August 4, 2006

9:57 AM

Matt, you might want to rethink this deletion. You seem to have taken it as simply random gibberish ("doesn't really make any sense at all"), when it's actually a link to an online code/puzzle; you've allowed those many times before, and people seem to enjoy them. Alongside the jokey comments (like mine), people were working to figure out the code. Maybe reconsider?
posted by languagehat to etiquette/policy at 9:57 AM (57 comments total)

Agreed.
posted by gleuschk at 9:59 AM on August 4, 2006

Yes, please.
posted by Galvatron at 10:00 AM on August 4, 2006

Apparently things like this are much more suitable for rational conversation.
posted by prostyle at 10:05 AM on August 4, 2006

I also think it should not have been deleted.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 10:05 AM on August 4, 2006

I think it is even a contender for best post of the day.
posted by caddis at 10:07 AM on August 4, 2006

LIQDS DDLCG IZ


posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:07 AM on August 4, 2006

Agreed.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:10 AM on August 4, 2006

I'm kinda surprised this was deleted, unless Matt is also a crypto-prodigy and knows that it's gibberish.
posted by everichon at 10:10 AM on August 4, 2006

Yeah, Plutor didn't even comment yet.
posted by Eideteker at 10:13 AM on August 4, 2006

agreed.
posted by boo_radley at 10:13 AM on August 4, 2006

Unless he deciphered it and it turned out to be an anti-semetic surrogate crypto planted by agents of kcm. Spill the code, mathowie!
posted by prostyle at 10:13 AM on August 4, 2006

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE MATT
posted by everichon at 10:15 AM on August 4, 2006

Matt just figured out that when you unscramble it, it reveals what that guy was saying at the end of Radiohead's video for the song "Just", and he's trying to save us from all having to lie down on the floor.
posted by jonson at 10:17 AM on August 4, 2006

It's the lyrics for the Pink Floyd lost song that goes with the jitterbug scene.

That said, this sort of stuff is so common, and there are so many possibilities of translation (times so many possible languages) that I wonder if something that WAS gibberish was ever "decyphered" to something meaningful.

The Voynich Manuscript (too lazy to link) is a good candidate.
posted by qvantamon at 10:27 AM on August 4, 2006

Another vote to revive this post.
posted by brain_drain at 10:29 AM on August 4, 2006

FREE GBALF XOZMN RAM!*

*with purchase of ebg26 qrpbqre evat!
Offer void in Graarffrr
Limit one per phfgbzre
Must be 31 or older to purchase
R G N B V A F U E Q Y H
Tempus Fugit. Fvp Transit Gloria.
GAbSYnUP ZEnS LAAhS rUG Sb rEnP XAvC QYb bG ErJFAn EhbL QArF rFnrYC rTnFFrZ GrEPrF rUG QrErIbPFvQ GFhW rIhbL FAbvGnYhGnETAbP
posted by Eideteker at 10:30 AM on August 4, 2006

I wonder if something that WAS gibberish was ever "decyphered" to something meaningful.

Any random one-time pad will let you decipher gibberish to anything (which is also gibberish, but at least intelligible).
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:31 AM on August 4, 2006

Also:

JUNG
HVS
SHPX
YMFF?
posted by Eideteker at 10:34 AM on August 4, 2006

Undelete, plz.

I think I got somewhere. Here is the plaintext I got:

apuzz lingb log

let me know if you would like more crytographic challenges they can certainly be arranged please let me know how hard they should be
posted by [expletive deleted] at 10:36 AM on August 4, 2006

Please undelete. They are working on it here too, a race might be fun.
posted by vapidave at 10:40 AM on August 4, 2006

MetaFilter: We're All in This Together, With Decoder Rings
posted by matteo at 10:42 AM on August 4, 2006

Yep, please undelete. I may have no chance of deciphering it but it's enjoyabe having a bash at it and working backwards when someone solves it. Otherwise it will make a neat AskMetafilter Q.
posted by peacay at 10:47 AM on August 4, 2006

Otherwise it will make a neat AskMetafilter Q.

Done.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:53 AM on August 4, 2006

I could never solve it, but I'd still like to know what it says
posted by Megafly at 10:53 AM on August 4, 2006

the key is only two letters long. Someone noticed that there are sequences repeated at multiples of 13, but they were also multiples of two. Additionally, the letter frequency didn't seem flat enough for a long key. The frequency of k,q,x and z seemed significant, and I just guessed at keys that were two long, given that the repeat sequences were multiples. Probably just lucky.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 10:55 AM on August 4, 2006

Please undelete. This definitely should not have been deleted.
posted by yz at 10:55 AM on August 4, 2006

Just in case my post above was missed, I solved it. The key is gm.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 10:55 AM on August 4, 2006

fine.

whiners. :)
posted by mathowie at 10:56 AM on August 4, 2006

[expletive deleted]: "Just in case my post above was missed, I solved it. The key is gm."

