Of ciphers, decoding, and Why Jim Is A Bitch
Date Ciphers
As seen in this post.
NOTE: SKIP TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR THE DECODED VERSION OF JIM'S ENTRY, if you don't want to waste time decoding it. I totally don't blame you. XD
Date ciphers are ciphers based off of the numerical date of the writing- or a significant numerical date, etc, and they're actually quite simple. In essence, one takes the military date referenced and goes through the numbers in order along with the text. Each number corresponds to each letter of the text, and depending on the number, you would advance that letter by a certain number of letters. I'm not very good at explaining this, so I'll just use Jim's post as an example.
Jim posted this entry at June 20th, 2011. In military dates, that would be 07202011
The first line of his post was as follows:
IDCNVIOGOYOAVIPOOUVHTRMPCRJONMT'BCAJVKTJFS.
Now, correspond each letter with a number on the date, going in order, and repeating the cycle of numbers until the line runs out (it's easier if you put spaces between the letters so your brain can work them more easily)
I D C N V I O G O Y O A V I P O O U V H T R M P C R J O N M T' B C A J V K T J F S
0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1' 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0
(As a note, there is a point of punctuation in there- it's best to just add it to your stream of numbers as well, so that they all line up nicely.)
Now, see how each letter has it's own number? That's how far Jim advanced that particular letter along the alphabet. To break the code, all you have to do is then reverse the letter by that many letters. The number '0' means that the letter hasn't been moved at all. The letters wrap around the alphabet, so in the A which corresponds to the number 7, you would go back to Z, Y, X- etc.
The second line of his post is where Jim starts playing mean. You just figured out the first line, and you're confident in your abilities of cracking the SUPER AWESOME DATE CIPHER?
Too bad, because Jim reversed the order of the numbers. Instead of using 07202011 as a guide, he switched his code to 11020270. So if you're trying to crack his code and using the same number sequence as the first line? The second line will wind up looking like gibberish, until (and if) your character figures out that he's reversed it and tries it that way. Aw yeah, he wants you to spend hours on this bitch.
Here is the second line of his code, with the correct numbers as a guide.
JBMRRGWASFDVORMFFSMASGYVJDEUIOLXDIAPGG.
J B M R R G W A S F D V O R M F F S M A S G Y V J D E U I O L X D I A P G G
1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2
But hey, there's a bright side! The third line is given to you, absolutely free of any boring mental work! ...what's the third line?
'-M'
Aw yeah, Jim is classy
AND FINALLY, the issue of spacing. The spaces are removed to further mess you up by not letting you simply guess the words by the number of letters. It should be pretty obvious by the letters, once they are all decoded, where the spaces go. You just... have to decode them first.
OH MY GOD JUST GIVE ME THE STUPID TEXT ALREADY
I realize that not everyone wants to totally waste time on this. So here's what Jim's post says after decoded, word for word. (highlight the text below \o/).
I WANT INFORMATION ON SHERLOCK HOLMES' ACTIVITIES.
I AM PREPARED TO OFFER MY SERVICES IN EXCHANGE.
-M
...kind of anticlimatic, huh?
Okay, so why is he going to all this effort just to say that? Simple. Jim doesn't want to talk to lameos. No, no, just kidding- but really, he's bored and he doesn't want to talk to people who can't crack a simple (haha, right) code. Because that would be boring.
As seen in this post.
NOTE: SKIP TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR THE DECODED VERSION OF JIM'S ENTRY, if you don't want to waste time decoding it. I totally don't blame you. XD
Date ciphers are ciphers based off of the numerical date of the writing- or a significant numerical date, etc, and they're actually quite simple. In essence, one takes the military date referenced and goes through the numbers in order along with the text. Each number corresponds to each letter of the text, and depending on the number, you would advance that letter by a certain number of letters. I'm not very good at explaining this, so I'll just use Jim's post as an example.
Jim posted this entry at June 20th, 2011. In military dates, that would be 07202011
The first line of his post was as follows:
IDCNVIOGOYOAVIPOOUVHTRMPCRJONMT'BCAJVKTJFS.
Now, correspond each letter with a number on the date, going in order, and repeating the cycle of numbers until the line runs out (it's easier if you put spaces between the letters so your brain can work them more easily)
I D C N V I O G O Y O A V I P O O U V H T R M P C R J O N M T' B C A J V K T J F S
0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1' 1 0 7 2 0 2 0 1 1 0
(As a note, there is a point of punctuation in there- it's best to just add it to your stream of numbers as well, so that they all line up nicely.)
Now, see how each letter has it's own number? That's how far Jim advanced that particular letter along the alphabet. To break the code, all you have to do is then reverse the letter by that many letters. The number '0' means that the letter hasn't been moved at all. The letters wrap around the alphabet, so in the A which corresponds to the number 7, you would go back to Z, Y, X- etc.
The second line of his post is where Jim starts playing mean. You just figured out the first line, and you're confident in your abilities of cracking the SUPER AWESOME DATE CIPHER?
Too bad, because Jim reversed the order of the numbers. Instead of using 07202011 as a guide, he switched his code to 11020270. So if you're trying to crack his code and using the same number sequence as the first line? The second line will wind up looking like gibberish, until (and if) your character figures out that he's reversed it and tries it that way. Aw yeah, he wants you to spend hours on this bitch.
Here is the second line of his code, with the correct numbers as a guide.
JBMRRGWASFDVORMFFSMASGYVJDEUIOLXDIAPGG.
J B M R R G W A S F D V O R M F F S M A S G Y V J D E U I O L X D I A P G G
1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 7 0 1 1 0 2 0 2
But hey, there's a bright side! The third line is given to you, absolutely free of any boring mental work! ...what's the third line?
'-M'
Aw yeah, Jim is classy
AND FINALLY, the issue of spacing. The spaces are removed to further mess you up by not letting you simply guess the words by the number of letters. It should be pretty obvious by the letters, once they are all decoded, where the spaces go. You just... have to decode them first.
OH MY GOD JUST GIVE ME THE STUPID TEXT ALREADY
I realize that not everyone wants to totally waste time on this. So here's what Jim's post says after decoded, word for word. (highlight the text below \o/).
I WANT INFORMATION ON SHERLOCK HOLMES' ACTIVITIES.
I AM PREPARED TO OFFER MY SERVICES IN EXCHANGE.
-M
...kind of anticlimatic, huh?
Okay, so why is he going to all this effort just to say that? Simple. Jim doesn't want to talk to lameos. No, no, just kidding- but really, he's bored and he doesn't want to talk to people who can't crack a simple (haha, right) code. Because that would be boring.