[dheera]

> Generate a large number of named public/private keypairs and put the private keys on a spacecraft

I suppose, more practically, you could just put the private key in an envelope and bury it deep in a shipping container with a destination across the ocean. While in transit it's pretty damn hard to get to it.

[denton-scratch]

The shipping container will reach its destination in a few weeks. You could stretch it to months by repeatedly re-shipping it, like the cop-van stolen by the longshoremen in The Wire. But if someone else wants the secret, the longer it spends in a shipping container, the more likely it is to be discovered.

If you want your secret to last for decades, a shipping container is too vulnerable.

[ttyprintk]

There are a few geocaching approaches:

Sunken chest / mysterious treasure map

Beacon of high gamma radiation / undesirable to approach for many half lives

USB key in Jimmy Hoffas pocket

[lucb1e]

My inner devil likes the "too dangerous to approach" idea :)

About the last idea, I had to look up that name:

> James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913; disappeared July 30, 1975; presumed dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971.

Do I read it correctly if I understand "Jimmy Hoffas pocket" to be one implementation example of "any disappeared person's pocket"? Or is the specific person, their role, or their era relevant?

[ttyprintk]

You’re correct: the fame of discovering Jimmy Hoffas burial is high in pop culture. Maybe as high as Hacker News finding a usb key timelock where only a vague area is given.

[ttyprintk]

I didn’t know his middle name was “Riddle” that’s almost ironic.

[dustyleary]

Yes, Jimmy Hoffa is a "famous" disappeared person case here in America.

There are only a few "famous mysteries" that became such widespread memes in American culture. The ones I can think of are:

1. What happened to Jimmy Hoffa (who killed him?). "The Irishman" on Netflix is a Scorsese adaptation of a "nonfiction" book that documents an old Mafia hitman claiming to have killed Hoffa. (The book is nonfiction, the guy's claims are somewhat contested.)

2. What happened to Amelia Earhart? (Early female aviator who disappeared attempting to fly around the world).

3. What happened to and who was DB Cooper? (A man hijacked an airplane, traded some hostages for a duffle bag of cash at an airport when such a thing was possible, told the pilots to fly to Canada and then jumped out of the plane with a parachute and the duffle bag somewhere over the pacific northwest).

4. Who shot JFK?

[ttyprintk]

Thank you, I regret picking such a reference. Amazing to entertain that the guy who killed Hoffa could have lived long enough to write about it. As if reality suddenly became gentler, and all differences could be hugged out.

[KineticLensman]

Also, in the UK (or not), Lord Lucan

[ttyprintk]

Drone delivers a capsule into an historic minefield / make a Great Power clear an area to find it

Sow the hex digits in one crop on top of another / wait until summer to see the visible difference

[denton-scratch]

> USB key in Jimmy Hoffas pocket

First find Jimmy (embedded in concrete?). Then notice that there's no time element; Jimmy's USB key will be found when Jimmy's found, which might be tomorrow or it might be never. Then learn that he disappeared long before USB keys were invented.

I realize the suggestion was light-hearted!

[ttyprintk]

Slip a key into a random unsolved case file in LA / must digitize all files to find it

Choose a key from the DNA of a living Nobel prize winner

Place an opaque nondescript sticker over the lens of a surveillance camera in London / must disassemble all cameras to find it

Writing Sherlock Holmes level material is not hard