"Now there's a decline in morale, its capability has not been optimized and there's a hemorrhaging of very good officers," Brennan said. "Turf battles continue" with other parts of the recently reorganized U.S. intelligence community "because there's a lack of clarity and he had no vision or strategy about the CIA's future." Brennan added: "Porter's a dedicated public servant. He was ill-suited for the job."

Bring back William Webster. To my knowledge, he was well-liked. Plus he's got a lot of public goodwill at the moment via his association with the Kryptos sculpture. People will be more interested in what he knows about K4 ("Only WW knows"), than worrying about CIA SNAFUs.

Elonka :)

The Fix-It Man Leaves, but The Agency's Cracks Remain

I'm about to head out to E-3 in L.A., as well as some booksignings in southern California. To keep track of everything, I've set up an "appearances" webpage, and here are some of the upcoming events. If anyone's in any of these locales, feel free to stop by!

This page contains a list of conferences/events that I am planning to attend over the next year or so. I am not necessarily speaking at all of these, but I will definitely be in attendance, and am available for booksignings.

May 2006:
May 6-14, 2006: E-3, Los Angeles
May 13, 2006, Noon: Gary and Elizabeth's wedding, San Dimas, CA
May 13, 2006, 4-6 p.m.: Booksigning at Seidman Gallery, 2502 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA - 310-392-0811
May 16, 2006, St. Louis Game Developers Meeting, Meramec College, MO
May 20, 2006: Skippy & Katherine's wedding, St. Louis
May 26, 2006: Booksigning at St. Louis Lambert Airport, time tbd
May 27, 2006: Barnes & Noble, Florissant, Missouri - 13995 New Halls Ferry Road, 2-5 p.m.

June 2006:
June 3, Booksigning at Borders - Creve Coeur, MO, 2-4 p.m.
June 10, Booksigning at Borders - St. Peters, MO, 2-4 p.m.
June 15-16, "Games, Learning, and Society Conference", Madison, Wisconsin
June 23-25, "UnofficialCon" (SimuCon 2006), St. Louis, Missouri
June 30, Booksigning at Borders - Fairview Heights, IL

And no, just because I list someone's wedding, does not mean that I'm planning on setting up a table and selling books. ;) But to those who know the particular couple and are going to be there as well, it's a reminder that if they have a book, I'm happy to sign it for them if they remember to bring it.

Elonka :)

Elonka Dunin - Upcoming appearances and booksignings

I've been intrigued by how the AP story from last Thursday (4/27) was disseminated to various papers. At last count, it was picked up by around 80 different newspapers pretty much verbatim, though there's some variation in what headline they chose. The most common ones were:

Da Vinci puzzle stumps lawyers

London lawyers turn code-breakers to decipher Da Vinci Code

London lawyers turn into code-breakers to decipher Da Vinci Code

London lawyers turn into Code-Breakers

Lawyers try to crack judge's code

Lawyers try to crack Da Vinci judge's code

Code in Da Vinci judgement

'Da Vinci' Judgement puzzles lawyers

A new code to crack

Solve this mystery message to crack Da Vinci decree

My local "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" listed it as:

St. Charles woman, others trying to break new "Da Vinci" code

And a few other notable exceptions, including two that wanted to add the word "fanatics" to the headline, were:

- London lawyers hit the books over code (Daily Breeze)

- London lawyers turn into "Da Vinci Code"-breaking fanatics(Boston Globe)

- London lawyers turn into "Da Vinci Code"-breaking fanatics to decipher 'Da Vinci' Code (San Diego Union Tribune)

If I was going to spend more time on this, I'd sort by how many papers used which headlines, but I hit my "time-wasting" threshold. ;) The list of papers that covered it though is as follows:

680 News, Canada
ABC News
Akron Beacon Journal, OH
Belleville News-Democrat, IL
Biloxi Sun Herald
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Boston Globe, USA
Bradenton Herald, USA
Brocktown News, USA
Brooks Bulletin, Canada
Canada.com, Canada
CBS News
Centre Daily Times, PA
Charlotte Observer, NC
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, GA
Contra Costa Times, CA
CRI, China
Daily Breeze, CA
Duluth News Tribune, MN
Ely Times, USA
Examiner.com, CA
Forbes
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
Fort Wayne News Sentinel, IN
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
Gainesville Sun, FL
Grand Forks Herald, ND
Guardian Unlimited, UK
Hartford Courant, USA
Herald News Daily, ND
Hinesberg Journal, Canada
Houston Chronicle, United States
Jackson News-Tribune, WY
Jam! Showbiz, Canada
Kansas City Star, MO
Kansas City Star, MO
Kentucky.com, KY
KSL-TV, UT
Macleans, Canada
Macon Telegraph, GA
Miami Herald, FL
Monterey County Herald, CA
Montreal Gazeete
Munster Times, IN
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC
Ocala.com, FL
Olberlin, KS
Ottawa Citizen, Canada
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA
phillyBurbs.com, PA
Pierceland, Herald, Canada
Pioneer Press, MN
Regina Leader-post, Canada
San Diego Union Tribune, United States
San Jose Mercury News
San Luis Obispo Tribun e, CA
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Special Broadcasting Service, Australia
Sploid (satire)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, United States
StarPhoenix, Canada
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
The Kindred Times, Utah
The Age, Australia
The Columbian, WA
The Ledger, FL
The News Tribune, WA
The Tribune-Democrat, PA
The Westfall Weekly News, Canada
TheCelebrityCafe.com, NY
Times Picayune, LA
Vancouver Sun
Washington Post, USA
Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, PA
WRAL.com, NC
WTOP, D.C.
Wyoming News, WY

