Slashdot Mirror
Fermilab Calls For Code Crackers
atrocious cowpat passes along a call for help from symmetry magazine, the joint publication of Fermilab and SLAC, noting: "Could be just plain gibberish, it could be something like those wonderfully weird letters to the Mount Wilson observatory, or it could be a message from aliens who just happened to have gotten their hands (tentacles/exoskeleton) on a fax machine." "A little over a year ago, the Fermilab Office of Public Affairs received a curious letter in code (4.4-MB image here). It has been sitting in our files all that time and we haven't had much of a chance to look into breaking the code, nor are we particularly expert at this!"
It's Dr. Emma Russells formula for cold fusion.
The Roswel aliens that were stranded on earth brainwashed some NEC employees who planted the code in all fax machines to send the fax to fermilabs who then posts it on the internet (which would be invented in 40 years) and thereby transmitted to mars...
Makes perfect sense!
But it seems he's from Nigeria and wants help tranferring money out of the country.
Three "stanzas" maybe.
Starting with the "middle" stanza, that appears to be some sort of "key" perhaps. Each of the different symbols correspond to a different hexadecimal digit.
In the first stanza, each grouping of lines has 1, 2 or 3 lines.
In the last stanza, each group of lines is only 1 or 2 lines.
Maybe the last stanza is binary?
And maybe the first stanza is base 3?
Anyone else care to wager a guess?
My blog
My question is: Are the tiny dots in the background a dirty fax or photocopier artifact or are they, in fact, the code.
Perhaps Google is targeting Fermilab scientists for hiring.. Don't they have a history of using strange riddles and puzzles for hiring purposes?
4.4MB image link on the front page of Slashdot? I sense a great disturbance in the force...
Could not connect to remote server
You tried to access the address http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/fnalcodeletter.jpg, which is currently unavailable. Please make sure that the Web address (URL) is correctly spelled and punctuated, then try reloading the page.
There are 113 symbols, each of which is either 1, 2 or 3 strokes. So it is essentially a 113 digit base 3 number.
This limits the amount of information that the message is trying to pass.
For example, using base 26 - all the letters - means we could convey the same information in ??? digits.
Oh damn it. I'm too drunk and Google ain't working for me. Perhaps someone could give a value for ???
But I'm betting it won't be very many digits. I.e. this message is very short.
Crackers do not fall for this trap. It is an obvious attempt to spread the Snow Crash!
It seems to be some sort of construction/zoning notice. Something about a hyperspace-bypass being put in...
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Just let me get a pencil and some paper.
"All your base are belo"
Oh crap.
The translation comes out as:
My name is Kosh Naranek.
I am writing this brief letter to bring to your attention a business offer which we believe you might find attractive.
Mrs Maria Garibaldi; wife of one a wealthy Martian executive (Late Mr. Michael Garibaldi) seeks a business assistance from a reliable and reputable businessman to invest and manage funds to the tune of 15 Million Credits...
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
Any hint on the source, or at least why they consider it important?
Not to be harsh, but if I send some random code letter to some lab, I guess (hope) it won't make the news, even on slashdot.
Don't take my posts literally; it's just code to control my botnet.
Try this link:
http://filebin.ca/skpzc/fnalcodeletter.jpg
I mirrored it on my server as well as made a scaled down version which is just as readable as the original (unless you're making a poster).
http://www.pixabug.com/aliens/fnalcodeletter.jpg
http://www.pixabug.com/aliens/fnalcodeletter_sanesize.jpg
Happy Cracking
-=LaptopZZ=-
It reads "Use only Genuine Interocitor Parts". Seems gibberish to me.
It's obviously Woodstock. He's telling Snoopy about encryption.
'PC Load Letter'? What the fuck does that mean?
Parts of it clap out to sound like "apocalypse in 9/8, (co-starring the delicious talents of Gabble Ratchet)" by Genesis from Foxtrot
But the whole thing is scattered enough that it comes out like more of a one handed improv or approximation of Steve Reich's "Clapping Music".
The bottom section is less rhythmically active, but sounds more "even", kind of "rock and roll" ish.
The middle part is a dull cipher, similar to Nugsoth.
That's all I've got.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
U R E T O D R I N K Y O U R O V A L T I N E
--
"Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!"
Everyone's a critic.
And is it really a message, it can be other things too:
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
If I change the 1s to 0 and the 2s to 1, I get some interesting bits.
"J)IEQ)"""$curren;\QHquot;$)T
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
But rather, "So long and thanks for all the fish".
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
Here's coral cache version, works for me fine. Link provided by slashdotter, firefox plugin.
It's a tempo guide for the person who's messing with the fluorescent ceiling light in the corner of my office. I swear the light is flickering to the same cadence as the tick marks on the page.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
323233331112132
33323132212331
2111331132312233
333212123213113
311333313331111
211333323232211
232313331121231
33231312
f0be58f2fd63
6c79d2e493e6
S f c
111212112121212121121212121112121121
1121121121211121211211121211211121111
1111212121121121211121212121112111211
2111212112112111211121112111211121112
111211211121112121121112122211121211
1212112111211121112112111212121112111
211211211121121112112111212112111212
112121211
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
What a coincidence! That happens to be the combination to my luggage!
:-D
Sorry, had to do it.
My blog
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
...are belong to us.
Even I can see that.
Obviously, these Fermilab folks don't get to go outside at all.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
while it may not be terribly relevant to the solution, it's worth noting a few oddities about the author's writing style. first of all, the second set of vertical lines is likely to be read right to left. notice how well justified the right side of the message is, while the left side terminates at various locations. we also know he writes the individual clusters from left to right based on the strokes left at the bottom of the bars.
secondly, i assume the author is writing with a felt tip pen and is transcribing this from another source. notice how some bars will have a larger dot at one end or the other. i postulate that the author has set down his pen and is checking another sheet to determine what to write, while his felt pen bleeds a little too much ink onto the paper. this, however, doesn't happen with a ball point pen. perhaps this will be of assistance in determining the order strokes were written in, giving us some insight into the author's intent.
thirdly, notice that the author writes the number 0 with a slash through it, but not the number 7 with a dash through it. i'm not an expert on handwriting identification, but certain groups will often be more keen on the selection of particular stylistic numbers, so this may help us to understand something of the author's background.
finally, note that many of the chars used in the second section are letters from other char sets. the letter i is obvious to the english readers, but less apparent is the instance of one that looks suspiciously like a greek capital phi. also, several bear a striking resemblance to chars that appear in a masonic cypher alphabet. http://www.odr.org/anonymous/fam-code.htm can the other chars be identified as belonging to specific alphabets?
The first part is ternary, with 3 substituted for 0. It's somewhat miswrapped, but it appears to say "FRANK SHOEMAKER WOULD CALL THIS NOISE".
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.