NODE 1a08b387Re: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
blancw@accessone.comSat, 22 Jul 95 20:30:10 PDT
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
NODE 25ed33ceRe: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>Sat, 22 Jul 95 21:14:11 PDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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NODE 9930b952Re: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
Samuel Kaplin <skaplin@mirage.skypoint.com>Sat, 22 Jul 95 21:54:07 PDT
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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!)
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NODE 1ff72666Re: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
Samuel Kaplin <skaplin@mirage.skypoint.com>Sun, 23 Jul 95 03:12:24 PDT
-----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
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NODE 45577394Re: HOUDINI ON CRYPTO
Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>Sun, 23 Jul 95 06:38:28 PDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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