Coded Spikes

by Cecile Cinco

Last night we had power outage. It was blackout for the neighborhood. I heard that it was due to a bird that caused the short circuit of a transformer. It took several hours (5, I think) before the electricity was restored.

I made use of that time as an opportunity to think of a lot of things while in the dark.



This morning, one of those I was thinking about was put on paper.



That is the whole alphabet plus the 'space' and the 'period.' When written as a message, I know this will be difficult to decode because you have to decide which spike goes with what or if it stands alone, although, it's still easy to remember since there is a pattern in how it was created.

I, myself, will be slow at first but as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

I'll detail the code later when I have the means to do it with a computer...otherwise, I'll have to just write it down and take a picture of it just like the above pic.

While creating the concept in my mind, several names popped up like Heartbeat Code and Stalactites & Stalagmites. Since there are several spikes that do not cross the center, I thought that's not good a heart beat and Stalactites & Stalagmites is just too long, hence, the Coded Spikes was born. :D

The Cryptic Direction

by Cecile Cinco

A few days ago, again while riding a jeepney towards a destination, I took out my notebook and tried to formulate another code that is quite hard to decipher yet easy to write. When you know the concept, decrypting is very possible even without having an extra pen and paper on hand. It will just need your constant practice to be good at it.

I call it, The Cryptic Direction. It has somehow derived its emergence from the snake I imagined previously. Each "snake" is a word. Do you think you can figure it out? Somehow this gives a clue to the DUSCAT Code. :)

DUSCAT Code

As I was on my way to pick up the tarpaulin banner, I took out my pen and notebook to get ready for something. I did not know what I would be writing or scribbling. I just let my thoughts wander for awhile until the wind blowing my face almost lulled me to sleep. Then I was daydreaming about a snake slithering, sending a coded message...

DUSCAT Code was born. It looks nothing like a slithering snake, though. I just told the story about what happened. Below is the sample:

DDCASSSS TSSC SSDADTU DTSDCCCSSCDT DCDDCDCCTT

The reason it's named DUSCAT is because those are the only letters you can and will use. When you understand the concept, you won't even need a cheat sheet. When deciphering, though, you'll need some logic applied. It's decipherable. As I have always insisted, the codes I create must be usable without having to use any cheat sheet. It must follow some logic so you can get it in your head. Yet to someone who has no idea, the message is hidden.

This is good for situations where you are in public and wanted to write something but definitely would not want anyone else to read. Or, a note passed from one person to another but the people in between should not know save the target.

Do you think you can decipher this?