• dfyxA
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    2 days ago

    It’s mostly a “well, technically” kind of thing. First prototypes were around since the 1840s but the first commercial telefax service was introduced in February 1865, a little under two months before Lincoln was killed. Samurai were around until the late 1860s or early 1870s. I can’t quite find when the first telefax machine was operated in Japan but 1928 shows up on some lists.

    So yeah, Lincoln could have sent a fax to a samurai if they both had traveled to France just a few weeks before Lincoln’s death.

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      1 day ago

      And there’s no record that they did. Talk about missing a great opportunity

      • longjohnjohnson@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        The fax received would have been a great historical artifact.

        Wonder how they’d preserve the heat paper.

      • dfyxA
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        1 day ago

        This is your chance to make one. After all, today you learned that.