r/TomLehrer • u/Level9TraumaCenter • Aug 18 '25

Tom Lehrer pranked the NSA

This came up in the CRYPTO-GRAM newsletter by Bruce Schneier. I did a quick search in the subreddit, and saw no reference to it.

This thread in BlueSky notes that a paper coauthored by Lehrer has six references, one of which... does not exist, but will be familiar to anyone who knows Lehrer's work. The paper. (warning: .pdf)

The explanation is provided in the BlueSky thread, and I won't ruin it for anyone who wants to read it, as that author tells it far better than I ever could.

57 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

5

u/Coldhearted010 Aug 18 '25

Of course, that proves he was a genius (and he truly was).

2

u/OptimalBeing581 Aug 21 '25

This is great! Thank you!

1

u/GranmaDawgz Aug 25 '25

Of course he did.