Kryptos

Kryptos is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn that is located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the encrypted messages it bears. Of the four messages, three have been solved, while the fourth remains as one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world. The sculpture continues to be of interest to cryptanalysts, both amateur and professional, who are attempting to decipher the final section. The sculptor has given two clues to this section.

Description

The main sculpture is located in the northwest corner of the New Headquarters Building courtyard, outside of the Agency cafeteria. The sculpture comprises four large copper plates with other elements made of red and green granite, white quartz, and petrified wood.

The name Kryptos comes from the Greek word for "hidden", and the theme of the sculpture is "intelligence gathering." The most prominent feature is a large vertical s-shaped copper screen resembling a scroll, or piece of paper emerging from a computer printer, half of which consists of encrypted text. The characters are all found within the 26 letters of the standard Latin alphabet, along with question marks, and are cut out of the copper. The main sculpture contains four separate enigmatic messages, three of which have been deciphered.[1]

In addition to the main part of the sculpture, Jim Sanborn also placed other pieces at the CIA grounds, such as several large granite slabs with sandwiched copper sheets outside the entrance to the New Headquarters Building. Many morse code messages are found on these copper sheets, and one of the slabs has an engraving of a compass rose pointing to a lodestone. Other elements of Sanborn's installation include a landscaped area, a duck pond, a reflecting pool, and other pieces of stone.

The cost of the sculpture was $250,000.[2]

Encrypted messages

The ciphertext on the left-hand side of the main sculpture contains 869 characters in total—865 letters and 4 question marks. In April 2006, however, Sanborn released information stating that a letter was omitted from this side of Kryptos "for aesthetic reasons, to keep the sculpture visually balanced".[3] There are also three misspelled words in the plaintext of the deciphered first three parts, which Sanborn has said was intentional, and a few letters near the beginning of the bottom half of the left side are the only characters on the scroll in superscript. The right-hand side of the sculpture comprises a keyed Vigenère encryption tableau, consisting of 867 letters. One of the lines of this tableau is one character too long, which Sanborn has indicated was accidental.[4]

Sanborn worked with a retiring CIA employee named Ed Scheidt, Chairman of the CIA Cryptographic Center, to come up with the cryptographic systems used on the sculpture. Sanborn has revealed that the sculpture contains a riddle within a riddle, which will be solvable only after the four encrypted passages have been deciphered. He has given conflicting information about the sculpture's answer, saying at one time that he gave the complete solution to the then-CIA director William H. Webster during the dedication ceremony; but later, he also said that he had not given Webster the entire solution. He did, however, confirm that within the part of the plaintext of the second message which reads "Who knows the exact location? Only WW.", "WW" was intended to refer to William Webster. Sanborn also confirmed that should he die before the entire sculpture becomes deciphered, there will be someone able to confirm the solution.[5]

Solvers

The first person to announce publicly that he had solved the first three sections was Jim Gillogly, a computer scientist from southern California, who deciphered these sections using a computer, and revealed his solutions in 1999.[6] After Gillogly's announcement, the CIA revealed that their analyst David Stein also had solved the same sections in 1998 using pencil and paper techniques, although at the time of his solution the information was only disseminated within the intelligence community[7] and no public announcement was made until July 1999.[8][9]

The NSA also claimed that some of their employees had solved the same three parts, but would not reveal names or dates until March 2000, when it was learned that an NSA team led by Ken Miller, along with Dennis McDaniels and two other unnamed individuals, had solved parts 1–3 in late 1992.[10] In 2013, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Elonka Dunin, the NSA released documents which show the NSA became involved in attempts to solve the Kryptos puzzle in 1992, following a challenge by Bill Studeman, then Deputy Director of the CIA. The documents show that by June 1993, a small group of NSA cryptanalysts had succeeded in solving the first three parts of the sculpture.[11][12] All of these early attempts to solve Kryptos found that part two ended with WESTIDBYROWS, but in 2005, Monet Friedrich, a computer scientist from Vancouver, British Columbia, determined that another possible plaintext was WESTXLAYERTWO.[13] Later, in 2006, Sanborn announced that he had made an error in part 2, and confirmed that the last part of the plaintext was WESTXLAYERTWO, and not WESTIDBYROWS.[4]

Solutions

The following are the solutions of parts 1–3 of the sculpture.[14] Misspellings present in the text are included verbatim. Kryptos sections one ("K1") and two ("K2")'s ciphers are polyalphabetic substitution ciphers using a Vigenère tableau similar to the tableau on the right-hand side of the sculpture. Part three ("K3") is a transposition cipher, and part four ("K4") remains unsolved.

