UCLA floor tiles decoded, pay homage to first internet message (2013) (opens in new tab)

(newsroom.ucla.edu)

107 pointsdempedempe2y ago24 comments

24 comments

The original link of this article about it posted at UCLA, 10 years on, a lovely 404, with no redirect. :\ Depressing especially given the context of the homage.

http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/a-coded-message-hidden-in-fl...

fsckboy2y ago

http://web.archive.org/web/20130708184738/http://today.ucla....

xu_ituairo2y ago

The Werner Herzog documentary ‘Lo and Behold’ opens with a great telling of this story.

Generally a great documentary about facets and characters of the internet.

UberFly2y ago

Thank you. I'll check this out.

jimmytucson2y ago

In case anyone else went to verify, note that the first character in the floor (01101100) is lowercase “l”, not the uppercase “L” (01001100) which was actually transmitted.

Kim_Bruning2y ago

Also it reads from the bottom of the page to the top. (took me a minute to figure out ^^;;)

anilakar2y ago

I wonder how people have missed those obvious 011xxxxx and 010xxxxx patterns before. Once you've solved your first binary-to-ASCII puzzle you'll be guaranteed to spot that repeating prefix anywhere.

teo_zero2y ago

In fact, it was missed for some months only, the construction being completed by the end of 2011 and the first rumors circulating in May 2013.

The title makes it look like an event of a historical relevance, but it's not.

MatthiasPortzel2y ago

At the Case Western campus, there's a "binary walkway," which is decorated with paving stones which form 1s and 0s. It's commonly accepted that there's no message to them, but it's fun to think that it just hasn't been decoded yet.

syndicatedjelly2y ago

Probably the only redeeming feature architecturally about Boelter Hall.

- alum

MontagFTB2y ago

As a fellow alum, can confirm. North campus got all the aesthetics. South campus got “the bomb shelter”.

bookofjoe2y ago

Having spent many happy hours in the years 1967-1970 between pre-med chemistry and physics classes in the Bomb Shelter, I resent (jokingly!) your apparently negative aspersion about the aesthetics of this go-to lunch spot.

philsnow2y ago

and the toilet fountain

1 more reply

rcme2y ago

Something about the story doesn’t add up. Plenty of places use single-color vinyl tiles. Why did the contractor so urgently need a pattern to put on the floor?

em-bee2y ago

well probably a type of tiles had been chosen, but no particular color, or even it may have been decided to use multiple colors, but the choice if which pattern to use had not been made yet. could have been forgotten about as it is not something that needs to be decided early.

whalesalad2y ago

U C L A Sucks https://youtu.be/wSTc2h0i-lY

proprietario2y ago

sorry, but I dont understand.. in what way? i thought the performance was pretty ok?

gorlilla2y ago

USC !== UCLA?

sintezcs2y ago

403 forbidden :(

frob2y ago

> “We succeeded in transmitting the ‘L’ … and the ‘O’ — and then the system crashed,” Kleinrock said. “Hence, the first message on the Internet was ‘LO’ — as in ‘Lo and behold!’ We didn’t plan it, but we couldn’t have come up with a better message: short and prophetic.”

I like to take this story one step further. After doing some work, the two tried again. And, of course, they tried to log in. So the first three letters typed across the internet were "LOL".

trashburger2y ago

This is the version I remember hearing about too! It's very fitting.

karaterobot2y ago

Worth noting that article is from 2013, the year the pattern was decoded, which was two years after the building was finished.

hirsin2y ago

Thank you for that context! It's so glaringly obviously ASCII that I was unsure why it would have taken so long to decode.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse