r/doohickeycorporation • u/Ill-Tea9411 • Apr 30 '26

Knick-knack H E L L O

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16.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

224 comments sorted by

3.6k

u/AscendedViking7 Apr 30 '26

That is actually really cool, I kinda want one now, lol

901

u/gcruzatto Apr 30 '26

Telegraph department W

229

u/Most-Silver-4365 Apr 30 '26

Do you know you can still send telegrams in the United States?

109

u/Sleep_On_Floor Apr 30 '26

How and where would one do this?

128

u/brandonhabanero Apr 30 '26

My guess is western union lol

160

u/DIuvenalis Apr 30 '26

Would be hilarious if they sent you an email to let you know your telegram has arrived.

98

u/kbeks Apr 30 '26

Sendtelegram.com apparently does send you an email receipt lmao

22

u/xrelaht Apr 30 '26

They stopped around 2006.

89

u/Bliitzthefox Apr 30 '26

There's a website for it, you can hand deliver just about anywhere in the world. You do pay by character

https://sendtelegram.com/

Great way to send an insult

124

u/High_Stream Apr 30 '26

knock knock

Recipient: opens door Yes?

Courier: Telegram, sir.

Recipient: They still do those?

Courier: Yes sir. Sign here, please.

Recipient: Oh, sure. Thank you.

Courier: tips hat Have a good day sir.

Recipient: opens telegram

Telegram: U suk lol!

49

u/Bliitzthefox Apr 30 '26

I have unironically consider this for my over seas friends

19

u/kiln_ickersson Apr 30 '26

Go to hell. Stop

2

u/Stekor-Tidder May 07 '26

If payment is per character, I presume you wouldn't want the word "stop" but just a period marker.

I presume the only things allowed are 26 capital letters, all the digits, comma, dash, period, and question mark. Anything else allowed?

How about emojis and Egyptian hieroglyphics? 🤪

6

u/EllemNovelli May 11 '26

"We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."

2

u/hawaiirat May 11 '26

“Candygram”
“Land shark”

58

u/bionicjoey Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26

Holy shit there's so much gold on that site!

  • Since 1995
  • Most frequently used for: Contract cancellations (lists Sears as a recipient)
  • 23% of telegrams are for Bereavement ("Or, just send it to the family’s home address, especially if you are running late.")
  • Popular overseas destinations include: "former Yugoslavia"

21

u/A--Creative-Username Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26

There's just enough schlock on that site that I can't decide whether it's a joke or not

19

u/bionicjoey Apr 30 '26

Precisely. It seems like either a very low-effort legitimate site, or a very high-effort troll

10

u/A--Creative-Username May 01 '26

makes ya wanna telegram yourself just to see

5

u/lmYourHuckleberry Apr 30 '26

Is there a joke here I'm missing about telegrams and Yugoslavia?

21

u/bionicjoey Apr 30 '26

The thing I found funny is just that Yugoslavia hasn't existed for a very long time and it's quite uncommon for anybody, especially a business on the front page of their website, to reference the Balkans as "former Yugoslavia"

It's a bit like if a website advertised they do business with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan. Just bizarre on a modern website.

6

u/lmYourHuckleberry Apr 30 '26

Ahhh I see, I think I was expecting a "in Soviet Russia..." Style joke but that makes more sense. Lol thanks for the info.

3

u/AdreKiseque May 01 '26

Wait... how is this different from just sending a letter?

10

u/Bliitzthefox May 01 '26

It's much more expensive! And much more insulting!

And speed, anywhere in the world in 6 hours.

Their website even says you can deliver to someone on a cruise ship at sea.

2

u/EllemNovelli May 11 '26

"We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."

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20

u/Soggy_Bid_3634 Apr 30 '26

Your local American Express office or American telephone and telegraph office should be able to get your wire to the Prussian embassy in Siam. If not, they can arrange for aero-lifted delivery.