Elonka :)

Google News - Elonka and the Da Vinci story

MONDAY, MAY 1
  . . .
Cryptographer: The Davinci Code hits the big screen this summer. Renowned cryptographer Elonka Dunin was on the show. She was one of those trying to break the code. She's also involved in trying to solve one of the most difficult codes in history..the Kryptos Sculpture at CIA headquarters.

Not quite as eloquent a summary as on the MSNBC site, but at least they're trying. :)

This particular interview, btw, was one of the most stressful ones for me, since it was Live. I showed up at the studio, and they basically took me in to the room where the news anchors were already broadcasting, they waited until there was a commercial break and then waved me in to sit down, clipped a microphone on me, and we were on the air within minutes. No prep, no, "Here's what we're going to ask you," just sit down and go. But they were obviously prepared with graphics, which they inserted at the proper moments as I answered the various questions they fed to me. A couple times I couldn't tell what they were wanting me to say, so I'd watch the woman anchor, who when off camera was giving me very helpful signals like a big nod and smile when I was on track. Sometimes though they'd ask me a question and I couldn't tell what it was they were looking for, so I just winged it. Then 5 minutes later we're done, and off-camera again as they switch to another video, and I take my microphone off and scurry off stage and back to my car with this vague sense of, "Damn that was fast!" Almost a kind of "walk of shame" feel. ;) Overall though, it was a fun experience.

For anyone who wants to see an actual video stream, check here. And for the station website, check the meme link.

Elonka :)

Elonka Dunin on FOX 2 St. Louis

ELONKA DUNIN, CODE BREAKER: The news just kind of spread like wildfire. The race was on to see who could crack it first.

This is a transcript of Friday's MSNBC "Countdown" segment. The "Judge's Code" story was #2 on the countdown, and I was one of the talking heads. Check this meme to read the transcript, or if you want to download a video of the segment, check here for hires (18 MB) and lores (2 MB) versions. But to save time, the transcript is probably sufficient. ;)

BTW, for anyone with audio/video capture chops, who is within reading range of this blog: I have been having a heck of a time figuring out how to get decent audio quality out of my video capture card (Hauppage WinTV, captured into Windows Movie Maker). No matter what I do, it seems to record at a very very high volume, and then after I save the movie, the volume comes out softer, but with the distortion as though it's still very loud. I've searched around for tech help on this but haven't had much luck. If anyone can offer suggestions / help on how to fix this (aside from "spend thousands of dollars on better equipment"), I would be most appreciative!

Elonka :)

MSNBC.com - Elonka Dunin on 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann', April 28, 2006

The details are set for [the University High School of West Los Angeles, Class of 1976 30-year] reunion. They are as follows;

Date: November 11, 2006
Time: 6:30pm- 12:00am
Location: Friars Club, Beverly Hills.

...class representatives are Leslie Messer Ward, Terrence Duffy, Debbie Brant Gothelf, Suzanne Fremont Bethurum, and Lisa Agay. To receive an invitation please contact The Reunion Committee, Inc at 661-259-5999 or www.reunioncommittee.com

This information was *really* hard to find at the classmates.com website, so I'm blogging it here so that it can be properly Googled...

Elonka

Uni High School, West Los Angeles, Class of 1976 reunion plans

A local expert on puzzles was one of the first to try and crack that code.
Elonka Dunin, a cryptologist of St. Charles says she is happy for the man who did crack the code.

Here's the webpage at St. Louis KMOV, with a brief article and video stream on last night's 6 p.m. report, where I'm one of the "talking heads" about the Smithy Code.

I noticed that several of the reporters I talked to (including the KMOV interviewer) would ask me leading questions like, "Are you angry that Tench did it first?" "Are you disappointed?" "Are you frustrated?" "Are you annoyed?". To which I'd usually counter with, "No, I'm happy for him that he got it, though I will point out that the judge gave him lots of hints, and I think that my group (the Kryptos Group) would've had it within a day anyway -- we were already working on the Fibonacci angle."

But of course, the news agencies use sound bytes, and so we end up with "Elonka Dunin is happy for him." ;) Overall though, the segment was a good one. The reporter asked good questions, the interview area was very relaxed and comfortable (gone are the days of bright lights making the interviewees sweat -- these days the cameras seem to work just fine with natural light), and they got a video stream up on their website right away!

Elonka :)

(note: Free registration may be required to see this page)

KMOV.com - 'Local cryptologist one of first to try to crack code in Da Vinci ruling'

By DEREK KRAVITZ
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 27, 2006; 7:12 PM

LONDON -- Parts of London's legal community ground to a virtual halt Thursday with lawyers turning into aspiring code-breakers as they tried to decipher a hidden message inserted into "The Da Vinci Code" trial judgment.

With the revelation that Judge Peter Smith inserted a secret code of his own into the April 7 judgment that cleared "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown in his copyright infringement case, lawyers have been hustling to solve the puzzle.
 
Since the code was discovered earlier this week, lawyers, cryptographers and "The Da Vinci Code" fans have worked furiously to decipher the mystery message.

"It's so short," U.S. cryptographer Elonka Dunin, of St. Charles, Mo., said of Smith's code. "It's only a tiny snippet. If it were a few pages of code, it'd already be cracked."

Dunin said this type of code has no word divisions and is normally 75 to 100 characters. Smith's code offers roughly 30 cryptic letters.

But despite her frustration, Dunin said the judge has left some clues.

The New York Times reported that Smith sent an e-mail to a reporter at the newspaper that offered a hint. It said the code referred to his entry in this year's edition of Britain's "Who's Who," which has references to his wife, Diane, his three children, British naval officer Jackie Fisher, and the Titanic Historical Society _ among other things.

"With the crypto community's attention turning toward this code, it'll be cracked within 24 hours," Dunin said.

The reporter got things mostly right. I said it *might* be a patristocrat cipher, but it turned out to be a kind of polyalphabetic substitution, using the Fibonacci sequence as a key. It did indeed, however, fall within 24 hours. The prize goes to Daniel Tench, a London attorney who'd already been working on it for a couple weeks (see his column in The Guardian).

I'm also laughing because I couldn't have asked for better book promotion. My "Mammoth Book of Secret Codes" was just released in the U.K. today (Thursday). If it weren't for the fact that I know better, I'd wonder if it was a secret conspiracy....

Elonka :)

AP/Washington Post: London Lawyers Turn Into Code-Breakers

April 26, 2006:

Samuel Morse's birth 215 years ago today brings to mind his Morse code -- a dots-and-dashes communication system he developed along with the telegraph -- as well as other codes and ciphers. Let's get cracking.
 . . .
Amateur cryptographer Elonka Dunin's Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers directory offers a thorough overview and links to more information about cryptographic mysteries that continue to perplex enthusiasts today.

Nice article in the Star Tribune, celebrating Morse's birthday, and linking to various code sites around the web.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: 'Do you know the CODE?'

As we reported in the Law Diary on Tuesday, there appears to be a secret code written by Mr Justice Peter Smith into his (now famous) judgment on The Da Vinci Code case. This will undoubtedly attract unfair criticism from some of the more stuffy and staid members of the legal profession.

But Mr Justice Smith has revealed the more playful side of his nature by continuing the honourable tradition of making judgments more accessible by engaging with the reader. Lord Denning famously began one case, "It was Bluebell time..." as he recounted the tale on which he was to pronounce. Another has adjudicated in rhyme and another in couplets. All of this engages the reader in what would otherwise be dry and dusty prose.

I have now cracked the code. The judge refers readers to a sentence in paragraph 52 of the judgment saying it would help readers figure out what he meant. That sentence reads: "The key to solving the conundrum posed by this judgment is in reading HBHG and DVC,'' A better clue might be for you to look at the italics in the judgment. Post your own theories below.

I've been too busy to look at this in detail myself, but it appears that the first part is a font-based system similar to what appears on the inside flaps of The Da Vinci Code, only where the characters were in bold there, they're in italics in the judgment. The first part is easy English, and then it evidently switches systems. From the posts on this page, this appears to be the breakdown:

p5: s m i t h y c o d e J
p6: a e i e x
p7: t o s t
p8: g p s a
p9: c g r e a
p10: m q w f
p11: k a
p12: d p m q
p13:z v

Enjoy,

Elonka :)

Times Online: The Judge's Da Vinci Code code