Cryptic Code Stumps Experts 537
moonboy writes "From the CBSNews.com article: 'The experts who cracked Nazi Germany's secret codes are tackling a 10-letter enigma that has stumped fine minds for more than 250 years - D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M. Former code-breakers from Britain's World War II intelligence center at Bletchley Park set out this week to decipher a cryptic inscription on an 18th-century monument at an English country estate. Legend says it reveals the location of the Holy Grail. Some believe it is a private message to a deceased beloved. No one knows for sure."
heh (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)
I wish people would stop reading meaning into everything, it's just stupid. It's just like those people who see Jesus on tortillas...pure idiocy.
Re:heh (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem isn't metaphor, man. It's superstition. Speculation and imagination are fun, human concepts. It's when they become dogma -- the basis for your life decisions -- that a problem is generated.
Re:heh (Score:4, Interesting)
Anyhow, you're both right. That is a prime example of an image poem, one which create a scene like a still life in our minds and does nothing else. However, since no image can ever exist without interpretation, it's wrong to discourage people from finding any "deeper meaning" in an image poem.
That doesn't mean it was "about sex," so much as it reminds you of sex (thought I must say this interpretation is fairly sophomoric). It reminds me that I have to mow my lawn.
Re:heh (Score:3, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:3, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:4, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)
A well established use of Just-In-Time manufacturing.
And of course, (Score:4, Funny)
Testamints.
Yes, they exist. And they actually taste great...
Re:heh (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah. Either that or they're just fucking nuts.
Re:heh (Score:5, Interesting)
Would be funnier still if it were a prank of some sorts, just someone's trick to drive people up the wall -- a very pissed off grandpa perhaps?
Or, it could refer to something like a name. For instance, Egyptologists supposedly saw Imhotep everywhere and were not sure what it meant. For the longest time, he was thought of as a mythological figure and only later established to be a real historical person.
But as you said, it most likely is nothing.
Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:3, Funny)
Once I found a piece of news I was going to submit to slashdot. Since I only knew that Quark 6 for OS X was going to be released, I figured I'd throw in an extra bit of information. I asked a question, relating Diablo 2's release to Quark 6's to see how people would make the connection, or to see if anyone would see that it was just bunk.
I found it very humorous [slashdot.org]
pranks and whatnot (Score:5, Funny)
This, However, I suspect is an abreviation of Latin words.
my theory (Score:4, Interesting)
if it's a location of the holy grail (assuming it's the holy grail) then there has to be numbers, most likley a lagitude and latitude values
so here's the deal...
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0000000001111111111
12345678901234567890123456
so by getting the numbers of each letter we get the following values
4 15 21 15 19 22 1 22 22 13
so now we will join each latitude/longitude value as in (latitude/longitude)
4/15 connects to 21/15 which connects to 19/22 which connects to 1/22 which connects to 22/13
after connecting these we have a sort of triangule in around central africa, and to add more interest it surrounds the country of CHAD (Map [gesource.ac.uk] [gesource.ac.uk] and Info [gesource.ac.uk] [gesource.ac.uk]) which has been in the news a few years ago about a discovery of the oldest skull found that might related to the human being (news [csmonitor.com] [csmonitor.com].
quoting from that news:
What's more, it was found along the shores of a dry lake in the country of Chad, 1,500 miles west of the east African rift valleys often called "the cradle of humankind."
For years, lead researcher Michel Brunet has tilted mostly unsuccessfully against the long-held theory that hominids emerged from the Great Rift Valley around Kenya then spread westward across Africa and into the broader world. Now, in the hominid he has named Toumai, or "hope of life" in the local language, he has proof that the earliest prehumans covered a larger area.
interesting eh?
clepto9@excite.com
Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)
My brother in laws name is Jeff Costello. He bought a new GMC truck which is his pride and joy. His license plate is GMC 4JC.
I asked him who the religious nut was parked in his driveway the first week he had the truck. He about went through the roof. What the hell else are people going to think though?
Re:heh (Score:5, Funny)
Whenever I'm asked questions like that, I say to myself "What Would Jeff Costello Do?"
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:4, Funny)
I would sooner mess with a live hand grenade, thank you all the same.
You're one of those people.... (Score:3, Insightful)
They should just post the code to... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They should just post the code to... (Score:5, Funny)
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
Do Other Users On Slashdot View A Very Visible Message?
