Kryptos sculptor Jim Sanborn (and maybe I) will be on BBC Radio Five this afternoon (Friday) at 1:50 p.m. Eastern, for a 5-minute segment. I don't know yet if they'll have an audio file posted on the website afterwards, so here's a link to what will probably be the live stream, if anyone wants to try capturing it.

FYI,

Elonka :)

BBC - Radio Five Live - Kryptos

She recently took time to discuss "Kryptos" and her new book, "The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms," a collection of more than 600 coded puzzles. Later this month, it will be sold in the United Kingdom as "The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles."

Q&A about my new book, in the Sunday edition of St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Elonka :)

STLtoday - [Elonka Dunin] doesn't just write about codes -- she cracks them

Jim Sanborn and The Da Vinci Code
September 23, 2005 at 12:30 pm
Since the publication of The Da Vinci Code readers and art enthusiasts have attempted to decipher the work of artist Jim Sanborn, whose Kryptos sculpture installed at CIA Headquarters was featured in the novel. Sanborn will reveal some of the secrets behind his enigmatic sculptures, in particular Antipodes, 1997, which stands in the Hirshhorn Plaza. Meet at the Information Desk.

Friday, day after tomorrow, Sanborn will be giving a talk about Kryptos, Antipodes, and The Da Vinci Code at the Hirshhorn Museum (the big round museum near the Capitol).

As yet though, I have been unable to find anyone in my crypto group who's able to attend. :/

Is there anyone within reach of this blog who's in the DC area, and could go to this talk on Friday? I'd really appreciate being able to hear a first-hand account of what Sanborn says. Even better, I'd love a recording or transcript!

Thanks,

Elonka :)

Kryptos Sculptor Speaks in DC on Friday

A témával foglalkozó Elonka Dunin arról számol be, hogy webszájtján az utóbbi időben egyre többen járnak. A weboldal korábban napi 5-600 látogatót fogadott, mostanában viszont előfordul, hogy 24 óra leforgása alatt harmincezren jönnek.
A hirtelen magszaladt érdeklődésen a Kryptos-szobor létrehozója, Jim Sanborn is csodálkozik. A művészt 1989-ben kérte fel a CIA akkori igazgatója, William Webster az alkotás elkészítésére. Sanborn az egyik kódfejtővel, Ed Scheidttal közösen tervezte meg a titkos szobrot.

I got a smile out of seeing this. I don't speak Hungarian, but my ancestry is Hungarian (I am named Elonka because I was named after my grandmother, ilona, who had Hungarian parents). So it's a neat kind of "full circle" feeling to see my Americanized-spelling name of "Elonka" on a Hungarian webpage....

Kryptos in Hungarian

] Efforts at finding a solution have grown increasingly
] elaborate. Elonka Dunin, an executive at St. Louis
] computer-game company Simutronics, has hunted down other
] encoded sculptures by Mr. Sanborn in search of recurring
] themes.

Wall Street Journal: CIA sculpture 'kryptos' draws mystery lovers

] Op de CIA-site is de informatie over Kryptos nogal
] summier, maar op de amateursite Elonka's Krypton page
] vind je alle denkbare informatie over dit mysterieuze
] kunstwerk.

Traffic to my Kryptos site spiked today, evidently because of this article that showed up on a Dutch website. International interest has been increasing lately. Tons of hits from Japan, some from Indonesia, some from Latin America... It's like a game, trying to figure out which language is on the current site that's linking to me!

Hmm, as part of my genealogy research, I've been trying to track down a Dutch branch of the family, by which I'm related to the famous botanist Eduard Adolf Strasburger. I wonder if I can use this to get back in touch....

Elonka :)

Kryptos and the Da Vinci Code, in Dutch

] karena katanya terdiri dari 3 huruf,.. maka jawaban yang
] tepat mungkin a kryptos sculpture..
]
] hehehe.. pantesan mata lu pusing nin,.. gue aja begitu
] ngeliat jawaban loe kryptos sculpture.. gue jadi males
] sendiri..
]
] pokoknya kalo ada yang mau tahu kryptos sculpture itu
] kayak gimana buka aja contohnya di
] http://elonka.com/kryptos/transcript.html
]
] parah dah.. pokoknya kalo emang gak ada waktu luang
] jangan coba2 dahg..

