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Crack the Code to Win the Grand Prize!

It’s your last chance to crack the code and win the Book of Codes Sweepstakes! Today we’ll give away a copy of The Book of Codes, and the Grand Prize—$100 worth of UC Press books.

Decipher the mystery message in this video and send us a direct message [more...]

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The History behind the Fifth Day’s Code: The Theban Alphabet

The esoteric implements of the medieval necromancer included magic circles, conjurations, sacrifices, swords, and prayer; magical alphabets were also highly significant. Circles were traced on the ground, often accompanied by various mystical symbols drawn from a mixture of Christian and occult ideas. At the opportune time and location, sacrifices and animal offerings were often provided [more...]

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The History behind the Fourth Day’s Code: Hobo Chalk Marks

Just how the hobo chalk marks system developed, nobody knows, but as a means of providing vital information (frequently as a matter of life or death – or prison) of often considerable complexity, it remains unparalleled. The marks were left on boxcars, signposts, town signs, mailboxes, and fence posts.— Excerpted from The Book of [more...]

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Crack the Code, Day 4: Ride the Rails

Ride the rails on today’s Crack the Code Sweepstakes. Decipher the hidden message in this video, and send us
the answer via direct message on Twitter @ucpress, before midnight EST/ 9PM PST tonight.

We’ll select a winner at random from all eligible entries and announce it on Twitter (limit [more...]

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The History Behind the Third Day's Code: ASCII

The most popular and long-lived encoding language is called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). With this system all of the letters of the alphabet, all of the numerals, and many of the [more...]

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Crack the Code, the Third Challenge

The mystery deepens on the third day of our Crack the Code Sweepstakes. Your assignment: Decode the hidden message in this video, and send us the answer via direct message on Twitter @ucpress, before midnight EST / 9PM PST tonight. We’ll select a winner at random from [more...]

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Crack the Code, Day 2

It’s the second day of our Crack the Code Sweepstakes. There’s a hidden message in this video. You have until midnight EST / 9PM PST tonight to crack the code, and send us a direct message on Twitter @ucpress with the answer. We’ll select a winner at [more...]

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The History behind the Second Day’s Code: The International Maritime Code

The Commercial Code of Signals (later called the International Code of Signals) launched in 1857 consisted of 18 flags. Unlike the secret naval codes, this maritime code was designed to be memorized and did not require a detailed code book to be understood. Each flag represents a letter or number (note that only letters are [more...]

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Crack the Code: Day One

The Crack the Code Sweepstakes has begun. You have until midnight EST / 9PM PST tonight to crack this code, and send us a direct message on Twitter @ucpress with the answer. We’ll select a winner at random from all eligible entries and announce it on Twitter (limit one entry per Twitter account). The winner [more...]

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The History behind the First Day’s Code: The Caesar Shift

Probably the first substitution cipher to be described is that used by Julius Caesar in parts of his private correspondence to friends and colleagues in Rome while he was campaigning in Gaul. The code [more...]

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