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petunia
You guys can decide what to call us... the uC is fine with me.

Quick thoughts:
1. "when the night is black" = new moon
2. What is made of iron, magnetic, and glows red/orange?? Confused

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:43 pm
mortality
Ethan's reply
Re: reporting 0702 to the Hawthorne Group
Quote:
Dear Mort,

Re: Shannon's deadline for filing a memo with Hawthorne; I don't think she has one. She is on a long-term assignment with them, so it's not like she's leaving any time soon. I'd say you've got a couple days at least [ed. to name ourselves].

Re: your other points; That's an interesting perspective, especially when you mention the "tone" of the ritual and the fact that it does appear to be pretty recent. Do you really think there is cause for caution? I guess we are so used to dealing with things that are either so old or so obviously "not real" (even when they are perceived by the observer as being very real) that we forget that sometimes there are aspects of this world that can be very dark (even if that is just a reflection of the darkness of a person's mind). Point taken. I'll mention this to her.

I'll also ask her if there is any documentation on who specifically has had access to that volume of the Amphitheatrum.

Thanks,

Ethan Grant
Associate Researcher
The Whitechapel Foundation

ethanSPLATwhitechapelfoundation.org
www.whitechapelfoundation.org

1)Shannon and the Group
A)I think it's better safe than sorry
B)I think there are reasons to be suspicious of the Hawthorne Group, both IG (the ash, how new the page looked, the age of the language, the limited access to the Black Library)
C) and OOG: the Hawthorne Group novel. Djinn has shown a proclivity for referencing literary works and sampling from their plot.

So I think she should delay on revealing the cipher until she has the answers to some questions. And she should certainly hold off on revealing the cleartext for a bit.

2)Our Name
A)We have time to decide what it is
B) And time to decide how to implement it...giving Ethan a roster, using it in correspondence, etc.

Thoughts?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:29 pm
casablanca
Re: of names
mortality wrote:

The unCollective actually sounds kinda cool. Cool And while the 0702 puzzle solvers are the first representatives of it, we're all contributors.


Count me in for The unCollective. I like the irony. And I agree with Mortality that everyone who is involved here - whether it's with solving puzzles or breaking codes or figuring out the story - should be considered part of it, whatever it's called.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:32 am
mortality
The YouTube stuff comes from two comments posted to the 0701 Open Case blog page. There are two sets of encrypted characters. They look vaguely like the random codes YouTube uses to label their videos in the URL. We should expect videos at some point regardless because Djinn and Whitechapel are working on InQuest, an episodic documentary about modern paranormal experiences. Confirmation OOG via Visualfiction and IG via Whitechapel's news page.

We think the vertical symbols on the top right indicate phases of the moon.

Re: 0702:
I agree that "Five to three [is] the rule [?] all" definitely provides problems as is. I'm sure about "is," it appears elsewhere in appropriate context. And I'm sure that "all"" is definitely the right translation for the last three letters. A single unknown character precedes A-L-L. It can't mean "to", that is spelled out elsewhere. Maybe "in" or "on".

That last unknown symbol in the line probably doesn't mean "for" as I originally suspected. It doesn't match the use of F-O-R to spell it out at the end of the document. And the author didn't switch up between single symbol and multi-symbol representations for one word within the document. It doesn't appear elsewhere, so there isn't anything else to go on. But I can't think of another likely substitution based on English usage.

I disagree about the use of "at" before "draw" for the same reasons. Pronouns make more sense to me.

And pont puzzles the hell out of me. Pont is French for bridge...makes no sense. Occam's Razor: more likely that the author just messed up and left out an i.

I also think I'm wrong about "It" for the first three lines. I think the character means some specific object.

Thoughts on Shannon:
Ya know...I think we need to have Ethan urge her to be cautious in how she reports finding this document. She probably shouldn't admit to having decrypted it. And we should probably find out a) who had the book first (is there a sign out sheet?), b) whether anyone at the Hawthorne Group has similar handwriting, and c) whether anyone is an untidy smoker at the Hawthorne Group.

ETA: emailed about that stuff and to find out if there's a deadline for reporting the note and naming our group. Didn't provide a roster or describe us other than some have worked together before and some are new additions.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:51 am
Coffeebean
just shakes head yes.
I checked out the last message, and added punctuation (hope u don't mind). I was also lost on where you were getting a youtube addy....so for others as slow as me: dot slash circle backslash dot slash circle backslash dot : running verticle on same page (MSG4?) Is that where you were trying to make a word?

here is my version:

It must be iron.
It must attract.
It must glow the color of the dying sun.

Five to three is the rule to *ll (hell)

The first is when the night is black
at a place of power.

The second one, upon the next,
one league along the path.

The last upon the black night, following
the rule, prepares the place.

In all, the greater must pont true.

In each, the blackness will be ***. (this)
Prepare to fear.

If all is done in accordance, the glow
at draw of the shaped iron will be a
beacon for *********.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:27 am
mortality
of names and triangulated circles
We only have one Code Monkey, Igor. His name is Sebring, Sebring, faster than lightning. No one you see, is smarter than he... Razz

CB, I think someone (maybe Casa or Sylvia) made a brief attempt at the Simson Lines (circle tangent to a triangle). Zizka said he was hunting up a compass to do it more thoroughly. You'll need a more exact tool than a flashlight to get it to work. You can make a compass out of two pencils, a rolled up strip of paper and a rubberband...like kiddie chopsticks...and we'll call you MacGyverBean from now on.

The unCollective actually sounds kinda cool. Cool And while the 0702 puzzle solvers are the first representatives of it, we're all contributors. Like being the President of the Hair Club For Men...he's also a member (and I am not calling him a "tool"). Or something.

