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This page presents the Four Essential Travel Phrases in English using various technologies.
| Items shown below: (roughly chronological) |
QR Code,
SMS Messaging,
Palm Pilot,
RFID tags,
Leet,
SQL,
LCDs,
ROT13,
teletext,
barcodes,
BASIC,
ASCII,
EBCDIC,
DYMO label maker,
Enigma machine,
punched tape,
punched cards,
waveform,
typewriter,
and
Morse Code
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| Items on other pages: |
semaphore flags,
signal flags,
and
tactile systems (Braille & Moon Type)
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SMS (short message service) allows text messaging on mobile phones and other devices.
![[SMS]](tech_sms1.gif)
Language information at Wikipedia
Alternate names for Texting Language include txt and txt talk
English using the Palm Pilot's Graffiti alphabet
![[Graffiti alphabet]](tech_palmpilot1.gif)
![[Palm Pilot]](tech_palmpilot2.gif)
Information at Wikipedia
Writing system information at Wikipedia and Omniglot
Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFID tags) store information for retreival by remote tag readers/scanners.
They're used in a wide range of applications such as subway/toll road payments, inventory control, and id/access control.
Here are the Four Essential Travel Phrases encoded onto an RFID tag:
![[RFID tag]](tech_rfid1.gif)
Hold RFID reader here.
Leet is as a way to obscure written language on the Internet (and is not limited to English). It started with online communities, like those connected through Bulletin Board Systems and online multiplayer games. Leet is now used with real-time communications like Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and Instant Messaging (IM).
Many different ciphers/methods can be used. Several are shown here:
![[Leet]](tech_leet1.gif)
Information at Wikipedia
Google has a Leet interface
Alternate names for Leet include 1337, l33t, l33+, Leetspeak, and 13375p34k
SQL
SQL is a widely used computer language for working with relational database management systems.
SELECT FLOOR,LOCATION,NUMBER FROM HOTEL_ROOMS
WHERE ROOM_CLIENT='ME' AND ROOM_DATE=SYSDATE
SELECT BEACH,LOCATION FROM COUNTRY_TOURISM
WHERE TOWN='THIS' AND HOTEL='MY_HOTEL'
ORDER BY DISTANCE_TO_HOTEL ASC
SELECT FLOOR,LOCATION FROM HOTEL_SERVICES
WHERE SERVICE='BAR'
DELETE FROM MY_BODY
WHERE PLACE='THERE' AND TOUCH_FLAG='YES'
AND PERSON<>'ME'
Additional information at Wikipedia
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are thin, flat display devices and are familiar from calculators, digital clocks, microwaves, VCRs, and other appliances.
Here are the Four Essential Travel Phrases scrolling on a 16-segment LCD display:
![[LCD from VCR]](tech_lcds.gif){kind=small}
Damn... the power must have gone out again!
ROT13
ROT13 started in the net.jokes newsgroup in the early 1980s. It was a way to voluntarily hide jokes that some readers might find offensive or to obscure the punchline of a joke to keep it from being read too soon.
It's a simple Caesar cipher that replaces each letter with the letter thirteen places down the alphabet ("ROTate by 13 places" or ROT-13).
1) Jurer vf zl ebbz?Language information at Wikipedia
teletext
Teletext is a TV information retrieval service developed in the UK in the early 1970s.
![[teletext]](tech_teletext1.gif)
Barcodes are machine-readable labels used on seemingly everything: a box of Cap'n Crunch, that care package from Mom, airline luggage, rental cars, and even the heat shield tiles on NASA's space shuttles.
There are many standards for bar codes, some of which don't actually use bars.
The four essential travel phrases are shown below using the "Code 128" standard (UCC 128 / EAN 128 / USS Code 128):
![[Code 138 barcodes]](tech_barcodes1.gif)
Here they are using the 2-dimensional PDF417 (Portable Data File) system:
![[PDF417 barcodes]](tech_barcodes2.gif)
Another popular 2-dimensional barcode is the QR Code (Quick Response Code) which is readable by many mobile devices:
![[QR Code]](tech_qrcode.gif)
Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) is a programming language created in the 1960s.
