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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates

[UPDATE] Sentinel - 13 July 06 - Kaplan, Adrian, SF games!

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cassandra
Entrenched

Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 831

[UPDATE] Sentinel - 13 July 06 - Kaplan, Adrian, SF games!

Quote:

Kaplan Verdict Issued
By JEREMY CLARIDGE

The arson trial of Malcolm and Spencer Kaplan came to a dramatic conclusion this afternoon when both brothers were found innocent of all charges on the grounds of insanity. The pair will be remanded to a secure psychiatric hospital for treatment of their violent impulses. During sentencing, Judge Roland Feehan remarked that "these anarchistic tendencies are a danger to our society in any form, and it is imperative that such destructive forces are eliminated from our society. ... My only hope is that these incidents will have brought to light this disease of lawlessness that threatens to engulf our city, before it is too late."

Members of the public in the viewing gallery were audibly shocked when the verdict was delivered, as popular and expert consensus had predicted that the brothers would be found guilty. Annabel Child, a potter residing in the Artist's Quarter, was devastated: "Ever since the attacks began, I've been terrified to walk the streets at night. Now any would-be thug is going to think they can do what they like and get away with it. Where's the justice we were promised?"

Rebecca Glen, manager of Helix House, was also disturbed. "They're dangerous men and they should be locked up," she said. "The notion that they were somehow driven to this by images and tales from Earth is ludicrous."

Advertisement

The topic of Earth and its bearing on the case has been an issue of much contention, both in and out of the court. The prosecution fought hard to have any mention of it excluded from the case, but the quantity and nature of the material found in the Kaplans' home persuaded the judge to allow its inclusion in the case. Public opinion has been extremely divided on the role Earth has played in this drama, with many arguing it has been used as a scapegoat for the brothers' actions, while others claim these events were inevitable. Johan Vale, an accountant with PCBC, gave his view to the Sentinel: "We've always known that there was a darker side to Earth that the Academy has tried to gloss over. The moment I read of the war articles found in their homes I knew what had happened. ... Why do we even allow the replication of these subversive materials? The City Council should review all material coming from Earth and decide on whether it is appropriate to show to the people of Perplex City, whether it is suitable for our children."

The police have concluded that the mysterious symbols and names found at the scenes of the Kaplans' attacks all share an Earth connection. During the course of the trial, Police Chief Eoin Morgan testified, "We now believe the names found spray painted at the crime scenes are all references to prominent Earth anarchists. The symbols themselves may well be pictorial representation of the Earth; its seas, lands and polar caps."

After the trial, Chief Morgan gave a brief press statement: "We continue to work on the assumption that the Kaplans were part of a larger, organised gang. The brothers persist in their claim that they acted alone, but evidence gathered at the crime scenes suggests otherwise. Should any member of the public have any information relevant to our investigations, we urge them to come forward now, before this gang regroups and strikes again."

Quote:

Iona Interviews...
Adrian Hon
By IONA RODIE

Adrian Hon, part of the legendary Mind Candy team, is often a newsmaker, but despite repeated requests from the Sentinel, has always turned down requests for interviews -- until now. Still, his somewhat perplexing relationship with our geography makes it difficult to get a feeling for the real Hon; no subtle cues in his environment, no quirks of body language to betray his true thoughts.

He graciously sends over a few snapshots of his working area, stacked high with paper and electronics gear. A few other elements shed more personality on the affair, however: a small replica of the Rosetta Stone; a sepia-toned globe of the surface of Mars; a half-finished Syzygy Cube. Armed with this small feeling for Hon and his personality, I compose my first questions for Hon, and he quickly responds; in this way, in a few short hours, we have a complete interview.

First the basics; how exactly did Hon first come to know about Perplex City?

"It happened quite a while ago now. I'd just started a PhD at Oxford University into neuroscience when I heard about Perplex City through Michael Smith," Hon replies. "Naturally, I was incredulous about the idea that there was a whole other world out there, but the evidence he showed me was perfectly convincing. It was clear that they needed our help to find the Receda Cube, and while I was a initially little unsure about their proposal to create puzzle cards to tell Earth about Perplex City, I quickly warmed to the idea."

Indeed, the puzzle cards received a similar reaction within the city. But by now Hon must be accustomed to accepting improbabilities as the truth, given his daily work life. Speaking of -- what is it like for you to have one foot in Perplex City?

