Send Messages by Carrier Pigeons | Hacker News Reader

Send Messages by Carrier Pigeons

flypigeon.co

57 pointsachairapart54 comments

Does this implement the full spec from RFC 1149?

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149

So I don't blame anyone for taking this seriously (it took me 5 minutes of reading their blog before I finally convinced myself it was a joke), but this is definitely a parody. I mean, just look at this from their YC application:

> Our initial market research suggests Pigeon can become a major player in the pigeon-as-a-service (PaaS) space.

> It's difficult to explain to non-pigeon users (NPUs), but the excitement is real...

EDIT: When I posted this most of the comments in this thread seemed to take the company at face value. The multiple references to RFC 1149 and the "fleet" page since then have rather changed the tone. :)

I'm pretty sure it is, but it's still fun to play along with it :)

Yeah this is Poe's law to the extreme....

This is all in good fun, but let's also recognize that there is serious utility for this form of communication - especially in complex electromagnetic environments like wartime.

To that end, as recently as 2011 Chinese PLA have 10s of thousands of trained carrier pigeons for secure message transport.[1]

1: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8356921...

Is this compatible with existing RFC1149 deployments?

Opportunity: "Get Early Bird Access"

I can't believe we didn't use this. Would you like a job in our puns department?

Can I apply for a position as COO?

Unfortunately, that position is already occoopied. However, you can check out our careers page to learn more about the available positions: https://flypigeon.co/careers

Perhaps once your customer base warrants it, you might consider adding the "Chief Operating Officer for Puns" (COOP) role?

Their YC application contains a few additional details; http://blog.flypigeon.co/our-application-to-y-combinators-w1...

55000 lines of code

for what?

2 different frameworks, 22 libraries and 100 domain models. For a CRUD app.

"We're ready to cut Chad out of this at any time." "What?"

I'm still not sure if this whole thing is a joke or not. Poe's Law in effect.

That incubator link is brilliant.

I read once that carrier pigeons go only one way (back home). How does this work?

I live in City A and want to send messages to my friend in City B. We both have a coop of carrier pigeons on our respective roofs. We meet up one day, and swap a number of pigeons. Now, if I want to talk to my friend, I just go up to my pigeon coop, select one of his pigeons, attach my message, and let the bird fly home.

It's like swapping private keys, except it can only happen in person.

And if you attach one of your own pigeons as a passenger with every message you send ...

When you exchange the number of pigeons, do they need to observe the travel back to City A to set directional bearings, or do you need to keep them in darkness so they will return to City B out of pure instinct?

Apologies for my ignorance, asking for myself and a friend....

According to this [1] nature article, homing pigeons have an innate sense of where 'home' is and can use the Earth's magnetic field to point themselves in the right direction, thanks to iron in their beaks. They don't need to 'learn' the path, like some migratory birds - they have a built in GPS. Which is kind of neat, when you think about it.

[1] http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/news041122-7.htm...

Yup, it's a one way service. Here's a brilliant (long) read on the wild ways of pigeons: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/magazine/the-pigeon-king-a...

Maybe some one finally took Project Pigeon and applied it...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon

I honestly can't tell if this is a joke or not...

I would like to use this. Would make a great and very special birthday gift. Any plans to expand this to other countries?

The next generation of pigeons will have genetically engineered trans-atlantic and trans-pacific flight endurance capability.

Nice, though i'm sure recruiting from other cities wouldn't be a problem. Lot's of pigeons in every major city and tourist spots.

Exactly, and most of them are out of a job right now. Employment opportunities as Pigeon-Of-Piece have gone down drastically over the past couple of years. The Pigeon-as-a-Service industry has an opportunity here to step up in the name of social responsibility and do its share to increase and distribute wealth in one of the most ignored sectors of the populace.

I would pay money for such a delivery system, but it would only work with pidgeon hotels/stations in each city and the more specific local distribution by for example volunteer or paid cyclists who know where to go. It would be valuable carbonfree messaging supporting the local economies (and health of pidgeons)! You could also do solar powered fidonet-like raspberry pi asynchronous national network and print-outs (or handwriting) for last mile delivery but that would perhaps be more difficult and expensive to setup. Not sure if either would be a viable business plan.

Wait until you see my startup to send passengers by passenger pigeon.

Indeed, if we also cut out the browser and the cloud, then NSA and colleagues will just have to train their own under-cover stool pigeons. This should be fun to watch.

The problem with using pigeons for transferring private data is the automatic route tracing (as described in RFC1149). Any person will notice any pigeon routing that is being performed and this may provide enough information for future packets to be captured in transit. However carefully designed dietary controls can reduce the risk, for example, by limiting fiber intake.

How do Pigeons instinctual drone-aversion tactics fare?

In a similar vein, I'm working on an app that maps the location of hot pies cooling on windowsills next to open windows in your locality. ;)

The real question is how much VC will you need to make it a reality?

I love how in all of their "meet the fleet" headshots, the birds are totally out of focus, only the grass in the background is clear

I don't get it, are these actual pigeons? I would have expected a photo if so...

Yes. https://flypigeon.co/fleet -- The service only operates in Florida (USA) so far, but they bring an actual bird to the door when delivering the message.

So print the message, and arrive holding a pigeon. No-one will know the difference.

See: https://flypigeon.co/fleet

check: https://flypigeon.co/fleet

Their startup is actually upstair in my building since a couple months. I'll go talk to them to figure out what's going on. I guess it's a way to get attention and that they will provide some sort of secure messaging system.

No other messaging than this exists. We've been waiting for a couple weeks, squirt. Come up here, and I'd be happy to show you the press kit and everything else. Taco Tuesday's tomorrow! God bless.

I love how they're touting their in-office kergerator to potential hires.

The "heigene" typo on their "Junior Caretaker" job offer is weird though.

The typo clearly qualifies its author as a beneficiary of the U.S. education system.

how do the pigeons know where to go to?

This is a question I have as well...

As I understand carrier pigeons, is that they don't know where to go, only how to get home so usually, you'll give them a letter and they take it home, where the person then can collect the letter. But this seems different.

Someone have any idea how it actually works?

If you read the blog posts and YC app it's pretty obviously a parody.

This is great. Is expanding to Alaska and Hawaii on the roadmap?

We're hard a work developing North Face jackets and water wings to make this a reality.

Is it April First already?

will it scale?

What is the latency like?

If you're willing to trade very high latency for high bandwidth, could be worth it, see https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/.

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