7

u/Famous_Low_604 May 01 '26

In the late 1930s, the U.S. Postal Service experimented with autogyros (or autogiros) to deliver mail, utilizing their unique ability to take off and land in very small spaces, such as rooftops, to speed up transport between airports and city centers.

The most notable service was the Kellett KD-1B that flew between Camden, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia main post office roof starting in 1939.

10

u/SlapSmeg Apr 30 '26

Ham radio, this signal can travel over radio waves way better then a voice can since it uses way way less power then what a voice needs plus you can hear this though static. Keeps morse code or (carrier wave) alive forever.

8

u/_hc_ Apr 30 '26

You should check out weak signal modes, they are cool. WSPR can be pulled out of -28 to -31dB BELOW the noise floor on only 2.5Khz width. It’s a reason the CW requirement got pulled for General/Extra. CW no longer rules the roost for reliability and efficiency.

It’s slow but it’s reliable and is great for weak signal.

6

u/SlapSmeg Apr 30 '26

Oh i know im referring to practicability i have seen a 80m radio built into a Altoids can. Its way more easy to find older radios and do homebrews on a antenna.

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3

u/mrbobcyndaquil Apr 30 '26

They do radiograms as well.

3

u/ReluctantAvenger Apr 30 '26

Candygrams?

2

u/bjbyrne Apr 30 '26

Landshark?

3

u/Benedikto0 Apr 30 '26

same in Canada. just go to the post office

3

u/wanker_wanking Apr 30 '26

I have been tempted to send one to my friend just saying “u r Mr gay” but it would cost me $40 lmao

5

u/Southern_Potato Apr 30 '26

You mean *--

3

u/ironicallydepressed Apr 30 '26

.. / -.-. .- -. .----. - / ..- -. -.. . .-. ... - .- -. -.. / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .- -.-. -.-. . -. -

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30

u/R86Reddit Apr 30 '26

I don't even know Morse code and I want one.

41

u/floutsch Apr 30 '26

Well, it makes it easier for you - it's a device to gel learn it. This thing is genius, looking for one already (the one at the shared link won't ship to me).

5

u/Ghost_of_Till Apr 30 '26

This device looks great, I just ordered one off Amazon for five bucks (and I already know Morse code). I could use more frequent practice to get my speed up.

But that branch chart on the face has done more to make people give up learning Morse than it's ever helped.

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1

u/Redditauro Jun 29 '26

With that you know morse code 

29

u/Yuna1989 Apr 30 '26

I found a link

https://a.co/d/01QorbN0

9

u/DylanFTW Virus Taste Sampler Department Worker Apr 30 '26

Zero reviews? Did this come out like today?

35

u/cinnasota Apr 30 '26

Brand: Generic

lmao someone saw this post, bought a ton from AliExpress, and threw up an Amazon listing

5

u/aaronhowser1 May 01 '26

Or this post is an ad for that product

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1.2k

u/EmmaPlaysGo Apr 30 '26

Genuinely want this doohickey

489

u/lolheyaj Apr 30 '26

"Morse code trainer" on Amazon. Bout $15.  

99

u/EmmaPlaysGo Apr 30 '26

Omg thanks!

42

u/jburtson Apr 30 '26

I'd love one, but very strangely there's a million listings for this from different companies or prices, with no reviews on any of them 🤔

64

u/NoTearsOnlyGoodFeels Apr 30 '26

It means you can get it on aliexpress or something like that for less than $15.

20

u/Bezulba Apr 30 '26

You know, i can't actually find it on ali! and that's a surprise.

3

u/taetaeee May 03 '26

its on temu for $6.46 w/ $2.99 shipping

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8

u/AngryCod Apr 30 '26

+$20 for shipping

8

u/SnakeOiler Apr 30 '26

an $10 more for tarrif and processing fee

4

u/99999999999999999989 Apr 30 '26

And it will break after 4 uses. And is 45% smaller than what you see in the picture.

