Wikipedians are a varied group, and while they may not know one another except online, most share two things: comfort with computers and the online world, and delight with the idea of contributing to a free encyclopedia for the entire world. Here are some faces and voices of Boston-area Wikipedians.

February 2006 article from The Boston Globe

Wikipedia: The idealists, the optimists, and the world they share

A few people have been asking me for an update on my adventures with the New Mexico snowstorm, so here's a more detailed account of my vacation:

December 22: I left St. Louis, heading southwest via I-44 in the general direction of Arizona. I made it through Missouri, then the Oklahoma turnpikes, via Tulsa and Oklahoma City, then across the state line into Texas, and then took a nap at the rest stop that's about an hour east of Amarillo. It's a *great* rest area by the way. Lots of effort went into decorating it, from the soaring architecture of the main building, plus huge picture windows, and even the bathrooms are decorated with elaborate mosaics of the desert skyline.

December 23: I arrived in Albuquerque, staying with my friend Cindy. In the evening I visited her son Ian, who's got a house with some of his friends. Nice "gaming" house, with a pool table and a dartboard and lots of people coming and going, and I partied there until about 5 a.m., then heading back to Cindy's.

December 24: I set off for Page, Arizona, arriving at my sister's house that evening. I felt a bit like Santa Claus, arriving with a car full of presents.

December 25: Normal Christmas stuff. Gifts and wrapping paper strewn everywhere, kids and toys and loads of food. My nephew got a PS2, and I'd brought a lot of games and accessories for it.

December 26: Mostly hung out with my niece and nephew, playing PS2 games. We especially enjoyed "Okami." Though it was a single-player game, the art is beautiful and we all enjoyed watching it, plus the dialogue is fun. My young niece would generally be the primary player, and as we encountered various NPCs, I'd read the dialogue aloud, playing the different voices. Then if a difficult combat situation came up, my niece would hand off the controller to her older brother, who would get through the battle for her and then hand the controller back. Eventually we were all playing different characters, reading aloud in different voices, helping my niece with some of the harder words. It was really a lot of fun. Since I'd brought a Multi-tap and some extra controllers and memory cards, we also played 4-player Gauntlet, which was chaotic but fun.

December 27: Played Okami in the morning (when I left we were working our way through Taka Pass and Kusa Village), then in the afternoon drove down to Flagstaff, and spent the evening with my parents.

December 28: Drove to Albuquerque, had dinner with my father and Anatoly K., the two people who helped with the final part of the solution on the Cyrillic Projector Cipher. It was at "Macaroni Grill", and since we were there fairly late and most of the other customers had left, they let us take over one of the tables for a game of "Settlers of Catan." :)

December 29: My birthday. It was starting to snow at that point, but still pretty light. I spent the morning with a friend from St. Louis 2600, Electrojoker. We had breakfast at th... [ Read More (0.6k in body) ]

Courtesy of Penny Arcade ...

Normal person + Anonymity + Audience == Total F***wad

Not *always* true, but unfortunately frequently so.

Greater Internet F***wad Theory

Toynbee tiles (also called Toynbee plaques) are messages of mysterious origin found embedded in asphalt in several major cities in the United States, and in three South American capitals as well. As of 2006, there are approximately 130 tiles, which are generally about the size of an American license plate but are sometimes considerably larger. They all contain some variation on the following inscription:

TOyNBEE IDEA
IN KUbricK's 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER.

Add to the list of, "Odd things that show up around the planet." There are evidently three of them here in St. Louis. Sounds like I need to make a field trip....

Elonka :)

Toynbee tiles

If you've got some extra time today, get cracking on this: ?OBKRUOXOG HULBSOLIF BBWFLRVQQ PRNGKSSO TWTQSJQ SSEKZZWAT JKLUDIAWI NFBNYP VTTMZFP KWGDKZXTJC DIGKUHUAUEKCAR

It's the final, unsolved part of a coded sculpture known as Kryptos, and it's been driving cryptologists around the world batty for 16 years. The code is inscribed in a wavy 12-foot-high sculpture made of copper, granite and wood that contains thousands of encrypted characters. That it stands just outside the cafeteria of the CIA's headquarters, unsolved by some of the best cryptographers in the world, only adds to its mythology as one of the toughest codes in the world.

 . . .
For her day job, Dunin works for a St. Louis video-game developer. But cryptology has become an increasingly lucrative side hobby. She frequently lectures on the topic and has a book, "The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms."