- Oisin
Indeed! (Score:5, Funny)
Virtually All Voluminous Virginal Men
Slashdot, eh? Evidently a work of divination! There was also mention of the location of the Holy Grail - but I think they were probably mistaken [slashdot.org].
Re:They should just post the code to... (Score:5, Funny)
ps. 6+8=14=>1+4=5
Re:They should just post the code to... (Score:5, Funny)
D O U O S V A V V M
68 79 85 79 83 86 65 86 86 77 - as ASCII values
5 7 4 7 2 5 2 5 5 5 - digits added
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_____/ \_____/
3 2 7 7 1 - digits added
Thus, "D O U O S V A V V M" is 32771.
Add 1964, the year Beatles with "Can't buy me love" topped the charts in a very mysterious way - the result is 34735.
Add 5181 to it - this is the year first commercial cheese factory was established, written backwards - you will get 39916.
Turn the number backwards, and add 1954 - the year Elvis recorded his debut single, putting the end to all morality and good taste. The number is now 63947.
Add 1591 to it - this is the year the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death for spying by the US, written backwards - you will get 65538.
Add 1792, the year guillotine was first used - the result is 67330.
This, when read backwards, gives 03376. This is 1790 in octal, the year US patent system was established (eevil)...
10 letters (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:10 letters (Score:5, Interesting)
Beyond that, it could even have meaning in context in other monuments in the garden or, well anything...
There could be a lot of meaning in it, or just a dedication, or some artist with a weird whim that meant nothing...
Not to reply to myself, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
*meta\ de\ th\n metoikesi/an *babulw=nos *)iexoni/as e)ge/nnhsen to\n *salaqih/l (greek beta code)
Not that this is interesting, or, chances are, at all related. But it's still neat, or something. =)
Actually, there's a place in the latin as well (understanding the V's as V's). Meh. But this is neat, even if it leads nowhere.
Maybe some iNTarWeB h4xx0rs can figure it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Maybe some iNTarWeB h4xx0rs can figure it (Score:4, Funny)
I recognize that (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I recognize that (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I recognize that (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, It's "Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A." The "Select" you're remembering was to choose two player mode, while "Start" of course started the game--but neither of the last two were actually part of the code.
This was the standard "30 lives" (NOT infinite lives) cheat on NES games by Konami, and not just "many other games from that era."
nes! (Score:5, Funny)
U U D D L R L R B A S
I need more lower case letters so that this will actually post, hehe.
Re:nes! (Score:3, Informative)
My appologies if this was already obvious.
how do they know? (Score:5, Interesting)
Holy Grail (Score:5, Funny)
I know what it means! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I know what it means! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I know what it means! (Score:3, Funny)
I see even the ancients weren't above dropping a sarcastic "have a nice day" at the end of their posts.
translated (Score:5, Funny)
That's Easy (Score:5, Funny)
I.S. O.V.R. T.H.E.R.E
Unfortunatly, the arrow that would accompany the message must have gotten rubbed off.
:)
i fart in your general direction! (Score:5, Funny)
Old codebreakers (Score:5, Funny)
Most old geezers sit around and do the cryptic crossword when they retire. I guess these guys need something a little more challenging. :)
For your information, (Score:5, Interesting)
I believe it translates to something like... (Score:5, Funny)
He must have died while carving it.
Re:I believe it translates to something like... (Score:4, Funny)
perhaps he was dictating?
Re: Cryptic Code stumps experts (Score:4, Insightful)
nah, just misinterpred (Score:5, Funny)
F.I.R.S.T._.P.O.S.T
Article is missing details (Score:5, Funny)
S T E A L U N D E R W E A R
D O U O S V A V V M
P R O F I T !
Re:Article is missing details (Score:3, Funny)
ROT-13? (Score:5, Funny)
A Y B A B T U (Score:5, Funny)
So in English, it roughly translates as:
All
Your
Base
Are
Belong
To
Us
The Solution.... (Score:5, Insightful)
some background + my take (Score:5, Interesting)
I first heard the phrase while studying Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in school, and our interpretation was close to one of the two on wikipedia:
"I, Death, am also in Arcadia"
This is a memento mori, a reminder that death is certain even if life seems perfect at the moment.
The painting features 4 shepherds in "Arcadia" (a pastoral paradise), puzzling over those words engraved in a small monument.
