Comments on: "It was beautiful, kind of like abstract art"

"It was beautiful, kind of like abstract art"

subbes — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:08:38 -0800

In March 2007, the FermiLab Office of Public Affairs in Batavia, IL "received a curious message in code" via USPS. In May 2008, scientists posted a facsimile image of the letter to their blog in the hopes of soliciting cryptologists to decipher the letter.

A partial solution began to appear by the very next day. Geoff Milburn (creator of the Homebrew Air Conditioner and employee of the Canadian Space Agency) noted that the first and last paragraphs appeared to be in base-3 and base-2, and got to work. By the 17th, he had experimented with possible mappings and reached a solution. Meanwhile, John Graham-Cumming whipped up a Perl program to experiment with the mappings and posted his Perl-decrypted version. The text? "FRANK SHOEMAKER WOULD CALL THIS NOISE," and "EMPLOYEE NUMBER BASSE SIXTEEN." Two months later, the central paragraph remains unsolved, and a Chicago Tribune article has rekindled the web's interest, and spread work and comments on the mystery through blogs and forums. Too simple for you? Well, there's work still to be done on the Zodiac Killer's November 8 1969 cryptogram, the CIA's Kryptos sculpture (previously), the Voynich Manuscript (previously) and the Shugborough House Shepherd's monument inscription. And of course, there's always the Mayday Mystery (previously and previously).

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:15:39 -0800

Honest question: How would an expert cryptologist go about determining that a particular passage is actually written in a very difficult code, and is not merely a random assortment of characters?

By: nasreddin

nasreddin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:17:41 -0800

In 1610, thinking he had discovered two moons orbiting Saturn, Galileo composed a message: ALTISSIMUM PLANETAM TERGEMINUM OBSERVAVI ("I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form") ... and sent it to Kepler as an anagram: SMAISMRMILMEPOETALEUMIBUNENUGTTAUIRAS Remarkably, Kepler managed to "solve" this as a message about Mars, not Saturn: SALVE UMBISTENEUM GEMINATUM MARTIA PROLES ("Hail, twin companionship, children of Mars") The German astronomer had predicted that the Red Planet had two moons, and imagined that Galileo was confirming his belief.

[via Futility Closet]

By: optovox

optovox — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:19:19 -0800

BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:19:37 -0800

also solve this tia

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:19:59 -0800

D-r-i-n-k m-o-r-e O-v-a-l-t-i-n-e...

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:24:14 -0800

How would an expert cryptologist go about determining that a particular passage is actually written in a very difficult code, and is not merely a random assortment of characters? One word modern jackanswer: Entropy

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:25:27 -0800

I'm both glad and mad this post exists. I love these but never have time to work on them. Also interesting to drop in on UserFriendly after all these years. Still not funny, huh?

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:27:57 -0800

The first and third paragraphs look suspiciously similar to Woodstock talking to Snoopy. Was there more to Charles Shultz than we realized?

By: vorfeed

vorfeed — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:36:19 -0800

Honest question: How would an expert cryptologist go about determining that a particular passage is actually written in a very difficult code, and is not merely a random assortment of characters? I'm not an "expert cryptologist", by any means, but I took a class on it once. Usually they do it through analysis of character frequency, though some ciphers render this technique less useful than others. on preview: that's what DU means by "entropy". Languages are very non-random in their use of characters, so much so that you can sometimes solve straight letter-substitutions using nothing but frequency analysis.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:39:03 -0800

Could one not identify the sender by checking all autopsy reports for anyone who died recently of prolonged chortling?

By: aramaic

aramaic — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:40:59 -0800

Was there more to Charles Shultz than we realized? Oh damn you. Now I have to go check or (more likely) remain haunted by the possibility for the rest of my life.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:42:11 -0800

I notice all these geeks are treating it as a pure math/logic problem. Much talk of binary, hex, error-correction, etc. But I haven't seen a single question about the purpose of the message. Frank (and employee FC) apparently don't know anything, but how about this: Who would send a message like this to Fermilab? And why with the generic address? Did they not know anyone on the inside (then how did they know Frank?)? Or did they know the lab so well they knew exactly to whom it would be delivered? Maybe they have the wrong Frank, since he doesn't know anything about noise and the message references him like it should make sense.

By: subbes

subbes — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:44:50 -0800

ETAONRISH: a 'word' helpful both for distinguishing substitution ciphers from letter-shift ciphers and Wheel of Fortune.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:45:27 -0800

The text? "I'M IN UR FERMILAB WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME"

By: Jofus

Jofus — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:55:40 -0800

Obligatory link to Metafilter's own Robocop Is Bleeding's comment fable.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:58:45 -0800

I know about character frequency; that would pretty much have to be the first thing to go in order to make a code really tough. What if I were to say that this: gggggggggggggggggggggggg is a code that could be deciphered given the proper key? Would you believe me and try to decipher it, or would you just kick me out of the lab?

