Messages and Minarets: Homing Pigeons

Where do messages go? When we twitter,
how are our tweets dispersed? I thought about this in relation to homing
pigeons, trying to imagine what the world was like when they were commonly used to relay information. Here, from Wikipedia, is a photo of a B-type bus from London converted into a pigeon loft for use in Northern France and Belgium during the Great War. Carrier pigeons played a vital part in World War II too, for communication during the Invasion of Normandy; radios couldn't be used for fear of message interception by the enemy.

Carrier pigeons were first used 3,000 years ago in Egypt and Persia. They also were used to proclaim the winner of the Olympics. Carrier pigeons lived in the minarets of mosques, such as those in the Jamia Masjid mosque in Srirangapatna, headquarters of Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore. National Geographic offers computer wallpaper of homing pigeons in a clay roost.

Research suggests that homing pigeons establish habitual routes with repetition, much the way humans do. The discovery of iron-containing structures in the beaks of pigeons may explain how they (and perhaps other birds) navigate in relation to the Earth's magnetic fields.

It's exciting to think that we can use computers and handheld devices to communicate over long distances today, using the latest applications, but it's really just an extension and transformation of pigeon delivery service and the telegraph. (I'm sure I used more than 140 characters trying to craft that thought: bear with me!) I think it's important to remember that these have all been "technologies." When one supplants another, whole worlds of sensory experience are lost, even as new ones are gained.

25 Random Things: Creative Drive

Freud posited the need to find satisfaction in both love and work. Between those two drives, linking them, is the creative drive – as in a Venn diagram, with overlapping circles. (Here is a clever one.) Creativity may be the missing link, the connecting substance, the brilliance by which we survive, thrive, and make ingenious adjustments.

I appear to be creating my 25 Random Things in alphabetical order, something I didn't really expect to do initially. (That's the curious thing about the creative drive: sometimes it takes over and does the driving.)

This has caused me to muse a bit more about several all-important C-words:

Command and control: not so much, except when editing or absorbed in a personal project. But even then, for me personally, I'm not really great at this. (That mode is for Captain Sully: it has its place when flying airplanes.)

Cooperate and collaborate: my preferred methods of engaging the creative drive and working with others. Then I am in the flow, and unexpected things happen.

Communication: Nothing never fails to communicate something.

(I hope no one out there is very confused by this.)

Confirmed as a Friend

It's how we communicate today....my son just confirmed me as a friend on Facebook. (And my daughter did, too.) Of course the two of them have a zillion friends: who knew? (Actually, my house is filled with sleeping teenagers at the moment, so I am not surprised.)

My friends are all in a flurry these days, finally creating Facebook pages. I blame this on Barack Obama, who I guess has more friends than anyone on the planet: God Thanks for That! (as my husband would say.) I am Barack's friend, too...and I never thought I'd say that about a president-elect. And of course he has the Facebook founder on his team: brilliant.

I was very impressed with Obama's first press conference and was thinking about Jon Stewart's next problem: "How do we make any of this funny?" So what do you think: what if Barack just wore sunglasses? The mirrored kind?

I mentioned that to my friend, Dylan, who is one of the wittiest people I know. He holds the honor of being my first Facebook friend under the age of 18. (I adore his parents and little brother, too.) He told me that he loves it when Barack wears sunglasses. We engaged in a bit of banter wall-to-wall.

I resisted Facebook for a long time, afraid of more background noise and lost time at the computer. But my friend Lisa suggests that Facebook "is all about fun and jackassery" – and that suddenly made it irresistible. Anyway, it's one of the "who knew?!" ways we communicate today.

Oh, and that kid on Jack's shoulders? Perhaps the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea someday! (Maybe following in the footsteps of his Dad and/or his Bubu Charles, either of whom might get there first.) Remember this name: Thierry Lepani.