bmcd308

You bastiges! I got sick yesterday afternoon and have been in bed since I posted last with no further progress! I check this board, and it turns out there is a whole group of you sitting in a special VIP room full of hot chicks, but I don't know the password. Oh well. I'll figure it out tonight and join you guys. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Show your work. I'll be a little ticked if character replacement from the decoded passage allows direct substitution for the dvd - that really means that it would have been impossible to decode without the clue. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Here are my thoughts so far: I am convinced that space is "---" our = -llll-llll-- I = ll---l S = lll A = -l- N = ll--l- E = --l O = -lll L = ll-l-l this = ll----ll--llll---llll ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Don't you also need the frequency distribution to get back from the Huffman encoding? ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

That is 613 bits vs. 810 bits for the clue. Anyone know of earlier compression algorithms that do not work quite as well as Huffman? ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Well, it would be different if it were part of a longer message. I am going to Huffman the whole clue and see what happens. OK here is the whole thing: ==================> Starting new Compression Don't put in spaces or characters different from the alphabet ... Original Text = OurplanetisalonelyspeckinthegreatenvelopingcosmicdarkInourobscurityinallthisvastnessthereisnohintthathelpwillcomefromelsewheretosaveusfromourselves Transformed Text = OURPLANETISALONELYSPECKINTHEGREATENVELOPINGCOSMICDARKINOUROBSCURITYINALLTHISVASTNESSTHEREISNOHINTTHATHELPWILLCOMEFROMELSEWHERETOSAVEUSFROMOURSELVES Ignoring spaces and any other character different from the alphabet ... Frequency of A is 9 Frequency of B is 2 Frequency of C is 6 Frequency of D is 2 Frequency of E is 20 Frequency of F is 3 Frequency of G is 3 Frequency of H is 8 Frequency of I is 12 Frequency of J is 1 Frequency of K is 3 Frequency of L is 12 Frequency of M is 5 Frequency of N is 11 Frequency of O is 13 Frequency of P is 5 Frequency of Q is 1 Frequency of R is 11 Frequency of S is 15 Frequency of T is 12 Frequency of U is 6 Frequency of V is 5 Frequency of W is 3 Frequency of X is 1 Frequency of Y is 3 Frequency of Z is 1 Code Word for A is 0010 Code Word for B is 001100 Code Word for C is 10111 Code Word for D is 001101 Code Word for E is 010 Code Word for F is 101101 Code Word for G is 00000 Code Word for H is 0001 Code Word for I is 1100 Code Word for J is 0000101 Code Word for K is 101011 Code Word for L is 1001 Code Word for M is 01101 Code Word for N is 1000 Code Word for O is 1110 Code Word for P is 00111 Code Word for Q is 0000100 Code Word for R is 0111 Code Word for S is 1111 Code Word for T is 1101 Code Word for U is 10100 Code Word for V is 01100 Code Word for W is 101100 Code Word for X is 0000110 Code Word for Y is 101010 Code Word for Z is 0000111 The Transformed Text : OURPLANETISALONELYSPECKINTHEGREATENVELOPINGCOSMICDARKINOUROBSCURITYINALLTHISVASTNESSTHEREISNOHINTTHATHELPWILLCOMEFROMELSEWHERETOSAVEUSFROMOURSELVES has been coded to the following information : 1110101000111001111001001010000101101110011110010100111101000010100110101011110011101010111101011110010001101000101000000011101000101101010100001100010100111100011111001000000001011111101111011011100101110011010010011110101111001000111010100011111100011001111101111010001111100110110101011001000001010011001110100011100111101100001011111101100001011111111110100010100111010110011111000111000011100100011011101000100101101000101010010011110110011001001100110111111001101010101101011111100110101010011111010101100000101001110101101111011110010011000101010011111011010111111001101111010100011111110101001011000101111 ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

