, Subject: Mt. Diablo Code Observation   Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:14 pm

Some time back, a poster (sorry, I don’t remember who) on some forum (don’t remember which one) suggested that "ZODIAC" could be an anagram of sorts for Pi. That is, when taking the numerical equivalents of the letters in "ZODIAC" (26 15 4 9 1 3), the numbers could be reordered to form 3.1415926. Always thought that was a neat trick and at least a possibility, albeit unprovable.

Also discussed, was the relationship to Pi and the radian, where a radian = 180 deg / Pi ~ 57.2958 deg. It has been suggested that the Mt. Diablo Code could be specifying a number of radians beyond the magnetic north component of ~ 16.8 deg, and then a distance in inches to travel along that radian leg. That is at least the way I have interpreted Z’s "hint" he included in the subsequent "Little List" missive. For the record, I do not believe that Z was trying to "map out" a radian based on the location of two murder sites, as one of the sites is not even included on the Phillips map provided by Z himself.

As far as the Mt. Diablo Code itself goes, 26 non-repeating characters in a 32 character cipher. Only a cipher retard would come up with a homophonic substitution cipher like that and expect that it could be solved, even with subtle hints. Applying the Harden Key is nothing more than an exercise in futility, IMO. So, maybe it’s not a substitution cipher, which has been suggested many times over the years as well.

There are three sets of duplicate symbols in the code. They are the "C", the "O", and the unfilled triangle. The interesting thing I observed (and maybe I’m not the first), is the positioning of these duplicate symbols:

First Line – 1, 2, 6, 14
Second Line – 9, 15

Similar to rearranging "ZODIAC", I noticed that the fractional piece of Pi (piece of Pi, get it?) is represented in this list; i.e. 1415926. Had the first "C" been located in position 3 instead of 1, I would have thought I was truly onto something. But who knows, maybe it is something (or not). Or maybe I’m stepping too far into Ray Grantland. Any opinions?

-tbz

Daniel Gillotti, Subject: Mt. Diablo Code Observation   Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:13 pm

Aqua:

That is weird; I have to look over the characters again… nice catch. It could be a clue or misdirection…

1, 2, 6, (14)

1 + 2 + 6 + (1 + 4) = 14

9, (15)

9 + (1 + 5) = 15

Daniel…

AK Wilks, Subject: Re: Mt. Diablo Code Observation   Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:23 pm

BigZ – I am mostly in agreement with what you are saying, which is why I used the Harden Key for the first stage solution to the map code. As you point out, with 26 non-repeating characters it cannot be a unique code key. Something else is going on, and my thought it was Harden Key, as 28 of the 32 appear in the 408.

Does that make sense?

This is the Harden Key applied to the 28 characters seen before + four solves by me.

On the other hand, the numbers you cite are very, very close to being meaningful…