Get Cracking

Jim, over at Parkway Rest Stop, has a post that is written in code. Not even ever having seen the code before, it took me about 2 seconds to crack, and I could read it as if it was in plain English. I would expect that most people can, but I usually have trouble with seeing what others can see (remember that picture craze in the 90's? I never saw anything in them). 

Comments

[Ruth]

For the most part was able to read it without problem. Had to stop and think about a couple words.

I loved those pictures, still do, but then I picked up on the trick of how to focus on them quickly. Used to annoy the heck out of strangers at the booths at the mall when I'd exclaim over how cool this picture was....

[Cop Car]

I had seen this before (I think Hunky Husband had emailed it to me). The human mind is still the best pattern recognition "machine" around. Thanks for the link!

[Ole Phat Stu]

The English language has an information content of only about 1 bit per letter,
the other 3.6 bits are redundant, so it's no wonder this is so easy to read.

Ole Phat Stu (crypto-guy).
PS: found your blog via your mom.

[Cop Car]

Bogie--I should sympathize with you at having attracted Stu. He is wicked! I suspect that if we got him together with my brothers we could have a massive "brain off".

[bogie]

"The English language has an information content of only about 1 bit per letter,
the other 3.6 bits are redundant, so it's no wonder this is so easy to read."

So, does the same hold true for numbers (as a bunch of the characters are not "letters"). Not trying to be a smart-ass - well, maybe I am - but I was wondering.

[bogie]

"I had seen this before (I think Hunky Husband had emailed it to me). The human mind is still the best pattern recognition "machine" around. Thanks for the link!

I've seen another version where all the vowels were left out, and i think also one where some of the letters were scrambled, but not this particular version.

[renke]

lol, Stu was a little bit faster than me - I also tracked down this blog via Cop Car + Bogie in a comment on Stu's blog :)

more on topic: Leet (the "code" used in the post) has really deep roots within the computer-/internet-world, take a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

[bogie]

Not sure what my mother has been up to that has sent people here, but thanks for dropping by to Stu and Renke (and anyone else who has come by and not left a comment.

[Cop Car]

I've been up to nothing good, you can bet!

[Ole Phat Stu]

In your example, the digits were used to substitute for numbers, replacing them in the alphabet, so the entropy of the language remains unchanged.

Now what happens if we had ONLY numbers? You asked "So, does the same hold true for numbers"? I refer you to Benford's law, which your Mom probably knows (P=0.5 ;-))

Renke is an eFriend, a blogreader of mine whom I had the pleasure to meet recently.

[bogie]

That makes sense - thanks for the education.

[Cop Car]

Stu--Nope. Never heard of Benford's law, but happy for the education. I do appreciate Benford's Law of Controversy.