On this date, April 27, back in 1791, Samuel F.B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Morse invented the telegraph and the eponymous code consisting of dots and dashes that made the telegraph an efficient means of communication (If you need to brush up on your morse code, click here). Though invented my Morse in the 1840′s, Morse Code remains useful today in amateur radio and aeronautics. And, it remains surprisingly efficient.

From Wikipedia:

In speed contests between expert Morse code operators and expert cellphone SMS text messaging users, Morse code has consistently won.

When it comes to Morse Code, the most fascinating account of its use may be that of then-Commander Jeremiah Denton, an American POW during the Vietnam War.

Again, from Wikipedia:

Denton and Tschudy were both held as prisoners of war for almost eight years, four of which were spent in solitary confinement. Denton is best known for the 1966 North Vietnamese television interview he was forced to give as a prisoner, in which he ingeniously used the opportunity to communicate to American Intelligence. During the interview Denton blinked his eyes in morse code to spell out the word “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” to communicate that his captors were torturing him and his fellow POWs. He was also questioned about his support for the U.S. war in Vietnam, to which he replied: “I don’t know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are Vietnamese. But whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live.”

Morse Code at Wikipedia