Morning Edition, June 9, 2005 · For 15 years, a bronze sculpture in the CIA's courtyard has taunted amateur and professional code-breakers alike. Kryptos is a copper wall that features four long coded passages. Cryptographers from the National Security Administration and the CIA have cracked the first three.

I was *extremely* annoyed to only find out about this segment *after* it aired. But at least there's a stream on the website.

I'm also very disappointed in NPR, since it looks like they pulled most of the factoids for their piece straight out of the Wall Street Journal article. I got no contacts from them, whatsoever, which is a big flag to me that the reporter was *not* doing their homework. I'd had higher hopes for NPR's journalism. Then again, they did get quotes from Sanborn and Scheidt, so that's good.

I also find it amusing that the mainstream press is just now catching up with the article that Wired.Com did over four months ago. The reporter for the wired.com piece, Kim Zetter, did an excellent and thorough job, and it's really her article that eventually sparked the WSJ article, which sparked multiple types of coverage: An invitation for me to be on a local St. Louis talk-radio show, an upcoming piece on Philadelphia media for another Kryptos researcher, a CNN segment that'll probably air next week, and the NPR segment which aired today. And the NPR segment is probably what sparked an article that'll be upcoming in the U.K. newspaper "The Guardian", probably hitting the wires this weekend.

It's fascinating watching the press ripples, to see who picks up which story.

And tracing backwards: Kim's wired.com article was sparked by the talk I gave at Def Con, which can be traced back to my own introduction to Kryptos, via the PhreakNIC v3.0 Code which JonnyX wrote back in 1999.

"The flapping of a butterfly's wings," indeed....

Elonka :)

NPR : CIA Experts Still Spooked by Kryptos Puzzle

Decius wrote:
] ] I have no idea what this is. I can't find anything
] ] similar on any google map referenced sites. It
] ] doesn't show up on terraserver and I live nearby so
] ] I know there are no towers in that area.

I checked with an aerial photography expert I know. He sent me a long detailed report analyzing light direction and shadow and focus elements and relative altitude, which all basically boil down to one line: It's almost certainly a weather balloon.

Fo reference, here are some other images of NOAA Weather balloons, seen from a distance.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/balloon2004.shtml

RE: Google Sightseeing - UFO

Decius wrote:

] This will be coupled with increasingly cheap and automated
] surveillance of public space. Ultimately, the IDs WILL go
] wireless so that they can easily be scanned by the government
] without having to approach a suspect. You already have a
] license plate, right? Ultimately the Supreme Court will
] concede that its not unconstitutional to require every person
] to carry such a card. That will be the last straw. I put it 40
] years out unless there is another major terrorist attack. I'd
] be willing to make a long bet on this.

Hmm, in 40 years, you're saying that you'd bet that every citizen will be required to carry ID on them at all times, even if they're traveling on foot, on private property? Or that every citizen will be required to carry something that lets them be identified without their knowledge? Either way, I think I'd be willing to take that bet. Especially with Republicans in power, who I think are *less* likely than Democrats to want to promote anything like a mandatory national ID.

RE: UnRealID.com

] METHUEN, Mass. (AP) -- Two men digging up a small tree in
] Methuen, Massachusetts, found more than just roots.
]
] The men uncovered a wooden box, which contained nine
] rusty tin cans filled with $1, $2 and $20 bills. There
] were about 1,800 bills in all, dating from 1899 to 1929.
] There also were some gold and silver certificates as well
] as notes from local banks at the time.

Details are still sketchy, but estimated current value: $100,000

And no, I don't think this has anything to do with the Beale Ciphers. That was supposed to be actual buried gold and gems, at a very specific location in Virginia. And was from the mid-1800s, not early 1900s.

Still though, sounds like a great find!

A bit more information available here.

Buried Treasure Found in Massachusetts

] The litany of the saints, in which a cantor names saints
] and worshipers respond by asking that saint to pray for
] them, is one of the most ancient forms of Christian
] prayer.
]
] On Friday, along with naming early Christian martyrs, the
] giant outdoor congregation appealed to modern Polish
] saints Maxmilian Kolbe and Maria Faustina Kowalski, as
] well as several other saints canonized by John Paul II
] during his unprecedented campaign to recognize examples
] of holiness all over the world.

Litany of Saints at the Pope's Funeral

] Topix.net was founded in 2002 with the specific mission
] of providing users the ability to quickly and easily find
] targeted news on the Internet.

I'd been looking for something like this. A sort of "Google News" that I can use to only get articles that are relevant to my local geographical area.

Google News is great, but one of the problems with it is that I found I was becoming far more informed on global issues than local ones. For example, when I vote in local elections, my individual vote carries a lot more weight on local issues than national, and since I'm often oblivious to some of the local stuff, that's made it harder to vote wisely.

This way I can type in my zip code to Topix, and get a summary of *local* headlines. Nice. :)

Now I just need to find a blog / message board forum that I like, where I can communicate with my local peers about some of these issues. Hmmmm... Interesting challenge. First the internet connects us to a larger world, and now comes the challenge of being connected to the world, without losing sight of local nearby issues. Sort of like being able to be both farsighted and nearsighted, at the same time!

Topix.net - A news aggregator for local news

] LONDON - Volkswagen and DDB London are distancing themselves
] from a hoax viral commercial for the VW Polo . . .

I'm not even sure what to say about this one. Just look at it, you'll probably be speechless too.

Small But Tough

] Episode 78 - Cryptography (original air date: 01/11/2005)

Stankdawg's web radio program -- I was co-host for this week's episode. Check the link to download the MP3. We talked about some "Cryptography 101" stuff, including a brief overview of the PhreakNIC v3.0 Code and Kryptos. We ran out of time discussing the Cyrillic Projector, but may cover it in a future show.

Thanks to SD for inviting me!

Elonka :)

Binary Revolution - The Cryptography Episode

] The Internet Archive is building a digital library of
] Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital
] form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to
] researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public

VERY cool resource. I can type in any URL, see how it's changed over time, and retrieve old URLs that have since gone offline if I want to mirror them.

Try typing www.memestreams.net into it, and see the early homepage. :)

The Cure for Web Rot - The Internet Archive

] He addressed subjects considered unthinkable in comic
] books and rarely seen at the time in newspaper comics:
] spousal abuse, tax audits, urban blight and graft.
]
] In 1940, he created a weekly newspaper supplement titled
] "The Spirit," which at its height had a circulation of 5
] million in 20 Sunday newspapers. The supplement consisted
] of a comic book with three self-contained stories, and
] "The Spirit" became the most popular.

I don't read a lot of comic books myself, but since it's peripheral to my own industry, I try to stay informed. Will Eisner's name was one that came up often as one of the true greats of the genre. I'm sorry to hear of his passing.

Comic book legend Will Eisner dead - Jan 4, 2005