One Man Gang's "Tennessee vs the Maxims" Will be BACK!!

[OneManGang]

Hey, I know last year was trying on all of us but here's to better days.

Looking forward to seeing my friends and making some new ones.

I have topics selected for all the regular season games and even one spotted for any potential bowl! For a preview the WVU game will be the oddball with a Civil War theme. All the others will focus on various tales from the Great War as this fall marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.

I will be at Alvin York State Park over Veterans Day weekend for the centennial of Armistice Day which will be a three-day celebration.

Event Details

Closed circuit for my "regulars": If you are local to Knoxville or have some business in town, I will be giving one of the East Tennessee Historical Society's "Brown Bag" lectures on Wednesday 22 August at noon. The topic is "To Communicate in Perfect Safety, The Cherokee Code-Talkers in World War I."

To Transmit in Perfect Safety: The Cherokee Code Talkers in World War I | Brown Bag Lecture with Pat Gang

Come one, come all!!

If you can't make it, the Code-Talkers will be one of the topics for this year.

 

[eternal]

Awesome i will let my friends on the reservation know.

 

[OneVolNation]

Alright! Thanks for announcing this today, O.M.G. I know we're in for a real treat. I, like I guess most of us are, am at least somewhat familiar with the later War's Enigma code breakers and today's modern cryptography, but this is the first I've heard of the Native American code- talkers.

I have to ask you -- Is the title an intentional play on words with the "Perfect Safety" alluding to cryptographic theory and the concept of "Perfect Secrecy"? I would guess it would have to be but figured I'd ask.

It seems like we don't hear about that ideal nearly as much as Pretty Good Privacy these days, but the security we take for granted today owes much to the rich history that made it possible. Someone once said, "Crypto is like catnip to programmers."

To those unfamiliar with how it works, it can seem like gibberish or something they wouldn't be interested in enough to even give it a chance. That's a good thing if they're the people you want to keep in the dark.

On the other hand, to give the more inquisitive members of Vol Nation a little sampling to whet the ole intellectual appetite before your event and to honor the return of our heroic historian One Man Gang in the same theme, I prepared a message every member of Vol Nation can relate to and encrypted it with a one-time pad to be cracked for those up to the challenge.

Ciphertext/ the message encrypted:
bjwlvaxfhwbizaxcaaxxhugdrawlmnx

One-Time Pad:
assllirreiopoweilldethupawesinl

If anyone would like to give it a go, enjoy!
The plaintext is a message I knew you'd appreciate, O.M.G. along with everyone who is a fan of your work here.

A few hints: The one-time pad is the same length/number of characters as the encrypted message/ ciphertext and
the plaintext (the original message before it was encrypted). No punctuation, spaces or anything other than the 26 letters
of the alphabet are used.

If after giving it an honest effort you find yourself frustrated and want to take the easy way out, here is a free tool you can use
to do all the heavy lifting for you. You'll have to figure out for yourself where to put the message and where to put the pad and make sure you select "decrypt" instead of "encrypt" for it to work for you.


One Time Pad


Covert communication may seem unusual to many, but I believe there are more of us who enjoy expanding our horizons enough to appreciate it. I'm looking forward to One Man Gang's Tennessee vs. the Maxims this upcoming season, and from the description, the Brown Bag Lecture seems poised to be a hit, too!

(Edit: replaced codebreakers with code-talkers.)

*****************************************************************************************************
(*Hint: It's exactly 31 lowercase letters with no spaces or punctuation and has to do with Tennessee Football. It's not a complete sentence.)
If no one posts the solution before noon, I'll update this post with the answer to the cipher here:

*Update after noon as promised*

Here is the plaintext message decrypted:
breaksgodontletupputonmoresteam

You remember we didn't use punctuation or spaces, so otherwise
it would read, "...breaks - go... don't let up... put on more steam."

This is taken from General Neyland's 7 maxims (the third one) if it looks familiar.

The entire 3rd maxim:

"If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam."
General Neyland's 7 Maxims

 

[SKBubba]

Alright! Thanks for announcing this today, O.M.G. I know we're in for a real treat. I, like I guess most of us are, am at least somewhat familiar with the later War's Enigma code breakers and today's modern cryptography, but this is the first I've heard of the Native American code breakers.

They weren't code breakers, they were code talkers. They relayed radio messages in obscure (to the enemy) Native American languages.

