#learning cryptography for kids

[presswoodterryryan]

🔎 The Secret Language of Fairies: Learning Hidden Codes and Ciphers

By Alice Have you ever wanted to talk to fairies? Well, Mr. Fluffernutter and I just found a mysterious note in our backyard—and we think the fairies left it for us! But… we can’t read it! It’s written in strange symbols that dance across the paper like tiny sprites! Time to put on our detective hats and crack the secret fairy code! 🛡️✨ It’s an exciting challenge that calls for a mix of…

[alexa-yukiyu]

Ohh if you going to write Platonic reader

how about a male reader who's part of the straw hats and his devil fruit power is that he can talk and use dead people to fight (like Klaus from The Umbrella Academy)

he has a best friend who died but he talks to him all the time so he's never alone (like Klaus and Ben from The Umbrella Academy)

Gone but still there (Strawhats x male!reader)

A/N: I had to change it a little bit since im bot comfortable with the whole controlling dead people to fight nor I think the strawhats would be too happy about that but I made this instead, hopefully it is somewhat appealing to what you envisioned! It is not very good, I would say this one is a flop :(

Dividers by @/saradika

“Okay, are we ready?” Reader exclaims, staring at his crewmates around him. Robin and Nami sat at a table nearby, with Sanji bringing them both snacks and compliments. Zoro sat down in his favorite corner, eyes closed, with Chopper standing close to him; Luffy sat at the head of the Sunny as usual, with Franky and Ussop sitting together, tinkering with some gadgets they had. Jinbe sat at the boat's wheel, keeping watch of the course ahead, Brook standing nearby with his violin.

He looked up at the reader, smiling and waving his bony hand in excitement

“Yes! Im excited to hear what Doctor Hiriluk has to say this time.”

“Yohohoho, and im excited to hear what new songs my old crew-mates have learned since the last time we spoke.”

He smiles

“I promise I’ll go around with everyone!”

He sweatdrops staring at the small girl next to him

“Umm Zoro, I think Kuina really wants to say some things to you…”

His eyes open, and he walks over

"What did you want, Kuina?" he said with a bit of annoyance

He laughs nervously

“she said your form was off in your last fight, that only an idiot would make such a mistake.”

He sighed and shook his head a bit

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," he said sarcastically and started moving back to his corner

He sighs

“This is going to be a long one…Ah, Nami, Bellemere says you shouldn’t be hitting your crewmates.”

She gives a small sigh

"Well, when they don't listen, it's what happens. Thanks for the message." She said while fixing her bangs gently as she took a bite from her apple

"Robin You're mom says you should look up the Old Signs? Uh she says that the second part gives some interesting views on cryptography?"

"Hmm I will look into it, thank you for the suggestion"

“What about my Mom?” Ussop questions, glancing at Reader

“She says you should be more careful with your experiments; she hates to see you get hurt when one of them goes wrong.”

He chuckles softly at that

“I’m not a little kid anymore, though…”He said before he fell quiet and went about working with his tools

He cackles at what the crew can only guess is something one of the ghosts has said

“Ussop~ Your mom says you will always be her little baby.”

“That’s what she said?!” His hand froze on the tool in front of him as the other slowly wiped away his sweat, his eyes wide in shock and even some embarrassment at his mother’s words

He can’t help but laugh even harder at Ussop's embarrassment; he glances to the side as his laughs die down, now just chuckles escaping him as he smiles gently at his crew and all the one-sided conversations they were having with their loved ones, every once in a while he would step in to deliver a message to them. Still, even if it was one-sided, none of them cared, happily chatting with their loved ones, knowing they were there, listening to them.

Okay I was honestly debating if to put this one on a timer and then delete it but I think I smoothed it out at the end, but still debating that one.

[durgewyll]

one of my wyll headcanons that i've been thinking about recently is wyll learning cryptography as a kid. he used to deliver letters for his dad and presumably those letters would be in code to protect secrets/information. so wyll, being the curious little kid he is, would learn to decipher those letters, partly to help out his father, but mostly because he's curious and wants to know what those letters say ^_^

[girlballs]

i gotta post more about my freaks. here's some miscellaneous info about the core student group for At The Arcane University under the cut.

the core cast is situated in a weird little part of the Belmonte Sub-Campus. two blocks of dorms, Block 108 and 110, were subjected to a minor typo in the initial construction plans and wound up with an awkward gap between them. the original Housemaster and district architect Andile Belmonte insisted that the space not be wasted, so a single extra dorm was built between the two proper dorm blocks- Block 109, the smallest and only odd-numbered dorm in Belmonte.

Nomiki Konadu (22) is the story's first PoV character. she's a little bit ditzy and honest to a fault. her main motivation for coming to the Arcane University is to learn Metal magic, something she was born with a predisposition towards but never really got the hang of controlling- one she's at the AU though she winds up branching out into a bunch of different areas of study like Runesmithing and Kinetic Sorceries. despite being kind of meek, she's got a habit of getting herself into trouble in the pursuit of trying to do the Morally Correct thing or holding others to their word. she's a real nerd for mystery novels and mythological texts, and has a weakness for buff women. favorite color is blue.

