Re: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
From: Sandy Sandfort . . . there is a section about Houdini's fascination with cryptography. He talks about relatively primative substitution ciphers and the like. One example, though, I thought might be of interest to Cypherpunks. He said the following inscription was written over the Decalogue in a country church. Apparently, no one was able to read it for over 200 years. Can you?: PRSRVYPRFCTMNVRKPTHSPRCPTSTN .................................... It looks to be something like this to me: PRESERVE YE PERFECT MEN ?VR? KEEP THIS PERCEPT (or PRECEPT) SATAN .. Blanc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Blanc wrote:
PRSRVYPRFCTMNVRKPTHSPRCPTSTN
....................................
It looks to be something like this to me:
PRESERVE YE PERFECT MEN ?VR? KEEP THIS PERCEPT (or PRECEPT) SATAN
Close, very close. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Sat, 22 Jul 1995, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C'punks,
Blanc wrote:
PRSRVYPRFCTMNVRKPTHSPRCPTSTN
....................................
It looks to be something like this to me:
PRESERVE YE PERFECT MEN ?VR? KEEP THIS PERCEPT (or PRECEPT) SATAN
Close, very close.
S a n d y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Preserve ye perfect men ever keep the precepts ten (As in Commandments!) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 Comment: PGP Signed with PineSign 1.0 iQCVAwUBMBHVtu5wXwthmZO1AQHKgQP+La/QN8uyGFVG9CiUlxENqPtfRINY1Obs FWl/w4DRxzcnwSsf7ET4YgzDjmF1hg584zhOSQFjb1MapOamRX5iBCipsmrcTIXF Xhfb5YW/Sc6nB9qVrLvKpSrr2DZoNtvfTLOWNIiH2lfqOVncY5IEoRQaRDVqDSTX tBR+RhqxroU= =AtOM -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, We have a winner! On Sat, 22 Jul 1995, Samuel Kaplin wrote:
PRSRVYPRFCTMNVRKPTHSPRCPTSTN
....................................
Preserve ye perfect men ever keep the precepts ten
(As in Commandments!)
Actually, Samuel missed "these." The correct quote is: Preserve, ye perfect men; ever keep these precepts ten. What Samuel figured out (and Blanc almost got) was that the only "encrytion" was the removal of every letter "e" from the orginal quotation (plus spaces and punctuation). No one figured this out for 200 years, then Houdini got it in whatever time. Now two Cypherpunks zeroed in on it in a day. Congratulations Blanc and Samuel. Most excellent Cypherpunkish kudos. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Sat, 22 Jul 1995, Samuel Kaplin wrote:
Preserve ye perfect men ever keep the precepts ten
(As in Commandments!)
Correction: Preserve ye perfect men ever keep these precepts ten The rule for encryption is delete all of the "e"'s which happens to be the only vowel in the sentence. Sam -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 Comment: PGP Signed with PineSign 1.0 iQCVAwUBMBIgV+5wXwthmZO1AQFLkAP8CTbaonPUw3UWFIBpmEkYj7mwm5d8jOn6 mETspiij8BTw+w1Pf8N8Jh5j8KeKgkMlPUNmUrkDqQDFMvxFbQuOTd1ypBLAX23h sTzdCiu/0kqyQ3iealqbM8psCJPlerkYZH6K5Q/kUftaZftS5pTZFWa0OcV7a5n/ BLtrzmsbPa0= =27r2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (3)
-
blancw@accessone.com -
Samuel Kaplin -
Sandy Sandfort