Thanks for the feedback traveller and thanks for the other responses.
I am fairly new to the case and don't have a favorite person of interest. When I saw the "my name is cipher" and noticed the shaded in circles, I decided to give it a shot. Especially when I remembered the wiring technology about displaying numbers 1-9 by using the number 8. And how the letters start at the top of the 8 and work around clockwise. It's called 7 segment display if you want to look it up.
But at the same time, I have to objectively criticize my own work. Even though I wasn't trying to force a particular suspect, there's always a chance that unconsciously it occurred after reading through some of the posts. In addition, I doubt very seriously that it's an approved method of solving. At the end of the day, technology has come a long way and the fact the 340 is unsolved makes the use of cipher keys very intriguing. I personally believe we are dealing with abstract puzzles that will be left open for interpretation. Regardless, I wanted to try something outside the norm to see what would happen.
If I had to give a quick breakdown on the potential solution, I can say for certain, using the idea of the three 8's as cipher keys is truly not forced and I stayed in sequence with the alphabet until I ran out of space. So I stayed in order from A-L. However this is problematic because I eliminate half of the alphabet. By eliminating half the alphabet my odds of receiving those letters increases. It doesn't mean I am right or wrong but it's the truth. I am probably the first person you've had willing to bash their own work.
The real reason I posted this idea is because of pages number 3 and 4. I truly believe the bomb diagram produces a key. And I find it super interesting that you can find the "open" and "close" symbols arranged in that pattern. The question is...am I potentially right about it relating to folding the cipher or is there a message located in that area? I was hoping some of the substitution guys could check it out.
The "meaningless symbols" was a bad choice of words on my part. Nothing is meaningless. I was just referring to everything that wasn't a circle or a square.