Heh. I was reading my weblogs, and followed a link to this site. I could tell they were linking to me, but couldn't understand the language! For a minute I wondered if it was a Star Wars fansite and they were all speaking in Ewok or something, but I finally figured out that it's a message board in Indonesian, that got hooked on the puzzles in The Da Vinci Code.

Wild. :)

Kryptos and Indonesia

] Deep within the cyber headquarters of the Lunctis Viribus
] Facility, the Cheif of Operations is debriefing her staff
] on a letter to the CIA intercepted by a field operative
] on location.
]
] "Rotvians," the chief somberly scrutinizes her men and
] women seated in front of a network of computer screens,
] "we are in possession of a document dated December 15,
] 1989 in which for sake of level security has been dubbed
] Non Mihi Solum. ROT's top field agent, code named Alpha
] Busillis, is uploading visuals from the site as we
] speak."
]
] Chief Dunin projects the decade-old Agency Letter on a
] massive screen, debriefing her team as they begin to take
] notes of the newly discovered material. "Your mission is
] to download the visuals from our secure network and
] interpret their meanings. This journey will be a
] difficult one, but I have utmost confidence in your
] specialized cryptanalysis training. For the next several
] weeks you will work this code, you will eat and sleep
] this code with nothing but Non Mihi Solum on your minds."

LOL! One of the members of my Kryptos group put together a very creative website which collates a lot of information about Kryptos, but also puts much of it into a fictional "wrapper" with a "Chief Dunin" who debriefs a strike team with info about Kryptos. I'm not sure whether to be flattered or horrified. ;) If nothing else though, I'm impressed with the sheer amount of work that went into it.

There are also some very snazzy Flash graphics. I may have to swipe some of it for my next Kryptos talk!

Kryptos - The Fictional Debriefing

Heh, I gave a talk last week on cryptography at the St. Louis "Gateway Open Technologies Expo." I was a keynote speaker there, along with Rick Berenstein, Chairman of Xandros.

Here's a review from the Missouri Linux Users' Group:

] About this time Elonka Dunin gave an excellent speech on
] classical cryptography, Kryptos, and the solving of
] Cyrillic Projector. If you missed this speech, you have
] my deepest sympathies. Her passion for solving
] inscrutable puzzles infected the crowd to the point where
] Christine finally had to force everyone out of the room
] to set up for Rick's presentation and Rick announced a
] new rule, he will never follow Elonka at a speaking
] engagement, ever!

LOL! I'm flattered. Berenstein was using the analogy that he felt like a guy with a gazoo who was scheduled to go on stage immediately after a rousing performance by the New York Philharmonic playing "Stars and Stripes Forever." ;)

To his credit though, I found Berenstein to be a charming and intelligent man who is a very entertaining speaker, himself. He had many of his own stories, such as the one about how he helped with getting a green card for Linus Torvalds. And Berenstein's talk on Xandros was interesting and informative. I've even now got a fresh new Xandros Linux partition on my laptop. :)

Kryptos & the St. Louis GOTexpo

] "Twelve years ago, a unique gathering of hackers, law
] enforcement, lawyers, civil libertarians, and journalists
] was born. That subversive gathering has evolved into a
] subversive institution," said Dark Tangent, founder of
] DEFCON. "People that were considered threats when we
] started are now considered assets protecting critical
] infrastructure worldwide. I'm very pleased at DEFCON's
] evolution and am excited to have what I consider the best
] selection and quantity of speakers ever assembled at an
] event of its kind."
]
] This year's event will debut more new technical material
] than ever before. Significant exploits will be revealed,
] new freeware releases will be demonstrated, and new
] research will be presented.

This is an article from a German site that's promoting Def Con. Again, my Kryptos talk is listed as one of the more interesting talks, which still has me jazzed and flattered. ;) I also completely agree with the top-billed talk, "Quantum Hacking", by Richard Thieme. He's an *amazing* speaker, and I'm very much looking forward to his talk.

IT-SecCity - DEFCON: One-Hundred Leading Hackers to Present New Material to Their Peers