If mystery was not known then no one could say it was 20-year-old mystery. Media headlines.
Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
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Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#22How hard did the family actually try to solve this mystery though?
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#23If mystery was not known then no one could say it was 20-year-old mystery. Media headlines.
True, but viral it up: Minutes old mystery solved instantly, but what happened next made me fall off my chair.
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#24I love when an online community comes together and solves puzzles like this. /r/Whatisthis turns up some gems here and there. An another note, I'm disappointed this particular puzzle turned out to be prayers... boring
Go read the original story, there is a link above. Someone even went as far to parse out one version of the Bible to determine if the first letter combinations matched. Even know what the basic thread of her thoughts, its the discovery and how to further that discovery that is the fascination. That is was prayers actually made it easier and leads to other methods to work it out.
So do you think God lets you pray in index form? I mean, if he's the grand super dude, can't we just recite the index?
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#25How hard did the family actually try to solve this mystery though? https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=OFWAIHHBTN
To be fair, this wasn't searchable in 1996. :)
They rediscovered the card a couple days ago and the string of characters only results in the content itself. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=OFWAIHHBTNTKCTWBDOEAIIIHFU...
The solution was someone recognizing the pattern, not arbitrary Googling, which I find far more interesting.
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#26It's incredible what people can do just because of curiosity. I mean - there's no practical gain from helping another person decipher a code other than just out of curiosity. I'm fascinated by the message and the relentlessness of the person who kept the code and tried to crack it for 20yrs. This is just so cool!
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#27Such kind of "lossy compression" was used sometimes to transfer secret messages. It's impossible to fully decipher it without knowing the text, but it serves as a reminder for those who know it, so they can reconstruct it in full form if needed. This way the information could be kept in oral form for a long time (even for generations), while being preserved in written form only in such way that strangers couldn't dec…
> Such kind of "lossy compression" was used sometimes to transfer secret messages. It's impossible to fully decipher it without knowing the text, but it serves as a reminder for those who know it, so they can reconstruct it in full form if needed.
This was the way that the Qur'an was originally passed down. Originally, the Qur'an was meant to be a recited work. Furthermore, at the time, Arabic writing wasn't so much a complete orthographic system as much as a reminder of the roots of words[0]
This works well in Semitic languages, in which the consonants denote the general meaning of the word, and the vowels change the specifics.
For example, one might write "SLM", which can be expanded to any of the following (capitalization for emphasis)
1) iSLaM = "submission" (literally)
2) moSLeM = "one who has submitted"
3) SaLaaM = a greeting, similar to "peace" (etc.)
The writing is not enough to reconstruct the entire text, but it's good enough for someone whose job it is to recite the work, and simply needs a little reminder.
[0] In fact, not only did traditional written Arabic lack vowels (much like Hebrew), but I am told that even consonants were difficult to distinguish from each other.
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 'boring' remark is the only thing that set me off. The post without that would seem reasonable - as it stands though, it looks like someone complaining about not having something more interesting to read about, not someone expressing disappointment there wasn't something more meaningful to her heirs.
Seems reasonable to express disappointment at the decoded message. I'm not sure why you're trying to be the white knight in this.
"Drink more ovaltine"
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the hell. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to remark on. It was presented as a conundrum, and it turns out it's something disappointing to the grandparent. You're the one dramatising things.
The 'boring' remark is the only thing that set me off. The post without that would seem reasonable - as it stands though, it looks like someone complaining about not having something more interesting to read about, not someone expressing disappointment there wasn't something more meaningful to her heirs.
Agreed, boring is definitely a value judgement and as such kind of inappropriate.
Re: Yesterday, the Internet Solved a 20-year-old Mystery
#30Such kind of "lossy compression" was used sometimes to transfer secret messages. It's impossible to fully decipher it without knowing the text, but it serves as a reminder for those who know it, so they can reconstruct it in full form if needed. This way the information could be kept in oral form for a long time (even for generations), while being preserved in written form only in such way that strangers couldn't dec…
> Such kind of "lossy compression" was used sometimes to transfer secret messages. It's impossible to fully decipher it without knowing the text, but it serves as a reminder for those who know it, so they can reconstruct it in full form if needed. This was the way that the Qur'an was originally passed down. Originally, the Qur'an was meant to be a recited work. Furthermore, at the time, Arabic writing wasn't so much…
Similar idea (using just the initial letters of words) was used in various Hebrew works. Such kind of text was usually called megilas sesorim (i.e. a "scroll of secrets").