263 http://attu.blogspot.com/
199 http://www.elvistazo.com.ar/
104 http://www.stumbleupon.com/refer.html
89 http://www.onesweb.net/
45 http://www.elvistazo.com.ar
38 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kryptos
33 http://www.elvistazo.com.ar/index.php?f=20051004
25 http://elonka.com/kryptos/
24 http://www.attu.blogspot.com/
20 http://www.google.com/search?h...n&q=kryptos&btnG=Google Search
19 http://frvade.com/forums/viewt...days=0&postorder=asc&start=105
18 http://www.google.com/search?q...rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
16 http://elvistazo.com.ar/
15 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66334,00.html
13 http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/
13 http://www.elvistazo.com.ar/index.php
12 http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Kryptos&meta=
11 http://attu.blogspot.com
10 blockedReferrer

My web traffic quintupled over the last couple days. The above is a capture of the top referrers from the last 1000 visitors (courtesy of sitemeter.com).

Most of the traffic seems to be coming from a couple blog sites -- one is "attu.blogspot.com", which probably due to its emphasis on sex-related blogs has a *lot* of traffic. The other, interestingly enough, is an Argentinian site, elvistazo.com.ar, which also seems to draw traffic with pics of pretty girls. They're both featuring the same pic of a girl in a blue thong, so there's obviously a lot of back and forth.

I wonder which site swiped the link from which. ;)

Oh, and my elonka.com site passed the 1.3 million mark in page views:

VISITS

Total 570,048
Average Per Day 863
Average Visit Length 2:43
Last Hour 46
Today 432
This Week 6,038

PAGE VIEWS

Total 1,306,426
Average Per Day 1,708
Average Per Visit 2.0
Last Hour 73
Today 834
This Week 11,959

elonka.com traffic

The symposium is presented every two years by the National Security Agency's Center for Cryptologic History (CCH). The historians of the CCH will be joined by historians from other branches of the U.S. government and from distinguished academic institutions in the U.S. and from abroad. The theme of this year's symposium will be "The Cold War and Cryptology." One entire day will be devoted to exploring VENONA, the American cryptologic effort that uncovered Soviet espionage efforts against the U.S. during World War II. Historians from NSA, the FBI, the Library of Congress, and several academic institutions will present new insights into this fascinating triumph of American cryptology, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the declassification of VENONA documents.

The second day of the symposium will explore a variety of topics, including how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower viewed and used signals intelligence. We will also look at a number of other espionage cases that involved cryptology, and will gain the unique perspective of "hearing from the other side" as a Dutch historian discusses the perspective of Holland on one case, using recently declassified documents from the Netherlands. The less traditional side of historical research will also be represented, with a presentation from a professional game developer and a look into the cryptologic aspects of "From Russia with Love"

My own presentation will be on the second day, October 28 2005, at 1:45 p.m.:

Elonka Dunin
Professional Game Developer
"KRYPTOS and the Cyrillic Projector Ciphers"

This year the conference will be at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. I wonder if I'll get to tour anything interesting . . .

Elonka :)

NSA 2005 Symposium on Cryptologic History

Rattle wrote:

This was a great year. I'd venture a guess that 80% of the time I had a smile plastered across my face. Everyone involved with running the convention did an amazing job. Everyone there was having a wonderful time. Everything I can think of to say about how things went this year does not do it justice.

Conventions such as these are uniquely beautiful events. A group of people comes together to share in some esoteric common purpose or goal. Time passes. At its end, the group ceases to exist and becomes a historical curiosity. In the case of a strong group, it develops a sort of ideology that lives on in the absence of the group's cohesion, allowing it to effortlessly rise from the dead in its next phase. It takes on a life of its own. A living thing that breathes art in and culture out.

In general, I highly enjoy people watching. I'm one of those folks that likes to be extremely attune to my surroundings. At a convention like DragonCon, I find this trait to reap great rewards. In every direction, there is some type of madness to take in. People in amazing costumes are everywhere. Cute girls are everywhere. Everyone is friendly. Conversations lite up like gas fires and everyone fire walks. Its impossible to be bored, the only risk is fatigue. There is no way to leave without feeling slightly sad.

Elonka Dunin, a game designer at Simutronics, invited fans to demo the company's latest MMORPG, Hero's Journey, in her hotel room . . .