By: Justinian

Justinian — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:00:08 -0800

The Voynich manuscript is one of the coolest things ever. Obviously a bunch of gibberish rather than an actual code but still really cool.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:02:48 -0800

Actually, by "entropy" I did not mean (solely) character frequency. I just meant, is there enough information (in the mathematical sense) in this sequence for there to be a message in there, but not so much that it looks like noise. gggggggggggggggggggggggg Does not pass that test. But that isn't to say it couldn't be a code. You could have used (something similar to) a one time pad and coincidentally added exactly the random numbers to your message such that every character ended up the same. In general, I think a OTP would render an entropy test (let alone a decoding) useless, but I'm already teetering on the edge of my knowledge.

By: oonh

oonh — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:02:57 -0800

Don't forget Codex Seraphinianus. (yes, nonsense, but such pretty nonsense)

By: ericbop

ericbop — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:26:24 -0800

Also, they never found Herb, did they?

By: tr33hggr

tr33hggr — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:40:58 -0800

I saw Phillip Glass perform at Fermilab.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:41:03 -0800

Entropy is in the eye of the beholder, though. The message: gggggggggggggggggggggggg might be entirely meaningful, once you understood that it is not a cipher, but a code: g24, that the codebook says is "WE ATTACK AT DAWN". Similarly, although entropy analysis of the Voynich Manuscript suggests that it is too structured to be a cipher, there are other ways that it could be hiding information. For example, a grille overlaid on the text could reveal the actual message, while the rest of the text is just scribbled nonsense.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:41:58 -0800

I love these sorts of puzzles.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:44:30 -0800

Delta Green fans will of course realize that It's a message from the Mi-Go, in disguise as Greys, and reads something like UR HEAD, PLZ, I NEEDS IT FOR MY SPACE BUCKET. Posting it on the interwebs pretty much blows the offer of a free trip to Yuggoth though.

By: chimaera

chimaera — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:57:15 -0800

One time pads have been found to be perfectly unbreakable -- there is no information in the ciphertext that gives any clue to what is in the encoded text. Being a special cryptography case means it's basically outside the realm of cryptography, and the only way to break it is via social instead of mathematical means. A one time pad of gggggggggggggggggggggggg can be deciphered by the receiver and anyone who knows the platen, I guess, but again, that's not real cryptanalysis.

By: newmoistness

newmoistness — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:13:40 -0800

I saw Phillip Glass perform at Fermilab. posted by tr33hggr at 12:40 PM on July 16 Maybe he dropped a page of his sheet music.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:33:09 -0800

Thanks, everyone. You've pretty much answered my question. If I'm understanding the principles properly, there needs to be a recognizable amount of signal, which can be quantified mathematically. If it can't, the sample is either gibberish or something (e.g. a code or a one-time pad) outside of the science of cryptology. Either way, there's nothing for the mathematicians to do about it.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:02:55 -0800

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE. USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.

By: flug

flug — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:18:58 -0800

How would an expert cryptologist go about determining that a particular passage is actually written in a very difficult code Part of the fun is, you can't always tell--especially with a small sample of text. So the fun of it is you are left to puzzle out IF it is a code at all, if it is a code, WHAT type, and if you can make a guess about what type, what it actually says. FWIW, in theory and if used with perfect discipline, one-time pad is indistinguishable from random numbers. But in practice, all sorts of mistakes can creep in--see for example the Venona project, which came about because the USSR re-used some of their one-time pads. (They're called ONE-TIME pads for a reason!) So many times you are looking for those little clues or slip-ups that allow you to get a handle on what otherwise may be completely uncrackable.

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:51:00 -0800

I'm thinking the ink dots play a large role in this. They are all over the place, and look like noise. Hmmm

By: Rumple

Rumple — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:19:09 -0800

gggggggggggggggggggggggg It's a simple substitution of "g" for "n", thus decodes to a 24-letter word meaning "constipation".

By: yoyo_nyc

yoyo_nyc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:41:39 -0800

Well, the middle code looks hex. Whatever these strange symbols on top are Just the last three symbols have not been assigned to hex. Since he has used all hex symbols from 0-F except 1 and A the last three symbols are either AFC or 1FC Well. let's perl a little bit... F0BE58F2FD636C79D2E493e6afc F0BE58F2FD636C79D2E493e61fc

By: phrontist

phrontist — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:56:28 -0800

Faint of Butt: I know about character frequency; that would pretty much have to be the first thing to go in order to make a code really tough. What if I were to say that this: gggggggggggggggggggggggg There are an infitude of ways this could encode a message. Generally, with "short" messages, it can be very difficult to determine whether there is any actual signal in the noise. And "signal" itself is quite a value judgement. But encoding a real message of telegram length that can't be cracked is surprisingly difficult without mechanical/computer aid.

