Ambigrams
"An ambigram is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation. The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original words. Douglas R. Hofstadter describes an ambigram as a "calligraphic design that manages to squeeze two different readings into the selfsame set of curves." Different ambigramists may create completely different ambigrams from the same word or words, differing in both style and form."
Amused with the whole concept and wanting to attempt my own ambigram, I turned to a website called "Wordplay" by John Langdon to learn a bit more about the technique and constructing an ambigram. After getting familiar with the concepts I began sketching out my first attempt and I'm fairly happy with the results of my first endeavor at "ambigramology". Here it is:
This ambigram reads the same positioned now or upside down. I based it off a friend's pen name he is using for writing a book. In case you're having difficulty focusing in on it, the name is "A. Raven". This was a lot of fun and it came together realitively quick. I hope to produce some more ambigrams as time permits. If you'd like to give it a go, the Wordplay website is a great place to start.
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Solution to Encrypted Message
A playfair cipher cannot be decoded without the keyword. The keyword can be a single word or a phrase of words. In this example I gave a clue and then the keyword was to be guessed. The clue was “You are reading it now.” The correct answer, and keyword was “TD3k Speaks”. The other trick here is to remember that when entering a number, it must be spelled out - actual number symbols are not allowed. In keeping with the other requirements of the cipher, that is that letters may only be used once, the final keyword looks like this: “TDHREKSPA”. When applied to the encoded cipher text, the decoded message reveals the following:
th is bl og en tr yi se nc od ed us in gt he pl ay fa ir ci ph er if yo uc an br ea ki tx th en yo ua re am os tc ap ab le te ch ge xe ka nd sh ou ld be pr ou dx
And in final form, the message reads:
“This blog entry is encoded using the playfair cipher. If you can break it then you are a most capable tech geek and should be proud.”
Even though computers can easily break the playfair cipher it is still a relatively secure method of encrypting messages provided the keyword is secure. The longer and more difficult the keyword or keyphrase, the more secure the message. This is why many playfair ciphers have resorted to additional clever puzzles and clues that must be solved in order to discover the keyword. Once the keyword is broken, the message is simple.
So ends the lesson.
Encrypted Message
The encoded message is:
DR FA LU XO DU DE RQ BD MF NH TH NB FQ CH RT BG IR IS QA FL GP TE LG XQ ML SQ AE RB AC HV DR DU XQ QB ET KQ NP KM BA BK UB DT GT LH ZH SB WS PD QM FE LB AH QM HW
This idea was inspired by the movie National Treasure 2, which introduced me to the concept of the playfair cipher. Back in it’s day it was an extremely powerful and effective means of encrypting messages from unintended viewers. Now with the advent of computer technology, the code can easily be broken and so therefore is no longer used. It was used extensively during World Wars 1 and 2. I was so fascinated with the concept of this encryption method I did a google research and taught myself how to employ the system. It takes about 15 minutes to learn and master. For additional reading on the subject, I found this wikipedia post to be the most helpful at actually explaining how to understand the cipher, and this link is an excellent on line tool that will help you to encrypt your own messages or decipher messages from others. Things like this really intrigue my robotic skull jelly.
I will post the decoded message in the next day or two for those interested.