Andrea D'Amore (26) is a weird girl. super emotionally closed-off since she was a kid, following an incident where they nearly super drowned in a frozen-over lake. she wound up spontaneously developing an affinity for ice magic, but it's a volatile affinity and basically any intense emotions make it hard to control. really just wants to study magic and aetheric engineering, and is initially reluctant to get involved with their roommates' shenanigans. she's autistic and spends a lot of time fixated on astronomy and architecture. has a bit of an obsession with framing real events through the lens of literary tropes. she's got a really poor grasp on modesty, which isn't helped by Campus 16 having very relaxed regulations regarding public nudity. favorite color is green.

Abigail Mandel (25) is Nomiki's opposite in a lot of ways. she's not afraid to make her opinions known, but is also a lot less likely to rock the boat if she thinks she's up against someone more stubborn than she is. very quickly develops a one-sided Lesbian Waluigi thing going on with Nomiki, seeing herself as a sort of rival-mentor to her. she absolute hates excess and waste, and lives pretty frugally despite Campus 16 providing for students pretty well. mainly studies Fire Charms and estoc fencing. has a hard time figuring out social norms and how other people are feeling, but in spite of that she's pretty emotionally intelligent and generally gives good advice if you ask her directly to help work out emotional stuff. favorite color is red.

Marigold Vaughn (23) is a hedonist, a pyromancer, a communist, and self-proclaimed President of The Shortstack Alliance. her main goals are having a good time and getting a bite to eat- that, and studying Rune-based cryptography. has a very laid-back demeanor that hides an almost self-destructive work ethic. she's the most likely out of the Block 109 squad to instigate some pointless and whimsical side-quest, and is also regularly responsible for pulling her roommates out into social gatherings. has a strong appreciation for bad romance novels and erotic comics. *really* physically clumsy. contributed to the Really Secure Runic Hashing framework used for storing encrypted data on WIS (Wizard Information System) tapes when she was 17. favorite color is yellow.

[morgue-xiiv]

We need to start just using PGP casually to send each other coded messages for fun.

pros:

feel like a spy like when you were a kid writing messages in lemon juice to all your friends

if at some later date you need to send a message that actually does need to be encrypted you'll both know how to do it and have the encryption principle* sorted

Educational! Learn more about cryptography

cons:

would need to learn how to use a computer

stops the government from reading your messages which makes them sad. Poor gorvrunment, the little scrunkly. Why you make him sad?

Bit of a hassle relative to other methods of communication

Dm me your public key, to get a super secret message only you can open!

*in case you don't know the ecryption principle it's this: your long history of using encryption to send messages like "my cat threw up today it was so gross" means that if you send a message like "I need an abortion but I don't know who to turn to" the abortion gestapo will think it's another cat barf and not worry about it.

[mylasteverlution]

Please go into detail about the feld computers

Okay so! We get quite a bit of information about the Feld Playback Experiment, a lot more than I realized before writing this post. The interface of the game (menus, dialogue engine) is actually designed to look like its on a Feld computer. Plenty of other people have talked about that, so I'm not going to go into it here, but I will drop this archived post from the developer's blog for those who are interested.

One thing I do want to highlight from that post:

This computer uses long strips of film for feedback (projection), memory (storing on magnetic tape) and interfacing (submit commands in handwriting) purposes

The strips of film for feedback and the magnetic tape storage are what I was expecting. But using handwritten commands for input was not on my radar! This would be what's called offline handwriting recognition, where text is converted by the computer after it's written (as opposed to online, where you use something like a stylus on a screen and the computer interprets it as you're writing). This is comparatively pretty difficult to achieve, and very error-prone, as everyone's handwriting looks slightly different. Most modern versions of this use machine learning techniques, but I'm assuming these computers used very basic character extraction and recognition engines.

Trant is the only in-game source we get for the Feld computers. And after doing some digging I found him saying something similar:

"As I was saying, the device itself was very elegant, fragile even. One could write directly on the tape using a special chemical solution. The machine would then analyze the handwriting, perform operations and project output onto a white screen. It was a beautiful, delicate thing."

I initially interpreted him saying they "perform operations and project output" to mean that they can process internally, unlike radiocomputers. But this post from the developers is making me think otherwise (thanks @sollandan for sharing this on my other post!):

"These machines have on-air processing. Large prime number stations criss-cross the air. Advanced tape computers use arrays of antennas to sieve through their calculations to perform advanced calculus on site: to run programmes and communicate between the remote corners of the world."

The advanced tape computers being referred to here have to be the Feld computers. I'm still not sure how this kind of processing would work. As far as computing goes, prime numbers are used primarily in cryptography. Maybe their version of 'processing' somehow involves decrypting? People have theorized that the world in Disco Elysium is made of information. If all the information already exists, maybe it's just a matter of decoding it? I'm honestly just spitballing here, but I'd love to hear other people's theories.

Regardless of how they work, it seems pretty clear to me that the Feld computers are meant to parallel the rise of digital personal computers in our world. Like how Trant described them here:

"An elegant folding mechanism of rollers and ferrotape ribbons, portable enough to be a take-it-home solution, revolutionizing business machines, possibly even bringing them to the average consumer."

This reads almost exactly like promotional material for early home computers made by IBM, Apple and such. (Side note: 'ferrotape' here refers to ferric-oxide coated tape, used for magnetic tape storage and popularized for use in computers by IBM in the 50s.)

But in Disco Elysium, this revolution never took place. Computers never made it to the average consumer, as is clearly demonstrated by even the RCM having only limited access to radiocomputers. The only characters I know of with access to computers are Soona (obviously) and Trant (plus his kid), who seems to be much wealthier than the average citizen of Revachol. The thematic significance of this form of communication never becoming available to the masses is not lost on me.