Hon responds: "Most of my communication with Perplex City is with people at the Centre for Reality Reality and the scribes at the Academy, including Kurt and Von; we generally talk about the development of the puzzle cards and making more Perplex City websites available to Earth. I have to admit that it's often frustrating, since the Perplex City Council has strict rules on technology transfer, and they seem to think that almost everything falls under those rules. Still, it's a fantastic experience learning from the people in Perplex City."
Adrian Hon

Adrian Hon

And how does Hon feel about the often-controversial Master of the Academy, Sente Kiteway?

"I rarely speak to Sente personally -- as everyone knows, he's an extremely busy person. However, I've taken part in conference calls with him occasionally, and I've always been impressed by his intelligence and incisiveness. He's got a very strong personality - it's what got him to his current position, and it's also probably the reason why he has his detractors and enemies," Hon says.

And after all of this work, the entire city wonders, is any progress actually being made, or is it all a stupendous delaying tactic?

"We're making progress, I'm sure of that," Hon assures me. "Hundreds of thousands of people around the world know about the theft of the Receda Cube, and tens of thousands are actively searching for it." Despite this optimistic perspective, he does admit some doubt: "We still have a long way to go, though. There are few clues as to its location, and the CRR and Academy have yet to figure out a way to track it down or detect it remotely."

Because this alleged progress is positively invisible to the average Perplexian, there are of course concerns about whether everything is as sunny as Kiteway would have it. Mind Candy hasn't always been treated kindly by the press. How does Hon respond to his critics?

His answer is surprisingly curt: "It's easy for people in Perplex City to deride Mind Candy and Earth in general, but we are trying our very best to return the Cube. As long as we can do that, nothing else matters."

Advertisement

And, while we're asking the difficult questions... what exactly is Mind Candy getting out of this? Surely Sente can't be paying in Perplexian lecks.

Hon's response smacks of masterful statesmanship, as soothing as it is calculated. "No, unfortunately he can't," he says. "Mind Candy obviously makes a small amount from sales of the puzzle cards designed by the scribes in the Academy, and through other Perplex City-related products and activities. However, I don't think that we're in this for the money. We're helping because we have a genuine interest in helping Perplex City. Just as you're fascinated by our world, we're fascinated by yours."

It's clear that this avenue of questioning will no longer bear fruit, so we turn to discussing more current events; for example, the new Earth-Perplex City data connection being built in San Francisco. The existing data connection has been sufficient for months if not years; why is a second link necessary?

"There are a few reasons," Hon explains. "At the moment, we only have one data link to Perplex City, and that's based in London. It can only handle a limited amount of traffic, and with the number of people using the link in both Perplex City and Earth increasing rapidly, we need another connection for the extra capacity."

Beyond that, though, is a firm belief in the prudence of redundancy: "Another principal reason for the new San Francisco connection is simply that it's always smarter to have two links rather than one. It took an awful lot of time and effort to set up that first link, and while I'm no physicist, I do know that the favorable conditions that were required to make the connection do not come around often."

In order to celebrate the occasion, Mind Candy is putting on a celebration of some sort. What light can Hon shed on this event and what will happen there?

"The event is a big thank-you from the Perplex City Academy and Mind Candy to everyone who's searching for the Cube," Hon says. "It's also a celebration of the activation of the new link, and in typical Perplex City-style, it'll involve an awful lot of puzzles and games."

Advertisement

As for specifics, Hon spills the first concrete details regarding the day: "It'll all start on the morning of Saturday August 12th with a presentation at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, where everything will be explained. I can tell you now that it's basically a huge high-tech treasure hunt, but with a twist -- unlike the PCAG tournament in London, this treasure hunt will be collaborative, not competitive." Even through the medium of email, one can feel the pride Hon has in this undertaking. "There'll be hundreds of puzzles scattered across San Francisco, involving traveling to landmarks, looking for hidden objects, cracking codes and translating languages. Players will work together to figure out the answers. The answers serve as activation codes for special RFID tags back at the Palace of Fine Arts."

For those of us not informed regarding the latest Earth tech, he explains a bit more: "RFID tags are essentially objects whose location can be tracked in real time by a computer. We'll have 100 of these RFID tags, and when they're activated, they become 'ready for play' in a series of puzzles and games there. You see, we're setting up a gaming arena there where up to 100 people will be able to move around and control the games collectively. You'll just have to wait until the event itself before finding out what the games are, but I gather that they're very fun, and very devious.