Solution of passage 1

Keywords: Kryptos, Palimpsest

BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION
Solution of passage 2

Keywords: Kryptos, Abscissa

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE ? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS ? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION ? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO
On April 19, 2006, Sanborn contacted an online community dedicated to the Kryptos puzzle to inform them that the accepted solution to part 2 was incorrect. He said that he made an error in the sculpture by omitting an "X" used to separate sentences, for aesthetic reasons, and that the deciphered text that ended "...FOUR SECONDS WEST ID BY ROWS" should actually be "...FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO".[15]

Note: The coordinates mentioned in the plaintext: 38°57′6.5″N 77°8′44″W are for a point that is approximately 150 feet southeast of the sculpture.[1]

Solution of passage 3

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q ?
This is a paraphrased quotation from Howard Carter's account of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun on November 26, 1922, as described in his 1923 book The Tomb of Tutankhamun. The question with which it ends is that posed by Lord Carnarvon, to which Carter (in the book) famously replied "wonderful things". In the November 26, 1922 field notes, however, his reply was, "Yes, it is wonderful.".[16]

Solution of passage 4

Part 4 has not been publicly solved as of yet.

Clues given

When commenting in 2006 about his error in section 2, Sanborn said that the answers to the first three sections contain clues to the fourth section.[17] In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating that "NYPVTT", the 64th-69th letters in part four, become "BERLIN" after decryption.[18][19] Sanborn gave The New York Times another clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th-74th letters in part four, become "CLOCK" after decryption.[20] This may be a direct reference to the Berlin Clock. Sanborn further stated that in order to solve section 4, "You'd better delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are several really interesting clocks in Berlin."[21]

Mystery sea creature

Mystery sea creature - with 'fur' and 'a beak' - washes up on remote Russian beach, baffling scientists

Some say the 'mutant' is a Ganges River dolphin - but are confused by its fur

A mystery sea creature – with a ‘long beak’ and ‘furry tail’ – is said to be baffling marine experts over the world after its carcass reportedly washed up on a beach along the east coast of Russia.

The Siberian Times says the unidentified sea animal was discovered by locals near Shakhtersk Airport on Sakhalin – a Russian island that is so far east, it is closer to America than Moscow.

Bloodied, torn apart and with bones protruding, scientists say they have yet to attempt to identify the strange prehistoric-like “mutant.”

The Times describes it as being “twice the size of a human being” with “a huge nose like a bird’s beak.”

Some people have taken to social media to say the remains belong to a Ganges River dolphin – which is normally found in freshwater in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh – but it’s the presence of fur on the creature’s tail that’s causing a fuss.

One social media user joked: “Probably, our summer is so cold that even the Indian dolphins getting into local waters are covered with fur.”

Deputy Head of the Forecasting department of the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Nikolay Kim, said: “Judging by the appearance of the head, this is clearly some big dolphin. According to a characteristic of the skin, it is a rare species.

“I doubt that it lived in our waters. Most likely, the animal was brought by the warm current.

“We often get tropical and subtropical species here and, when they cool down, they stay here and then die.

“I can confidently say that this is some kind of a dolphin. However, it has fur. It’s unusual. Dolphins do not have any fur.”

For now, though, the mystery remains.

Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mystery-sea-creature-with-fur-and-a-beak-washes-up-on-remote-russian-beach-baffling-scientists-10358161.html

Dragon Facts

Dragons

Dragons deserve a category all their own because they are beasts found all over the world. But there are two distinct types of dragon: the dragon of the Western world and the dragon of the Eastern world.

Western Dragons

These enormous, fire-breathing serpents have scaly green bodies and huge red wings. Greedy creatures, they hoard gold treasure in dens under the earth. Fierce and always hungry, a Western dragon will eat anything but especially likes weak, young, human flesh. Dragons live in caves, mountains, or lakes. They were particularly active in the Middle Ages, when brave knights challenged them to battle.

Native Americans believed in snake dragons, supernatural wisdom.

Eastern Dragons

Compared to Western dragons, these beasts are quite small. Their bodies are long, and they have two horns for ears. They have no wings, and their soft breath is said to form clouds. They do not roar; instead they make the sounds of beating gongs and jingling bells. Chinese dragons dine on sparrows. They live wherever there is water. They are kind and wise friends of human beings.

Source : http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768948.html

Beaumont children disappearance

It was 1966, a gorgeous Australia Day in the suburbs of Adelaide, when nine-year-old Jane Beaumont and her siblings, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant vanished seemingly into thin air. The kids hopped a bus for what should have been a five-minute ride to Glenelg Beach, a popular spot they visited often. Hours later, they failed to return home, setting into motion one of Australia's most sensational mysteries — and even today, one of its most prominent cold cases.

Witnesses claimed to have seen the siblings on the beach playing with a tall, thin, blonde man. Jane Beaumont was spotted buying snacks (including a meat pie, which the children had never purchased before) with money she did not have when she left the house that day. A mail carrier who knew the family saw the kids walking in the direction of their home a few hours later ... but they never made it. Where did the children go? Who was the tall man? Though the case has continued to generate leads and wild theories (religious cults, a madman who may have turned the kids into a human centipede of sorts via "experimental surgery"), it remains unsolved. Needless to say, parents in Australia became a lot more protective and paranoid in the wake of this case.