 

[OneVolNation]

They weren't code breakers, they were code talkers. They relayed radio messages in obscure (to the enemy) Native American languages.

Thanks for the correction. I'll edit that. Yeah, I meant to say I had heard of the Allied codebreakers but not the Native American code talkers. In any event, whether you're encrypting your own radio messages in Native American languages in WWI or decrypting the Axis powers' messages from the Enigma during WWII, the overarching theme is covert communication.

 

[SoddyAllVol]

The One Man Gang and Slick “The doctor of style”

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Thanks for the correction. I'll edit that. Yeah, I meant to say I had heard of the Allied codebreakers but not the Native American code talkers. In any event, whether you're encrypting your own radio messages in Native American languages in WWI or decrypting the Axis powers' messages from the Enigma during WWII, the overarching theme is covert communication.

If I may be so bold, may I suggest a movie? It isn't my favorite code talkers movie but gives an interesting version of their story. Also you might find lesser known movie titled "The Code Talker" and the documentary "In Search of Navajo Code Talkers" of interest. So much at least in my time was left out of American History texts. Windtalkers (2002)

 

[Titan&Volfan4life]

Good to see you back my friend.

I always look forward to your weekly posts.

VFL...GBO!!!

 

[OneVolNation]

If In may be so bold, may I suggest a movie? It isn't my favorite code talkers movie but gives an interesting version of their story. Also you might find lesser known movie titled "The Code Talker" and the documentary "In Search of Navajo Code Talkers" of interest. So much at least in my time was left out of American History texts. Windtalkers (2002)

Much appreciated, man. I hadn't heard of code talkers before this morning when I read O.M.G. is giving a lecture on them. Thank you for these recommended resources. Yes, that movie and the documentary do look interesting. I find languages interesting in general and codes/secret language fascinating too. I hope to catch the lecture and that event at the park. I felt the same intrigue I experienced when I discovered cryptography the moment I read about the code talkers. Maybe it's the feeling of power knowing you can communicate what you want to with who you want to, without any of the message getting intercepted by anyone that you don't want to be privy to it. I don't know what it is for sure, but it's fun to learn about.

 

[Boca Vol]

I'll give this a BOOM!

 

[Pruitt Will Do It]

 

[photovol]

Hey, I know last year was trying on all of us but here's to better days.

Looking forward to seeing my friends and making some new ones.

I have topics selected for all the regular season games and even one spotted for any potential bowl! For a preview the WVU game will be the oddball with a Civil War theme. All the others will focus on various tales from the Great War as this fall marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.

I will be at Alvin York State Park over Veterans Day weekend for the centennial of Armistice Day which will be a three-day celebration.

Event Details

Closed circuit for my "regulars": If you are local to Knoxville or have some business in town, I will be giving one of the East Tennessee Historical Society's "Brown Bag" lectures on Wednesday 22 August at noon. The topic is "To Communicate in Perfect Safety, The Cherokee Code-Talkers in World War I."

To Transmit in Perfect Safety: The Cherokee Code Talkers in World War I | Brown Bag Lecture with Pat Gang

Come one, come all!!

If you can't make it, the Code-Talkers will be one of the topics for this year.

Shout out to:True Americans

 

[joevol33]

OMG, your threads are one of my favorites on Volnation!

 

[OneManGang]

I forgot to mention that I will also be at the East Tennessee History Fair this weekend (18 August) in downtown K-Vegas.

East Tennessee History Fair

Come by the Great War Centennial Commission booth where I'll have my HQ.

 

[SmokinBob]

Hey, I know last year was trying on all of us but here's to better days.

Looking forward to seeing my friends and making some new ones.

I have topics selected for all the regular season games and even one spotted for any potential bowl! For a preview the WVU game will be the oddball with a Civil War theme. All the others will focus on various tales from the Great War as this fall marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.

I will be at Alvin York State Park over Veterans Day weekend for the centennial of Armistice Day which will be a three-day celebration.

Event Details

Closed circuit for my "regulars": If you are local to Knoxville or have some business in town, I will be giving one of the East Tennessee Historical Society's "Brown Bag" lectures on Wednesday 22 August at noon. The topic is "To Communicate in Perfect Safety, The Cherokee Code-Talkers in World War I."

To Transmit in Perfect Safety: The Cherokee Code Talkers in World War I | Brown Bag Lecture with Pat Gang

Come one, come all!!

If you can't make it, the Code-Talkers will be one of the topics for this year.