It has spawned dozens of variants over the years.
![[BASIC code]](tech_basic1.gif)
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a character encoding for the Latin alphabet and is used on the Internet, PCs and many other computers.
Shown in hexadecimal notation:
3129095768657265206973206D7920726F6F6D3FShown in binary notation:
00110001
The Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC) is a character encoding for the Latin alphabet and is used mostly on large IBM mainframe computers.
Shown in hexadecimal notation:
F15D05E6888599854089A24094A840999696946FShown in binary notation:
11110001
DYMO Industries created a personal label maker that embossed a piece of colored tape, revealing white letters (one squeeze at a time).
![[DYMO Label Maker]](tech_dymo.gif)
![[Enigma machine]](tech_enigma1.gif) |
The Enigma was a cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages, most notoriously by Germany during World War II. |
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Here are the Four Essential Travel Phrases as an encrypted message using an initial rotor position of MMW: 1) ZBVZAXDNCUHTJ2) PZHNJGJDANUFNAX 3) OGPKSHEAZTIEK 4) WBKHRUUDTLJMVECTH |
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Try out Frank Spieß's virtual Enigma machine. |
Punched paper tape (ppt) was used thoughout much of the 1900s to store information for teletype/telex machines, minicomputers, and computer-aided manufacturing equipment.
The example below is encoded in ASCII:
![[punched tape]](tech_punched_tape.gif)
Punch cards (also called Hollerith cards) were used throughout the 1900s to store information for use by automated data processing machines. Beginning in the 1980s they were replaced with magnetic storage, although they remain in use for some specialized applications.
The example below is encoded in BCD:
![[punched cards]](tech_punched_cards.gif)
waveform
This is a graphical waveform representation of the spoken travel phrases.
![[graphical waveform]](tech_wave1.gif)
A typewriter was a mechanical device used in the 1800s and 1900s to produce a paper document.
![[typewriter]](tech_typewriter2.gif)
![[typewritten]](tech_typewriter1.gif)
Morse Code was developed by Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail in the 1830s as a means of sending electromagnetic telegraphs.
In 1851 a modified version of the code was adopted by countries in Europe. That version (called "international" or "continental") was used as an international standard for maritime communication until 1999. It is still used by amateur (ham) radio operators.
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transcribed: .-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / -- -.-- / .-. --- --- -- ..--.. spoken: DiDahDah DiDiDiDit Dit DiDahDit Dit, DiDit DiDiDit, DahDah DahDiDahDah, DiDahDit DahDahDah DahDahDah DahDah DiDiDahDahDiDit |
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transcribed: .-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / - .... . / -... . .- -.-. .... ..--.. spoken:DiDahDah DiDiDiDit Dit DiDahDit Dit, DiDit DiDiDit, Dah DiDiDiDit Dit, DahDiDiDit Dit DiDah DahDiDahDit DiDiDiDit DiDiDahDahDiDit |
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transcribed: .-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / - .... . / -... .- .-. ..--.. spoken: DiDahDah DiDiDiDit Dit DiDahDit Dit, DiDit DiDiDit, Dah DiDiDiDit Dit, DahDiDiDit DiDah DiDahDit DiDiDahDahDiDit |
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transcribed: -.. --- -. .----. - / - --- ..- -.-. .... / -- . / - .... . .-. . .-.-.- spoken: DahDiDit DahDahDah DahDit DiDahDahDahDahDit Dah, Dah DahDahDah DiDiDah DahDiDahDit DiDiDiDit, DahDah Dit, Dah DiDiDiDit Dit DiDahDit Dit DiDahDiDahDiDah |
Morse Code information at Wikipedia and Omniglot
Mike Ditto's Morse Code translator
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| The four essential travel phrases in English: 1) Where is my room? 2) Where is the beach? 3) Where is the bar? 4) Don't touch me there! |
Do you have a language or dialect to add? Did I get something wrong? Please let me know... 
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