Source:  http://io9.com/

China’s Dwarf Village

Villages in general are not strange. Villages in China are also not strange. There are many remote ones in this country, but one stands out from the others. Scientists and experts are extremely interested in the inhabitants of Yangsi, situated in the Sichuan Province. The reason? Not only are there only 80 residents in the village, but almost half of them are dwarfs. Rumor has it, according to those who live in Yangsi, that a mysterious disease befell the little village more than 60 years ago. Young children between the ages of five and seven were most affected, and the disease caused them to simply stop growing. Experts now know that stunted growth is only likely to appear in 1 in 20,000 people, so what happened in Yangsi is something very much out of the ordinary. Especially considering that historic sightings of the dwarfs claim that several hundred of them were residing in the Sichuan region at one point.As if the mystery affliction wasn’t bad enough, some of the children struck by it started suffering from a variety of disabilities. As adults, some of the afflicted gave birth to children who also only grew to around 1 meter (3 ft) in height. The Chinese government has never allowed visitors to the village, inevitably opening up the story to a host of urban legends. It has been said that the citizens felt dark forces had invaded their homes and started believing that they were cursed due to their ancestors’ anger over improper burials. Others apparently believe a turtle to be the source of the problem. Some of the villages cooked and ate a black turtle and, soon after, the strange disease hit Yangsi. After all this time, however, it seems that the residents are growing out of the disease. The younger generation has seemingly been spared.

Source :http://listverse.com/

Galapagos Islands Facts

Enjoy our fun Galapagos Islands facts for kids. Understand what makes these Islands so special with our range of interesting information and trivia.

Learn about the amazing and unique animals, birds and creatures that live in the islands, where the Galapagos Islands are, how Charles Darwin's visit to the islands helped evolutionary thought and much more.

• The Galapagos are an archipelago of volcanic islands that span across the equator line.
• The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean, 926 km (575 mi) west of Ecuador, South America, and are an offshore territory of Ecuador.
• The islands are home to over 25,000 people clustered in small towns, the capital is Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.
• The Archipelago group consists of 7,880 km² (3,040 mi²) of land spread over 45,000 km² (17,000 mi²) of ocean.
• The group consists of 18 main islands, 3 smaller islands, and 107 islets or rocks. The largest of the islands is Isabela which makes up nearly three-quarters of the total land area of the Galapagos islands at 5,827 km² (2,250 mi²).
• The highest point in the Galapagos Islands is Volcán Wolf on Isabela which is 1,707 m (5,600 ft) above sea level.
• The islands sit above the Galapagos hotspot where the Earth's crust is being melted from below by a mantle plume, which creates volcanoes. The oldest of the islands, more then 4 million years old, are slowly disappearing back below sea level. The youngest islands Isabela and Fernandina are still in the process of being formed with 13 volcanic eruptions in the archipelago over the last 100 years.
• Five ocean currents converge at the Galapagos islands. The Equatorial, Cromwell, Humboldt, and Panama currents create variable water temperatures and unpredictable tides in the area resulting in a unique marine ecology.
• The Galapagos islands became a national park in 1959. The islands were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. In 1986, the surrounding ocean was declared a biological marine reserve and in 1990 the area became a whale sanctuary.
• Charles Darwin famously visited the Galapagos islands for 5 weeks in 1835 on the ship HMS Beagle. During his observations and collections he noted that mockingbirds, Darwin finches and tortoises differed over the various islands. These facts contributed to the development of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection presented in his book 'The Origin of Species'.
• Due to the uniqueness of the islands and ocean waters there are vast numbers of endemic species including: Galapagos land iguanas, marine iguana (the only iguana that feed in the sea), sea cucumbers, flightless cormorant, blue-footed booby, Galapagos mockingbirds, Galapagos Penguin, Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos hawk, great Frigatebird, waved Albatross, and over 50 species of fish.
• The most famous of the endemic Galapagos creatures are the tortoises that the islands were named after. The giant tortoises have slightly differing physical features depending on which island they come from.
• Unfortunately, whalers and fur-seal traders in the 18th-19th centuries killed and captured thousands of the Galapagos tortoises to extract their fat. Because they can survive for months without food or water the tortoises could be kept on board ships as a means of providing of fresh protein. Some entire species of tortoises were lost to this practise and others were on the verge of extinction.
• The most famous resident of the Galapagos islands was Lonesome George, who was the only surviving giant Pinta Island tortoise left on Earth. He was known as the rarest creature in the world and served as a symbol for conservation. Lonesome George died on the 24th June 2012 at the age of 100.

Source :http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/