By: empath

empath — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:48:42 -0800

the key to decrypting a message like this gggggggggggggggggggggggggggg is finding the fnords.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:31:57 -0800

Markov chains are useful for analysis of a text where you have discrete letters, or sequences of letters. If you analyze the two- and three-character frequencies of a given sequence of text, and then sort by frequency, you can compare it to the frequency distributions of known languages, and have a chance of identifying the language in which it is written, identifying which (if any) characters refer to vowels and consonants, and a few other tidbits of information. The shorter the text sample though, the less likely this is to work out. AFAIK the Voynich Manuscript resists this kind of analysis, indicating that it may be randomly generated using a table that evenly produces letter sequences, which led to the hoax theories.

By: elfgirl

elfgirl — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:38:27 -0800

Has anyone tried researching setec astronomy?

By: dyoneo

dyoneo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:35:07 -0800

In 1610, thinking he had discovered two moons orbiting Saturn, Galileo composed a message: ALTISSIMUM PLANETAM TERGEMINUM OBSERVAVI ("I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form") ... and sent it to Kepler as an anagram: SMAISMRMILMEPOETALEUMIBUNENUGTTAUIRAS I can't believe I listened to the smart-ass who authoritatively informed me that this was Galileo's to-do list: TEST ANAGRAM, MAIL IT; SIN, MUMBLE "E PUR SI MUOVE."

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:11:32 -0800

BTW, the 'moons' Galileo discovered were the two sides ('ansae', Latin for 'handles') of Saturn's rings. With his primitive telescope, they looked like blobs. He also discovered the four big moons ('galilean satellites') of Jupiter, among many other things.

By: Tube

Tube — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:31:41 -0800

Robert Hooke encoded his principle of elasticity: This idea was first stated[1] by Robert Hooke in 1675 as a Latin anagram[2] "ceiiinosssttuv", whose solution he published in 1678 as "Ut tensio, sic vis" which means "As the extension, so the force." This interesting page has more material on scientific codes.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:32:05 -0800

The shortest coded message I know is "One if by land, two if by sea." A single bit! Talk about your unbreakable one-time pads. Of course, it wasn't the content that was being concealed, but the act of sending a message. The idea is that it's buried in all the other random lights that might be seen around Boston that night. Similar techniques are used by spies for "dead drops" and other ways to pass information. A particular letter on a sign is turned upside down, for instance. Or Bob Woodward's (alleged) flower pot and morning newspaper signals to Deep Throat, as ways to call for meetings. So you can see why sending gibberish can be useful for concealing the fact that you have a coded message buried somewhere. See also: numbers stations or steganography. It's actually more useful, but of course a lot more work, to send false or junk content. You can use it to determine if your code has been cracked, whether your code network has been infiltrated/betrayed, or even to confuse the enemy over a longer period of time. This was done by the Allies quite a bit during WWII.

By: lothar

lothar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:11:23 -0800

The better an encryption or data compression scheme is, the harder it is to distinguish from simple noise. Patterns are susceptible to analysis. Patterns are reducible. Noise VS signal is the challenge. (And that's the joke in the first deciphered paragraph, "FRANK SHOEMAKER WOULD CALL THIS NOISE". By not recognizing trinary, the signal looks like noise.)

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:57:27 -0800

For those who cling to letter frequency, it should be noted that not all codes are straight substitution; the Enigma, for example, consisted of many, many subsequent substitution codes. Imagine using a different substitution scheme for each consecutive character in your message; it gets quite a bit harder to break. Or even recognize as anything but noise.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:09:35 -0800

It's actually more useful, but of course a lot more work, to send false or junk content. You can use it to determine if your code has been cracked, whether your code network has been infiltrated/betrayed, or even to confuse the enemy over a longer period of time. This was done by the Allies quite a bit during WWII. One of my favourite WW2 stories was when the allies took the corpse of some random victim of drowning, dressed him up as a naval officer from some ship that had recently been sunk (complete with false ID, letters from the wife etc), planted a cipher key in his pocket, then left him somewhere in the Mediterranean where the currents would ensure he'd be washed up and found by the Axis powers. Then, they sent a bunch of fake coded messages using the cipher, leading the enemy to anticipate & prepare for a landing at entirely the wrong place & time. From memory, this little piece of trickery greatly helped the invasion of Sicily.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:26:47 -0800

Ubu - you're thinking of Operation Mincemeat, I think...

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:48:32 -0800

yes! unfortunately, i was totally wrong about the cipher key part. it's a great story, anyway.