The artist of the Shugborough version may very well have intended for us to puzzle over his version like the shepherds in the original... and if the act of us puzzling over the carving was the artist's goal, there may well be no solution like there would be in normal puzzles. (Or there might only an arbitrary solution that cannot be attained without further data.)
Perhaps some poets should look at it in addition to code breakers.
Re:some background + my take (Score:4, Interesting)
Years ago I read "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" after seeing a documentary called "The Lost Treasure of Jerusalem ?" by one of the authors. This is basically the origin of the background of "The Da Vinci Code" from what I know of it, though I haven't read that book. The documentary showed some amazing codes that had been coded into gravestones and other places in particular places, including the painting by Poussin, which contained hidden messages. Anyway, getting back to this stuff: the inscription discussed was shown in the book underneath a mirror image reproduction of the very mysterious painting of Poussin. BTW, the tomb in the painting actually exists and was found by the doco makers not far from the source of the mystery, the town of Rennes le Chateau. Anyway, marvellous story, but I don't believe the stuff about the bloodline etc ... just stretching the evidence too far I think. But wonderful stuff, especially if you're into conspiracies, codes etc ... if you liked Cryptonomicon then this kind of stuff is for you.
"The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" however does not include the amazing codes etc. A big pity since they were fascinating. One I particularly liked was a copy of the Lord's Prayer in latin that when you noticed the slight misplacement of various letters spelt a message ... and formed a pentagram as well (I vaguely remember that the letter was to or from Poussin). Or the hidden spaces in hollow columns with parchments and the mysterious figures at the chapel at Rennes le Chateau ... hmmm. Lots of fun.
One of the suggestions for "Et in Arcadia ego" was that it was an anagram since the phrase is not correct Latin anyway. One suggested anagram translates as "Begone! Behold I conceal the secrets of God" ... eh (shrug). Note also that Arcadia was also part of the Hidden Stream symbolism that described a secret stream of knowledge underneath Christendom ... hence the the painting combined with the unstranslated letters was not picked randomly as an interesting puzzle, there is an air of genuine mystery about it.
The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Lord Lichfield's grandmother believed it stood for the opening letters of a line of verse: "Out of your own sweet vale Alicia vanish vanity 'twixt deity and man." based on a poem by Anna Seward.
How would it be possible to come up with a better explanation? This woman was of the family and is in the best possition to know. Think about it: what type of answer could satisfy such a short "code" better?
Its like reading Nostradamus: you will find patterns if you look hard enough.
Re:The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:4, Informative)
One that matched the letters?
Re:The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:5, Interesting)
It does match the letters. The word "betwixt" means "between". In this poetic case, betwixt has been shortened to 'twixt. So, that translates to:
"Out of your own sweet vale Alicia vanish vanity between deity and man."
And if you read the article, you'd know that the inscription actually reads:
O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.
With the D and M lower than the rest of the inscription.
Clear now?
Re:The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:3, Informative)
I finally found some more information and pictures of the inscription. See the BBC Radio 4 program [bbc.co.uk] from May 12th. Includes an audio interview with the Bletchley Park director.
Could it be any clearer ? (Score:4, Interesting)
Now go back and read the article. I don't think there's any enigma here.
The monument is the right age, the text fits, the descendants have the right story.
Re:The best possible answer is obvious. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm...what if the word is "ure"? (Score:4, Informative)
"Out 'ure own sweet vale Alicia vanisheth vanity 'twixt deity and man."
Sounds good to me.
Mystery solved.
Fascinating... (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.veling.nl/anne/templars/r
I've figured it out (Score:5, Funny)
D.O.U.O.S.B.A.V.V.M:
"Deadly Odour: Underpants Or Socks Violently Aromatic - Very Very Manky."
Re:I've figured it out (Score:3, Funny)
Cryptanalysis requires more data (Score:5, Insightful)
The entropy of the English language is 1.5 bits per character (as an example; other languages have other entropy characteristics). When performing cryptanalysis on ciphertext derived from English plaintext, the cryptographer can determine whether or not he has achieved successful decryption by calculating this entropy on the result. The accuracy of the entropy derivation depends largely on the quantity of the data used to calculate the entropy.
It appears that the message D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M. does not carry near enough information to derive any meaningful statistical information of the sort. This means pretty much that any potential decryption is as good as any other. In the worst case scenario, this message is the result of a one-time pad [wikipedia.org], in which case it is completely futile to attempt to decrypt it; even if P is proven to be equal to NP, one-time pads still maintain their security, since all possible decryptions are equally probable. Perhaps some information get be gleaned from the context of the message (the fact that it is either Latin or Greek and based on some historical happening).