Elonka is clearly our most famous MemeStreams user. Not only is her page among the most often hit here, but she is always popping up in the news. In addition to getting a demo of Hero's Journey, which I found to be extremely impressive, I attended her Kryptos talk. (again) I found it inspiring. (again) Next time she gives it I'll attend (again), and I'll keep doing it until she breaks the damn 4th part of the code. Hear that Elonka?! Quit playing those video games and hack the CIA's cafeteria courtyard! I'm going to keep "encouraging" you... :)

Awwww, thanks Rattle. :)

RE: Dragon*Con Review

Wired has an article covering DragonCon.

This was a great year. I'd venture a guess that 80% of the time I had a smile plastered across my face. Everyone involved with running the convention did an amazing job. Everyone there was having a wonderful time. Everything I can think of to say about how things went this year does not do it justice.

Conventions such as these are uniquely beautiful events. A group of people comes together to share in some esoteric common purpose or goal. Time passes. At its end, the group ceases to exist and becomes a historical curiosity. In the case of a strong group, it develops a sort of ideology that lives on in the absence of the group's cohesion, allowing it to effortlessly rise from the dead in its next phase. It takes on a life of its own. A living thing that breathes art in and culture out.

In general, I highly enjoy people watching. I'm one of those folks that likes to be extremely attune to my surroundings. At a convention like DragonCon, I find this trait to reap great rewards. In every direction, there is some type of madness to take in. People in amazing costumes are everywhere. Cute girls are everywhere. Everyone is friendly. Conversations lite up like gas fires and everyone fire walks. Its impossible to be bored, the only risk is fatigue. There is no way to leave without feeling slightly sad.

Elonka Dunin, a game designer at Simutronics, invited fans to demo the company's latest MMORPG, Hero's Journey, in her hotel room. A monster-fighting quest set in a lush, expansive fantasy world of vulnerable villages and devious conspiracies, the game is perfectly targeted for the DragonCon crowd. "This isn't just hack-and-slash," Dunin said as she set up her avatar to cast a spell. "There are creative ways to deal with combat, and a lot of chances to create stories for your characters."

Elonka is clearly our most famous MemeStreams user. Not only is her page among the most often hit here, but she is always popping up in the news. In addition to getting a demo of Hero's Journey, which I found to be extremely impressive, I attended her Kryptos talk. (again) I found it inspiring. (again) Next time she gives it I'll attend (again), and I'll keep doing it until she breaks the damn 4th part of the code. Hear that Elonka?! Quit playing those video games and hack the CIA's cafeteria courtyard! I'm going to keep "encouraging" you... :)

On other panels, such as "Hacking 101," science fiction was set aside in favor of science fact. Learning Perl author Randal Schwartz talked about being arrested at Intel in the mid-1990s for using the softw... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

Dragon*Con Review

Gary Warzin Age 56, of Indianapolis, passed away Saturday, August 27th, 2005. Gary was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Anne (Valentine) Warzin of Geneva, Ohio. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Julie; daughter Tracie, son-in law Jarrod Bunce, and two grandchildren, Jaden and Dawson of Noblesville. Gary Warzin was the founder and CEO of Audiophile Systems, Ltd. of Indianapolis, Indiana. He was a cum laude graduate of Purdue University, majoring in Industrial Management. Interests included electronics, bicycling, attempting to solve the Kryptos Code, and collecting Japanese arcade games. Gary was also a 30-year member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Gary served as Chair of the Audio Division of the Consumer Electronic Association. He was also on the PARA Manufacturer's Advisory Council. Friends may call at the Flanner Buchanan Funeral Center-Broad Ripple on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 from 4 p.m. until the time of the service at 5 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to American Heart Association. www.flannerbuchanan.com

Gary and I were co-founders and moderators of the Kryptos discussion group. I just heard about his death this evening, and then immediately called his home and spoke with his daughter Tracie. Though she and her mother did not share Gary's passion for cryptography, they both recognized that it was an important part of his life -- so much so that they even mentioned Kryptos in his obituary! "Interests included electronics, bicycling, attempting to solve the Kryptos Code, and collecting Japanese arcade games."

I first met Gary face-to-face in Fall 2003, when he and I attended the NSA Crypto Symposium in DC. We also had the opportunity there to meet both Kryptos Sculptor James Sanborn, and Cryptographer Ed Scheidt.

Though I usually list Gary and myself as "co-founders" of the Kryptos Group, it was really his idea. Gary was one of the people who first wrote to me about my website back in early 2003, and it was during correspondence with him, that I was inspired to come up with my own alternative solution for Part 3 of the sculpture. Gary's hard work on the puzzle seriously impressed me, especially the way that he would take the time to write his work up into formal easy-to-read papers. I didn't agree with all of his conclusions, but he was always an inspiring and motivating force, and he will be missed.