"I'm pretty sure that no-one has run a treasure hunt and RFID game like this ever before, so it's a real step forward for us. We're expecting up to 1000 players, and anyone can sign up at Perplexcity.com."

And what of people who can't make it to San Francisco? Earth is a large place, and surely not every Cube hunter would be able to make it.

Hon acknowledges this is a difficulty. "There'll also be an opportunity for people to help out online, by tackling puzzles scattered over the internet. The answers to these puzzles will also help activate RFID tags," he says.

Interested in how work is shared between Mind Candy and the CRT, I ask who came up with the idea of the event, but Hon is coy. "I can't remember who exactly," he says. "They obviously have a romantic streak in them, since it's by winning at the games that the players will directly activate the new link."

I persist in trying to untangle the division of labour between the two groups and ask how did Hon and his colleagues worked with the CRT to develop this event. A few surprising truths emerge.

"The RFID puzzles and games are being created by scribes from the Academy Cube Retrieval Team -- there are rumours that even Sente might be involved in one of the games," Hon says. No surprise there. Then comes this morsel: "The Academy have hired a private group to devise the puzzles, since Mind Candy don't have much knowledge of San Francisco. This means that Mind Candy is basically just providing logistical support."

So Mind Candy isn't actually even running the event? His answer only puts more fuel on the fire. "We've had an enormous amount of help from two companies in the UK - Someth;ng Labs and Wavetrends -- to set up the RFID technology behind the event. They immediately clicked with the guys at the Academy and we wouldn't have been able to run the event without them," he says.
Something Labs

Mind Candy Partner Someth;ng Labs

At this point, I am too astonished at Hon's nonchalance over the fact that his colleagues have admitted themselves incompetent to run the event on their own, and I fail to press the point; aghast, I inquire as to how Mind Candy's lack of involvement is likely to affect the event as a whole.

Hon seems, however, to see no problem. "Because Mind Candy isn't creating any of the puzzles or games, and we don't know the answers, an interesting consequence of this is that we get to take part in the event," he says. Then he strikes out into the realm of fantasy. "Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Academy arranged it this way on purpose so they can see how good we are at solving puzzles."

And what happens if the players can't solve the games? Does that mean this important link simply won't be activated? Hon indicates that the problem has already been considered: "Well, we have a lot of confidence that our players are smart enough to tackle them. Of course, if we run into any problems, people from the Academy will be on hand to provide hints and tips, so the link will certainly go up one way or another."

Quote:

# Forrester Takes Prize
# Earlywine Up in Polls
# Tokei Hospitalised

Quote:

LETTERS

OUR FAVE CONSPIRACIST DU JOUR

I find myself awestruck at the scope of the Perplex City's search, even broaching the boundaries of realities to cast their hopes to our shores.

But this may be in vain, I am afraid. It is my firm belief that the Receda Cube was never removed from your dimension to my own, given the scant facts that have percolated to us either by your august organ or the CRT's personal (and private) websites, which are housed in my home reality.

Instead, I put the question to the readership of both worlds: How is it that the Receda Cube has been transferred to our dimension when there is scant evidence that physical transport in anydirection, whether from Earth to Perplex City or the reverse, is hard to come by? Why would the thieves risk an artifact of such great importance in a potentially dangerous transfer?

The actual facts, however scattered, may be more noble. Master Kiteway may have learned of an attempt to steal the Receda Cube and created an ornate simulacrum of it, preferring to keep the actual artifact safely stored away. The actual efforts of the CRT may in fact be the "mopping up" of a failed theft by a group of highly positioned and trained individuals.

I further suspect that once V and his remaining accomplices are firmly in the grip of the law, the Receda Cube will be drawn from a hiding place in Perplex City, leaving the members of the Earth CRT frustrated at this duplicity.

I beseech the readership of both realities; demand answers to these accusations, find the actual answers behind the puzzles, and justify the trust that is shared between our realities.
Dan Wood

Ed. Note: This letter has been chosen as the Sentinel's Star Letter of the Week. The author has accordingly received five points on the Perplexcity.com leaderboard, as will future recipients of the Letter of the Week prize.

