You both were awaken by Jadah a short time
ago. It is another one of those arthritic mornings, like yesterday and you
wonder why the large white cover book, Codebreakers, is sitting on your mind
after a night of muddled past dreams stirred up by watching "The Bletchley
Circle". - Amorella
0732 hours. Indeed, I remember this
book. I read it because Jim Powers one of my closer colleagues at Indian Hill
recommended it to me. I remember where the book was placed on the shelf of the
high school library.
** **
The Codebreakers – The Story
of Secret Writing is a book by David Kahn,
published in 1967 comprehensively chronicling the history of cryptography from
ancient Egypt to the time of its writing. The United States government attempted
to have the book altered before publication, and succeeded in part.
Overview
Bradford Hardie III, an American
cryptographer during World War II, contributed insider information, German
translations from original documents, as well as intimate real-time operational
explanations to The Codebreakers.
It is widely regarded as the best account
of the history of cryptography up to its publication. William Crowell, former
deputy director of the National Security Agency, was quoted in Newsday as
saying "Before he (Kahn) came along, the best you could do was buy an
explanatory book that usually was too technical and terribly dull."
Kahn, then a journalist, was contracted
to write a book on cryptology in 1961. He began writing it part-time, at one
point quitting his job to work on it full-time. The book was to include
information on the NSA, and according to author James Bamford writing in 1982,
the agency attempted to stop its publication, and considered various options,
including writing a negative review of Kahn's work to be published in the press
to discredit him. A committee of the United States Intelligence Board concluded
that the book was "a possibly valuable support to foreign COMSEC
authorities" and recommended "further low-key actions as possible, but
short of legal action, to discourage Mr. Kahn or his prospective
publishers" Kahn's publisher, Macmillan, handed over the manuscript to the
government for review without Kahn's permission on 4 March 1966. Kahn and
Macmillan eventually agreed to remove some material from the manuscript,
particularly concerning the relationship between the NSA and its counterpart in
the United Kingdom, GCHQ.
Because of the year of its publication,
the book did not cover most of the history concerning the breaking of the German
Enigma machine (which became public knowledge only in the 1970s); hence, not
much is said of Alan Turing. Nor did it cover the advent of strong cryptography
in the public domain, beginning with the invention of public key cryptograph
and the specification of the Data Encryption Standard in the mid-1970s. The
book finishes with SETI.
The
book was republished in 1996, and this new edition includes an additional
chapter briefly covering the events since the original publication; see the
"Books on cryptography" article for other works which cover this
later history in more detail.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia
** **
This
is all rather interesting. Why does the book conclude with SETI? I don't
remember this aspect at all.
** **
The search for extraterrestrial
intelligence (SETI) is the collective name for a number of
activities undertaken to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. SETI
projects use scientific methods in this search. For example, electromagnetic
radiation is monitored for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other
worlds. Some of the most well
known projects are run by Harvard University, the University of California,
Berkeley, and the SETI Institute. Since the United States government withdrew
funding for SETI projects in 1995, projects have been primarily funded by
private sources.
There
are great challenges in searching the cosmos for signs of intelligent life,
including their identification and interpretation. SETI projects necessarily
make assumptions to narrow the search, the foremost being that electromagnetic
radiation would be a medium of communication for advanced extraterrestrial life.
Edited from Wikipedia
** **
I
love the word cryptography; it has a wonderful letter combination and an
excellent sound. The fun sound is 'crypt-o-graphy' which sounds rather spooky;
like something out of Rod
Serling's "The Twilight Zone". Very cool. And, I found another great
quote that fits here perfectly.
** **
“There is
nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.”
From: goodreads
** **
Are
you self-satisfied presently? - Amorella
No, all this brings me a delight
almost to a secret giddiness. Why, I don't know, but it is fun. I think it is
that sound 'crypt-o-graphy' that sets it off, plus I love "The Twilight
Zone". Awesome series to watch first hand. I wish I could write like that.
I wish I could have met him. I so much wanted to go to Antioch College in
Yellow Springs, Ohio and take a course from Serling. It would have never happened.
It was pretty much a secret wish. My parents about flipped when I suggested it.
It was a rebellious place in the early sixties. They taught Berkley a thing or
two about student protesting. What a time that was to be alive. (0827)
1312 hours and eventually, when Carol
comes up from rummaging through things to throw out in the basement we will go
to lunch and later have her ham and turkey sandwiches for supper.
SETI is coming up shortly in Pouch 18 in a
explanation Friendly explains. In the process the Earthlings learn more about
how the marsupial-humanoids see themselves. - Amorella
1800
hours. I got sidetracked then we had a Subway picnic down along the Little
Miami River. After we came home I began playing with my iPad and iPhone trying
to understand how the iTunes music and YouTube work. I don't have any music on
either machine and don't know how to put it on or even if I want to. I did
update my subscription ability to YouTube because sometimes I like to listen to
on OM chant or a Shiva chant for relaxation. I consider Shiva another trigger
to the inner consciousness. I think of Shiva as an embodiment of deeper
unconscious transcendental meditation and I sometimes find relaxation through
the chants, particularly the ones sung in Sanskrit. I did not have these listed
on my iPhone 4. It is almost time for the news and as Carol is working in the
yard I need to DVR it.
