Elonka Dunin's Website

Elonka-at-a-Glance

Other Pics:
Elonka Dunin, 2006. Photography by Suzy Gorman

The "River of a Thousand Lingams," near Angkor Wat in Cambodia Giving a talk at the 2005 NSA Cryptologic History Conference Doing my best 'Dana Scully' routine (photo by Suzy Gorman)

Elonka Dunin, photography by Suzy Gorman Elonka Dunin 2006, photography by Suzy Gorman

Me and Eric Bloom (lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult) All business-like and stuff Dressed up for an author photo shoot

A couple links with more (relatively recent) info about me:

My Wikipedia biography

(January 2005) An article at Wired.Com that mentions my Kryptos research.

(March 2011) A short professional bio

(July 2000) A rough autobiography that I wrote a couple years ago (updated 2011 version)

Current Projects:

(October 2010): Got my new game Fantasy University into Open Beta. It's free, microtrans model, so c'mon in if you want to give it a look. Got a good team on it, and it's written in a satirical style, with great art. Reviews so far are good!
(Fall 2009): Two new articles published in Secrets of the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel. And Dan Brown named a character after me in his new novel, The Lost Symbol! Nola Kaye == "Elonka". :)

(October 2008): Mirroring all my AOL websites, since AOL is no longer providing webspace (grumble). But all the pages (and yes, I do mean all, even the hidden ones, heh) are now mirrored at my elonka.com site. The homepage, including the Antarctica stuff, is here and the PhreakNIC Code tutorial is here. For the rest, you just have to find 'em on your own. ;)
(July 2007): Wikipedia is still taking a lot of my attention. Writing articles is addictive! See my Wikipedia userpage for a list... So far I've written or expanded about 245 articles, and have over 31,000 edits, which puts me in the top 200 of active Wikipedians. I'm also now giving talks about Wikipedia, such as at the "Games, Learning, and Society" academic conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Kryptos is also still a major hobby, and I'll be on NPR and PBS this month talking about it. See the top of the Kryptos page for more info.

Elonka Dunin, 2006. Photography by Suzy Gorman

(March 2006): My book hit the shelves in Spring 2006 in both the U.S. and UK (as of July 2007, it is in its third printing). It's being timed to come out with the local release of the movie The Da Vinci Code. I'm scheduling booksignings now. I'm also working on putting together a portfolio of professional author photos, as seen at right.
(February 2006): I'm working on an updated autobiography. It's still in-process, but anyone interested can see it here: Elonka's autobiography (as of Feb 2006).

(January 2006) : I'm writing and updating a lot of Wikipedia articles. For a list, check my Wikipedia userpage.
(December 2005): I'm writing a book! The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles. The 680-page manuscript is now being typeset, and is scheduled to be published in April 2006.

(July 2005): I am trying to identify the names of some of my ancestors, in paintings that were recovered from a ravaged family estate in World War II.

(April 2005): I created a webpage about Saint Raphael Kalinowski, my great-great-grandfather's brother, Joseph (Raphael) Kalinowski. He was evidently sainted by the late Pope John Paul II. Saint Raphael founded the monastery in Wadowice, Poland, which is where Pope John Paul was born.

(August 2004): I'm traveling the country giving talks on the CIA's mysterious Kryptos sculpture. For a look at my PowerPoint slides, check here
(January 26, 2004): I'm compiling a library of video clips of the Kryptos pieces at CIA Headquarters. These are from "setup" shots in various Discovery/History Channel documentaries, and also some private videos from news organization archives. Since some of it has never been public, I'm keeping it under password for now. If you're a bonafide Kryptos researcher though and would like to see any of it, let me know and I'll give you access.

(January 3, 2004): Elonka has landed on Mars! My name is included on a DVD that successfully landed with the Mars Rover Spirit. Whoohoo, I'm a Martian!

(December 2003): I compiled a comprehensive list of Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers

(October/November 2003): I spent two weeks doing a Sanborn Road Trip around the eastern United States, photographing every Sanborn sculpture I could. I also met and had dinner with Sanborn, and with Ed Scheidt, the retired Chairman of the CIA's Cryptographic Center. I'm still processing the many many pictures I took on this trip, but you can see a few here.

