I was reading my weblogs earlier today, and noticed this webpage linking to my Projector webpage. It claimed to have the solution technique for Sanborn's decade-old Cyrillic Projector, though it didn't have any English plaintext or any kind of contact information.

I've seen anonymous "solutions" before with no basis in reality, so treated it with skepticism at first, but, several hours and a flurry of IMs, emails, and Excel spreadsheets later, I can confirm -- somebody's cracked it! More details will be coming soon, as I try to find out *who* did it so that they can be congratulated properly, and post the full English plaintext. In the meantime, anyone who wants to see the Russian plaintext, email or IM me privately and I'll show you what I've verified so far. I need help translating!

Elonka :)

(10/11/2003 update): At the request of the original author, I have mirrored the solution page on my own site, and changed this meme's URL accordingly)

Cyrillic Projector Solution

I just posted a huge updated version of one section of my Kryptos site this evening, focusing on all of sculptor Jim Sanborn's work. I've got info on over 100 different pieces of artwork, ranging over nearly 30 years of his career (so far).

My efforts have been paying off, too, such as with the KGB document that was found in the Smithsonian archives, plus learning about extra "Covert Operations fragments" tucked into private collections and galleries here and there, and also some intriguing things I've learned about three engraved compasses in three different installations of Sanborn's from around the DC area (one of which is Kryptos) that are all pointing in distinctly non-north directions (hmm, maybe they triangulate on something?).

He's also got a new show opening in November called "Atomic Time - Pure Science and Seduction" about the origin of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. Supposedly it's going to be quite controversial, as some of it will cover the related ethical dilemmas, and will be skating the edge of what is and isn't allowed to be revealed in terms of classified information. I've obtained some of the advance press images of the as-yet-unopened show, and you can see those as well at the new Sanborn page by clicking on the link below.

I'd also like to ask for help on something, regarding the Kryptos research. Kryptos is actually a multi-piece set, with different parts scattered around CIA Headquarters, and I've learned that there's a brief glimpse of a couple of them in a Will Smith movie, "Enemy of the State", during an overhead shot of CIA Headquarters at one point. Does anyone reading this happen to know where I could get a still of that scene?

Thanks much,

Elonka :)

Photographer/Artist James Sanborn

] Very large island jewel in the proximity of Auckland
] (Northern Island), off the Great Barrier Island and
] near Port Fitzroy. Uniquely accessible due to its own
] private airstrip. Excellent virgin, native forest and
] wildlife.

All I want for Christmas -- is my own island. :)

Just USD 5.2 Million!

The World of Private Islands

Gremlin wrote:
] The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid.
]
] Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
] deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
] are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and
] lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
] total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.
] Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
] lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
]
] Fcuknig amzanig, huh?

Pretty neat! Though it's worth repeating that along with first and last letter, that the middle letters do need to be there in the same quantities, oxxxe txxxs gxxxt mxxxh hxxxr txxxo rxxxd.

(otherwise things get much harder to read) :)

RE: naet ltilte ticrk!

] Elonka's Kryptos Page
] Kryptos is a sculpture located on the grounds of CIA
] Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. ...

Whoohoo! My Kryptos webpage is now the #1 link on Google's search for listings on "kryptos". I'm even above the CIA's listing!

(Elonka basks in her "I feel lucky!" status -- at least for the nanosecond . . .)

Google Search: kryptos

] On another occasion in 1996, a Boeing 767 pitched and
] dropped 120 metres before pilots recovered control. A
] passenger using an electronic dictionary was asked to
] turn it off, and the plane's systems returned to normal.
 . . .
] Pilots routinely ask for portable devices to be switched off
] during take-off and landing. because they are too busy to deal
] with problems with interference. But, once in the air, when
] passengers are allowed to switch devices on, pilots have had
] to contend with a range of bewildering malfunctions.

This is a subject I've often been curious about, since I routinely use my Palm Pilot on aircraft. Does this mean that each time that I'm in seat 27C and I flip open my Palm IIIc, that the aircraft's autopilot goes "hmm"? I'd always thought that the signal from anything so small would be inconsequential, or no worse than my seat-mate's digital calculator sports watch (which can't be turned off), and that the main danger was from things such as cellphones or larger devices such as laptop computers.

Now I'm not so sure . . .

Aircraft and 'Portable Electronic Devices'

Please keep in mind that these are static jpgs...
Hold onto your seat...

Wow.

Optical Illusions - Freaky!

] Most of the documents presented in this archive were
] discovered and secured by a known soviet dissident,
] Vladimir Bukovsky (Cambridge, England) back in Russia
] in 1992.

One of the other members of my Kryptos brainstorming group discovered this webpage. It has PDFs of several KGB documents about dissident Sakharov, including a PDF of the same document that I found in the Sanborn folders of the Smithsonian Archive!

It's not clear whether my copy was obtained from the same dissident who got these copies, or whether they were two copies made on different days by two different people. But the archive is awesome, because it shows several different KGB documents, in their entirety, and in sequence. There are also other sections of the site which cover documents on other topics. If you want to see more KGB stuff, this is the place to go!

More background info on my Kryptos group, the KGB document that I found, and the Cyrillic Projector's code, are here:
http://www.elonka.com/kryptos/cyrillic.html

Elonka :)

More KGB documents about Sakharov

] You may think your salary is paltry, but compared with
] most of the world's population, you're up there with Bill
] Gates.

don't forget how good you have it!

Westerners Pretty Rich

] Academy Award nominee Diane Lane stars as Frances Mayes,
] a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has
] just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has
] left her with terminal writer's block . . .
 . . .
] Frances decides to take a break and she buys a villa in
] the beautiful Tuscan countryside and decides to begin anew.

I just saw an advance screening of this movie, and give it a 5 out of 5 rating. Breathtaking (and I mean that literally) cinematography, exquisitely drawn characters, a light touch that can poke fun at things while still pointing out profound truths, tons of literary and historical references without clubbing you over the head with them, and perfectly cast. This movie wasn't just made, it was crafted. The kind where an entire scene can take place without a single word. There were multiple scenes in this movie where all the popcorn-munching stopped, and the entire audience was held momentarily breathless, being carried along wordlessly by the story.

This movie is now on my "Best movies of the year" list (along with "Whale Rider").

If you've got a galloping allergy to anything that might be perceived as a "chick flick," you *might* not care for it, but I still think that this movie is well worth seeing for a wide demographic, and is going to land on many people's lists of "all time favorite movies". Recommended.

Movie: Under the Tuscan Sun