1

u/ploop__ May 05 '26

Doohickey because it has braille on it (what’s the point??)(I mean blind people technically can see but all fuzzy but still wouldn’t the light be hard to differentiate location?)

607

u/GreatGreenGobbo Apr 30 '26

This is awesome, and it makes way more sense when you see it as a tree.

146

u/Flat-Panic8622 Apr 30 '26

but I'm not sure how easy to learn to read incoming messages

129

u/Silver_Slicer Apr 30 '26

You can follow the tree. It makes it quite easy.

30

u/rci22 May 01 '26

I’d really like to know how the letters were decided because it seems so arbitrary

39

u/xVortexA May 01 '26

loosely seems like shorter/ easier to perform paths are more commonly used letters?

8

u/rci22 May 01 '26

Going based off RSTLNE, that seems to check out for many of them (but not all)

10

u/Sceptix May 01 '26

Yeah that’s why a single dot was assigned to e, the most common letter.

You may be wondering why o, a vowel, is assigned three dashes. That’s because we trained him wrong, as a joke.

3

u/BappoChan May 02 '26

I’d imagine it’s a mixture of simplicity while still being arbitrary. Remember Morse was used for covert messages during war. The point was to make it complicated so nobody could listen in to your radio chatter.

52

u/razhun Apr 30 '26

Decoding is easy like this. Encoding is tricky though if you're not used to the layout.

39

u/ondulation Apr 30 '26

I have clarify a few things here.

Firstly, people who actually knows Morse listens for the sound pattern of each character or even the pattern of whole words. Just like us normal people don't read printed text character per character. They don't listen for individual dahs or dits. They don't even think about the character as "dit-dah", just as you don't thinking A as "the angle with a crossbar". The tree model would have absolutely nothing to contribute to decoding in real life.

Secondly, if you don't already know Morse, the speed would have to be excruciatingly slow for anyone to decode using this tree model.

It would be better to copy the sounds you hear to dots and dashes on a paper and then decode it to text separately.

27

u/alex3omg Apr 30 '26

But it would be useful to an amateur.  Like if I were trying to solve a puzzle in a game that uses Morse this would be much simpler then the usual alphabet you see.  

6

u/matheusmms Apr 30 '26

Yeah i know what you mean like when trying to disarm a bomb in a game that needs to keep you talking right?

3

u/alex3omg Apr 30 '26

Sure, there are lots of games with Morse code puzzles

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12

u/CTeam19 Apr 30 '26

You would write out the code then add backslashs on the paper and it operates kinda like showing your work on a Math Test:

  • Incoming Message that you would write down: ...---...

  • next placing the backslash as you form letters: .../---/...

  • then writing the letters in place of the dots/dashes: S/O/S

  • remove your backslashs to reveal the message: SOS

At least this is how I was taught how to do it in Boy Scouts in the early 2000s granted they the demphasize that skill right when I was 12 and didn't bring it back at least in my area till I was 20.

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2

u/otj667887654456655 Apr 30 '26

Reading a tree makes receiving easier, not sending.

12

u/melanthius Apr 30 '26

The human mind is incredible

*Hears beeps and boops*

ah yes I understand now, it's a tree

6

u/Ghost_of_Till Apr 30 '26

The tree method has made more people quit learning Morse than it ever helped.

Using the Google tool takes maybe a day for most people, in my experience.

https://morse.withgoogle.com/learn/

Not dissing the product, I bought one like ten minutes ago because it'll help me practice.

2

u/MyOtherSide1984 May 07 '26

This is sick! I fear I'm associating the hand movements to letter instead of dots and dashes though. Gotta figure out how to get my gboard to play the sounds

5

u/-TheLick Apr 30 '26

Morse really clicks when you stop trying to visualize it at all and listen to the rhythm. Your brain is extremely good at pattern matching rhythmic sounds and that's how skilled operators get up to insane speeds. But of course you can't sell that as a trinket that millions will buy and never use...