That said, I think ending this on one of the most interesting hints we get on what happened to the Feld Playback Experiment is appropriate:

YOU - "Why did the revolutionaries destroy it?" TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Who knows? Maybe it was an accident, or maybe they didn't want the technology to end up in the wrong hands. Either way -- they're all gone now, all three versions of the prototype. Nothing but debris and ashes remains inside that building." He takes a step back; the boardwalk creaks mournfully in the wind. SHIVERS - Two seagulls circle in the sky. You look up and think: really? Or was there a fourth prototype that remains hidden in the mausoleums below Coal City?

[nimuetheseawitch]

director’s commentary: experts in a dying field

Alright, time to dig in. I saw this ask and set the scene for myself by brewing a cup of (decaf) English breakfast, pulling up my laptop, and putting on Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II. To add to the academic vibes, there's even a fireplace and ivy in this room.

I'm going to start with my notes doc and then reread the fic and write anything that comes to mind, so it's probably gonna be long, and I'm putting it all under a cut.

I just opened my notes doc for this fic/series, and of course, the first thing I see is copy-pasted notes from conversations with you. This is how it all began:

nimuetheseawitch: I want a Jake as a math professor AU  A little OOC, but I want him to not be aware of how attractive he is  He wanted to be a naval aviator, but something uncontrollable stopped him (like him being colorblind or something), and he was a scrawny kid in high school, then a math major, and he never got over thinking of himself as a nerd  hero-in-waiting: Ooooo. Maybe he had some bad teenage years and went into math and never really realized he grew up well.  nimuetheseawitch: He is cocky about his math though  Very Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park and Independence Day kind of cocky  

I managed to hash out all the broad strokes in that conversation. My favorite thing that didn't make it into the fic was your suggestion that Bradley does a spot on NPR. It is my headcanon for the fic, but it never made sense to mention.

Alright, reread time!

First thing I want to talk about is imagining Jake with glasses. Vests, rolled up shirt sleeves, occasional sweaters, glasses! Indiana Jones when he's teaching style. He does not realize how many of his students are hopelessly in love with him. I imagine half of why his whole thing with Bradley stirs up the rumor mill is that students are desperate to know more about both of them.

I just love them as ex-husbands.

I had planned on saying something about Wells being eccentric to explain why he used "Merlin," but I never did.

I definitely tried to set up Jake as ridiculously competitive and a little bit petty where Bradley is concerned because neither of them is really handling the whole being at the same university thing in the most mature manner. And also because I love for them to be asshole4asshole.

Amelia! I'm so glad I aged her up and threw her into the middle of this. I didn't want to make any of the Daggers Jake's TA, and I wanted someone to bridge between the college rumor mill and Jake's relative isolation in his department, and I think I fit her quite well into the small amount of space available in Jake and Javy's codependent friendship. Also, I always need Javy to have someone to commiserate with.

Man, so much of this story is pulling from my own academic experiences. I don't know if it resonates with anyone else, but the pub scene takes me back every time I read it. Cheese curds, beer, and the faint smell of wet wool from the snow melting on everyone's discarded outerwear.

I love the conspiracy board.

I also love Amelia roasting Jake. He needs it.

This is possibly my favorite line I have ever written (even though I love the 'stache): “All he would tell me is that you have a quote ‘mysterious and tragic history’ with him. When I asked him to elaborate, he followed up with ‘have you seen Bradshaw’s mustache? The mystery is why anyone would allow that kind of tragedy within 10 feet of them.’ He was absolutely no help.”

I didn't get into it too much, but Jake really tries to avoid thinking about how much he misses being married to Bradley. Because when it was good, it was really good. Even though it's been about 2 years, he still feels the ghost of his wedding band on his ring finger. He learned how to be Bradley's husband, and it's hard to unlearn that.

I would love to explore Bob more. Bob POV on wtf is going on between Bradshaw and Seresin. Bob, who has a background in cryptography and knows all the gossip, and who Jake is definitely actually going to become friends with once he stops spending all his energy on avoiding Bradley and proving himself (so, basically after he gets approved for tenure).

Amelia should, in every universe, think Bradley's flirting is dumb.

Jake is all thrown off by Bradley and tries to set boundaries (calling him Dr. Bradshaw, communicating via official email and office phone) and then goes and recommends a restaurant he knows Bradley will like. He just isn't capable of forgetting how well he knows Bradley. And Bradley is over here desperately grasping at any possible opening while also pretending he's Totally Normal about Ice visiting. Pierogi are a step too far.

Chana masala is always good.

Bradley and Jake are really, really bad at keeping the personal and the professional separate. Absolutely hopeless.

I have such a soft spot for both Jewish!Jake and Jewish!Ice. And I'm so soft for Bradley connecting with Jake about something that reminds him so much of the familly he's pushed away.

I feel like Javy coming over to take care of Jake is part of a pattern that defines their friendship - they each will drop everything to be there for each other.

Bradley may not have his shit together, but Jake, hon, your shit is also not together. I would love to write a follow-up where Jake figures his shit out and makes things work with Bradley.

Also, part of Bradley getting his shit together is also backing off a little on trying to get back together with Jake. The hot and cold thing really wan't working for either of them.