Excellent! I get the same result. The title is "a puzzling blog"
posted by ewagoner at 10:59 AM on August 4, 2006

I noticed something that might be meaningless but may be worth mentioning. As a commenter on the linked site noticed, there are some repeating items ("zmq" and "aax"). In fact "aax" is succeeded in both cases by "j". If you consider the string as a ring and separate the repeating elements and count the spacings you have a pattern of differences representing multiples of 3:

nkrqzykwtaculkugc aaxj xowkyudkoxkzamdgbnuionmrxk zmq yfnqeogziqxfgutxenkmxdg zmq jbrqgekxkfsqqzuinactgdjfnqeen aaxj
................. .......................... ....................... .............................
17 26 23 29
9 3 6 12
posted by yz at 11:00 AM on August 4, 2006

Matt's gone soft! Now's are chance, fellas!

Please undelete Alex Reynolds.
posted by cortex at 11:00 AM on August 4, 2006

I didn't think that the formatting was going to work.
posted by yz at 11:01 AM on August 4, 2006

now's are chance? wtf?
posted by cortex at 11:01 AM on August 4, 2006

Folks. [expletive deleted] solved it. Please read up. It turns out the key was the author's initials - George Musser.
posted by vacapinta at 11:02 AM on August 4, 2006

Well, give us the full text then. I'm not a code cracker. :)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:06 AM on August 4, 2006

apuzz lingb log

let me know if you would like more crytographic challenges they can certainly be arranged please let me know how hard they should be
posted by [expletive deleted] at 10:36 AM PST on August 4
posted by vacapinta at 11:09 AM on August 4, 2006

Hah, I didn't even realize that it was his initials. I thought it was a clever use of the title in ciphertext. The first and last letters of the ciphered title are g and m.

goodnewsfortheinsane: "let me know if you would like more crytographic challenges they can certainly be arranged please let me know how hard they should be"

I posted it above, but no one seems to have noticed.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 11:10 AM on August 4, 2006

goodnewsfortheinsane, see here
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:10 AM on August 4, 2006

D'oh, thanks.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:11 AM on August 4, 2006

Ok, someone should break it to the commenters at SciAM :)
posted by vacapinta at 11:12 AM on August 4, 2006

whiners. :)

My spellcheck always changes "winners" to "whiners" too, and sometimes even to "wieners".
posted by R. Mutt at 11:15 AM on August 4, 2006

robocop is bleeding is my new god.
posted by dersins at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2006

Thanks, Matt!
posted by languagehat at 11:27 AM on August 4, 2006

I'm so happy the small and big tags still work.
posted by cavalier at 11:35 AM on August 4, 2006

I must have used his name and versions of for at least an hour. Good work! And leaving posts like this is always a good idea for those of us who like a challenge...
posted by pezdacanuck at 11:46 AM on August 4, 2006

The key is gm.

How do you decode it? What do you do with this 'gm'?
posted by chrismear at 12:07 PM on August 4, 2006

chrismear: "How do you decode it? What do you do with this 'gm'?"

It is a Vigenere cypher. All you need is the key and you can encode/decode to your heart's content. There are sites that will do the hard work for you.
posted by ewagoner at 12:09 PM on August 4, 2006

You might want to practice with this comment from George Musser:

Comment from: George Musser [Member]
EAAMR XGDKM CQYAS QCQRX JATQ
August 4, 2006 @ 15:22
posted by vacapinta at 12:27 PM on August 4, 2006

Yay! Mefites beat SciAm dorks at solving puzzle!

This pleases me greatly.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:02 PM on August 4, 2006

mpqbt ixmis wtpwf zqctc
dwjfo iubqy wwbef bfirx
frttm riqzk xbtiw mgwjb
tirba kjbti wceiy pqqnv
bifkq
posted by boo_radley at 2:27 PM on August 4, 2006

that's always what I think these messages will turn out to say.
posted by boo_radley at 2:28 PM on August 4, 2006

ukzme wjlks zzwid
posted by [expletive deleted] at 2:37 PM on August 4, 2006

MeFi: ukzmewjlkszzwid
posted by [expletive deleted] at 2:38 PM on August 4, 2006

It is a Vigenere cypher.

Thank you muchly. Just needed the magic word.
posted by chrismear at 3:03 PM on August 4, 2006

well done, sir.
posted by boo_radley at 3:23 PM on August 4, 2006

Dear god. I miss a cryptography post, and it turns out to be a Vignere with a two-character key? Come on, SciAm. I'm going to have to do a frequency analysis on it; I bet you can tell that it's almost monoalphabetic from that.
posted by Plutor at 4:59 AM on August 5, 2006

The post went from deleted to runner-up for best of the day. Awesome!
posted by brain_drain at 4:13 PM on August 5, 2006