Cicada 3301

Cicada 3301 is a name given to an enigmatic organization that on four occasions has posted a set of complex puzzles and alternate reality games to recruit "highly intelligent individuals" from the public. The first internet puzzle started on January 4, 2012, and ran for approximately one month. A second round began one year later on January 4, 2013, and a third round is ongoing following confirmation of a fresh clue posted on Twitter on January 4, 2014. The stated intent was to recruit "intelligent individuals" by presenting a series of puzzles which were to be solved, each in order, to find the next. No new puzzles were published on January 4, 2015. However, a new puzzle was posted on Twitter on January 5, 2016. The puzzles focused heavily on data security, cryptography, and steganography.

It has been called "the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age" and is listed as one of the "top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the internet" by The Washington Post, and much speculation exists as to its purpose. Many have speculated that it is a recruitment tool for the NSA, CIA, MI6, or a cyber mercenary group. Others have claimed it is an alternate reality game, but the fact that no company or individual has taken credit or tried to monetize it, combined with the fact that none who have solved the puzzles have ever come forward, has led most to feel that it is not. Others have claimed it is run by a bank working on cryptocurrency.

Cicada

The cicadas (/sɪˈkɑːdə/ or /sɪˈkeɪdə/), are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. It is divided into the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and Cicadidae, with more than 1,300 species described from around the world; many undescribed species remain.

Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced not by stridulation but by vibrating drumlike tymbals rapidly. The earliest fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates. They typically live in trees, feeding on sap, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark. Most cicadas are cryptic, singing at night to avoid predators. The periodic cicadas spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, only emerging after 13 or 17 years, most likely to reduce losses by satiating their predators.

4th millennium

The fourth millennium of the Gregorian calendar will begin on January 1, 3001, and end on December 31, 4000. It will be the fourth millennium in the Anno Domini or Common Era.

Predicted/scheduled events

Cicada Stakes

The Cicada Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in March at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. Inaugurated in 1993, the Cicada Stakes was run at a distance of seven furlongs until 2006 when it was modified to six furlongs. The race is a Grade III event with a purse of $100,000 and has been a prep race to the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, including the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Mother Goose Stakes.

The race is named for the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame filly, Cicada. She was voted champion two-year-old filly in 1961, champion three-year-old filly in 1962, and champion handicap filly or mare in 1963.

Records

Most wins by a jockey:

Most wins by a trainer:

Winners of the Cicada Stakes

See also

References

The Man

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either passively, openly or via sabotage.

History

As a phrase meaning "the boss" it dates from at least 1918.

In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."