ETA: still waiting to hear from andh and casablanca. When we submit the name we should say that this puzzle solve came from people working together in one group (and I do like unCollective...it's punny AND descriptive!). And that it looks like there are some other people checking out the Open Cases but we aren't directly communicating with them.

We could include a roster. We could also describe our relationships/lack thereof more thoroughly. And it would make sense to sign our correspondence with uC or unCollective.

I'll ask Ethan how soon Shannon has to submit the finding to the Hawthorne Group, just so we know if there's a deadline for reaching consensus.

Also: would everyone not in the unCollective be members of the unCoolective? Very Happy

Lastly: given that Shannon is now a participating character, I think it's worth mentioning that there's a thriller novel by Thomas Hauser about a woman who gets caught up in some suspicious dealings by the company that employs her. It's called...drum roll...The Hawthorne Group. I wonder if we can guess which worker bee at Djinn has the library from where David pulls these books/references. (oh, and there's a supporting character named Mort. Go figure.)

How long until we see some Avicenna? Erasmus would be way too 'mainstream.'

Anyway, maybe the person who created our puzzle is someone who works for the HG and had access to the Scarpelli Black Library first?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:04 am
Rogi Ocnorb
Why not, "Code Monkeys"?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:21 am
Coffeebean
Quote:
CypherMonkey: A person required to do many hours of cryptology for free at the cost of MANY braincells.



We all get the same pay.

Has anyone tried to spin the circle with lines around the w.wallace triangle? I tried a poor attempt with printed copies and a flashlight.....maybe if I was at a Holiday Inn with said flashlight it would have revealed much more.

We (not really me, the puzzle solvers) need a name so Shannon can post her findings, and give credit to our "group". I like the unCollective.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:10 am
surfzoned
Why are we choosing a name?
ok you won me over.
We'll call ourselves "I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night." IS@HIELN

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:57 am
mortality
Group Name
As the (self-proclaimed/unilateral) editor of the final submission on that puzzle--plus I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night--I exercise my veto power on "the crazed." Very Happy

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:16 am
surfzoned
Code monkey
lol. It's just an example of a YouTube address. That link was the only one I could think of fast to use.
Me laughing at myself!

I would like to amend my vote for names at this time to "International Society of UnFiction's Crazed" forever immortalized as ISUC. Just because I can't stop laughing thinking about the initials.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:04 am
mortality
Getting random, contextually appropriate YouTube videos is like getting random, contextually appropriate Bible quotes apparently.

Code Monkey? They piercing the veil to poke fun at you, Sebring?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:58 am
surfzoned
I have a few more braincells. Bring on the CIPHERS!?!?!
    1) a name. I think "The Crazed" is fitting.

    2) yes the blog posts are 8 characters all lower case but when converted to base64 they meet the required length for Youtube tags. ie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA is a valid link. The important part is the part after the 'v' tag which is =v4Wy7gRGgeA which is very similar to the base64 encoding of lzzthmat which is bHp6dGhtYXQ= which reversed is =QXYthGd6pHb. I keep getting malformed tag replies from Youtube no matter how I format it though so I'm leaning away from it being that simple.

    3)If I understand Pingback and Trackback correctly from the Wordpress explanation they are both things that can be spoofed. (Meta: in other words WFC wrote them into the page code themselves and the link that doesn't work is just a part of the cipher as a total. I think the context they embedded the cipher in is supposed to be a clue as to where the cipher's solve will lead. Hence my belief that this cipher will lead us to Youtube or a website with more info and more ciphers.)

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:53 am
noam
Has anyone solved the solid circles/empty circle/lines at the top right of MSG1 of OC0702? It's symmetric, and like someone else said, it seems, at first glance to be morse code, but I doubt it is. Any ideas?

Why not combine Coffee's and mort's ideas into: the unCollective. Wink Puzzle solvers get final say, of course.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:52 am
mortality
I'm leaning towards something ominous and vague. Like... "The Collective." Very Happy

In the email Ethan replied to, I originally named Sebring, Casablanca and andh as deserving the credit (in no particular order) for solving the cipher. Maybe their prize should be creating our nom de guerre.

Re blog comment ciphers: Sebring and I batted around the idea that they might be YouTube hashes or something similar.

Ethan's evening blog recap
Quote:
Morpheus[ed. sic, title]
…is standing over by the door, tapping his foot, and looking anxiously at his watch (which is a really nice Oyster Perpetual…)

Man, I am tired tonight. I think it must be the excitement of the last 24 hours. The folks over at OC refined what they had originally come up with on 0702 and I was able to get some time with Christopher and Shannon before it got too late (she's 5 hours ahead). They went bonkers (to use the technical term). Christopher was incredulous at first, but once I explained the type of cipher and all he was obviously impressed - and he will obviously be able to spin this very nicely with the board.

Shannon was just beside herself (which is to say that she went immediately into 'deep thought' mode - I could almost hear her neurons shooting out of her head and zipping down the fiber-optic highway). She was able to assess almost immediately what it ISN'T. It'll be interesting to see if she comes up with what it is, or what it might be. Smart woman. Damn! I forgot to ask her about the lunar cycle part of it. Sebring mentioned that. I was thinking that the reference to three new moons might be a pointer to something.

I did get a chance to coordinate posting the solve with Frank, though. With all the people hitting the site maybe someone will recognize it. Or maybe a friend of a friend of an uncle will.

Ah well, there's tomorrow. Right over there. Honking the horn, telling Morpheus to grab me by the lapels and drag me right over there.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:33 am
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