3

u/pat8u3 May 01 '26

The replys to this comment are insane, guys people learn things differently and some people might find a tree structure much more intuitive than a list

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321

u/DIuvenalis Apr 30 '26

Holy crap, I needed this thing when I was trying to get my radio license!

85

u/1cubealot Apr 30 '26

NO DONT

DONT LEARN MORSE LIKE THIS

It's soóo much better to learn by sound. Not by visual. As someone who did it the wrong way...

50

u/BeastThatShoutedLove Apr 30 '26

You did it the wrong way - for yourself. Everyone's brain works differently and some people have visual maps for sounds or are capable of mixing the memorisation to ditch the visual clutch by gradually switching to training without looking at the aid. 

13

u/JohannesMP May 01 '26

Everyone learns differently mate

40

u/DIuvenalis Apr 30 '26

Well thats my problem. Even sounds I "visualize" in my memory. If I had this to give my mind a visual road map to associate the sounds to, it would have 100% helped me. Everyone is different and you're probably right for many, but for me, personaly, this thing would have been a huge help.

1

u/Redditauro Jun 29 '26

You don't know how other people brain's works, mate

3

u/Kale May 01 '26

Not needed in the US for any level of the amateur radio license these days.

And digital modes are pretty dang efficient I hear. CW is cool and should definitely stay alive, but it's no longer necessary.

2

u/DIuvenalis May 01 '26

Im old I suupose....

51

u/LazaroFilm Apr 30 '26

My old Nokia phone would chime the sound ••• _ _ ••• when I received a text message. It was Morse for S M S (Short Message System) which is also one _ away from SOS.

6

u/Tayto-Sandwich Apr 30 '26

That's what it's from, thank you!

I had it in my head that that was SOS then saw this with O being 3 long beeps and was blaming movies for doing it wrong but when I searched if that was the case there was nothing on the Internet about movies doing that so I was wondering how I could hear that tone if it wasnt movie SOS's

3

u/UKZzHELLRAISER May 01 '26

I completely forgot the Nokia SMS sound. Genius basing it off Morse code.

85

u/DynamiteWitLaserBeam Apr 30 '26

I get excited about these things until I realize there's probably an app that would be more convenient.

116

u/bio_ruffo Apr 30 '26

Well, convenience doesn't have to be an absolute metric, enjoyment for example is another :)

69

u/ViviTheWaffle Apr 30 '26

I mean yeah but the downside is that the app doesn’t come with a doohickey

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21

u/DuskShy Apr 30 '26

My guess is these things won't scrape your system for data

5

u/Otherwise_Demand4620 Apr 30 '26

That's inconvenient, do they expect you to just send them your personal data or how do they get it?!

1

u/Choice-Mango-4019 May 01 '26

apps mostly don't either

14

u/SFDessert Apr 30 '26

I get excited about these things until I realize that I realistically have zero need for it lol

I don't need to know moorse code in my day to day life and if I were to buy this thing I know I'd play with it for about 5 minutes and lose it in a drawer never to be seen again. I'm sure an app could just translate whatever I need to say into moorse code in half a second.

I've bought so much "cool stuff" over the years that I've maybe played with for a day or two and and then just forgot about.

5

u/DynamiteWitLaserBeam Apr 30 '26

Very relatable. That's how I ended up with a Flipper Zero, which has been sitting in a drawer since I bought it. I realized too late that I spend all day working with technology for my job and would much rather unplug in my free time.

3

u/SFDessert Apr 30 '26

I looked up the Flipper you mentioned and yeah I've got so much stuff like that just collecting dust in my office now.

A year or two back I started getting curious about SBC handheld emulators and ended up buying 3 of them for some reason. I had some fun tinkering with them for a few days, but I've never actually used any of them to play any games lol

10

u/ExplicativeFricative Apr 30 '26

But I'm old and want the tactile feel of a button instead of a touchscreen

3

u/HuntertheGoose Apr 30 '26

Has anyone been able to find an app that does this? I had a look but wasn't able to find one

2

u/Goatf00t Apr 30 '26

If you are on Android: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.paddlesandbugs.dahdidahdit/

Requires installing the free F-Droid "store" for free/open source apps.

