RE: Strange Signal <[email protected]>, Jul 25 2017
Ok so remember that signal I was telling you about. We'll I think I've figured
it out. I was noticing some periodic pattern in the data so I converted it to
a bitmap and played around with the width until I got it to line up. It's
definitely a image. I know this sounds crazy but I think these are actually
aliens. I went back and did some analysis and the signal has a slight blue
shift, which means whatever is making it is approaching, and fast. So we have
to do stuff soon.
I've attached the image, hopefully you can make something out of it, it just
looks like scribbles to me. You've always been better at this stuff than I.
Thanks
- Wheat Wizard
-- On July 12th you wrote --
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$\begingroup$ Love it! Too bad it's got solved so quickly. $\endgroup$– hiergiltdiestfuCommented Jul 26, 2017 at 7:39
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1 Answer
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Each scribble represents
the path across a typewriter keyboard traversed when typing one word. (One of the scribbles is empty -- unless there was a single pixel I failed to spot -- because it corresponds to a single-letter word.)
The message says
PEOPLE OF EARTH YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE THIS IS PROSTETNIC VOGON JELTZ OF THE GALACTIC HYPERSPACE PLANNING COUNCIL AS YOU WILL NO DOUBT BE AWARE THE PLANS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE OUTLYING REGIONS OF THE GALAXY REQUIRE THE BUILDING OF A HYPERSPATIAL EXPRESS ROUTE THROUGH YOUR STAR SYSTEM AND REGRETTABLY YOUR PLANET IS ONE OF THOSE SCHEDULED FOR DEMOLITION THE PROCESS WILL TAKE SLIGHTLY LESS THAN TWO OF YOUR EARTH MINUTES THANK YOU
(and yes, I checked all the words rather than just assuming after reading the first few).
If you happen to know
anyone by the name of Ford
then I would suggest getting in touch quickly.
answered Jul 25, 2017 at 22:41
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$\begingroup$ This answer is correct. May I ask what method you used to figure it out? This was very fast. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 23:42
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5$\begingroup$ You're welcome to ask but I don't think I have a very enlightening answer. The thought process went something like this: 1. That looks pretty incomprehensible. 2. Hmm, they all seem to fit into a thing of about the same shape. 3. Hmmmm, seems like slightly less than 10 things on each of 3 lines; perhaps each position coresponds to a letter. Looks like we don't use the extreme bottom right. Perhaps it goes A-I, J-R, S-Z or something. 4. The rows don't quite line up. 5. Duh, of course there's another way to arrange the letters on three rows. $\endgroup$– Gareth McCaughan ♦Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 23:55
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$\begingroup$ Then the third word was pretty easy to get, at which point I was sure my guess about the encoding method was right. The first two words followed, and at that point there was an obvious guess at the message. Checking was easy because (1) I know the text pretty well and (2) I'm a decent touch-typist and when I think of a word I can fluently imagine where my fingers go. $\endgroup$– Gareth McCaughan ♦Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 23:58
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$\begingroup$ I liked the puzzle, by the way. $\endgroup$– Gareth McCaughan ♦Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 23:59
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