I think it is an excellent observation.

I do not think most people in the general population could do this correctly or even know what it is!

I think it could point to Z having formal or informal training and education in science, technology, engineering or math.

Welcome aboard sir.

A quick ultra investigation must announce news?

Ha! Finally got it AK lol.

Question: would the ability to design such a schematic derive from classes taken by a Graphic Designer? Or might this not be too much a stretch?

up2something–

I think that makes a whole lot of sense actually.

If Zodiac was trying to prove how smart he was and how he could outwit investigators, why in the world would he draw up something that would make him a laughingstock?

Great post as usual, uptosomething! Always liked the way you think!

Zam*

…
But a while back, it dawned on me that Z has presented us with an "orthographic projection" of his bus bomb. I, along with some others here, have taken mechanical drawing classes in high school or college (mine was a required class in college). An orthographic drawing normally depicts the top, front, and right side views of an object. That is exactly what Z has done here, and fairly accurately I might add. The dashed lines he has drawn indicate axes of symmetry; when starting with the top view, the object is "flipped" along these axes to obtain the side and front views. Z has even portrayed these axes of symmetry correctly (a small dash surrounded by two larger dashes). I’ve included the pic below to illustrate the accuracy of Z’s projections; the objects line up just as they should, and correct symbols are used.

Some are not very impressed by the schematic and suggest that it would not be hard for an amateur to create. It impresses me, though, and I may be in the minority. I just don’t think there are many folks out there who are familiar with this technique, unless they’ve had some schooling and/or experience with mechanical drawing. Z’s is a sloppy drawing, but it appears he knew exactly how to construct an orthographic projection.

So what does this mean? My initial reaction was, "This guy ain’t stupid," but maybe I’m jumping the gun. Did he really know what he was doing and if so, how? Or was he just trying to impress us with his "intelligence" without really having a deep understanding? Regardless, we have a guy who may or may not have an in-depth knowledge of ciphers, radians, schematics, etc., but displays enough of an understanding to continue to make me scratch my head. Any thoughts?

Hi up2something,

Your talk of orthogonal projections and flipping across axes of symmetry calls to mind an observation that is also related to the Bus Bomb letter. I am wondering if anybody might see a possible tie-in with your observation.

Some time ago a fellow called Trent, who used to frequent Tom Voigt’s site, posted an image that showed something very interesting. It showed a way to map the months (Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7) from the bottom of the Dripping Pen card to the X’s notched on the Zodiac reticle from page 6/6 of the Bus Bomb letter. (I am hoping you can picture this in your mind.)

http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/sreply/134524/Des-July-Aug-Sep-Oct-7

I was quite impressed with Trent’s image. Many people have speculated about the meaning of those months and the meaning of the notched Zodiac reticle. Trent’s image made it clear they were related to each other in some way. It was obvious that one mapped on to the other. The only thing that was a bit odd was that his mapping put December at the 6 o’clock position, and June at 12 o’ clock. In other words, the months were flipped around the X axis. It would be more normal if December aligned with 12 o’ clock and June lined up with 6 o’ clock, and so on.

So, Trent’s diagram was totally cool, but it didn’t explain why the months were set to be equal to the number 7. (Des July Aug Sept Oct = 7). Most people seem to think that it meant Z killed 7 people in those months. Personally, I have my doubts. That may or may not be the case, but Trent’s diagram led me to feel certain that the meaning of the number 7 had something to do with the mapping to that notched Zodiac reticle.

Then one day I realized that if you flip page 6/6 over there is another page, even though it is a page without numbers, so to speak. And Z had written on that page. Therefore, logically speaking, even if it was outside of Z’s page numbering system, it was a de facto page 7. And furthermore, when you looked at this unofficial page 7, you could clearly see the notched reticle through the other side of the page. And from that vantage point, something interesting happened. From that vantage point, you could see how Trent’s mapping would work, but in a new way: the months would now line up with the corresponding clock position: December was at 12 o’ clock, June was at 6 o’clock, etc. in fact all the months lined up: January would be at 1 o’clock, February would be at 2 o’ clock, etc. It seemed very clear to me that the number 7 referred to this unofficial page 7.

Now, what does this have to do with your observation. Well as I had mentioned, this operation involved mapping the list of months onto the X notches on the Zodiac reticle on page 6/6 of the Bus Bomb letter, but after that mapping was done, it also required flipping the resulting image across the X axis of symmetry.