Elonka

Gary Warzin - Obituary

A Web forum where cryptographers collaborate on the puzzle went from attracting about 50 hits a day to thousands of hits a day, according to its moderator Elonka Dunin.

Kryptos (and Elonka) on CNN.com

Decius wrote:

Elonka wrote:
I continue to be fascinated with how the Kryptos story is being disseminated around the world from the recent articles.

Well, you're on top at Boing Boing right now...

Yup, I was already getting a lot of traffic from the Guardian article, but the new surge definitely looks Boing-Boing-Related:

Unique visitors/day to elonka.com:

6/10: 3002
6/11: 3059
6/12: 2652 (-- Taper off from Guardian article
6/13: 2462
6/14: 1870
6/15: 4026 (-- New surge from Boing-Boing, and bbspot
6/16: 4243

For reference, baseline traffic is usually about 500 visitors/day.

Totals:

VISITS

Total 476,966
Average Per Day 3,045
Average Visit Length 4:13
Last Hour 30
Today 245
This Week 21,314

PAGE VIEWS

Total 1,093,019
Average Per Day 7,843
Average Per Visit 2.6
Last Hour 90
Today 692
This Week 54,903

RE: Press Ripples

I continue to be fascinated with how the Kryptos story is being disseminated around the world from the recent articles.

When the WSJ front-page article came out, it was in a "subscription-only" section of the WSJ site. The only link to it via Google News, was on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette site, which had it verbatim.

But the UK Guardian piece that ran in their Saturday paper is public, and is being picked up in interesting places. They all seem to be taking the exact text, though sometimes they'll change the headline. Six different sites have picked it up so far, in vastly different parts of the world. I wonder which ones are swiping the Guardian article, and which ones are swiping from one of the other "upstreams".

A check of Google News this morning:

Guardian Unlimited, UK - Jun 10, 2005 (the original piece)
Headline: "Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle after link to Da Vinci Code"

The Observer, UK - Jun 10, 2005 (sister site to Guardian)
Headline: Same

Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa - Jun 10, 2005
Headline: "Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle"

Mathaba.Net, Africa - Jun 11, 2005
Headline: "High interest in solving CIA Kryptos after link to Da Vinci Code"

Hindu, India - 19 hours ago
Headline: "The secrets of Kryptos and a code to break"

Taipei Times, Taiwan - 13 hours ago
Headline: "Interest grows to crack CIA puzzle"

Free Press International, Texas - 5 hours ago
Headline: Same as Guardian

. . . Elonka Dunin, who runs the most comprehensive website on Kryptos (www.elonka.com/kryptos) said recent activity has surged.

"My baseline was about 500-600 unique visitors a day. But I recently got 30,000 over a 24-hour period," said Ms Dunin, an executive at a Missouri-based internet game company, Simutronics.

The Guardian | Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle after link to Da Vinci Code

This week my elonka.com site tracker reached an interesting metric: Over 1 million page views, since I started with the sitemeter tracking service in September 2002.

Site Summary

VISITS

Total 441,488
Average Per Day 1,142
Average Visit Length 4:39
Last Hour 43
Today 318
This Week 7,996

PAGE VIEWS

Total 1,003,077
Average Per Day 2,955
Average Per Visit 2.6
Last Hour 108
Today 682
This Week 20,687

My observations on the source of the traffic:

The vast majority of visitors are researching the link between Kryptos and "The Da Vinci Code", so they're coming in on searches such as "King Tut and the CIA", "only WW knows", and other terms which I know are coming straight from the trivia quiz on Dan Brown's site.

The second-most common reason for visiting, seems to be my "Unsolved Codes" page. It's an erratic draw, with "surges" of traffic that come in as it gets picked up by different sections of the blogosphere every couple months, gets a flurry of links from people in that section of the net, and then the traffic dies down again after a few days.

Third-most common: General kryptos curiosity coming in from the search engines. Lots and lots of visits with a single search term: "kryptos"

I'm also getting some interesting side traffic coming in from the Brazilian search engines, since I posted a Portuguese translation page of my Saint Raphael information (for the benefit of some of my relatives in Brazil). So I'll get regular visits on that page from people searching on all kinds of bizarre combinations of search terms which happen to match unrelated words on the page: Top draws seem to be things that involve the words "Pope," "Poland", "tuberculosis", "exhumed", and "cemetery". Heh. Lots of morbid curiosity out there....