The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

The unmasking of a numbers station

It only took a little over fourteen years but finally someone wrote to me about my numbers station on the web.

From
XXXXX­XXXXX­XXX
To
rparker@numbersstation.info, sean@conman.org
Subject
Re: Leaderboard
Date
Thu, 06 May 2021 00:48:42 +0100

Hello, Sean,

I'm not sure how your mail server is set up for "rparker", but I've successfully found your main page, so I'll copy the message I've sent to this fictional character :)

On 2021-05-05 18:30, jonn@doma.dev wrote:

Hello, rparker!
Learned from numbersstation from SMOG mag [This is a now defunct on-line zine and referenced the Gemini version of the site. –Sean].

Only today figured I should check out the HTTP version and got some hints like the fact that it _is_ a challenge (thanks for "mystery" keyword!), this E-Mail address and COORDINATES!

I wonder how many people have reached out to you with the answer to the mystery, are there more puzzles to come and if so, is there some sort of leaderboard?

Great job, BTW, interesting stuff right there. I tried to make my own ARG some ten years ago, but it didn't go way past stegging a torrent file into a PNG.

…

Looking forward to your response,
kindest regards,
jonn.

I don't want to give away any clues, but the coordinates spoken of in the web page are not part of the puzzle—they just point to some random spot in Boca Raton (and I've changed them to point less randomly at Boca Raton). The email address rparker@numbersstation.info was picked to mask my identity (and was an intentional choice, that's all I'll say about that). And aside from that one post fourteen years ago, it is also listed on my projects page, so it's not like it was completely hidden.

Now I'm just curious if anyone can decode the message.

Obligatory Picture

[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

Obligatory Contact Info

Obligatory Feeds

Obligatory Links

Obligatory Miscellaneous

You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or entry, if there is only one entry). The titles are the permanent links to that entry only. The format for the links are simple: Start with the base link for this site: https://boston.conman.org/, then add the date you are interested in, say 2000/08/01, so that would make the final URL:

https://boston.conman.org/2000/08/01

You can also specify the entire month by leaving off the day portion. You can even select an arbitrary portion of time.

You may also note subtle shading of the links and that's intentional: the “closer” the link is (relative to the page) the “brighter” it appears. It's an experiment in using color shading to denote the distance a link is from here. If you don't notice it, don't worry; it's not all that important.

It is assumed that every brand name, slogan, corporate name, symbol, design element, et cetera mentioned in these pages is a protected and/or trademarked entity, the sole property of its owner(s), and acknowledgement of this status is implied.

Copyright © 1999-2024 by Sean Conner. All Rights Reserved.