I feel quite certain that the list of months was really a transformation key, and possibly not even of interest in and of themselves. Once used, it is obvious where the remaining months map onto the 12 clock positions. And I strongly suspect that Z was giving us a hint that we need to focus on an operation that involves flipping an image across an axis of symmetry.

So, when your post began to discuss a case where images are flipped across an axis of symmetry, I began to wonder if there is a tie-in. If anybody has any ideas as to how these ideas might relate, I would be grateful to hear them.

Thanks,

G

Umm, yeah, it’s a "sort-of" orthographic projection, as taught in technical or geometric drawing a long time ago – before the term graphic designer was coined, I suspect. I struggled through a class myself, back in the day.
The are centre line notation’s (dot dash) aren’t used correctly, from what I recall. They would "normally" be used to mark the centre datum line like this (second diagram).
http://collections.infocollections.org/ … 3ae/4.html
I don’t know what this tells us about our man, but it’s a good observation. Not sure it’s an original one, but it’s a good one.

Umm, yeah, it’s a "sort-of" orthographic projection, as taught in technical or geometric drawing a long time ago – before the term graphic designer was coined, I suspect. I struggled through a class myself, back in the day.
The are centre line notation’s (dot dash) aren’t used correctly, from what I recall. They would "normally" be used to mark the centre datum line.

You are correct, sir. Can’t remember what you call them (if they’re actually called anything), except that they are designating a flip along that axis. Been quite a while since I took that class; guess it didn’t entirely stick. I’ve amended the original post to reflect your correction (except for the pic. too lazy).

Hi-

This notion of mechanical drawing ability fits well with Z’s ability to draft his blocks of code to such chilling perfection.

Mike

No, probably not an engineer, soze. Was he just trying to appear more intelligent than he actually was? Maybe. I guess I question why he would even bother drawing these other views at all. Just not commonplace, IMO.

First, I don’t believe there was ever a bomb. I doubt very seriously the Zodiac ever had any knowledge pertaining to a bomb aside from the word its self. I cant see him picking up a hand tool his whole entire life. To me, he was more of an indoor boy.

I do agree with your statement that he was "trying to appear more intelligent than he actually was" but don’t feel it was entirely inclusive. I feel that his depiction of a bomb and its many views were an attempt to mask what it truly was: locations on a map. Locations that were pertinent to him. Its my belief that the Zodiac was telling law enforcement how to find him but he wasn’t going to make it easy for them. This is where I do feel he was clever. The Zodiac had nothing to lose either way: 1. if he gets caught, his name and face get written in the history books 2. If he doesn’t get caught, the same thing happens. Its all a game and the only person who wins that game is him because i think he is satisfied with either scenario.

Soze

…
I feel that his depiction of a bomb and its many views were an attempt to mask what it truly was: locations on a map. Locations that were pertinent to him. Its my belief that the Zodiac was telling law enforcement how to find him but he wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
…

Hi Soze,

Interesting thought.

Can you elaborate?

How might the bomb drawing be a disguised depiction of locations on a map?

Tks,

G

I remember touching on this somewhere, think entropy was posting too. We we surmising that although those diagrams were roughly technical in their presentation. It was my own feeling, at the time, that he employed that as a graphic solution rather than as a matter of accuracy. I think it is his familiarity with layout that shows here with the "technical" diagram as decoration to that. He’s more interested at times in dealing the space and less concerned with the actual content, I think.

That leaves it open to quite a few professions. This is why I think that Z may well have been quite talented but with no or very little real world time in any related professions. Not ones that directly involved ‘drawing’ as a blanket term.

One of the ‘constants’, if there is such a thing, in Zodiac’s communications was mixing. He mixed styles, sometimes between the envelope and it’s contents. He mixed the contents, in regard their subject. He mixed words, chritmass, bussy, etc. He mixed the symbols in regards their sources, in his ciphers. This suggests to me someone who borrows from what they observe around them and then translates that to convey another message. Designers essentially do that so it’s why I lean towards towards seeing that? I don’t know but that behaviour is there. Of course I just see hints, never anything strong enough to, to point any one profession. All we might be seeing are shadows in these connections because they are all borrowed and the more important thing is the finished product and what it can tell us about the author.

Then we end up here again I suppose and asking each other these questions lol. Cyclic nature of this case.

A Tech Writer?