When I was younger I saw small haloish ripples around some shadows.  I thought I had magic powers, that I could see auras.  I believed I had this secret power for quite some time.  While reading a moving presentation by Matt Web about ancient Patagonian communication (it’s sort of heartbreaking), I learned what it was.  I was seeing the resolution problems of my eye.  In shadows, you can see the very resolution limits of light information itself.  How fascinating that you can see these physical limits of the universe in action.

One footnote of his led me to go read and eventually write about the story of the first telegraph network, which was completely human powered.  I’ve put up a little something for you about Claude Chappe’s Optical Telegraph, and I’d appreciate any feedback you’ve got on it.