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David, I showed Jack Haye this code of shapes with & without dots, I often used this for my napkins, hopefully they all translate to English, spelling is not an art, neither is math, When I can I’ll send you the explanation of the code. Roy
Endlessly creative, humorously innovative with a childlike adult mind, Roy Hoggard really does qualify as a genius. Consider, for example, those who thought in some way like he did: mathematicians such as Alan Turing, physicists like Richard Feynman, military heroes like Jeremiah Denton and John McCain (although Roy himself was decidedly nonviolent and antiwar), author/physicist Janna Levin, and every school kid who learned to write secret love letters and other dangerous (potentially self-incriminating) comments in a code undecipherable to anyone without the key. Not to mention world famous napkin artists.
Now that Roy is gone, I’m sure he won’t mind my sharing his secret code with you, my faithful reader, so that perhaps you can make use of it yourself.
In typical Hoggard style he sent me these two samples easily uncoded with the key at the top of this post. If you are so inclined and enjoy being amused without electronics, apps, and other mind-bugging devices, try to uncode the samples for yourself. Then, move on to the real fun and try your luck with the napkins below. Roy warns that “spelling is not an art, nor is math” and this means there may be some errors or screwy words in the coded message, but this just makes the whole thing more fun.
My answers are at the bottom of this post if you’re too lazy to work this out for yourself. And, as with everything I have to say or write here, I could be wrong. Now that you are proficient, maybe you can find a use for this code in your daily affairs. Let’s keep it going !
The napkins below are were all created by Roy Hoggard in the Sea Gull Cellar Bar circa late 1970s early 1980s.
Bonus: Thanks to a former bartender (and retired contractor) Abe, see if you can decode the T-Shirt below.
Think in the Morning answers:
SAMPLES
- David Herstle Jones
- Roy Hoggard
NAPKINS
Fuck the farmer
Yes komrad first tv then THC and rubics cube the’ll be upcs in oun hands
Chrysler samurai
Yeah it bugs me too
Genital exploision
Tulane or Nam
T-SHIRT
FOR BECKY WITH LOVE
My kind of napkin art brain teaser, challenges that you can’t do on a keyboard. Thanks Roy and David for the art of fond memories!
I wonder if he ever got to where he could just write it without looking at his key?
Oh, I’m sure he did which is why he made some mistakes. There’s something about secret codes within the realm of napkin art that is like giving the finger to the conspiracy theorists of today. You give them a picture and some scribble and they babble on and on about this and that when the answer is right there in front of their faces. Hilarious IMHO.
Thanks David, I need refresher courses now more often.
This is a taste of that fun.
Cheers,
Max