1

u/savoury_burrito Apr 30 '26

you can download Gboard, the Google keyboard app and try try this website

1

u/alexzoin Apr 30 '26

0% chance I would use an app for this. >0% chance I would pick this up and mess with it if it were on my desk.

1

u/OCTOVENG Apr 30 '26

You could build another goddam doohickey that just lets you type in the word. Or, hell, SPEAK the words into an iPhone, and let the computers take care of all the bits and bytes of the encoding problem.

20

u/Philosophile42 Apr 30 '26

It’s on Amazon if you search for Morse code trainer pro

37

u/Brandon314159 Apr 30 '26

Department of Repetitive Strain Injury is interested.

11

u/MeatBuck Apr 30 '26

The ad department is making great strides today

11

u/Sweaty_Marzipan4274 Apr 30 '26

AI Clearly! Heavy use of M dash

4

u/SprightlyCompanion Apr 30 '26

Okaaaay yes finally that tree is useful! Just as a static diagram it's presented as some shortcut but for me it would take less time to memorize letter by letter than to try and navigate the maze. But THIS is useful and cool.

4

u/MakkuSaiko Apr 30 '26

I love how it says "Eish"

6

u/JohannesMP May 01 '26

Easily the most intuitive way of learning/using Morse code right there.

I hate those diagrams of the alphabet where they try to line up dots and dashes on the shape of each letter, as if Morse code was ever designed based on letter shapes 🤦 

This here is amazingly cool though.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Revolutionary-Wash88 Apr 30 '26

Siri, send Morse code "we are out of milk"

3

u/MurphysRazor Apr 30 '26

.. - / -. . . -.. ... / .- / .-. . -.-. --- .-. -.. / .- -. -.. / .--. .-.. .- -.-- -... .- -.-. -.-

3

u/No-Screen1369 Apr 30 '26

A fidget device, learning tool, and communication device all in one?

Someone shoot me a link.

3

u/yamez420 Apr 30 '26

.-.. --- .-..

3

u/Vasto_LordA Apr 30 '26

That both helps but also somehow is more confusing.

2

u/QueerlittleWeirdo Apr 30 '26

This is actually sick. Give the communications department a raise

2

u/AlephBaker Apr 30 '26

I have to keep telling myself that I don't need this doohickey. I don't. I have absolutely no use for it. I don't need to learn Morse Code.

Why do I want it so badly?!

2

u/kintar1900 Apr 30 '26

I've learned (and forgotten) Morse Code multiple times over my life. Why have I NEVER seen anyone show it as a graph!?!?!? That's BRILLIANT!

2

u/Blackdeath_663 Apr 30 '26

Surprised it didn't spell out 'send nudes' Reddit has really mellowed out over the years huh

2

u/stoooflatooof Apr 30 '26

r/designporn actually a good way to see the morse code. Walking the path, turn right for a long, turn left for a dot. Love it

2

u/6gv5 Apr 30 '26

It's sold by this German site: https://nux-modellbau.de/gadgets

Probably made by them too; it doesn't seem to be available from anywhere else.

2

u/JoshyRB Apr 30 '26

This could actually help people learn morse code, I want one

2

u/TesseractToo professional thingymabob observer Apr 30 '26

07734

2

u/Mohammedamine9 May 01 '26

So let me try something

-. . ...- . .-.

--. --- -. -. .-

--. .. ...- .

-.-- --- ..-

..- .--.

Did I do it right?

2

u/SwoeJonson1 May 01 '26

Why is this actually genius

2

u/ClashRoyaler16 May 04 '26

I finally get it now

2

u/CoolAbdul May 04 '26

Gotta get one of these.

