The Demise of Drosnin

June 20, 2005 4:46 PM

"A shocking discovery has been made deep within the text of Moby Dick. The great codes researcher Michael Drosnin, who pioneered the art of predicting assassinations using Equidistant Letter Sequences, is himself encoded in a famous book. And directly across his name appears the text 'Him to have been killed'! Yes, folks, using the method that Drosnin himself uses, and the text that he himself chose as a challenge to his critics, we find that Drosnin himself will be murdered in a grotesque manner."
posted by brundlefly (23 comments total)

its real@
posted by Dean Keaton at 4:52 PM on June 20, 2005

apparently moby dick is based on a chilean folk tale (or a chilean whale, or something).
frank stella has an exhibition here in chile with work based on the story. apparently it's very good.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:54 PM on June 20, 2005

apparently i use the same word again and again.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:55 PM on June 20, 2005

Apparently.
posted by smcniven at 4:59 PM on June 20, 2005

Sweet. Of course, Drosnin will come up with an excuse.
posted by orthogonality at 4:59 PM on June 20, 2005

I'm torn between whether I want the prediction to come true or not.
posted by Bort at 5:06 PM on June 20, 2005

Even more shocking, it was predicted in 1997!
posted by klangklangston at 5:38 PM on June 20, 2005

Damn it. Busted again. Note to self: Don't wait for codes to be deciphered - act quicker next time.
posted by tkchrist at 5:42 PM on June 20, 2005

Well, call me Ishmael!
posted by alumshubby at 5:59 PM on June 20, 2005

:: smites Drosnin ::

Sorry, folks, my hands were tied! It was foretold in Moby Dick.
posted by God Almighty at 6:00 PM on June 20, 2005

Did you discover this on that Bible Code special on cable?
posted by Thayer-P at 6:31 PM on June 20, 2005

from what I understand, Drosnin mis-translated the code. It actually reads: He who is full of shit.
posted by shmegegge at 6:32 PM on June 20, 2005

Thayer-P: Didn't see the special. Just found it randomly surfing. I've always found it amazing that Drosnin's book has been taken so seriously (lots of press, TV specials, bestseller, etc.). I guess you can get away with anything if you have credentials.
posted by brundlefly at 6:45 PM on June 20, 2005

Every time this comes up, I will refer y'all to the definitive scholarly work on this topic, The Microsoft License-Agreement Code by Don Steinberg. And yes, that's both a promise and a threat.

OJ DID IT!
posted by soyjoy at 7:27 PM on June 20, 2005

Old, but good.
posted by greatgefilte at 7:49 PM on June 20, 2005

Self-fulfilling prophecy?

I know that people will believe in the darndest things, but really, this is essentially staring at clouds and going, "oh hey, that one there looks like an orangutan Great Cthulhu!"

spellcheck seems to think that Great Cthulhu's a churl...
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:23 PM on June 20, 2005

Excellent debunking. The Bible Code deluded me for a couple of years in high school.
posted by NickDouglas at 9:39 PM on June 20, 2005

Careful parsing of page 27 in 'Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas' also reveals that y2karl will be savagely marauded by a wild pack of Comic Sans fonts some time in September of next year.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 10:17 PM on June 20, 2005

This is simply hilarious. Thanks for the link.
posted by filchyboy at 10:23 PM on June 20, 2005

For several years while I attended my alma mater, the intro C programming course has used equidistant letter sequence finding as a programming exercise. The text? Moby Dick.
posted by tss at 11:07 PM on June 20, 2005

Don't be hatin' on ole Drosnin - he's a valuable government asset in the hunt for Osama!
posted by UKnowForKids at 10:33 AM on June 21, 2005

andrewcooke that would apparently be Mocha Dick - and the link takes you to Melville's source - close reading of which will reveal the very tail of this thread. And thanks for the link.
posted by TimothyMason at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2005

neat - thanks!
posted by andrew cooke at 12:01 PM on June 21, 2005