One question I often get asked in interviews, is, "*Why* are people so interested in solving codes?". I can of course talk for awhile about the importance of codes in times of war, but there's also another more philosophical reason.

In one of the posts on a Kryptos brainstorming list, I saw this comment by one of the longtime Kryptos researchers, David Allen Wilson, and it struck a chord with me, so I am re-printing it here:

***
Something that I've learned since I've started working on Kryptos is not to believe that we have to always be on the right track, or to believe that there -must- be a solution to part IV. Yes, I am working on part IV; not because there -has- to be a solution, but to learn. If we find the solution, great. If we don't, oh well.
***

Well put!

Elonka :)

Decius wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] In any case, we have such a relatively small community here.
] ] When I check the "who's posting" calendar at User Weblogs, I
] ] see there are several posts per day, but that's not exactly
] ] slashdot traffic. :)
]
] Well, I know this is an aside but one shouldn't assume the
] number of readers is related to the number of posters. There
] are many more lurkers here. Your MemeStream in particular is
] enormously popular. Over 5000 views so far this month. Mine
] only had 300 or so, and many of those are probably me.

Oh absolutely. :) Within my own communities, I find that it's usually a 10-1 ratio (on average) of regular readers to regular posters.

5000 though, eh? I'd love to see some sourcing data on that. Are they linking in from google, or coming in straight? If it's anything like my website(s), most are probably coming in from searching on Kryptos and "Da Vinci Code" stuff.

RE: 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country

] circa 1200
]
] A Christian monk handwrites prayers in Greek over the
] Archimedes text, turning the old mathematical text into a
] new prayer book. The book is now a palimpsest, a
] manuscript with a layer of text written over an earlier
] scraped- or washed-off text (see What is a Palimpsest?).

This is an interesting link that was sent to my Kryptos brainstorming group. We've long been curious why "Palimpsest" was one of the keywords for solving one of the Kryptos sections, and whether it might give a clue for solving part 4. This information about Archimedes is intriguing. See the link, which includes some animations showing how one text was erased, the page was then turned 90 degrees, and another text written on top. The "90 degree twist" idea would completely change the part 4 ciphertext if we were to read things vertically. Hmmm...

The Archimedes Palimpsest

Interesting article about the life of Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code". It sounds about right, in terms of how he's gone into a virtual bunker. I used to be able to correspond with him via email and even talk on the phone about Kryptos, but over the last several months, I've only been able to get through to his assistant. I'm still dying of curiosity though as to whether (or how much that) Kryptos is going to factor into his new book (and whether or not my name will be one of the ones in the long list on the "thank you" page).

Making notes for myself from the article (in case it gets lost to web rot):

"The Da Vinci Code," released on 3/18/2003, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list on 4/6/2003, and has sold "roughly" 25 million copies in 44 languages, including 10 million copies in North America.

Brown's earlier novels have now sold more than 7 million copies.

Doubleday's original contract with Brown was for $400,000 for two books, of which "Da Vinci Code" was the first. The contract has since been renegotiated (probably for millions).

Brown has probably earned about $50 million from the sales of his books.

The manuscript for the next book may not be ready until 2006 (this pushes it back at least a year from previous reports).

Brown can evidently be seen in the audience of an Aerosmith concert scene in the new movie "Be Cool".

And this bit gave me a chuckle:

] "In some ways, my life has changed dramatically," Mr.
] Brown said, as when he arrived at the airport in Boston
] to catch the shuttle to La Guardia Airport - only to
] realize that he had left his driver's license at his home
] in New Hampshire. "Fortunately, the guy behind me in line
] had a copy of 'Da Vinci Code,' " he said. "I borrowed it,
] showed security the author photo and made my flight."

LOL! So now a bookjacket counts as a federally-approved ID?

For 'Code' Author, 24 Months in a Circus

] ROME After months of turning the other cheek, Vatican
] officials are lashing out against "The Da Vinci Code,"
] saying Christians should not buy or even read the
] best-selling thriller.

I'd been curious as to why traffic to my Kryptos website had doubled over the last couple days, but this is probably why. Evidently a Catholic Cardinal condemned the book, "The Da Vinci Code". Of course, this is guaranteed to boost sales, of what is already the biggest selling (adult hardcopy) fiction book in history. 25 million copies in print, translated into 44 languages, 104 weeks on the bestseller lists, and still in hardcover!

Note: I've been curious as to what other books beat DVC's sales records. For example, I've heard that the "Harry Potter" novels are around the 250 million mark for the entire series, but I've been unable to find a breakdown of which book is the biggest seller. I've also heard that certain eBooks have sold more copies, but I haven't been able to track down those titles either. Anyone here have a good source for that kind of info?

