Word: secret
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Almost as soon as humans learned to write, they were devising ways to keep their messages secret. The Old Testament tells how the Prophet Jeremiah used a code word for Babylon. Julius Caesar often encrypted his messages by substituting letters three places farther on in the alphabet, i.e. D replaces A; E replaces B. But no matter how clever they may have been, the codes of antiquity-or of more recent times-rarely withstood the efforts of skilled code breakers. Mary Queen of Scots was ordered beheaded after Queen Elizabeth's chief spy intercepted and decoded Mary...
...today's world, the integrity of secret messages can be crucial not only to national security but to commercial and industrial operations as well. Yet as society becomes increasingly reliant on electronically relayed communications-and more sophisticated new gadgetry is developed to intercept them-it is becoming harder than ever to keep a transmitted secret. But now the code breakers may finally have met their match. As a result of recent work by Stanford University scientists, ciphers that are for all practical purposes unbreakable can be produced easily. Says Scientific American Mathematics Columnist Martin Gardner: "The breakthrough bids fair...
...years governments and military commands have been sending secret messages by so-called onetime pads. These involve the use of keys-the instructions for encoding and decoding a message-made up of long lists of randomly picked numbers that determine the letters to be used as substitutes. Thus if the numbers were 7 and 11, the word "GO" might be encoded as "MY" (G + 6 more letters, O + 10 more letters). After each transmission, the key is changed, so that even if one message becomes available in decoded form, it will not help unravel the next coded communication. Nonetheless, onetime...
...lucky to be able to provide Solzhenitsyn a platform for his dyspeptic comments on us. George Bernard Shaw, who endeared himself to Americans by the pungency of his contempt, gave away the secret: "To rouse their eager interest, their distinguished consideration and their undying devotion, all that is necessary is to hold them up to the ridicule of the rest of the universe...
...Square. Perhaps it's the pinball machines, which are the focus of truly intense play late into the evening, or maybe it's the extraordinarily friendly counter help; it's probably the menu, because once you stray from the cheesesteak you're on your own. Whatever the secret, Tommy's always attracts a big crowd. And he knows it, too--the prices just went up, and are now at the upper limit of the tolerable range (we just can't believe grease has gotten that expensive). Early risers should also check out the breakfast specials, which are the best...