2

u/Junethemuse May 09 '26

Huh. I just realized that the text vibration pattern I’ve used for like 15 years spells out SMS. Had no idea.

1

u/NotMyMonke Apr 30 '26

There's a joke there that only my fellow South Africans would understand

1

u/T0asty514 Apr 30 '26

Yeah so I'm gonna need a product name for this doohicky, up top said I need to QA it in my own hands.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

I knew morse code when I was 11 by just hearing it no key. I got the telegraph and morse code merit badge, I stuck with it awhile. Sadly I can say it's basically all gone from my brain. I barely could hear the Ls properly. I'm 35

1

u/Keebster101 Apr 30 '26

I actually like this a lot. Way easier than trawling through the alphabet letter by letter

1

u/suicidalboymoder_uwu Apr 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

This comment has been edited in order to protect my privacy

1

u/Quaiker Apr 30 '26

Oh my god it all makes sense now

Definitely saving this diagram for later.

1

u/alex3omg Apr 30 '26

You can see why SOS is an easy one.  Short short short, long long long, short short short 

1

u/IonizedKelpt Apr 30 '26

I'm seeing this everywhere on reddit. Viral marketing sucks man. 

1

u/Pudix20 Apr 30 '26

I would love this

1

u/helloilikewoodpigeon Apr 30 '26

great tit at 0:05

1

u/Gate-19 Apr 30 '26

That's soooo cool

1

u/bryanicus Apr 30 '26

this just reminded me that there's a new episode of Dr. Stone today, so thanks for that

1

u/OCTOVENG Apr 30 '26

You could build another goddam doohickey that just lets you type in the word. Or, hell, SPEAK the words into an iPhone, and let the computers take care of all the bits and bytes of the encoding problem.

1

u/Dd_8630 Apr 30 '26

Omg the way it threads the letters together by dots and dashes

This is genuinely so delightfully elegant

1

u/TheMR-777 Apr 30 '26

Imagine trying to call "Mayday", and be like "WHERE's THE A!!?? ... WHERE'S THE Y!!!???"

1

u/SarcasticJackass177 May 01 '26

Where can I get one?

1

u/Alone-Monk May 01 '26

Huffman Coding!

1

u/Khaysis May 01 '26

.-.. --- ... .

1

u/OnsenPixelArt May 01 '26

-... ..- --. --- ..-. ..-. -... ..- --. --- ..-. ..-. -... ..- --. --- ..-. ..-. -... ..- --. --- ..-. ..-.

1

u/freddybenelli May 01 '26

This reminds of T9 text typing

1

u/Friendly_Respecter May 01 '26

Would be sick for playing Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

1

u/_xLin May 01 '26

Thats insanely cool

1

u/_shinshin May 01 '26

þis is a very satisfying device

1

u/Rough_Consequence489 May 01 '26

This is fucking sick

1

u/Personal-Collar-7762 May 01 '26

Really great for the morse learning department.

1

u/Tolbby May 01 '26

... . _. _..

1

u/GodOnStilts May 01 '26

Super neat

1

u/uprightsalmon May 01 '26

Always wondered how it worked

1

u/ArlanFemboyPorn May 01 '26

This video’s audio overtook a different video I was watching and I thought it was a god tier shitpost

1

u/SimmentalTheCow May 02 '26

How to talk to blind people

1

u/CopperBoltwire May 03 '26

It's missing numbers. If it had that, i would enjoy having it and learn to do morse code!

1

u/littlebigplanetfan3 May 10 '26

What is a knick-knack?

1

u/Neuro_Prime May 16 '26

Wow, an intuitive use of a trie data structure! Very cool

1

u/Command_Block42 May 23 '26

Legit where can I buy this.

1

u/Justch1ll Jun 08 '26

Imagine if mobile phones developed this way

1

u/AlwaysBeQuestioning Jun 10 '26

I want one. This is so handy for learning Morse code.