To finish things off, here are some of the random bits I have floating around in my notes doc that may, someday, become something more:

Early relationship: Bradley whispering into the dark, "I feel like I can tell you anything."  Falling apart: Jake breaking down a bit and saying "I feel like you never tell me anything."  

I really like this line, and I have nowhere to put it yet:

But you were so stuck in the past that you never let us have a future. 

Possible follow up fic ideas:

5 times they kissed goodbye and the time they didn't - prequel that explores how their relationship changed from dating to marriage to long distance to divorce

5 times Jake started things all wrong and the time he got it right - getting back together (Bradley won't settle for just a hookup) 

Thanks for the ask - it was a lovely way to spend my evening. I wrote way, way more than I expected to. This AU makes me really happy.

[foxgloves-garden]

Hello Tumblr, Aspen here. Apparently I haven't posted much (or at all) on our account, but that may change as we're attempting to set up a fronting schedule rather than just having people pop in randomly during the day.

I've been fronting a lot today due to Kori "not feeling peopley," and took it upon myself to learn about cryptography. So far I've learned that asymmetric encryption is complicated.

Oh, the equations the examples used are straightforward enough. Easy to read at least. But even a "simple" example of how to apply them results in a massive number that standard calculators refuse to crunch. There was, I kid you not, exponentiation to the 323rd power in one of them. And that's barely a fraction of the number actual encryption algorithms could impose on a file.

Now I see why people put such stock in encryption. Without technological help, a human (or team thereof) could never crack even a simple string like "hi"

That's enough rambling from me for now, goodbye Tumblr.

[solacescastleglow]

Skills I Practice (Polymath Diaries #1)

Being a polymath has always been one of my life goals. The idea of being an expert in something is really appealing to me, and so is well-roundedness, so managing to be both is a worthwhile goal to me. So, here are my current interests/skill set, colour coded by proficiency. Bare in mind I am not including what are for me basic life skills (eg: English - which is my first language, reading).

Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech System

Calligraphy

Cooking and Nutrition

Digital Illustration

Ethics

Fashion and Styling

Financial Literacy

French

Gardening

Graphic Design

Guitar (need to get back into this one)

Modern European History

Jewish Theology

Linguistics

Literary Analysis

Logic (Sudoku, Chess)

Museum Science

Neuroscience of Speech

Philosophy

Phonemic Transcription

Phonology

Pilates

Political Science

Singing

Sewing

Social Skills/Manners

Strength Training

Study Skills

Therapy Techniques (DBT, ERP, Self-Regulation)

Watercolour Painting

Writing (Fiction, Essays)

Yoga

Skills I Want to Learn

Badminton (I used to play as a kid)

Ballet/Barre

Calculus

Classical History

Cryptography

Filming and Editing Videos

Forensics

German (learned and forgotten)

Gregg Shorthand

Hebrew

Horseriding

Law

Mandarin (learned and forgotten)

Oil Painting

Piano

Public Speaking

Rhetoric

Self Defence

Soft Skills (Adaptability, Time Management)

Spanish (learned and forgotten)

Yiddish

[ladywaffles]

6 + benthan for the writing prompts

thank you for the ask!

things you said under the stars and in the grass

Field work is much dirtier than tech work, as a general rule.

Benji didn't think that meant literal dirt, but when Ethan Hunt is involved...

They're staked out on a night watch in a field in the middle of nowhere, for some reason that he's forgotten because it really doesn’t matter in the end why they’re babysitting a bunch of equipment in the middle of nowhere with no reception to speak of, waiting for the sensors to get all the telemetry they need, and Benji is realizing that he forgot to bring his allergy meds along with him, so he’ll be sneezing up a storm tomorrow.

Ethan, on the other hand, prime specimen of human ability that he is, is laying back with his hand behind his head, staring up at the stars.

“Did you learn the constellations when you were a kid?” Ethan asks him.

Benji lays down beside him, setting his tablet down on his chest. “No,” he says. “I mean, a little bit. There was too much light where I grew up, you could hardly see the stars.”

Ethan hums. “That’s too bad. I had this book when I was a kid on celestial navigation—”

“Bit boring for a kid, don’t you think?”

“Not when you wanted to be a pirate,” Ethan grins.

“Little Ethan Hunt wanted to be a pirate? How’d he end up like this?” Benji turns to look at Ethan. He’s so relaxed and open, so unlike the man, the agent, that Benji knows.

“He pulled the most perfect prank in the history of the world, and the rest is history.”

Benji laughs. “No, come on, that can’t be it.” Ethan stares up at the stars, but his smile is telling.

“No shit? A prank got you recruited by the IMF?”

“What can I say? Playing Frederic in Pirates of Penzance was a great way to hone my craft. It was the closest I ever got to being a pirate, too.

“What did you want to be when you grew up, Benji?” Ethan asks. His voice is low, but in the way a person speaks quietly when the world has shrunk to just the conversation they are sharing.

“I didn’t really know,” he admits. “I was good at maths, and computers came along with that. I liked Alan Turing when I was a kid. Cryptography seemed interesting, but I wasn’t good enough at developing ciphers for that line of work. Still, I ended up a spy after all, huh?”

“So Benji Dunn is living out his childhood dreams,” Ethan muses. “That’s nice.”

“What about you Ethan? Did you get your dreams?”

Ethan tilts his head. “Give me your hand, Benji.” Ethan takes his right hand and curls his fingers just so, until it’s just Benji’s pointer finger left out. He guides his hand and points it north.

