IN THE MATTER OF SECRET DECODER RINGS

For a very long time I have wanted there to be a Doc40 Secret Decoder Ring as merchandise and a prize, and for fun and insurrection. Now it seems the dream may be within my grasp. I have discovered a manufacturer who claims to be able to supply the object of my anarchist desire, made from recycled plastic, and very cheap – although not so splendid as the Ovaltine one above. If it hasn’t been discontinued since the web post. The only snag is that the minimum order is 1000, and since I have never been a mail-order wizard (quite the reverse in fact) I will need all the help, advice, input, donations I can get, plus a consensus that we need this thing as badly as I think we do. (It would also seem an ideal tool for Iggy and his post-FEMA resistance. See last Friday “Amazing Email”) Meanwhile here’s a basic rundown on decoder rings from the website Exploratorium.

“The Captain Midnight decoder ring (which is an "encoder" ring as well) allows you to do a simple substitution cipher. It usually has two concentric wheels of letters, A through Z. You rotate the outside ring and substitute the letters in your message found on the outside ring with the letters directly below on the inside ring (see diagram). Here, the algorithm is to offset the alphabet and the key is the number of characters to offset it. Julius Caesar used this simple scheme, offsetting by 3 characters (He would have put the "A" on the outer ring of letters over the "D" on the inner ring if he had owned a Captain Midnight decoder ring.) The word "EXPLORATORIUM" thus becomes "HASORUDWRULXP." Such a scheme was easily broken and showed a certain level of naivete on Caesar's part concerning the enemy's intelligence.”

And also a history from Wikipedia

And now for an experiment.

The secret message is…
53484f57204d4520594f555220504150455253

To decode…
Copy message
Click link
Clear box on webpage
Paste in message
Click decode.
(Disappointed? It’s just a test.)