Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Last week, Col 8 got so wrapped up in choko vines and food names that Tom Baker’s query about ABC in Morse code fell by the wayside. So now, back to it. Mary Carde of Parrearra in Queensland (haven’t we heard a lot from Queensland lately? Are you all stuck inside with the air-con on with time to read the Herald?) says: “According to my reliable sources (mainly the ABC), the opening beats of this latest remix of the 1980s theme are a translation of ABC into audible Morse code. However, T and V apparently are not included. What you might be hearing, Tom, is the added bass, which the sound designer achieved by using his four-year-old daughter’s drum kit, giving it extra ‘ooomph’.”Shirley Gill of Normanhurst, now with Ted aged 94, learnt Morse and semaphore as a girl guide and ranger. “As rangers we attended Garden Island to learn for our signaller’s badge from the sailors there. We were taught that all messages were prefaced by VE. If you know Morse you would realise how this could be easily confused with TV.”Graeme Collett of Tamworth adds, “I have always admired the skills of operators. My father was a Victorian Railways station master and I well remember he’d be serving a customer at the counter when the Morse started to chatter. Not missing a beat, he’d interpret the message and individual sender, then call to his assistant, saying, ‘That’s Lloyd at Leongatha; I’ll get back to him’.”Richard Murnane of Hornsby obviously knows whereof he speaks at amateur radio station VK2SKY when he says, “Tom correctly observed the extra symbol after the Morse ‘ABC’, but its placement butted up against the ‘C’ was the subject of heated debate at the time. The best answer we could come up with was ‘artistic licence’ and promptly turned back to the (ham) radio.”And a little aside: Greg Oehm of Western Creek, Tasmania, would like to add, “On the subject of Morse code, the theme for the Inspector Morse television series by the late Australian composer Barrington Pheloung (a Manly boy) has ‘MORSE’ in Morse code as its underlying motif.”To end with, back for a moment to the never-ending vine of choko tales. Mike Hirschhorn of North Rocks would like it to be known, regarding Choko Maths, that it is not a furphy. “I was serving on the HSC exam committee in around 1985 when a member of the committee came in and mentioned Choko Maths. When asked for an explanation, she said, ‘It’s Veggie Maths without the flavour’.”[email protected] attachments, please. Includename, suburb and daytime phone