“Do you see that bright one there? That’s Polaris, the North Star. It’s the tail of Ursa Minor, but we call it the Little Dipper in America. Sailors used to navigate by it.” Ethan traces out the shape of the constellation, like he’s painting a picture in the sky just for Benji. In the Greek myths, Ursa Minor and Ursa Major,” and Ethan guides him just below the North Star, tracing out another constellation, “were the lover and son of Zeus. He changed them into bears and placed them in the sky to protect them from Hera’s jealousy.”

“Which one is your favorite?” Benji asks, his voice no more than a whisper.

“What? You wanna hear me talk about stars for the rest of the night?” Ethan jokes.

“Yeah,” Benji says. “That’d be nice.”

Ethan grins, that full-teeth smile he hardly ever uses, the one that Benji loves the most. “Okay. This one is Andromeda, the Chained Lady. Her mother is Cassiopeia, over here, and Cassiopeia looks like stair-steps, that’s how I remembered it when I was a kid…”

send me a pairing and a number!

[tenney-shoes]

When I first heard about the Navajo code talkers as a kid I was enchanted! Atlantis was one of my favorite movies because Milo Thatch was a linguist, and it was his knowledge of languages that found Atlantis, and that was a good as magic to me. Then I learned of these men and didn't fully understand how it all worked and was so effective but thought it was the coolest thing! I had assumed it was because Navajo was a difficult language and knew very little about cryptography.

The Imitation Game is another favorite movie, and the race to break the German enigma machine is another incredible story, that gave me more insight into cryptography but made it even more incredible to me that the Navajo code was never broken when a man who couldn't even speak German broke enigma.

This is the most informative and comprehensive explanation of the Navajo code I've ever come across and I both love and hate it. To have a better understanding and appreciation for why it was so effective and secure is a long awaited answer, but at the same time it makes me a little sad that because of this it's a little less secure now. I wonder if it could be broken now if it was ever used again, and I know that doesn't diminish the service and accomplishments of the men that used it to such great effect, but I hope no one ever looks at this, and sees the brilliant simplicity of it and because of that mistakes the impact it had.

I saw this on quora and thought it was cool and wanted to share it on here.  Its a long read but crazy.  Its from Erik Painter

They did try. And they did capture Navajo men. However, they were unsuccessful in using them to decipher the code. The reason was simple. The Navajo Code was a code that used Navajo. It was not spoken Navajo. To a Navajo speaker, who had not learned the code, a Navajo Code talker sending a message sounds like a string of unconnected Navajo words with no grammar. It was incomprehensible. So, when the Japanese captured a Navajo man named Joe Kieyoomia in the Philippines, he could not really help them even though they tortured him. It was nonsense to him.

The Navajo Code had to be learned and memorized. It was designed to transmit a word by word or letter by letter exact English message. They did not just chat in Navajo. That could have been understood by a Navajo speaker, but more importantly translation is never, ever exact. It would not transmit precise messages. There were about 400 words in the Code.

The first 31 Navajo Marines created the Code with the help of one non-Navajo speaker officer who knew cryptography. The first part of the Code was made to transmit English letters. For each English letter there were three (or sometimes just two) English words that started with that letter and then they were translated into Navajo words. In this way English words could be spelled out with a substitution code. The alternate words were randomly switched around. So, for English B there were the Navajo words for Badger, Bear and Barrel. In Navajo that is: nahashchʼidí, shash, and tóshjeeh. Or the letter A was Red Ant, Axe, or Apple. In Navajo that is: wóláchííʼ, tsénił , or bilasáana. The English letter D was: bįįh=deer, and łééchąąʼí =dog, and chʼįįdii= bad spiritual substance (devil).

For the letter substitution part of the Code the word “bad” could be spelled out a number of ways. To a regular Navajo speaker it would sound like: “Bear, Apple, Dog”. Or other times it could be “ Barrel, Red Ant, Bad Spirit (devil)”. Other times it could be “Badger, Axe, Deer”. As you can see, for just this short English word, “bad” there are many possibilities and to the combination of words used. To a Navajo speaker, all versions are nonsense. It gets worse for a Navajo speaker because normal Navajo conjugates in complex ways (ways an English or Japanese speaker would never dream of). These lists of words have no indicators of how they are connected. It is utterly non-grammatical.

Then to speed it up, and make it even harder to break, they substituted Navajo words for common military words that were often used in short military messages. None were just translations. A few you could figure out. For example, a Lieutenant was “one silver bar” in Navajo. A Major was “Gold Oak Leaf” n Navajo. Other things were less obvious like a Battleship was the word for Whale in Navajo. A Mine Sweeper was the Navajo word for Beaver.

A note here as it seems hard for some people to get this. Navajo is a modern and living language. There are, and were, perfectly useful Navajo words for submarines and battleships and tanks. They did not “make up words because they had no words for modern things”. This is an incorrect story that gets around in the media. There had been Navajo in the military before WWII. The Navajo language is different and perhaps more flexible than English. It is easy to generate new words. They borrow very few words and have words for any modern thing you can imagine. The words for telephone, or train, or nuclear power are all made from Navajo stem roots.

Because the Navajo Marines had memorized the Code there was no code book to capture. There was no machine to capture either. They could transmit it over open radio waves. They could decode it in a few minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes to two hours that other code systems at the time took. And, no Navajo speaker who had not learned the Code could make any sense out of it.