You had makeshift supper, watched the news
and the premier of a show called "Motive" and now you are going to
work on Pouch 18.
2055 hours. I am surprised I had more
words than I thought, dropped a sentence at the end after some earlier
tweaking, and it is completed.
I agree, completed for now. Add and post.
Tomorrow we work on the summaries of these last three chapters. - Amorella
***
Diplomatic Pouch 18, ©2013, rho, draft
completed for GMG
"Who
would have ever thought?" uttered Blake Williams quietly.
"Never
in a million years," declared Justin.
"What
does this mean?" asked Pyl.
Justin
quickly rebutted, "Why does it have to mean something, Pyl? Jeez. We are
here just witnessed seeing the dark side of the Moon live."
"There
is a purpose. What do they want from us?" whispered Pyl.
Yermey
seemed to pop up from nowhere, "You ask a good question, Pyl
Burroughs."
"Here
it comes," mumbled Justin unthinkingly.
"What's
that?" smiled Yermey.
Blake
grinned sardonically, "He means Pyl will be direct. She is always direct.
Yermey
chuckled, put his hand on Blake's shoulder and said, "Let's go in here and
sit for a minute. We can talk this out."
The
relatively non-descript empty room had two chairs and a couch roll up into
place for sitting while the ceiling and upper walls created a soft lighting.
Blake enjoyed Yermey's light brotherly touch and said, "All it needs is a
fire lit fireplace to appear from the far wall."
Yermey
laughed softly, saying, "No fireplaces here but I could arrange for one in
your room."
"No,
that's fine."
Pyl
sat on the couch with Justin fitting in beside her, "I don't know what's
fine, Blake. We don't know what this is really about but I assume we are going
to be used by these people."
Justin
realized Pyl hardly knew he was there and comforting is not what she needed. He
off-handedly fell into her mold of feeling, "Pyl's right, Blake. We need
to know more before we get cozy with these people."
"I
appreciate your honesty; really, we all do. Cozy
is not a word I know well. We want you to feel safe and secure. First, we
respect your species. This is the reason we came here. The greater ThreePlanets
family is not happy we have arrived here, and even less so for inviting you
onboard as guests."
Jokingly
Blake mouthed, "Good cop, bad cop."
I
think Friendly might be able to better explain. "I am neither a good cop
or a bad cop. We would like, if you three accept, to have you teach us more
about your culture from a more personal standpoint. We want . . . "
"I
understand you would like some help," interrupted Friendly. "It is
not often Yermey asks anyone for help.
In
the course of the conversation something stuck out to Blake that would change
his life, Yermey had said, "the machinery allows us to see who we really
are," to which Friendly countered, "it helps us to analysis are
private agendas in advance of action."
"What
do you think, Blake?" asked Pyl, "Are we ready for this?"
He
looked up, "Ready for what?"
"Ready
to help," replied Justin. "Do we want to help these people help
themselves to our ways?"
Confused,
Blake smiled sheepishly, "I think I am missing something here."
"This
is important to us, to have you be our ambassadors of sorts,"
"We
have come all this way," reinforced Hartolite.
Blake
showing his embarrassment, "I didn't even notice you were here."
"You
were someplace else, Blake. We need you on this."
Trying
to recollect where he'd been he asked, "Can you fill me in. I was stuck with
Yermey's comment about my 'good cop bad cop'. He said that he was neither, and
it struck me as quite funny. There is a lot of territory between what I
initially said without much thought and his quick and honest reply.
"We
four are the rebellious ones by being here on our own, that is our trip was and
is not officially sanctioned. We cannot come out and say 'Hello, we are
official representatives from ThreePlanets."
"Why
have you not used SETI?" asked Pyl. "It seems to me this would be a
natural first place to communicate."
"We
prefer one on one," answered Yermey, "because we are trying to avoid
the cleverness and bullshit. We don't have time for nonsense."
"You
live five hundred years," responded Blake. "I smell some bullshit
right there."
"I don't have time," declared
Yermey bluntly, "because I have lived five hundred years already."
Blake
caught the look in Yermey's eyes; no question, he thought these people are
human. "We have something basic in common then," he surmised.
"Our
Parents-in-Charge use machinery to deal with Earth if it is forced upon
them," said Friendly.
"Communication
machinery, not as sophisticated as Ship," added Hartolite. "We have
no weaponry. We need none. When we think 'run' or Ship thinks 'run' we do. We
are very fast plus invisible when need be."
Surprisingly
even to Pyl, she commented, "We have too many machines on our planet. We
are willing to listen to what you would have us do. We want to remain friendly."
"Good
one," smiled Yermey.
799 words
***
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