Think of what the world would be if everyone had this skill. It could be a potentially dangerous place if we all knew how to read lips.
Lipreading. I always love it in movies when a hostage situation is brewing, and they call in the lip reader. “What are they saying?” the police detective asks, in a moment of sheer panic, as the team places the bugging device in the pizza box.
But that is where lip readers are used the most. In law enforcement. A lot of times, police will have video footage of someone but no audio. So lip readers are consulted to fill in the details of the spoken word.
Lipreading takes on other roles too. In sports, especially football, lip readers are used all the time. That’s why you always see the coaches on the sidelines, covering their faces. There is a person in a booth somewhere, with a set of binoculars, doing nothing but translating his words the entire game.
Lip readers are also used in the medical industry. If a patient is unable to speak with the voice and unable to write, a lip reader will translate.
They say it is a very difficult skill to learn. In fact, it takes years of dedication to become adept.
I don’t think about lip reading very often, but there it was. On this date, in 1926, the first Lip Reading Tournament was held in Philadelphia, PA. I don’t have any more details, other than the date. I’d like to be able to tell you that Bobby Entellman of Sioux City, Iowa, won with the final phrase, “My toes are running, but the cows are not clucking, only the knot bell rings.”
Or something.
I don’t plan on taking up lip reading anytime soon. The truth of the matter is, I would rather not know what they are saying from afar.
Speaking of saying things from afar, we were taking a walk the other day, and I wondered what kind of wood was making up all the telephone and utility poles alongside our road.
When I got home, I found out.
Those poles are typically made from three species: Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, and Southern Pine. The worthy logs that have the potential to become wood poles are selected in the forest, often while the trees are still standing. I wonder if they try to bend themselves to avoid getting cut.
So not only are there lip readers a-plenty in this world, but there are also phone-pole-surveyors. Two little known professions.
The pole selection started some time ago. The first documented use of wood poles was in 1844. That is when the telegraph got its wings.
That guy Samuel Morse received a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Congress to construct a 40-mile telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. And so, at first, he tried to put his new telegraph lines underground. This was a no-go for some reason. In the first few miles, the lines failed.
So he looked up. He decided to place the lines overhead and advertised to buy 700 “straight and sound” wood poles. And there it is.
The next time you are walking, think pine, fir, or cedar. That’s all the help I can give you.
Both of these remind us, once again, of the power of language. Probably, the most influential aspect of this comes from within ourselves. Whether we realize this or not.
Our inner language has the power of telling us exactly how we will be on any given day. Will we be patient, relaxed, positive, kind — or tense, tight, and negative? We then only need to consider which it is we would prefer? We can see it and hear it in ourselves. Peaceful or tumultuous?
By our inner lip reading and utility poles.
Anywhere we go.
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“The voice of beauty speaks softly; it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls.”
― Nietzsche
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“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
― Steve Jobs
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“At the core of your heart, you are perfect and pure. No one and nothing can alter that.”
― Amit Ray
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What wood connects the lines, and can you see what they are saying?