West TN Skydiving: tandem: $10 student $5 - incl. with $25 gear rental sometimes - I have not really figured this out yet. sport $5 No concession fee for folks who show up to pack Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Still, if it is both encoded and compressed, that is f*&^ed up sh!t for a bunch of school kids to decipher. But I guess if skydivers can do it... ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I think you have to eliminate spaces yourself. ==================> Starting new Compression Don't put in spaces or characters different from the alphabet ... Original Text = OURPLANETISALONELYSPECKINTHEGREATENVELOPINGCOSMICDARK Transformed Text = OURPLANETISALONELYSPECKINTHEGREATENVELOPINGCOSMICDARK Ignoring spaces and any other character different from the alphabet ... Frequency of A is 5 Frequency of B is 1 Frequency of C is 4 Frequency of D is 2 Frequency of E is 8 Frequency of F is 1 Frequency of G is 3 Frequency of H is 2 Frequency of I is 5 Frequency of J is 1 Frequency of K is 3 Frequency of L is 5 Frequency of M is 2 Frequency of N is 6 Frequency of O is 5 Frequency of P is 4 Frequency of Q is 1 Frequency of R is 4 Frequency of S is 4 Frequency of T is 4 Frequency of U is 2 Frequency of V is 2 Frequency of W is 1 Frequency of X is 1 Frequency of Y is 2 Frequency of Z is 1 Code Word for A is 1000 Code Word for B is 011010 Code Word for C is 0011 Code Word for D is 111010 Code Word for E is 000 Code Word for F is 1101010 Code Word for G is 11100 Code Word for H is 111011 Code Word for I is 1010 Code Word for J is 1111100 Code Word for K is 11011 Code Word for L is 1001 Code Word for M is 01111 Code Word for N is 1100 Code Word for O is 1011 Code Word for P is 0100 Code Word for Q is 011011 Code Word for R is 0101 Code Word for S is 11110 Code Word for T is 0010 Code Word for U is 01110 Code Word for V is 01100 Code Word for W is 1111101 Code Word for X is 1101011 Code Word for Y is 111111 Code Word for Z is 110100 The Transformed Text : OURPLANETISALONELYSPECKINTHEGREATENVELOPINGCOSMICDARK has been coded to the following information : 10110111001010100100110001100000001010101111010001001101111000001001111111111100100000001111011101011000010111011000111000101000100000100001100011000001001101101001010110011100001110111111001111101000111110101000010111011 ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I think it is going to be a more simple substitution type code. Maybe 4 bits per letter and 3 per space. The problem with 3 bits per letter is the word "our" would = llll-llll The last 3 bits are the same as the first three. So it could be 4 bits per letter and 3 per space. EDIT: Scratch that - if it is 4 bits per letter then "ss" at the end of "vastness" does not work. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Maybe it has to come from the context. Clearly, we are having trouble with bits per character. Look at the last few bits of "vastness" and "ourselves". We have an "es" and and "ess" - we ought to be able to get "e" and "s" out of this. However, I can't decide how many bits long "s" is. edited to add: the only way it makes sense is for "s" to be ||| and for "e" to be one of the following: ----| ---| --| -| | depending on the assumptions we make about the number of binary characters it takes to describe a letter. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Excellent point - that comes at the end of both "in" and "our". ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

-llll-llll-----l-ll-lll-l-l-l-ll--l---lll-------ll---llll----l----ll-l-l- llll--l---lll-l-ll-ll-----llll-ll-l--lll-ll-l-llll--l---ll---lll--l----ll--- -ll--ll--l---l-l-lll----l-l-ll---------lll--l-l-llll-----lll-l-l-lll-ll- lll---lll--l-l-l-ll---ll-ll--llllll-l---ll---lll-ll----ll-l---l-l--l-llll-- |.---ll---lll--l-----llll-llll------lll-lll-lllll-ll-ll-llll--ll---lll----l- ll--,---ll---lll--l-----l-ll-l-lll-l-l---ll----ll--llll---llll---l-llll---- l-lllll----ll--l---lllllll,---ll----ll--ll--ll----l---ll---llll---ll--l-- ll---ll--llll---lll--l-ll-------ll----ll--ll-l-ll-------ll--ll--lll-l-ll- ll-l---l-l--lll---lll-l-lll-l-l---ll-ll--lll-l-----l---l-l-l-l---lll-l----- ---lll-l-llll--ll-l--lll--ll--ll----l---ll-----ll---lll-l-l-llll-----l--- ll-llllll---l-l-l-l---lll-l-------llll-llll--lll--lll-l-ll-llll-----llll. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seems like ---ll---lll--l---- or possibly the same thing with less that 4 dashes at the end translates to "in". Awesome. Now, look at the first 15 bits of the message: -llll-llll----- They would be "our" Now look at the fifteen bits after your second "in": -llll-llll----- They are the same. So perhaps this sequence "-llll-llll-----" is "our". The place where this theory breaks down is at the end of the second sentence. The sentece ends with "ourselves". Note that the first part of what I proposed as "our" appears "-||||-||||" but not the next five dashes. -llll-llll----- ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

What is the approximate ratio of letters to bits, and by how much does it vary in the 297 bit sentence? ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>Errr .. scratch that, their stupid site wont accept something that long ... cuts me off at "harbor" so .... maybe its just coding error on their behalf, who knows ....

>>In our obscurity, in all >•••ll•••lll••l•••••l.>---ll---lll--l-----l

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. These are the only sentences that fit the syntax in the portion of the book quoted on the planetary society web site. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

The planetary society has excerpts from the book on their website here:http://www.planetary.org/html/society/advisors/sagandot.html Surely it is from this page. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

two more: It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. Note that this quote is a little different from the one above. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves." EDITED TO ADD: OOPS - this last one has 3 commas, not 2. Can you fit this to the first clue? Or this: "The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. " Or this: "There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. " These are quotes from Pale Blue Dot that I found on the web that contain the punctuation pattern of sentence with a period at the end followed by sentence with two commas. I figured it would be a famous passage of the book that they encoded, so here are a few passages that people quoted on web sites. FWIW. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Perhaps an important message to America's youth about the potential consequences of loud, unprotected bestiality? Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

2 minutes. Not bad at all. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

If it is a five bit code, then the hint message starts with a double letter. This would be quite uncommon. In fact, I can't really think of any words off the top of my head that start with a repeated letter. The repeated five bits are not used elsewhere in the message, leading me to believe they would be infrequently used letters. So maybe it starts out "ZZ Top once said..." Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

What are some famous encoded messages that the clue might be? I am wondering if the clue might have included punctuation in order to give a visual hint about what the clue is. Can anyone think of two famous sentences, the second of which contains two commas? In all likelihood, they would have to do with exploration or space travel. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com