In any case, I get the feeling that this particular puzzle is going to be eternally unsolved. There will be plenty of equally feasible decipherments based on defendable premises, but we will never know for sure.
But that's not all... (Score:5, Informative)
Add to that that other aspects of the monument may be significant, or there may be significance in the context of other monuments in the garden and/or other entities.
Now as to whether it will be solved, can be solved without knowledge of an inside joke, or even contains interesting subject matter at all is one issue. If it does have meaning, I would give it better odds of being figured out than a plain 10-letter inscription.
Re:Cryptanalysis requires more data (Score:5, Interesting)
There can't be all that many quotations, or even meaningful phrases, with two consecutive words that start with V (and three out of four contiguous words), can there? Witness the incredibly awkward attempts to come up with "joke" answers in other posts on this page. And the line of poetry is pretty awkward, too. So those V's would seem to impose some pretty strong conditions after all---giving hope that there might be a unique meaningful answer. Not much hope, though. (Still, as mentioned elsewhere, there's a lot of "side" info: the painting, etc.) We'll see.
zach
Re:Cryptanalysis requires more data (Score:3, Interesting)
I know! (Score:5, Funny)
decoded (Score:3, Funny)
verily always void of valuable meaning
Simpsons Quote (Score:3, Funny)
I know! Let's use technology to bring him back.
Wow! What's normal to him amazes us.
He is a lot smarter than his sister "M.V.V.A.V.S.O.U.O.D" of whom we no nothing.
He will be our new god.
Popular back then, too... (Score:5, Funny)
Duh.
Wednesday's Independent featured this too (Score:3, Informative)
In related news... (Score:3, Funny)
Multiple meanings (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a shame (Score:5, Funny)
Some SQL to solve it (Score:5, Funny)
Similar historical enigma (Score:5, Funny)
That was until someone got in touch with a former vicar, who informed them the mysterious "HWP" was in fact...Hot Water Pipe.
Let me see.... D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M (Score:4, Funny)
IDKFA
IDCLIP (or IDSPISPOPD)
Hmm... no.
DNKROZ
DNHYPER
DNITEMS
DNWEAPONS
neither.
/god
/give all
/noclip
bah. Beats me.
Found a site with a close-up photo of the monument (Score:5, Informative)
Problems with decipherment (Score:5, Interesting)
1) No one knows if it is meant to be difficult to crack, or if it is just an abbreviated message to someone who would know instantly what it meant. This is an important distinction, because it determines if solving this thing is in the domain of linguists, or of cryptographers. Linguists decipher things which are not maliciously written to be obtuse (e.g., Champollion didn't have to crack any codes to figure out Egyptian Hieroglyphs, he solved it because he knew several languages and made some educated guesses based on his cultural knowledge). On the other hand, cryptographers decipher things which *are* meant to be obfuscated. This is done primarily through mathematical analyses, rather than historical and cultural knowledge. This is the reason that no cryptographer has been responsible for the decipherment of a language. This problem has been exploited in the past, such as the famous use of Navajo in World War II to confuse German code-breakers. Cryptographers can exploit the qualities of a language (such as examining letter frequency), but they aren't even sure what language this thing is in!
2) The sample set is staggeringly small. Whether you are deciphering a language or a code, it's extremely difficult (and generally close to impossible) to do so without several different, lengthy samples. Often, people make the claim that something is "gibberish" when there's only one or two samples (as someone does in this article). This is really a baseless claim, since there are probably *dozens* of valid decipherments of anything. This is the sole reason why so many undeciphered languages have not been deciphered (e.g., Etruscan and Linear A).
When I read the summary, the first thing I thought of was the Phaistos Disk. It was found on Crete in 1908 (at Phaistos). It is a disk-shaped tablet, with strange, oddly un-Minoan, characters on both sides, spiraling in towards the center. It is even stranger because the characters appear to be stamped or pressed into the clay. (This is the earliest known example of such stamped writing.) Because the disk is so strange, many have claimed it's an elaborate hoax, but the amount of work necessary to create such a stamped tablet (making all of the stamps with which to place the characters on the disk) would mean it is a *very* elaborate hoax. Most archaeologists think it's for real, but, despite people's best efforts, no progress has been made in its decipherment. Since the sample set is so damned small (1 tablet), and since no one knows what language it's in, *and* since it is clearly unrelated to Linear A or B, there's little hope in it ever being understood. Go on Google and type in "Phaistos Disk" and you're sure to find lots of sites claiming they know the solution.
