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Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

nytimes.com

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Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#71

Post by CamperBob2 »

hinkley wrote: post #66
tidi0x wrote: post #62

I see people upset about the solution being found "Through other means", but this is technically still in the spirit of the puzzle. 1. That is technically normal espionage practices, the CIA wouldn't be the CIA if they were only reliant on cryptography... (they'd be the NSA) 2. The solution to this puzzle would bring closure to at this point generations of curious people. 3. On the more technical side, it's been disc…

I always thought it was kinda stupid that this puzzle was made for the CIA instead of NSA in the first place. Some other responders sound like they agree. And as someone else said, this is exactly the sort of solution the CIA would come up with. So it should be considered in bounds.

"After careful consideration, we conclude that the puzzle doesn't exist."

https://imgur.com/gallery/fbi-cia-kgb-5koAv3H

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#72

Post by zie »

koolba wrote: post #70
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

> True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. What bills? He’s 79 so he’d have been on Medicare for the past 14 years. Sure there’s the Medicare premiums, but that’s peanuts.

My mom's insurance with medicare generally covers 80%, she gets to pay the leftover 20%. So uh bills with medicare is totally a thing.

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#73

Post by aspenmayer »

thesmtsolver wrote: post #64
aspenmayer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found their aside relevant to my interests as a fellow HN reader. The guidelines also advise against fulminating; you made your point, and I think it’s fair that theirs also stands.

Their aside is also false though. Look at my comment below the OP.

> Their aside is also false though.

You are drawing a conclusion that was not proven by your comment.

OP was talking about folks delaying treatment due to not being able to afford it, whereas you were focusing on survival rates.

Both of you could be correct: OP could be correct that many income-constrained folks delay treatment until they age into qualifying for Medicare, and you could be correct that on the whole, folks in the USA have better cancer treatment outcomes.

If you reread OP, they were speaking to there being more advanced cases of later stage cancers in the US, which you didn’t really speak to or refute, so to my reading, you are jumping to conclusions when you say that their aside is false per se.

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#74

Post by hiddencost »

koolba wrote: post #70
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

> True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. What bills? He’s 79 so he’d have been on Medicare for the past 14 years. Sure there’s the Medicare premiums, but that’s peanuts.

You're deeply confused about the average American experience.

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#75

Post by vlovich123 »

buckle8017 wrote: post #68
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

The simple reality is that advanced medical care is expensive. Access to advanced medical care can either by gated by one person's wealth or by the average wealth of many people. At the end of the day though, someone is paying and the only way to actually cost reduce is too have worse treatment.

Or more effective treatment and not paying for ineffective ones. And less regulation and gatekeeping of which there’s a lot in the US (like needing insane levels of doctor oversight for buying medications)

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#76

Post by throwaway48476 »

JackFr wrote: post #65
themafia wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make the auction include the physical piece of art itself. Then you're buying a tangible and transferable asset. I think the CIA has enough money it can endeavor to replace it. What value does a cracked puzzle even have to them?

It always bothered me because cryptography isn’t the CIA’s thing. Spies and analysis are their thing. Code breaking is the NSA

Government agencies do not have cleanly separated roles. They tend to grow and agglomerate capabilities to maximally soak up budget allocation. NSA is primarily SIGINT.

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#77

Post by 8bitsrule »

tidi0x wrote: post #62

I see people upset about the solution being found "Through other means", but this is technically still in the spirit of the puzzle. 1. That is technically normal espionage practices, the CIA wouldn't be the CIA if they were only reliant on cryptography... (they'd be the NSA) 2. The solution to this puzzle would bring closure to at this point generations of curious people. 3. On the more technical side, it's been disc…

Another Berlin clock, installed 1975:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengenlehreuhr

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#78

Post by hvb2 »

buckle8017 wrote: post #68
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

The simple reality is that advanced medical care is expensive. Access to advanced medical care can either by gated by one person's wealth or by the average wealth of many people. At the end of the day though, someone is paying and the only way to actually cost reduce is too have worse treatment.

> the only way to actually cost reduce is too have worse treatment.

So tell me, why is random blood work billed for over 400$? Just to analyze the sample?

Part of the problem is definitely inflated pricing and no real transparency.

Unless you need that rockstar surgeon for that super specialty treatment that only the US can offer, the US healthcare system is just overpriced, broken and a money grab

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#79

Post by hvb2 »

dingnuts wrote: post #69
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

there wouldn't be any way to compete with tax pre-paid $0 point of sale health care, so there would be no option. the term "public option" is a weasel word. there would be no private option because nobody is going to choose to pay out of pocket in addition to their taxes that already pay for care. advocate for whatever but use honest terms. you're advocating for a single payer system and there's no evading that.

You only rely on social security? No 401k for example?

Because that's the public option in retirement and you can have private options like 401k on top

Re: Solution to CIA’s Kryptos sculpture is found in Smithsonian vault

#80

Post by sixothree »

buckle8017 wrote: post #68
meowface wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The central problem described in the article is that he has cancer and doesn't want to go bankrupt from the medical bills. I'm not a socialist and am broadly pro-capitalism, but for decades I've held a firm belief that healthcare should have a public option and people should have the ability to get high-quality medical care for $0, no matter how realistic that would be.

The simple reality is that advanced medical care is expensive. Access to advanced medical care can either by gated by one person's wealth or by the average wealth of many people. At the end of the day though, someone is paying and the only way to actually cost reduce is too have worse treatment.

> the only way to actually cost reduce is too have worse treatment

If you cut out profit motive, you can _definitely_ make it cheaper. Your statement is incorrect.

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