[HN Gopher] A secret message in a Colombian song gave hostages hope
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       A secret message in a Colombian song gave hostages hope
        
       Author : elijahparker
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-01-01 03:17 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
        
       | pabl8k wrote:
       | Very interesting. The chorus has the lyrics: "a message from my
       | heart" and then "listen to this message" before going into the
       | section with the morse code message.
        
       | forinti wrote:
       | It's a bit weird. I would definitely think there's something
       | wrong with the song, even if I couldn't decifer it.
        
       | samwillis wrote:
       | I struggle to believe that if a hostage with military training
       | can notice and decipher the hidden morse code, that a hostage
       | taker with paramilitary training wouldn't also spot it. But then
       | it's probably not too much of a problem if they did, except for
       | maybe shutting of the radios.
       | 
       | The section of the song with the morse code almost sounds like
       | there is interference. Maybe when played on the radio in the
       | jungle it would be less obviously "odd" than when in a high def
       | digital format.
        
         | Waterluvian wrote:
         | There's also the case of that one guy blinking "torture" in
         | Morse code.
         | 
         | I think we may oftentimes underestimate the chasm of difference
         | between proper training and the lack thereof. Russia's invasion
         | of Ukraine brought that into focus for me, and probably a lot
         | of people, that you can dress the part, talk the part, and
         | still be complete garbage.
         | 
         | It might be very easy to miss the signals when you're focused
         | on all the things that real warfighters have committed to
         | muscle memory.
        
         | kika wrote:
         | That "paramilitary training" mostly included training which end
         | of the gun the bullet flies out and that's about it I believe.
         | I've seen quite a few documentaries with/about FARC and the way
         | they hold guns did not instill a lot of confidence in their
         | training.
        
       | memalign wrote:
       | The message:
       | 
       | "19 people rescued. You're next. Don't lose hope."
       | 
       | More info:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Days_(Natalia_Gutierrez...
        
       | picture wrote:
       | The song on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVUWjoTxOU8
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-01-02 23:00 UTC)