Back to Basics Telephonically

[Don Shepherd]

Thanks Adam, that's very interesting. I vaguely remember the Autovon system having something to do with the federal government telephone system, but certainly I've never seen that keyboard before, neato. Reminds me of the old "CONELRAD" emergency warning system from the cold war. I remember the old recording "this is only a test. Had this been a real emergency ...". They really should have ended that sentence with "you will have been vaporized by now."

I had never heard of the term "octothorpe". It's always been just the "number sign" to me. I don't "Twitter" so hashtag means nothing to me.

I believe that the number sign also appeared as a target symbol in old air traffic control consoles, signifying something specific to the automated ATC system. That octothorpe gets around!