AND NOW, A FEW WORDS FROM OUR FANS

On 15-SEP-05 Cookster wrote an article titled "View from Earth: Teaching War." L.K Girwood wrote an article, printed on 29-SEP-05, titled "View from Earth: History of More War." fFor the 13-OCT-05 edition, Mokey Fraggle penned a piece which was titled View From Earth: War of Ideas." Hawk wrote up a piece which was published on 17-NOV-05, whose title was "View from Earth: Truth or Taboo?" G. Perkins' article, titled "View from Earth: Free Speech?", was published 15-DEC-05. Solitair penned up an article which the Sentinel pubished 04-JAN-06 whose title read "View from Earth: Good and Evil." And perhaps most bombastic of all is Chris Martin's article fFrom 19-JAN-06, "View from Earth: War is Good." I will not attempt to defend Jane Monroe's claim that Earth is not a land of hope, as we certainly have our ups and downs. However, I will not stand idly by while she suggests we have been hiding anything fFrom you. If you have a sense that you have somehow been mislead by who we are or what we are like, perhaps you should look to your own leadership within The City and within The Academy. We on Earth are pleased to help you, but the information you have been with-holding could choke a horse. Has it even occurred to you that The Receda Cube might be a weapon, able to destroy both our worlds? Why is it you tell us so little about your own misdeeds?
Scott Myers, Earth

I really must protest the unbelievable nonsense you recently published in your ever-muckier rag regarding my Evilness. Slander! Imagine my surprise as I read your irresponsible reportage while licking the flavor from a bag of potato chips before returning each to the bag thereafter. I nearly forgot to kick the cat on my way to the computer to respond. After a long day of hurling bunnies at babies, such a slap in the face is more than an EvilGenius should need to bear. I can only assume that this outrage -- outrage! -- is an attempt to spoil with me for a fight. Easy when hiding yourself away on another planet. Come down here and say that! Then we'll see who's evil and who isn't... My minions are gathering so watch your step or I may have to take the ultimate step and cancel my subscription.
EvilGenius, Earth

PS. Should be Centre for Reality Research, and has V ever been mentioned in print before? Have we let something out? And now I'm off to er, squee about the games.

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:19 pm

GasparLewis
Unfettered

Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 474
Location: vicinty of NYC

Johan Vale wrote:

The City Council should review all material coming from Earth and decide on whether it is appropriate to show to the people of Perplex City, whether it is suitable for our children.

See? See?! This is what I was talking about. They're using violence as a spacegoat to silence dissent, or at least get the wheels turning. Mr. Vale can be expecting some harsh words in my follow-up piece. Evil or Very Mad

Yay, Adrian, yay San Fransisco, boo me still not knowing if I'm going or not.

And good letters all around.

EDIT: Only for you, Cassie. Dunce

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:06 pm
Last edited by GasparLewis on Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

cassandra
Entrenched

Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 831

Violence is my spacegoat! I love it, don't fix the word, please Smile

Also, I'm highly curious about Tokei's hospitalization.

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:13 pm

achenar
Veteran

Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 112
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Nope, this is V's first mention to anyone but our little circle of CRT members, I think.

Also, yay for the Star Letter and Scott's letter also. Smile

Would it be worth perhaps dropping a line to one of the crew about whether or not they saw Scott's letter, what with that censorship discussion we had, but also to ask them if the average Perplexian view of we crude barbarians has changed since the arson trials?

_________________
YBFG: Gur Phor
Erjneq: Pnaql

V'z va! Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:22 pm

European Chris
Unfictologist

Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1264
Location: London's trendy Whitechapel

Quote:

bom�bast Audio pronunciation of "bombastic" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (bmbst)
n.

Grandiloquent, pompous speech or writing.

Cheers

_________________
http://www.hayfestival.com/archive/2006/05/blasphemy-debate.aspx
The internet, giving the entire world a license to opine, since 1989.
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 9:52 am

CherokeeParkes
Decorated

Joined: 03 Nov 2005
Posts: 236
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Typical puralistic response.

My gripe: ppl say violence is a disease surely, it can be cured. Not a hope.

If they ever get a wake up call it will change their little utopia beyond what they can bear.

Edit

Maybe puralistic was not quite the right phrase.

I guess maybe postmodern would be better. Cause getting them certified is saying that there is no truth or fault. Anyone see Batman Begins?

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:35 pm
Last edited by CherokeeParkes on Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total

European Chris
Unfictologist

Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1264
Location: London's trendy Whitechapel

It's a Daily Mail reaction. That's the point.

I'm not sure why it's pluralist though.

_________________
http://www.hayfestival.com/archive/2006/05/blasphemy-debate.aspx
The internet, giving the entire world a license to opine, since 1989.
http://littleatoms.com/

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:38 pm

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