The Japanese had no published texts on Navajo. There was no internationally available description of the language. The Germans had not studied it at the time. The Japanese did suspect it was Navajo. Linguists thought it was in the Athabaskan language family. That would be pretty clear to a linguist. And Navajo had the biggest group of speakers of any Athabaskan language. That is why they tortured Joe Kieyoomia. But, he could not make sense of it. It was just a list of words with no grammar and no meaning.

For Japanese, even writing the language down from the radio broadcasts would be very hard. It has lots of sounds that are not in Japanese or in English. It is hard to tell where some words end or start because the glottal stop is a common consonant. Frequency analysis would have been hard because they did not use a single word for each letter. And some words stood for words instead of for a letter. The task of breaking it was very hard.

Here is an example of a coded message:

béésh łigai naaki joogii gini dibé tsénił áchį́į́h bee ąą ńdítį́hí joogi béésh łóó’ dóó łóóʼtsoh

When translated directly from Navajo into English it is:

“SILVER TWO BLUE JAY CHICKEN HAWK SHEEP AXE NOSE KEY BLUE JAY IRON FISH AND WHALE. “

You can see why a Navajo who did not know the Code would not be able to do much with that. The message above means: “CAPTAIN, THE DIVE BOMBER SANK THE SUBMARINE AND BATTLESHIP.”

“Two silver bars” =captain. Blue jay= the. Chicken hawk= dive bomber. Iron fish = sub. Whale= battleship. “Sheep, Axe Nose Key”=sank. The only normal use of a Navajo word is the word for “and” which is “dóó ”. For the same message the word “sank” would be spelled out another way on a different day. For example, it could be: “snake, apple, needle, kettle”.

Here, below on the video, is a verbal example of how the code sounded. The code sent below sounded to a Navajo speaker who did not know the Code like this: “sheep eyes nose deer destroy tea mouse turkey onion sick horse 362 bear”. To a trained Code Talker, he would write down: “Send demolition team to hill 362 B”. The Navajo Marine Coder Talker then would give it to someone to take the message to the proper person. It only takes a minute or so to code and decode.

[presswoodterryryan]

Unlocking Ancient Secrets: Master Code Creation

By Ariel Imagine you’re a spy in ancient times, carrying an important message that must stay hidden from enemies. How would you keep it safe? Have you ever wanted to send a secret message to a friend? Or crack a hidden code like a real-life detective? Secret codes have been used for thousands of years to protect important messages. Today, I’m going to take you on an adventure through history,…

[heyitstaylore]

This is going to be a rollercoaster of a lot of things. And incoherent. Sorry.

I just discovered free uni courses are a thing? There are hundreds of courses out there!!! For free!!!

I quit uni because I hated it, I had no interest in what I was learning, and as a result, I failed a lot of my exams, so I just quit. I wasn't interested in economics and maths and equations and all that. I enjoyed writing the essays and doing the research. But maths. Maths. Just no.

I always wanted to learn things, and I was always fascinated by "weird" things.

Like, I had this phase where I fucking taught myself how to read and write with Egyptian hieroglyphs. I was in sixth grade. I remember I had a shit ton of homework but I just kept perfecting my form and my mother was livid. I don't blame her. She probably thought I was going insane.

And there was this other thing where I was totally obsessing over Enigma and like all the ways of cryptography and the history of it all. I watched The Imitation Game one summer night, and I was lost to everyone for the remainder of the summer holiday because I was busy doing ROT13. For fun.

And then there were horses. I don't remember much, but I was enthralled by horses. I was really little, but I was a walking-talking encyclopedia on horses.

And astronomy. I had the same book checked out from my schools library for like a year on astronomy.

Anyway, I was a weird kid.

But, the thing is, I never really stopped being the weird kid? I lost my interest in a lot of things over the years because life is shit and I am burnt out, and I just want to stop existing... but I still read fanfiction. I started when I was eleven or twelwe, way too young. I love reading. Sometimes, I stop reading for years, but then I always come back. And this is what kept me thinking about all of this, really. I am nearing thirty, and I still read fanfics. And this thought started me on this spiral.

I still have bursts of energy where I research a topic until my eyes can no longer tolerate the strain. I just had a blast a week ago where I was researching the Paraguayan War because my partner saw a video on it, and I got interested. Lo and behold, I was almost late for work because time just flew by.

I sometimes start fanfictions, but I somehow always just end up researching something totally unrelated, and then I call it a day. And I learnt some new things about Portsmouth. Or CERN.

I usually lack dedication and persistence, but I still do all the things young me did. I am still interested in weird shit. I still read my silly fanfictions. I have still not given up on the idea that one day I will be an author. Or an archaeologist. Or someone who travels and learns a lot from different cultures.

Researching was one of my hobbies from a very young age, well, probably my only hobby. I always wanted to know the how's and why's.

She isn't dead.

That curious little girl isn't dead. She's just tired and dormant. She's resting. But she is alive, and I will do everything in my power to keep her alive. Older teen and young adult me ruined her, but I am older now. I think.

I had a mental breakdown a few weeks ago over the fact that little me is dead and gone and all that. I cried so hard. I was choking on sobs so gutwrenching that just thinking about them makes my eyes water.

But she is still kicking. I am carrying her with me. I just need to find my way back to her.

I literally have no idea what I am talking about, but I just needed this out of my system.