- Elonka :)

Vatican goes on offensive against 'Da Vinci Code'

Dolemite wrote:
] ] The Reader recounts the experience of photojournalist
] ] Warren Wimmer's attempts to photograph Anish Kapoor's
] ] sculpture, Cloud Gate (more commonly known as "the
] ] Bean"). When Wimmer set up his tripod and camera to shoot
] ] the sculpture, security guards stopped him, demanding
] ] that they show him a permit. Wimmer protested, replying
] ] that it's absurd that one needs to pay for a permit to
] ] photograph public art in a city-owned park.

This struck a chord with me, because I'm having a problem with a different public sculpture.

When sculptor Sanborn installed the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters, he also installed several related pieces around the entrance to the New Headquarters Building. One of them has an engraved compass rose, and others have morse code messages upon them. We believe that these pieces have something to do with the code on the "wavy screen" portion of the sculpture.

I have been working *really* hard to obtain photos of these additional pieces. To date, the only close up images we have are from the personal collection of Jim Gillogly, but even in those few pictures, we can't fully see some of the pieces.

I have tried working through the CIA's Media Relations and Public Affairs offices, and have gotten repeatedly rebuffed. I've asked (very politely) how I can go about requesting images of those sculptures. I've gotten replies back saying that I'm allowed to use any images from the CIA website that I want. I reply that those sculptures aren't on the website, and I repeat my request of how I can go about requesting images of the unphotographed sculptures. This goes back and forth a bit, and then I get no reply.

I've also written to the Smithsonian Archive, and the General Services Administration. They're eager to help with any images that they already have, but don't know of any way (so they tell me) to request new ones.

I've tried other government agencies, and my congressional representatives, but to date have gotten zero reply from any of them.

In my opinion, those sculptures were paid for by public money, and are installed in an outdoor setting on government property, and the public has, at the least, the right to see photographic images of the sculptures. To date though, I've been unable to obtain images. I don't even want them for commercial purposes -- these images are being requested for a volunteer-run website, for public information only (I also toss in the fact that I'm a veteran, but that hasn't helped either).

I wish that I had enough contacts in Washington that I could find *someone* who could just pick up the phone and call someone at CIA and say, "Hey, can you find someone with a digital cam and go out on the front lawn and take a couple snaps of those rocks?" But to date, nada.

I haven't given up yet. But my frustration level is rising . . .

Elonka

RE: New (sub)Urbanism: The Copyrighting of Public Space

The webcounter continues to spin...

When the Wired.com article first went live on Friday, my site got about 8000 visitors (usual baseline traffic is around 500). Then on Saturday, somebody else picked up the Wired article. I'm not certain who, since they didn't link me directly, but my guess is fark.com. That brought in another 9000 visitors or so.

Then earlier today (Sunday), the Wired article got picked up on Slashdot. The webcounter is still RPM-ing, but it looks like about 35,000 new visitors just this afternoon.

Whee!

Slashdot: Decrypting Kryptos

] Every year since that initial meeting, Defcon has grown.
] From a few hundred people in 1993, it has expanded by the
] thousands, reaching a record of around 6,000 people this
] year. But Defcon's growth isn't limited to the
] sheer volume of people in attendance; it also includes
] the mushrooming list of topics discussed by the panels.
] Some of the subjects this year included: a session on
] quantum hacking, a presentation about cracking the
] CIA's Kryptos Sculpture (an artwork containing
] encoded messages that resides in a courtyard at CIA
] Headquarters), and another on homebrew mind machines.
] Even electronic voting vulnerabilities were a key topic
] at the conference this year.

I noticed in my weblogs that I got a recent spike (about +25%) of visitors to my Kryptos site. They didn't seem to be *from* anywhere in particular -- just an increase in the number of people searching on the word "Kryptos". My guess is that it's from here: A mention of Kryptos on TechTV/ScreenSavers. :)

G4techTV - The Defcon Briefing

] The bill has been finalised for DEFCON, the largest
] hacker gathering in the world, which kicks off this
] weekend. In between frightening the locals, strong-arming
] the one-arm bandits and defacing each other's websites
] conference delegates can look forward to an interesting
] array of talks.
]
] Highlights include a session on quantum hacking, a
] presentation about cracking the CIA's Kryptos
] Sculpture (an artwork containing encoded messages which
] lives in a courtyard at CIA Headquarters) and another on
] home-brew mind machines (is Professor Charles Xavier in
] attendance?).

Whoo, my Kryptos talk is listed as one of the highlights of Def Con? I am astonishingly flattered. :)

The Register: Vegas braces for DEFCON

] Kryptos and the Cracking of the Cyrillic Projector Cipher

Schedule's up! I'm currently scheduled to speak at Noon on Sunday, August 1st, 2004.

Defcon 12 Schedule - Elonka's Talk