Numbers
Author: Ockshun Jockson
When i was younger, my father had a pretty strong shortwave receiver I used to listen to. There was a map on the radio, and you could dial-in to what I could only assume was the geographical location you wanted to listen to?
But this childhood memory had been burried deep into my subconscious, until I stumbled upon this wiki page earlier this morning:
Here's an excerpt
Numbers stations are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. They generally broadcast voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a phonetic alphabet), tunes or morse code.
The voices that can be heard on these stations are often mechanically generated. They are in a wide variety of languages, and the voices are usually women's, though sometimes men's or children's voices are used.
Evidence supports popular assumptions that the broadcasts are channels of communication used to send messages to spies. This has not been publicly acknowledged by any government that may operate a numbers station, but in one case, Cuban numbers station espionage has been publicly prosecuted in a United States federal court.[1]
Numbers stations appear and disappear over time (although some follow regular schedules), and their overall activity has increased slightly since the early 1990s. This increase suggests that as spy-related phenomena, they were not unique to the Cold War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_station
I had completely forgot about this, but indeed I remember listening to this weird shit on my father's shortwave radio! It's a trip. When that part of the allegorical puzzle was placed, a string of relation came to mind: The weird shit on Boards of Canada, for instance.
But what is great, some British label put a bunch of these recordings out on CD, and they are now available for free download (see, "The Conet Project").
Ahhhh, the Conet Project. Deeply creepy, deeply classic.... I think Herrdoktor Brown & I were trading links on this stuff a while back?
Has the cool factor been diminished by the incorporation of numbers stations into the LOST mythology?
where the hell is trace anyway?
Good question... Paging Doktorbrown to the white courtesy central ssssscrutinizer?
actually he doesn't have intertron at his house, and i am not sure how often he is getting on it at work... i'm sure he'll turn up.
No interwub at the Crib?????
It is to make the ganglia twitch...
actually I do have it now. got one of these wildblue satellite interweb thingies stuck to the roof of my porch 2 weeks ago, right before i went to chicago to chill from the blackbird crashland (tho i am working 2 days this week). still can't get cell phone service here, but i am around now.
ah yes, the Numbers.....uno dos quatro quatro cinco sette ocho...... it was always fun to stumble across them. I heard someplace that sometimes the numbers were just sort of a beacon station, with the important stuff being transmitted slightly above or below the frequency that the numbers were read on to make it even more confusing.
Then there is the Rodent Revolution:
http://www.spynumbers.com/WBNY.html
run by some dopey mice.
Another interesting frequency is 11175 which is used by the USAF Hi Frequency Global Communications System.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/USAF_High_Frequency_Global_Communications_System
Stuff like, "MAINSAIL MAINSAIL. This is Andrews. 54312 23987 49284 90834 33990 33009. I say again, 54312 23987 49284 90834 33990 33009. Andrews Out."
oops helps if i code the links properly:
http://www.spynumbers.com/WBNY.html
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/USAF_High_Frequency_Global_Communications_System
Great to hear from you, Herrdoktor... and thnx for the WBNY link, that is some serious weirdassery.
I fondly recall chilling at the Cabin and happily getting freaked out by the spooky shortwave transmissions. Errie and magical.
Ya know, I'm really jonesin' for a "Cabin-Like Excursion". Maybe we should plan some sort of gathering / brainstorming session later this year... Any ideas.
yeah, i'd like to get up ther soon. was thinking in the next 2 or 3 weeks.
Argh. And here I am on the far side of the phucking continent...
As I stood in the middle of the street at 3 AM the other night watching the moon turn into a bloody ember under the influence of the eclipse, I was reminded, briefly, of how we once timed the night with the passage of satellites in the crisp, black stillness of a Pennsylvanian height.
yes, the moon. i happened to catch it last nite. oddly enough in the blimey desert; las vegas, to be exact. i caught a flight after work, went to a rooftop party some friends were having at the magic convention, and left in the morning to return to work where i read jawn dot blog posts and make replies!
Hey Wretch and Stinke, why don't you look for a cheap flights to philly or SC? Might be nice to getaway in the next month and see some leaves change color for a change? I think a weekend might be in order?
... and I was just in Colorado, outside of Denver for ten days "making" reality for the masses (more on this later)... the MOON was pretty sick where the Great Plains and the Rockies meet. Stark and contrasty big sky- like in some eastern european werewolf flick. Being in practically ZERO humidity
was quite nice... I began to sweat as soon as the landing treads hit the sticky philly tarmac.
like in some eastern european werewolf flick
like in some eastern european werewolf flick
like in some eastern european werewolf flick
like in some eastern european werewolf flick
um, excuse me g-town monkey...but i explicitly remember sending you guys an email about coming out to philthy at the end of september! 'member?? 'member??
yes. it is going down. end of september. it will be mesmeratic!
"Like in some Eastern European werewolf flick..."
"Like in some Eastern European werewolf flick..."
Yeah, thanks brow.... that's now stuck in my head with a certain M. Doughty / Soul Coughing rhythm.
Argh. Retreat, retreat... I've never needed to get out of this K-Hole more & have never been less able to. (Right now, what should feel like Relative Success instead feels like an iced-lightning stiletto of stress right through my navel.) Y'all have fun in the wilderness and come back with a shamanic revelation now, hear?
that a phrase that struck a particular note with you?
I didn't forget, Stinke... I've just been trapped in the horrid Denver suburbs and haven't glanced at my calendar since I left Philly. Ok, I spaced it for a sec...
but your visit is still on my iCal.
iced-lightning stiletto
iced-lightning stiletto
iced-lightning stiletto
iced-lightning stiletto
iced-lightning stiletto
iced-lightning stiletto
fuck when you comin exactly stinke?? i might be out of town... gettin sprung to go see the fam around my birthday (sept 22nd).