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[Daffy889]

[Hunting4Treasure]

Hmm... Another idea... Doesn't infrared pick up heat? How about heating the card (*not* in the microwave!), and then look at it with the infrared light?

I know I'm grasping at straws, but does anyone else have any ideas?

[ryknow]

I tried heating it up in a frying pan and looking at it with the infrared nightvistion...nothing new seemed to be visible.

Elucidate also means "Illustrate" (from the thesaurus), and it is odd that the lines are pixelated (like rasterized and then enlarged), while the grayscale regions seem more like vector shapes (smooth at any size) like you would create in adobe 'illustrator'.

Are the levels of gray significant if you use the background color as your 'reference white' level? It would be interesting if the ratio of the different levels looked familiar....

[sotonrich]

ok another tagent of thought...............adrian hon is a fan of the mars trilogy by kim stanley robinson.............now i havent read these's books but do they contain any images? could this be a map within the book?

[locqust]

Now heres an interesting question

The lines on this card, do they go under the blobs or over? Ive noticed that the lines are graded grey depending upon the background/foreground blob shade of grey (im trying to refrain from using the term colour here)

If these lines are indeed under the blobs then it would imply that the lines are bent due to the "weight" of the blob on top, hence the grading of grey.

If on top of the blobs then also graded due to height above the blobs.

To be honest this still doesnt give me a clue as to what the thing is but maybe it will kickstart some1 elses brain into gear on this

[Wowbagger]

Does everyone else's card have a straight vertical white line running 2cm parallel to the right hand edge of the card? It's strikingly obvious on mine and yet no-one's mentioned it and I can't see it in the scan. It gives me the impression at least that the background to the right of the line is a slightly different colour when held up to the light at least, making me wonder about hidden messages.

Someone mentioned they'd taken the thing apart (monkeytroll I think) and found some foil. Was it definitely foil all the way through? Covering the whole surface area of the card, I mean. I was thinking that there could be a radioopaque message hidden, ie one that would require an Xray to view. Problem is that there are all sorts of safeguards for taking Xrays, so I can't just pop to work and stick the card on the table. If anyone is due for an chest Xray though, stick the card in your top pocket!

[Jakeo]

I believe the vertical line is a printing error. I don't have one on my elucidate card, but it does appear on my 'riemann' but on the left side of the card.

[monkeytroll]

Yeah it was a thin sheet of foil that had the card details printed on, and then stuck to a blank card. The edges of the card show you the actual foil, without the circle set markings as they're obviuosly part of the print process. Once off the card the foil tends to curl and crumple affecting the printing and it has started to flake a little in places (the printing).Actually it rolls up rather nicely and if I don't watch out I may try smoking it soon.

I've noticed a similar line on a couple of cards now and I'm pretty sure I recall someone else mentioning it elsewhere. Looking at my silvers there's a faint one on Shuffled (I think that's where I saw it mentioned) and a really obvious one on T-L-P. I believe a copy I traded had a faint line on it too. So I'm thinking it's just some artefact of the printing process, but hey I'll try chatting up my dentist (obviuosly purely for reasons of the game) next time I'm there!

So far I've noticed people cutting their cards up, microwaving and pulling them apart. And we like thes puzzles because they stimulate the intellect?

[chichiri]

Methinks the multispectral thingamajig could actually be linked to the floorplan-like design in the background discussed earlier, that was kind using a filter to ignore the main picture and see other things, maybe this will help, but I doubt it.

no da

[monkeytroll]

Just asked the same thing over at the PXC forums, but what conditions have we tried subjecting this card to. To my knowledge:
IR filters
Polarising filters
3D glasses
heat
cold
UV (short/medium/long)
Coloured lighting
pulling apart

Any others? And what hven't we tried yet?
IR illumination, x-ray, MRI, microscopes, chemical reactions, low-level lasers, ultrasound, vacuum exposure, what else? (Stupid doesn't always mean wrong does it?)

Locqust, when you say those 'floorplans' were visible on the card where they the same as on the scan? (I can't check mine till I get a replacement now)

[Langley Moor]

I've had a good look at mine, and I can't see these 'floorplans' anywhere, suggesting it's not a valid route to go down... if some cards don't have it on, it can hardly be the answer!

[Wowbagger]

[locqust]

I did indeed catch the floorplan on the real card not the scan, I held it up with a daylight simulation bulb throwing light on it and if I turned the card right the plan was visible...ish.
But as I said before its possible that these were printing thingamabobs rather than part of the card. If anybody else can see them then maybe it is a proper part of the card, if not then Im gonna put it down alongside the white veritcal line phenomenom (I know thats spelt wrong!)

As to the multitude of odd ideas floating around (like ripping your card up ) I honestly don't think they are needed, it seems daft to have to use these methods, many of which can damage, on a card that is near enough impossible to get hold of without resorting to e-bay. It must be something alot simpler that we are just not seeing.

I did have an odd dream about this card, that perhaps its a banana and an apple and the grey bits werent needed, like a reverse shadow?.....Yeah worried me too!

[monkeytroll]

OMG -it's a fruit bowl, how did we not see that?
Somehow I doubt you're the only one having strange dreams locqust.

Now I agree that destructive methods are probably the wrong approach (my mind takes odd turns sometimes and I just had to follow it on that one) but we do know Mind Candy have said there are some pretty far out effects from their printing processes and I'm just trying to get some more ideas flowing.
To be honest I still think p-wave anisotropy as found by tomkirkman is the closest yet, but.....

{Going back to the bug-out ideas section - as I've already destroyed my card I'm willing to try it for invisible inks as per Wowbagger's post, but I only have the one so what do we think is the best option? I don't believe it will gain anything but what's to lose - it's all a laugh right?}

P.S. apologies for the hideous spellings/typos I've noticed in my previous posts.

[firebird]

Has anyone tried lemon juice on the card? Or more specifically lemon juice and heat? We used to do this as kids ....

I've looked through the Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars books but no map resembling this card. Alas.