0=black caterpillar, 1=red caterpillar, or Morse dot=black caterpillar, Morse dash=red caterpillar, Morse space=yellow caterpillar. But this idea seems like it would be a lot more fun to read, and would be less susceptible to corruption via robins and other hungry birds.
-- andyf, Jun 24 2004


Oh good fucking grief. No vote either way. The absurd humor cancels out the complication of the whole thing and makes me have no opinion either way, positive or negative. Same for the idea that inspired it.
-- Eugene, Jun 25 2004



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