Finally, the Voynich Manuscript sets even more historical precedent for the difficulty of this task, and shows that cryptographers are not successful when it comes to solving an unencoded inscription. William F. Friedman (who broke the Japanese Purple Code and worked at Bletchley Park during WWII) and some guys from the NSA have tried to decipher it, and failed. He claims it's a fake language, composed of gibberish, but it follows Zipf's law, which means it appears, based on the ratios of sign frequencies, to be real...so if someone wrote a gibberish language, they knew what they were doing to make it look real...even though Zipf, who discovered this relationship, wasn't even alive when this thing was written.
Sorry I didn't make any links, but I'm lazy, and if you type any of this stuff into Google, you'll find lots of articles.
(Wow, looks like I learned something from my Lost Languages and Decipherment course, thank-you, Professor Zimansky.)
GOT IT! (Score:3, Funny)
Down step
Over there
Under there
Over a bit more
South two steps
Very close now
Another step backwards
Very close
Very close now
Move another 4 steps
It;s So Obvious (Score:3, Funny)
The Holy Grail is not an object (Score:5, Funny)
This is of course based on the assumption that The Holy Grail is an object. Most often it refers to the cup Jesus drank from at the last supper, or the cup used to catch his blood as he hung on the cross, or both.
This is most likely a mistake, or a misunderstanding due to faulty translation of the original text.
The original term used for the holy grail is "sangraal", and that's where the problem starts.
San Graal does in fact mean "Holy Grail".
Sang Raal however, means "Royal Blood".
Since there is ample evidence to suggest Jesus was in fact the descendant of Solomon and David, and therefore he was true Royalty, the rightful heir to the throne of Palestine, and a threat to the Roman Empire. Which is exactly why they killed him (jews did not), if he was even killed, which is not even certain and cannot be proven.
So if Royal Blood is indeed the proper translation of sangraal, and due to its inherent connection with Christianity then it most likely refers to Jesus' bloodline.
As is generally believed, Mary Magdalen moved to the South of France after the crucifixion carrying with her the Holy Grail, so it's not such a big leap of logic to assume the Holy Grail was in fact Jesus' son, being brought out of Palestine in order to save his life, and the Royal bloodline.
There is also ample suggestion in the gospels of Jesus being married, and that Mary Magdalen and Mary of Bethany were one and the same. Seeing how close Jesus was to this Mary of Bethany, and her brother Lazarus, it's also very likely Lazarus was in fact Jesus' brother-in-law, and that Mary Magdalen was in fact Mary of Bethany.
Also, Mary Magdalen was not a prostitute and Magdalen was not her last name. If you can point to the passage in the Bible that specifically says she was a prostitute, please make a note of it and inform the world, because not a single biblical or historical scholar has been able to do so to this day. It is in fact a lie concocted by religious leaders trying to obfuscate the fact Jesus was a married man with a family; being married and having children was practically required at that time and it's unfathomable that he didn't.
If you found any of what I said interesting or infuriating, please read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" available here [amazon.com].
Oh, and in case you were still wondering, I am an Atheist.
However, just to stay a little bit more on topic, here are a few suggestions as to what DOUOSVAVVM stands for:
Designed Overreacting Usage Of Some Very Agitated Violent Viagra Malfunction.
Do Only Uneducated Overly Simplistic Villains Accept Very Violent Methods?
Deaths Of Unbridled Overreaching Sacrifices Values And Virtue Very Much.
But of course, DOUOSVAVVM is NOT an english acronym...
An engraving matches the monument! (Score:5, Interesting)
But most interestingly (and cryptically) is this image [renneslechateau.com]. I don't know the origin of this engraving, but it is almost exactly the same as as the monument [connectotel.com]. Down to the swirling clouds, which actually aren't present in the famous version! The only obvious difference is the present of an additional urn on top of the sarcophagus in the monument. I have little doubt that either this engraving was created from the monument, or the monument was created from this engraving.
Can anyone offer anymore insight into this engraving?
web theories (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/zelazny/212/ grail_1.html
http://www.lundyisleofavalon.co.uk/templars/temp ic10.htm
http://www.worldofthestrange.com/nlv455.html
http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/metis.htm
It's not that complicated (Score:5, Funny)
"Up Down Up Down Left Right Left Right A B A B Select Start"
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M. (Score:3, Interesting)
The "D.M." aparently has to do with a funeral right, in Latin, of course. I'd have to assume the rest is in Latin too. The number of latin words that the phrase could match are huge. Even if you did find a match for the phrase, which shouldn't be all that hard, it may or may not be right, without some other reference.
Our
Utterance
Omits
Some
Valuable
Assertation
Validating
Vexation
Think of the phrase (and rather obnoxious to non-christians) WWJD.
Where Would Joseph Drive?
Why Would Josie Drink?
Would Willy Just Die?
White Water Jewish Dancing.
From what I hear, it doesn't really mean any of those. Ask a Christian for the right answer.
I considered finding a latin dictionary file, and having a program run through all the possible combinations, but since I don't read latin, it wouldn't make too much sense, now would it? If it is a reference to "the holy grail", that means some of those letters probably represent cities or countries somewhere in Europe or Asia, with their name from several centuries ago.
For all we know, it's a tribute to all of someone's illigitimate children.
The hunt is on... (Score:4, Interesting)
But the glyph V is also often used for the letters U or W (if doubled, VV), or for the digit 5 in (mostly Latin) inscriptions, so solving the puzzle it is best treated as a character class. It might be in Greek since Arcadia is mentioned, but the tombstone's ironic and ambiguous inscription (either "I, death, am in Arcadia, too" or "I, too used to dwell in Arcadia") suggests Latin.
So we may consider V = [VWU5] as a working assumption.
Since Arcadia is where the 'goddess' Artemis was said to live, we may assume the 'D' of D and M is a lady named Diana (the Latin name for Artemis), which supports further the hypothesis that it is all Latin.
If this is so, we may extend out working assumption to A = [D].
Now could anyone please post a complete family tree of Nicholas Poussin as well as the Anson family (and others who lived at Shugborough House around the time the stone was set up? Guests, staff, etc). We would need to find all possible candidates for D and M, then define some constraints to prune the search space (e.g. solution might be a couple, i.e. sex(D) != sex(M), female(D) => male(M) or a group of either 3 or five (again, 'V') friends).
Here's an interesting picture collection [chez.com] to support the cryptoanalytic hunt.
As for the 'holy grail', you can easily participate in the Sunday mass tomorrow (between breakfast and reading ./), sharing the Eucharist in rememberance of Jesus with much less hassle.
I've done it! (Score:4, Funny)
It's obvious where the grail is...
Down. Over. Up. Over. South. V... Vest. Ah, fuck it.
A Publicity Stunt (Score:5, Insightful)
They had got the Enigma all layed out on display on a table with red velvet, (ie for show). In reality if the real purpose of this excersize was to crack those codes dont you think they would have used a laptop with an enigma simulator/code cracking program? So while they may be attempting to crack that code I think there were also some alterior motives on their mind, like getting a bit of publicity for the tourist trade!
nick
Re:Where is the "D"? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:message is way too short (Score:3, Interesting)
Although it is linked to a modified painting from a french artist so it could be french, and it is in england so it could be english.
Good Luck.
Relationship to Holy Grail. (Score:5, Informative)
There is an academic article discussing the purported relationship between the "D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M" code and the Holy Grail: The Mysteries of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Prieure du Sion [fiu.edu]. The article is by Dr. Steven Mizrach [fiu.edu] of Florida International University [fiu.edu].
The book discussing the subject is: Holy Blood, Holy Grail [amazon.com]. This is the book that inspired (or was ripped off) by The Da Vinci Code [amazon.com].
The Disinformation page on the subject is: here [disinfo.com].
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Interesting)
I can do it in 8:
Rennes, France, Castle, East Tower, Attic, Behind Fireplace.
.
Re:Pfft. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:World War II? (Score:3, Interesting)
Those old people cracked one of the biggest, baddest encryption schemes in the history of warfare without the use of advanced computers (although they did invent some early mechanical computing machines) or a lot of information theory (Claude Shannon hadn't made his advances yet).
It's a damned shame Alan Turing [wikipedia.org] is dead, but you can thank good old-fashioned British homophobia for that.