Interesting that there are math magicians with enough time on their hands to study 200 year old letters.
“...time on their hands to study 200 year old letters.”
From the article: “Dr. Smithline has a Ph.D. in mathematics and now works professionally with cryptology, or code-breaking, at the Center for Communications Research in Princeton, N.J., a division of the Institute for Defense Analyses.”
Not quite ‘time on his hands.’ It is a critical part of our Defense intelligence.