Deborah Jackson

Friday, August 27, 2010

Fun Stuff

I've wanted to include a section on my website called Fun Stuff for some time, but since I'm at the mercy of my web master's very busy schedule, I thought I'd post some of it here. The first section has to do with coding. Here it is:

(Unfortunately the blog program thinks it's smarter than me and likes to compress my letters and dots and dashes with no spaces so you can't read them. I'll see what I can do.)

    Fun Stuff


    In World War II, the Special Operations Executive used Morse code to send their messages. They converted poems into numbers—called a "transposition key." Towards the end of the war, these keys were written on silk and the poems were originals that only the sender and receiver knew. But first they used familiar poems.

    Instead of using a transposition key, I've made things a little easier to decode.

    Here a few codes and familiar poems. See if you can decode them.

    Morse code

    A . _ H . . . .
    B _ . . . I . .
    C _ ._ . J . _ _ _
    D _ . . K _ . _
    E . L . _ . .
    F . . _ . M _ _
    G _ _ . N _ .

    U . . _ Question mark . . _ _ . .
    T _ Full stop (period) . _ . _. _
    S . . . Z _ _ . .
    R . _ . Y _ . _ _
    Q _ _ . _ X _ . . _
    P . _ _ . W . _ _
    O _ _ _ V . . . _


    Poem (The slashes represent a space, since the program won't allow spaces.)
    _ _ _/ _ ./ _ ._ . /./ . . _ /. _ _ . /_ _ _/ _ .
    . _ /_ _ /. ./ _ . ./ _ ./ . ./ _ _. /. . . ./ _
    _ . ./ . _ ./ ./ . _/ . _ ./ _ . _ _

    . _ _ /. . . . /. ./ . _ . . /. /. ./

    . _ _ . /_ _ _/ _ . /_ . . /./ . _ ./ . /_ . .

    . _ _ /./ . _ /_ . _/ . _ /_ . /_ . .

    . _ _ /. /. _ /. _ ./ _ . _ _


    Can you guess the poem?

    Here’s the title: _ / . . . . / . /. _ ./ . _ /. . . _ /. /_ .

    And the author: ./ _ . ./ _ _ ./ . _ /. _ .
    . _ /. _ . . /. _ . ./ ._ /_ . /. _ _ . /_ _ _/ .


    If you know the poem, it might be easy to crack the code. That's why the SOE made up their own poems later, but by then it was already too late for a number of agents.

    Find the rest of the poem on the Internet once you’ve figured out what it is. Then substitute these words in the first two stanzas:


    Lost: seen/sighted

    Curious: Holland

    Nodded: cancel

    December: position

    Rare: contact

    Evermore: tomorrow

    Came: parachute

    Over: safe

    Door: drop

    Angels: time

    Ghost: compromise(d)

    Sorrow: enemy

    Quaint: in

    Radiant: same


    Poem

    This one may be a bit tougher:

    . . . . /_ _ _/ . _ _ /. . ./ . _ _/ ./ ./ _
    _ /. . . ./ . /_ _ /_ _ _/ _ _ _/ _ .
    . _ . . /. . /_ _ . /. . . . /_ /. . . /. _ ../ ./ . /. _ _ . /. . .

    . . _ /. _ _./ _ _ _/ _ .
    _/ . . . ./ . . /. . ./ _ . . ./ . _ /_./ _ . _ /. _ . _ . _

    Google the first line and see what you come up with. Then substitute these words for the complete set of verses:


    Quiring: time

    Moonlight: cover

    Floor: portal

    Creep: next

    Sings: alternate

    Orb: close(d)

    Touches: rendezvous

    Cherubims: method

    Motion: need

    Music: extraction

    Young: travel

    Sleeps: blown

    Other codes:

    During World War II, the Navajo language was used for messages. They didn’t need to be coded because no one but the Navajo knew the language and no one but the Navajo sent and received them. Here are some examples of Navajo words:

    English (Français) Navajo

    One (Un) Łáá'íí
    Two (Deux) Naaki
    Three (Trois) Táá'
    Man (Homme) Hastiin
    Woman (Femme) Asdzání
    Dog (Chien) Łééchąą'í
    Sun (Soleil) Shá
    Moon (Lune) Tł'éhonaa'éí
    Water (Eau) Tó
    Eat (Manger) Yiyą
    See (Voir) Yoo'į
    Hear (Entendre) Yidiists'a'
    Sing (Chanter) Hashtaał
    Leave (Partir) Diiyá

    Here is a simple message using Navajo: Yoo'į hastiin diiyá naaki shá.
    Remember sometimes messages aren’t totally clear. You have fill in the blanks to make sense of them.

    My next Time Meddlers book takes place on the continent of Africa. Below are two examples of ancient African languages. I’m going to write a message in one of these languages. That will be a clue as to where this book is set. The message may give you further clues. The cartouche at the bottom you may have trouble finding. Keep watching, spying . . .