Knowledge is Power: How to Make Anything Signify Anything

Detail from a photograph of World War I cryptographers.
By facing either forward or sideways, the soldiers formed the coded phrase
“Knowledge is power” utilizing Francis Bacon’s biliteral cipher.

via The Cataloguer’s Desk and the Cabinet magazine
“The belief that Shakespeare did not write the works attributed to him originated in the mid 19th century, coinciding with an upsurge in his popularity and with the Victorian interest in puzzles and mysteries. Though more than 70 candidates have been proposed as the true author, for many years the most popular option was the natural philosopher and politician Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626). As a young man Bacon lived for several years in France, where he studied statecraft and learned about cryptography, a field in which that nation was leading the rest of Europe. He developed his own ‘bilateral’ cipher, which used the letters a and b to generate the entire alphabet…”
Read the rest here, and a fascinating piece in The Cabinet Magazine on ”How to Make Anything Signify Anything” here.  Though I am hardly any good at solving them, I find codes and cyphers fascinating. My wife creatively utilized many for clues to letterboxes we created.

QR Stenciler & Hobo Codes

Vegans Beware

via make
“The QR_STENCILER is a free, fully-automated utility which converts QR codes into vector-based stencil patterns suitable for laser-cutting. Additionally, we present QR_HOBO_CODES, a series of one hundred QR stencil designs which, covertly marked in urban spaces, may be used to warn people about danger or clue them into good situations...”
Read the rest here. The hobo codes make me smile!

Wooden Nautical Flags

via bestmade
“The A to Z of the high seas! These bright, bold and graphic wooden flags are as eye-catching as they are functional. Based on the International Code of Signals, each flag represents a letter in the alphabet: hang just one or the entire set, spell out a coded message, or conjure up the evocative regimen of naval life. Each flag is hand-painted in the same method as our axes, in our New York City workshop, and the entire set of 26 comes securely packed in a pine storage box.”
Visit Best Made here, or at 368 Broadway, NYC

Hobo Type

via letterology
“This written language for hobos was a system of symbols developed as a code to help them cope with a difficult lifestyle. Hobo signage was often written with chalk or coal and might include directions, information and warnings such as a dangerous dog or the homeowner has a gun. Three diagonal lines signified it was not a safe place, the cross indicated angel food, which was food served to hobos after a sermon, two shovels indicated work available and a cross with a smiley face with one corner meant the doctor was willing to treat hobos for free.

In 1889 at the National Hobo Convention, the Tourist Union #63 adopted a concrete set of sixteen ethical by-laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body. Oh what a wonderful world it would be if we all lived by this Hobo Code…”
Read the rest here.

Cryptanalysis: Help Solve an Open Murder Case

via Federal Bureau of Investigation

“On June 30, 1999, sheriff’s officers in St. Louis, Missouri discovered the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick. He had been murdered and dumped in a field. The only clues regarding the homicide were two encrypted notes found in the victim’s pants pockets.  Despite extensive work by our Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as well as help from the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery to this day, and Ricky McCormick’s murderer has yet to face justice. “We are really good at what we do,” said CRRU chief Dan Olson, “but we could use some help with this one.” In fact, Ricky McCormick’s encrypted notes are one of CRRU’s top unsolved cases. “Breaking the code,” said Olson, “could reveal the victim’s whereabouts before his death and could lead to the solution of a homicide. Not every cipher we get arrives at our door under those circumstances.”

Read the rest, and see the other note here. More on the story from the NYTimes here, and a follow-up on potential leads here.