In our quest to understand cryptography, we delve into a little-remembered codebreaking incident during World War I that helped bring the United States into the conflict and also may have denied Metallica the inaugural Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental in 1989. Ok not really on that Metallica part.

In Falken's Maze, technologist and former professor Jason Thomas explores the intersection of technology, history, and culture. Created for listeners nostalgic for the 80s but who also want to understand the complexities of today, this podcast demystifies the world's most compelling technologies and events through 80's movies, music, and television.

This is where history, tech, and retro pop collide.

If you enjoy the show, tell a friend, leave a review, click some stars!!

Find us online at www.falkenspodcast.com.

References:

1. Alice Cooper and Lita Ford Award Announcement (Grammys 1989)


2. Metallica 1989 Grammy Performance "One"


3. Johnny Got his Gun by Dalton Trumbo


4. This Code Has Stumped the FBI for Over 15 Years (Mental Floss March 2017)


5. FBI - Help Solve and Open Murder Case


6. If you think you have solved the McCormick coded messages, you can let the FBI know here.


7. How to Break Codes by the FBI


8. The Zimmerman Telegram from the US National Archives


9. Unclassified Summary of the Zimmerman Telegram and its Cryptographic Background


10. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh


11. Cyberspies: The Secret History of Surveillance, Hacking, and Digital Espionage by Gordon Corera


12. The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman

Music:

• CBS Special Presentation Intro


• Street Dancing by Timecrawler 82 is Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (4.0) International license


• Paint The Sky by Dysfunction_AL (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Photo by Stijn Swinnen