For her, solving codes is more than just a way to kill time.

"It's a search for self knowledge - when I'm cracking a code, it gives me a better understanding of the world and a better understanding of myself."

I dunno about that "lucrative side hobby" part... So far all the costs involved with public speaking, like travel expenses, photography/makeup costs, and mailing supplies/postage to send out press copies, have put me in the red. But it's definitely been bringing fame, which may someday turn into actual income. We'll see. ;) The rest of the article is pretty good though!

Elonka :)

Hartford Courant: Uncrackable Code?

"Now there's a decline in morale, its capability has not been optimized and there's a hemorrhaging of very good officers," Brennan said. "Turf battles continue" with other parts of the recently reorganized U.S. intelligence community "because there's a lack of clarity and he had no vision or strategy about the CIA's future." Brennan added: "Porter's a dedicated public servant. He was ill-suited for the job."

Bring back William Webster. To my knowledge, he was well-liked. Plus he's got a lot of public goodwill at the moment via his association with the Kryptos sculpture. People will be more interested in what he knows about K4 ("Only WW knows"), than worrying about CIA SNAFUs.

Elonka :)

The Fix-It Man Leaves, but The Agency's Cracks Remain

MONDAY, MAY 1
  . . .
Cryptographer: The Davinci Code hits the big screen this summer. Renowned cryptographer Elonka Dunin was on the show. She was one of those trying to break the code. She's also involved in trying to solve one of the most difficult codes in history..the Kryptos Sculpture at CIA headquarters.

Not quite as eloquent a summary as on the MSNBC site, but at least they're trying. :)

This particular interview, btw, was one of the most stressful ones for me, since it was Live. I showed up at the studio, and they basically took me in to the room where the news anchors were already broadcasting, they waited until there was a commercial break and then waved me in to sit down, clipped a microphone on me, and we were on the air within minutes. No prep, no, "Here's what we're going to ask you," just sit down and go. But they were obviously prepared with graphics, which they inserted at the proper moments as I answered the various questions they fed to me. A couple times I couldn't tell what they were wanting me to say, so I'd watch the woman anchor, who when off camera was giving me very helpful signals like a big nod and smile when I was on track. Sometimes though they'd ask me a question and I couldn't tell what it was they were looking for, so I just winged it. Then 5 minutes later we're done, and off-camera again as they switch to another video, and I take my microphone off and scurry off stage and back to my car with this vague sense of, "Damn that was fast!" Almost a kind of "walk of shame" feel. ;) Overall though, it was a fun experience.

For anyone who wants to see an actual video stream, check here. And for the station website, check the meme link.

Elonka :)

Elonka Dunin on FOX 2 St. Louis

Show:AS IT HAPPENS
Date:2006/04/24
Time:17:30:01

For those who don't know, this is the Canadian version of NPR. In today's segment, I'm interviewed by Helen Mann about the Kryptos story. To listen, get "Part one", and the Kryptos segment starts at about the 20-minute mark.

I've been doing enough of these radio interviews now that I'm starting to make value judgments on good interviewers v. bad interviewers. ;) These folks are good ones. It was a fun interview, they were easy to work with, asked some good questions, and had an audio file of the segment up on their website almost immediately. "Thumbs up"!

Elonka :)

CanadaOne Radio - 'As It Happens'

2501 wrote:

Elonka wrote:
Thanks for the update! I'm curious as to whether or not I need to sit the publisher down and explain that for the book to sell, it might help if it was actually IN the stores! ;)

Elonka:

Finally I got the book last night and it is just awesome. I showed it to all my friends and they started to crack the ciphers. It is more of what I was expeting. Another great book for my collection.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great, thanks for the feedback! Feel free to post an Amazon review, too. :)

Elonka :)

RE: Amazon.com: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms: Over 600 Mystery Codes to Be Cracked!: Books: Elonka Dunin

The Da Vinci Code involves a thrilling murder investigation that unearths a secret that could change the course of history. The film opens on May 19th worldwide.

Beginning on April 17th you will embark on a quest that requires skill, intellect, and perseverance. For 24 days, you will encounter unique challenges. These daily puzzles will pull you deeper into the world of The Da Vinci Code. Answer all 24 puzzles correctly for a chance to win untold riches.

For those who like the ARG stuff . . .

The Google 'Da Vinci Code Quest'