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Independent Submission S. Three
Request for Comments: 9972
Category: Informational Code Guessing
ISSN: 2070-1721 Miscellaneous Guessing
Event Guessing
Independent
Maruary 2026
Method for lychee to Communicate with Xir Friend Overseas
Abstract
This is an outline of a method to provide fault tolerant means of
communicating an array of messages to persons possibly a long way
from the sender without the need for traditional infrastructure by
blotting out the sun at regular intervals.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independently of any other
RFC stream. The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at
its discretion and makes no statement about its value for
implementation or deployment. Documents approved for publication by
the RFC Editor are not candidates for any level of Internet Standard;
see Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9972.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Conventions Used in This Document
1.2. Expected Use Case
2. Protocol Overview
2.1. Blotting Out the Sun
2.2. Error Correction
3. Messages
3.1. Important Messages
3.2. List of Messages
1. Introduction
Long distance communication can induce many errors in transmission.
Blotting out the sun works consistently across large distances and so
suffers from significantly less errors than other means of
communicating long distances.
The purpose of this document is to make information on blotting out
the sun for communication available to the Code Guessing community.
This work is not an Internet Standard and does not have the consensus
of the IETF community.
1.1. Conventions Used in This Document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
1.2. Expected Use Case
Due to the limited number of suns available from earth this protocol
is expected to be used for a single communicator at a time. In this
case lychee and xir interlocutor.
2. Protocol Overview
The protocol sends messages as 730 "cycles" with a value of "blot"
when the sender is blotting out the sun and a value of "unblot" when
the sender is not blotting out the sun. The sender MAY send 732
cycles every 4 years. These cycles are sent over the course of a
solar year, which is approximately twice a day.
2.1. Blotting Out the Sun
The method of blotting out the sun is left to the implementation.
However, it is RECOMMENDED that the shadow of the Earth is used by
speeding up and slowing down the rotation of the Earth.
2.1. Error Correction
There is largely no need for error correction from the receiving end
of the message due to the vast nature of the method of sending the
message. However, sending the message may suffer equine errors.
This protocol intends to account for up to 2 errors per message as
long as they are caught by the start of the next cycle. If an error
is detected then the next 4 cycles MUST repeat the corrected value.
For example, consider the following partial message:
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| ... in June I had a good day when I ate pizza for ... |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| ... blot blot unblot blot unblot blot blot unblot ... |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
And making an error, and correcting it:
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| ... in June I had a bad, oops I meant a good, day ... |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| ... blot blot unblot unblot blot blot blot blot ... |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
3. Messages
This section outlines all of the messages that are included in the
protocol. These messages are of particular interest for comment as
these are the most likely features to change.
It is worth noting that although these messages SHOULD be delivered
as written, these messages MAY be altered to adjust the tone of the
delivery as long as the meaning remains.
3.1. Important Messages
There are some important messages that are worth outlining before the
main body. This includes the most frequently sent message:
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
| blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot blot unblot |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| My yeah was alright, thanks. How was yours? |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
3.2. List of Messages
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot |
| blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot |
| blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot |
| blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot blot |
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