The point is... I don't know. Maybe that even if you think you have changed and strayed so far from yourself, that you no longer recognise yourself in the mirror, the child in you is still you, still with you. And even though you did things you are not proud of or just straight up disgusted by, you can change. You won't erase all the bad, but you can try to be better every single day. You can learn. You can put in the work.

I know I will. I have been unbeknownst to me for the past year.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to browse through these free uni courses and start one.

[tdbre-up]

BEACH FRONT PROPERTY (7)

SHE JUST WANNA FUCK SHE NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT LOVE SO YOU CAN JUST FORGET ABOUT LOVE HER LOVE IS A DRUG HER LOVE IS A DRUG YOU'LL NEVER GET ENOUGH EVEN IF SHE COULD EVEN IF SHE WOULD LOVE IS A DRUG LOVE IS A DRUG LOVE IS A DRUG BABY GIRL ROCK MY WORLD I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO IF IT WERE NOT FOR HER STILL A DADDY'S GIRL MOM'S ENTIRE WORLD BEAUTIFUL CURLS GIVE IT A TWIRL I'VE NEVER HAD SOMEONE LIKE YOU IF YOU ONLY KNEW WHAT YOU DO TO ME AIN'T NOBODY ELSE CAN GET IT THROUGH TO ME OOEY GOOEY, STICKY ICKY - GLUED TO ME PROVE ME SOMETHING THAT YOU NEVER PROVE TO ME FLY YOU SOMEWHERE THAT YOU NEVER FLEW WITH ME EAT YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU NEVER FOOD WITH ME SUMMER DIET - ROSÉ, CALAMARI - NOTHING NEW TO ME I KNOW WHO I AM TO YOU, BUT WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO ME? AFTER THIS THERE AIN'T NO GOIN' BACK TO HOW IT USED TO BE I BROKE ALL THE RECORDS SEVERAL TIMES AND DID IT BEAUTIFULLY WHEN YOU WISH YOU WERE SOMEBODY ELSE YOU WISH THAT YOU WERE ME EM, DRE AND EXZIBIT - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND ME? COUPLE DOZEN BITCHES AND SOME BENTLEY'S AND BEACH PROPERTY PAPARAZZI'S KEEP TRYIN' TO TRESPASS ON MY PRIVACY I'M JUST GLAD MY MOMMA MEANT IT WHEN SHE SAID SHE'S PROUD OF ME ALL THESE POSERS STAY TRYIN' TO FRONT AND CHASE SOME CLOUT ON ME PROBABLY WOULDN'T BITCH ABOUT IT IF THEY DID IT PROPERLY I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO FIND OUT WHO'S BEEN GIVING PROPS TO ME I'M JUST KEEPIN' MY EYE ON THE BALL THERE AIN'T NO STOPPIN' ME FLAGRANT FOUL SWAGGER AIN'T NO REFEREE STOP-CLOCKIN' ME ALL I SEE IS DEAD PEOPLE, THESE PHONE ZOMBIES KEEP WATCHIN' ME I DONE PUT MY LABEL ON SO AIN'T NOBODY DROPPIN' ME I FULFILL THE PROPHECY LIKE NAS WITH MY DISCOGRAPHY I'M JUST TALKIN' FACTS, THIS AIN'T CRYPTOGRAPHY THE SAME BITCH YOU INTRODUCED TO YOUR MOM IS TRYIN' TO JOCK ON ME I'M TRYIN' TO WEEN HER OFF OF ME THIS BITCH IS JUST OBSESSED WITH ME I STICK MY DICK BETWEEN HER TITS AND FINISH ON HER DOUBLE D'S I GOT SO MUCH MONEY THAT SHE CALLS ME MEPHISTOPHELES YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN I WAS DOWN AND OUT BUT NOW YOU WANNA ROCK WITH ME IF SOMETHING DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT, THEN I TRUST MY GUT AND STOP THE BEAT IF YOU RUB ME THE WRONG WAY I'VE BEEN KNOWN TO KNOCK CHUMPS OFF THEIR FEET YEAH AND NOW SHE TRYIN' GET A BABY, YEAH AND I'M NOT TRYIN' TO HAVE A BABY, YEAH STILL GIVE HIM A LIFE I NEVER HAD SHE'D 'PROLLY MAKE THE KID TURN ON HIS DAD DIFFERENT KIND OF LABOR FOR A CHECK AFTER THAT SHE'LL SIT BACK AND RELAX WONDERS WHY SHE ISN'T MARRIED YET NOW SHE'S TRYIN' TO CALL ME LAZY, YEAH NOW SHE'S CALLIN' AN ATTORNEY, YEAH MAD AS FUCK SHE NEVER LEARNED ME, YEAH COUPLE HOMIES TRIED TO WARN ME, YEAH SHOULDA KNOWN SHE'D TRY TO BURN ME, YEAH

[if-and-only-if-was-taken]

imo pressuring your kids into excellence, especially in academia is just the stupidest parenting decision anyone can possibly make- like it basically means they'll associate that subject with negativity + pressure/being forced and they'll learn to hate it. like as much as i would like to see more ppl interested, let your kids choose their own path, because they will and you will be amazed what they can do.

honestly i just wish you could find more ppl that actually care about math especially- like a lot of ppl treat it like it's an obligation.

ok i'm about to go on a tangent

This is also why I dislike applied math. Actually, scratch that. I love applied math. I love doing it, I love the feeling of it coming together and describing the world. Pure math is my favorite, of course, so I enjoy it too, and in fact more than applied, usually (especially logic and number theory). But what I dislike is when people get the two mixed up.