Other factoids:

Striking a pose with one of the taller office mascots

Height	5'11"
Weight	Proportionate
Birthdate	12/29/58
Residence	St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Marital Status	Single
Gender	Female
Sexual Preference	Heterosexual
Myers-Briggs Personality Type	INTP/ENTJ Introverted (I) 54.05% Extroverted (E) 45.95% Intuitive (N) 68.42% Sensing (S) 31.58% Thinking (T) 58.82% Feeling (F) 41.18% Perceiving (P) 53.85% Judging (J) 46.15%
Hobbies	Computers, computer games, websites (of course), cryptography, subcultures, puzzles, astronomy, dancing, and people
Do I Vote?	Hell yes
Political Party	Independent
Religion	Independent
Movies	All kinds, including obscure foreign movies with subtitles (I dislike dubbed movies)
Music	Eclectic tastes, from goth to pop to classical to heavy metal. Evanescence, Fountains of Wayne, Depeche Mode, Britney Spears (click on the link for a laugh), Mozart, Savage Garden, Bach, Duran Duran, Hamster Dance, Newfoundland Folk Music (Jim Payne), etc.
Pop Star I'd Most Like to Have a Chat With	Simon le Bon
Favorite Living Leader	Colin Powell
Email address	elonka@aol.com
AIM Handle	Elonka
Slashdot ID	Elonka
IRC Handle	Elonka (see a pattern here? <grin>)
Musical instruments	Piano
Website URLs:	http://members.aol.com/elonka http://elonka.com
Best friends	Carrie (St. Louis), Connie (worldwide), and Cindy (always)
Guys I wish I knew better:	<classified, encrypted, and then deleted>
Recent books read:	The Mongols and the West, The Mongols, Voyager from Xanadu, Classical Islam, A History of the Arab Peoples, Medieval Expansion of Europe, Crusades, Islam for Dummies, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Highest Duty, Secrets of the Lost Symbol, The Lost Symbol, The Devil Wears Prada, Secrets of the Code, The Knights Templar - History & Myths, The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple; The Trial of the Templars; The Templars: Knights of God, The Crusades through Arab Eyes, The Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades, The Man Behind the Da Vinci Code: An Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown, The Code Book, The Codebreakers, Secrets of Angels & Demons, Collapse, Saint from the Salt Mines; Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to His Life and Spirituality; Angels & Demons
Recent computer games played:	Aquaria, Plants vs. Zombies, Transference, Dream Vacation Solitaire, Mahjong Memoirs, Mahjong Ancient Wisdom, Gemsweeper, Katamari Damacy, Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, Prince of Persia, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Tilt, Cut the Rope, Desktop Dungeons, Spider, Hexis, Pikmin, Okami, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Toejam & Earl I, Puzzle Pirates, Civilization, Toejam & Earl III, Insaniquarium, The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain, Spider Solitaire (Windows XP), Dance Dance Revolution (home, arcade, and Disney), Finding Nemo, Theme Hospital, Obsidian, Gauntlet Legends, Space Channel 5, Bejeweled, Day of the Tentacle, Pandora's Box, Puzz-3D* series*
Recent movies seen (in theaters)	Adjustment Bureau, King's Speech, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Into Great Silence, Once
All time favorite movies	Lord of the Rings (1), The Matrix (1), King's Speech, Singin' in the Rain, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dark Star, Fiddler on the Roof, Impromptu, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Somewhere in Time, Star Wars, My Cousin Vinny, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Roxanne, Silent Running, The American President, Amelie, Chocolat, Ghost, Truly Madly Deeply, Highlander (1), Jesus Christ Superstar, Other People's Money, Secretary, Exit to Eden, Rocky Horror Picture Show
Car	1996 Toyota Avalon XLS
Favorite TV Shows	General Hospital, Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars, Mythbusters, So You Think You Can Dance, The West Wing, Bachelor(ette), 60 Minutes, Star Trek
Continents	All (including Antarctica)
Countries	~95
Languages	Several (most fluent currently in: French, Spanish, computer, & Sign)
Favorite Conventions	SimuCon, Game Developers Conference, Dragon*Con, PhreakNIC

Geek Code:

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCC/B/O d-@ s++: a+@ C++++ U*++ P-- L>+ W++(+++)
K(+) w+ M+ PS+ PE++ Y+(-) PGP-(+) t++(+++) 5++ X+ R+++$ tv+(-)
b+ DI++ D--- G++ e(*) h+() r x+(*)
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

http://www.geekcode.com
Decoder: http://www.ebb.org/ungeek/

Return to Elonka's Home Page

Page last updated: March 13, 2011


The "River of a Thousand Lingams," near Angkor Wat in Cambodia	Giving a talk at the 2005 NSA Cryptologic History Conference	Doing my best 'Dana Scully' routine (photo by Suzy Gorman)

Me and Eric Bloom (lead singer of Blue Oyster Cult)	All business-like and stuff	Dressed up for an author photo shoot