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New Expanded Free Sample Issue

The free sample issue of The Cryptogram available for download has been expanded with more explanations and many more ciphers to solve. Read about it and download it on the Sample Issue page under About the ACA .

2nd Edition PHOENIX Memorial CDROM

A member reported that the links on the index page of the 2nd Edition PHOENIX Memorial CDROM did not work with Acrobat Reader v9. It turned out to be caused by the default value of a preference option. Here is how it was corrected:

Edit->Preferences

Documents->View Documents in PDF/A mode: NEVER

From the Edit menu, select "Preferences", then choose to look under Category "Documents".

The option "View Documents in PDF/A mode" should be changed to "Never".

FBI Code Breaking Challenge.

The FBI has a website with a code breaking challenge. Check it out.

Member area of this website.

The member area is now password protected. The username is ACA and the password is the first 7 CIPHER TEXT characters of the A1 cipher text found in the latest issue of The Cryptogram. As an alternate method of entry, you may use the username ACAPREV along with the corresponding first seven characters of the A1 CIPHER TEXT from the previous issue of The Cryptogram. Please enter the passwords in lower case without spaces or punctuation.

THE RAT has made available for ACA members a program called Conmaker. It is designed for Windows users to easily create and submit cons to the ACA column editors. If interested, go to the Members Area / Downloads and get your copy.

Events

2010 ACA Annual Convention

Host and Hostess: LONELY RINGER(wjlunsford(at)ieee(dot)org) and his wife, Carol (aca2010abq(at)gmail(dot)com) 505-292-3217, Contact LONELY RINGER about presentations and ACA member questions. Contact Carol about things to see, spouse interests, and hospitality concerns.

Place: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Date: September 3-5, 2010 (Labor Day Weekend)

Hotel: Embassy Suites Albuquerque Hotel & Spa 1000 Woodward Pl. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102; (505) 245-7100.

Call the hotel directly for reservations. Ask for the American Cryptogram Association group rate. Use the three letter code (CRY) if you choose to make reservations using the Embassy Suites web site. Reservations must be made by August 15, 2010 to insure the room rate of $99 per day.

Rates: $99.00 plus tax per night starting three nights before and through three nights after the convention. This Includes free breakfast and free parking. In room internet will be $4.98 a night, but free access including an internet (cat 5) jack is available in the business center at all hours.

Special events:

Friday, September 3 at 2 pm: There will be a computer session for those who use or are interested in using computers: a comparison of our various software tools for the various types of cryptanalytic problems we publish. Interactive solvers rather than brute force programs are the main focus. Some ciphers will be posted on the website in advance that will be discussed that afternoon. Bring your interactive programs and show us what you can do. Any competition will be informal and for bragging rights only. Contact Lonely Ringer (lnringer@att.net) if you wish to participate by presenting your own methods for the ciphers. If you would like to add a cipher type, and/or have a con to contribute, let Lonely Ringer know. Those who simply might wish to watch the demonstrations and enjoy the discussion are also welcome. Click here to see candidate cipher cons.

Saturday, September 4: Talks, Cipher Contest, Banquet.

We will have a Code Talker as the banquet speaker at the convention. The Navajo Code Talkers Foundation has given us his name.

Sunday, September 5: Business Meeting. Visiting Albuquerque is a natural high – over 5,000 feet high. The air is thinner, so pace yourself. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Plan to use a high SPF sun screen to protect your skin and sunglasses are a must to protect your eyes. The Albuquerque Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website has tons of links and information for the area (www.itsatrip.org).

SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL FOR PAPERS

The National Security Agency's Center for Cryptologic History sponsors the Cryptologic History Symposium every two years. The next one will be held 6-7 October 2011. Historians from the Center, the Intelligence Community, the defense establishment, and the military services, as well as distinguished scholars from American and foreign academic institutions, veterans of the profession, and the interested public all will gather for two days of reflection and debate on topics from the cryptologic past.

The theme for the upcoming conference will be: Cryptology in War and Peace: Crisis Points in History. This topical approach is especially relevant as the year 2011 is an important anniversary marking the start of many seminal events in our nation's military history. The events that can be commemorated are many.

For more information,click on complete symposium article.

ACA Annual Convention and Business Meeting in 2013(?)

2013 marks the tenth anniversary of ACA’s first venture into ‘foreign parts’: in 2003 we held the Annual Convention at Bletchley Park [BP] in the UK, the first time our annual gathering had been held outside of north America. BP, famous for its role in the great allied codebreaking efforts of World War Two and subsequently in the beginnings of the computer age, is now a leading museum of cryptology. It shares its site with the National Museum of Computing [NMoC], which houses the rebuilt Colossus: the world’s first programmable digital computer.

I would like to achieve a number of things with this preliminary note…

• 1) To ask ACA members to respond by expressing their collective interest – or non-interest – in another overseas meeting.
• 2) To solicit suggestions for an alternative location in the event there is a significant number of those who do not wish to return to BP.
• 3) To form a small team of local ACA members willing to volunteer for the organizational chores.
• 4) To solicit all and any other helpful comments you may have – both pro and con.

The proposed target dates are the Thu-Sat preceding the annual Enigma Weekend at BP – not yet on the calendar for 2013 but typically the first weekend in September.

A proposed general outline for the agenda is similar to the successful formula used in 2003: Thursday – members arrive at hotel [Moore Place?]. Friday – program speakers, crypto contest, etc. in the BP mansion library. Friday evening – formal dinner in the BP mansion’s ballroom [with adjacent cash bar]. Saturday morning – brief business meeting [early]. Saturday – 10:00–16:00 first day of the Enigma weekend *. Sunday – 10:00–16:00 Enigma veterans’ reunion *. Monday – depart. * With alternative activities offered for those wishing not to spend the days at BP. These could include trips to Blenheim Palace [Winston Churchill’s birthplace], the Woburn Abbey Safari Park and others.

Please contact me via email at daedalus@cryptogram.org or via my mailing address or telephone number, which are listed in the current membership directory.

DAEDALUS/David Hamer