Like, a lot of people think that logic is just CS and number theory is just cryptography. I haven't taken either so I might not know what I'm talking about, but I think I know enough to say this: No, those are their applications. Those are just ways of making them work for you. As cool as that is, I like the math for its own sake, and I don't like how people act like it has to have some justification for existing. There's something so dismissive about "yeah but what's it for?" it's beautiful on its own it doesn't need to have a reason

[otiskeene]

Top 5 Privacy Coins You Need To Know

Remember the excitement of counting coins in your piggy bank as a kid, keeping it all hush-hush, and saving up for that big weekend outing with friends? Those days might be long gone, but the habit of financial planning stays with us.

Today, though we no longer rely on piggy banks, our financial dealings are even more private. We lock our financial details away, using passwords to protect our balances and transactions.

In a world where our financial data can take many forms—digital, physical, public, and private—Privacy Coins are like the modern equivalent of a piggy bank, giving us discretion and control over our finances.

These Privacy Coins help us regain control over our financial privacy. Keep reading to explore the top 5 Privacy Coins and learn how they can protect your financial details.

While celebrities might flaunt their wealth, most of us prefer to keep our financial information under wraps. In a digital age where everything is tracked, financial privacy has become a growing concern. Who wants their bank account details going viral online? Probably not you.

That’s where Privacy Coins come into play. These cryptocurrencies are designed to keep your financial transactions private, similar to hiding a stash of cash for a rainy day.

Before diving into the top Privacy Coins, let's get to know what these coins are all about.

What Are Privacy Coins?

Privacy Coins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to protect your financial privacy. Unlike regular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, they use sophisticated techniques to conceal transaction details, such as the sender, receiver, and the amount involved.

This level of privacy is attractive to those who are wary of increased surveillance of their financial activities by governments and corporations. However, due to potential misuse, many platforms have delisted Privacy Coins, making it necessary to use decentralized exchanges or personal digital wallets if you want to use them.

Now, let's understand how these Privacy Coins work.

How Do Privacy Coins Work?

Privacy Coins use complex cryptographic methods to hide transaction details, ensuring anonymity. One common method involves using stealth addresses, which are unique for each transaction, making it hard to link multiple transactions to one user.

Additionally, Privacy Coins use techniques like ring signatures, where a user's transaction is mixed with others, hiding the sender’s identity. Some also use confidential transactions, which encrypt the transaction amounts, further ensuring privacy.

However, Privacy Coins aren't without their risks. Many have vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Moreover, in some regions, privacy-enhancing tools and tokens are under scrutiny due to their potential misuse in illegal activities. For example, in April 2024, the European Parliament passed regulations banning certain privacy-focused tokens.

So, be cautious before investing in these cryptocurrencies. With that said, let’s dive into the top 5 Privacy Coins.

Top 5 Privacy Coins You Should Know

If financial privacy is important to you, consider these top 5 Privacy Coins, presented in no particular order.

Disclaimer: Investing in Privacy Coins is high-risk. Their values can fluctuate wildly, and you could lose your entire investment. Privacy Coins may also face regulatory challenges in some areas. Always seek professional financial advice before investing.

1. Monero

Invented: 2014

Privacy Type: Ring signatures, Stealth Addresses

Market Cap: $3.2 Billion (June 2024)

Monero (XMR) is a leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency designed to protect user identities and transaction details. It uses advanced cryptography, including Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT), to hide sender and receiver information and transaction amounts, making it nearly impossible to trace funds. While it’s a strong choice for privacy, it’s also controversial due to its potential for misuse.

2. Dash

Invented: 2014

Privacy Type: CoinJoin

Market Cap: $313 Million (June 2024)

Dash offers optional privacy through the CoinJoin protocol, which anonymizes transactions at a slightly higher fee. Dash is also known for its fast transactions, which can be confirmed in seconds. This mix of privacy and speed makes Dash a compelling option for those who want a balance between the two.

3. Zcash

Invented: 2016

Privacy Type: zk-SNARK

Market Cap: $358 Million (June 2024)

Zcash is a popular privacy token that uses zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) to secure transaction details. It offers both private and transparent transaction options, giving users flexibility. Zcash is increasingly being adopted in the Web 3.0 ecosystem, especially for transactions where privacy is crucial.

4. Oasis Network (ROSE)

Invented: 2018

Privacy Type: Oasis Protocol

Market Cap: $860 Million (June 2024)

Oasis Network (ROSE) is a newer player in the privacy-focused crypto space, offering a platform for building privacy-preserving applications. It uses technologies like confidential computing to protect data, even during processing. Oasis Network supports both privacy-preserving and scalable smart contracts, making it attractive to businesses and organizations.

5. Decred

Invented: 2013

Privacy Type: CoinShuffle++

Market Cap: $295 Million (June 2024)

Decred is a unique privacy-focused cryptocurrency that combines proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms. It offers privacy features like CoinJoin and CoinShuffle++, which mix transactions to enhance anonymity. Decred’s community-driven model also promotes transparency and security.

Conclusion

Privacy Coins offer a way to protect your financial privacy in a world where surveillance is increasing. While their future remains uncertain due to regulatory challenges, they provide a unique solution for those who value financial anonymity. As the landscape evolves, finding the right balance between privacy and security will be key.