unforum

[growfybruce]

Thanks, erekose.

The folks in #syzygy were wondering if we had any Aussie players - and here you are!

[erekose]

No problem, just happy to be of use (and to post something without being trouted ). I know a number of people in sydney who are at least mildly interested in the game, and who can be mustered in case of a real world event.
On a more newspaperly related note, the spaces are actually on the whole line and are like those you get when you press the tab key. to illustrate

we have full
confidence(three spaces)that,(three spaces)using(three spaces)our
knowledge of...

It could be put in by the newspaper, but it doesnt appear in any other ads
so it's unlikely. Also, I think there may be a variation of the spaceings on the other lines, but im not quite sure yet.

now back to my incoherent screaming at the scanner

[am520dj]

alright! things are starting to pice together finally. is there any possibility erekose that we could get a scanned or just regular picture of it.. i like to see the actual ad.

[zeldafan8626]

okay, I forget where but someone posted the Idea that sente and the academy will guide us to where the cube may be.

"As is well-known, the cube is a unique object, with certain unusual properties. We have confidence that, using our knowledge of its composition, we will be able to trace it without any difficulty wherever it may be."

This seems like that's most likely the idea. But I don't think we can still say if they are "Here" on earth, or not =/

And what about plugging the Trout ad in there too? (worth a shot right? Even if it's not in game)

[Caterpillar]

[erekose]

I'm currently trying to get hold of a working scanner. For some reason, everyone I know is offline (and these are people who live on the net)and every library and lan in the area has broken ones so it may be some time before I can get a copy up.

on a more positive note, there does indeed seem to be a pattern of different spacing on each line.

1st line. 1 space per word
2nd line. 1 space per word
3rd line. 2 spaces per word
4th line. 2 spaces
5th line. 4-5 spaces per line (hard to tell, but this is the most obvious line difference
6th line 2 spaces
7th line 1 space

as I said, this could be a printing abnormality or a mistake on the PM's part, but it seems unlikely. My spec is that this may be a code based either on the spaces in this ad. or, since the other ad's appear to show no spacing abnormalities, a clue to deciphering a message hidden in the passage as a whole.

[Sasuntsi Davit]

[erekose]

[Scott]

[Zzedar]

I find the phrase "unique object" suggestive. A "unique object" is the location of a file on the internet, plus instructions as to how to read it (as indicated by MIME). This seems to be implying that one of the files we've seen contains extra information if looked at in a different program. I suspect the .cache files; I've never come across that extension before, and I haven't been able to track down a program that can read it, although it is a recognized extension on filext.com. I notice that if you save it to your machine, it will automatically append a .txt ending. Anybody know where we can get a program that recognizes the .cache extension?

[KSG]

No, but given the relatively small sizes of the files (as I recall) and the fact that they do seem to be perfectly valid .txt files, I doubt that they could also be valid .cache files unless .cashe is another name for .txt. (Which it probably is.)

[Slithy]

[gubble]

Well, I couldn't find a Daily Telegraph anywhere in Adelaide. Hopefully someone in Sydney can get one scanned sometime

[Daffy889]

[da5id]

whew... just got back from a one-week snowboarding trip (really nice), and had to read al the 16 pages (and have some other threads left).

as the "trout"-discussion is apparently not finished, here's one thing to think about in regard to the trout-advert being from a fan: i do not think you can deliberately place your ad where you want it.

from my experiences, (albeit mostly magazines), if you called them and said: "could you post this ad above the one with the cube in it", they would tell you to bugger off. also, the ad was a day late (it was, wasn't it?), so how would the trout-poster know on which day to post the ad?

i see that my thinking has a problem: the trout ad IS above the cube ad. so someone must have managed to get them posted together. unless, and this is a wild spec, both ads were in fact one large ad. (and the guy from the newspaper was not telling the truth about the ad coming from another rep, and at a different time).

but, to come to a conclusion: i think it were the PM's posting the trout ad - they knew where the ad would appear and they could have convinced someone at the newspaper to post the trout-ad above the other ad (because the already had placed one, the ppl at the newspaper might be a little more helpful to them than someone else.)

oh well, maybe i should wake up before posting, i think i sound a bit confused