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Message
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
I went back to The Amsterdam today after Frank asked me to try again but again the bartender didn't know what I was talking about.
ETA: So Frank emailed last night to say:
Quote:
Hey. Sorry I couldn't get in touch with you earlier. It turns out the first guy you talked to simply wasn't in the loop, but the second time around The Booksellers caught wind of the possibility that the package might be intercepted. I had to take action, getting in ahead of you to pick it up as soon as I could. I "convinced" the staff nobody needed to know the item or I were ever there, and then got the hell out before The Booksellers started sniffing around. I spent the rest of the day covering my tracks, so we should be in the clear now. I need to crash, but I'll post what I found on the blog tomorrow.
-Frank
It's too bad it didn't work out like the PMs planned and they had to construct this elaborate change to the story. It's good to see they didn't just drop the ball, though. Hopefully any other live drops won't run into the same hurdles. I do so enjoy the live drops.
Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:01 pm
VeritasK
Veteran
Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 98
Email from frank to insiders
Quote:
The password to access the protected posts on my blog will be "whatisIt," sans the quotation marks, of course. Make sure to capitalize the I in "It." Look for a post tomorrow with what I found at Amsterdam. Ivanushka can fill you in on what happened. I need to get some sleep.
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:46 pm
VeritasK
Veteran
Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 98
vapor wrote:
The next thing I noticed was a series of "bookmarks" stuck between several of the leaves; they are small printed cards with a joke on the front and a punchline on the back. The punchlines are revealed via scratch-off. Most all of punchilnes have been scratched off. The bookmarks are found between pages:
Code:
32-33, 56-57, 180-181, 378-379 and between the last page and the back endsheet
I'll post pictures later.
"Most all of the punchlines have been scratched off."
Do you remember which ones were where and which ones weren't scratched off? Did scratching them off reveal any text that might be needed?
Looking back at the stuff that was unsolved this might have something to do with what is still waiting to be solved... Possibly the Blog post that isn't up yet.
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:49 pm
Rogi Ocnorb
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee
Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 4266 Location: Where the cheese is free.
Speaking of "punch" lines... Sounds like Frank needs to go down to the Amsterdam and pay the bartender an "educational visit".
_________________
I'm telling you now, so you can't say, "Oh, I didn't know...Nobody told me!"
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:09 pm
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
So this is apparently what I was supposed to pick up. Anyone want to take a crack at transcribing this thing?
ETA: I see "The sun will rise" and then "pi r
2
" at the bottom of page 1 (they used the pi symbol and not the word pi) pi r squared is the formula to calculate the area of a circle when the radius is known. Anyone know the radius of the sun?
Also it looks like a tree with a sun rising (or is it setting) behind it. The second page looks like a clock schematic...sorta.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:29 pm
VeritasK
Veteran
Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 98
What have I found can we take it?
do we deserve what I have found.
That is right above it.
There will come a time where the needs of man ???? the fear of animals.
The sun never rises is in the tree foliage.
My guess at the last page:
now is not the timeventure will come why me
now what will me more then have a
less then the monsters then slouch
sbach
The time schematic is similar to the original puzzle. Why did he make that puzzle exactly as it was?
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:43 pm
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
I can make out:
upper left corner:
Quote:
The great network of people...inform
To the right of that:
Quote:
Su
N
---------------
(π
10
x100)
above the tree:
Quote:
There is a secret in the trees in the leaves in the grove in the SKY i've ??? the ???(possibly "math") of ??? the land ??? that was lost and the fallen
In the foliage:
Quote:
The sun never rises
and
Quote:
The sun is falling
On the trunk of the tree:
Quote:
A rise is a fall is a rise is a fall is a rise is a fall is a rise. There is ???(math?) ??? the ???(coast?)
The rest is a mess and I can't really make out anything else.
ETA: I could be grasping at straws here but possibly it has something to do with This popular downtown nightclub
Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:46 pm
VeritasK
Veteran
Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 98
No clue what the "bookmark" puzzle has to do with anything unless it will be something connected to all "books"
And that last child scribble page... Is strange.
Trying to decode child scribbles is a pain.
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:29 am
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
I kind of think the "bookmarks" were just a red herring. Could be related in some way we haven't thought of yet, but it didn't help locate The Amsterdam at all.
I have a feeling there will be more clues in the next book to be received. I've been asking questions about the journal and got a couple of replies.
Quote:
Me:
Frank,
Were there any folds in the paper? It's hard to tell looking at your scan and it almost appears that if you fold the page in a certain way some of the text will line up and possibly create new sentences.
-Ivanushka
Frank:
A bit crinkly, but only from natural handling. This was a scan of an original notebook page, I believe, which is several decades old.
Quote:
Frank:
Hey all,
>
> Just wanted to see if there's anything that jumps out at you in that notebook page? As soon as you think you might have something let me know.
>
> Also, I just wanted to thank you all for your hard work so far. You've been able to decode things and get stuff done way faster than Otto ever did hunched over in his dusty old antique shop. Poor guy has only become more frazzled during his time working for The Booksellers, and while I feel kind of sorry for him, it's a good thing for us.
>
> Keep up the good work. I think we're getting close to the goal.
>
> -Frank
Me:
Frank,
>
> Well progress is going a bit slow. We're doing our best to transcribe the whole thing. I think we've got most of it done but there is some handwriting that's hard to make out. What we've transcribed so far hasn't really led to much. They aren't quotes as far as anyone can tell. Seems like the just random thoughts.
>
> Near the top, there is what looks to me like a formula. It looks like pi to the tenth times 100. The works out to 9 364 804.75 and I was hoping it would translate to a coordinate but without a latitudinal coordinate to match, it doesn't really help. Maybe it is something but haven't figured it out yet.
>
> The only other thing that comes to mind right now is a part about "There is secrets in the Trees" which led me to think that possibly something of interest could be at the nightclub Trees in Deep Elum but that is really kind of grasping at straws.
>
> We'll keep at it and hopefully when the next delivery from the SB4L website is delivered, something a little more coherent will emerge. Maybe there will be more pages from the journal to be found.
Frank:
OK. Thanks for the update.
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:33 am
jessie1326
Decorated
Joined: 17 Sep 2009 Posts: 260 Location: Illinois, U.S.A.
Adding my observations to the mix:
The first page is a drawing of a tree with the sun coming up behind it. The second page looks like a device of some kind - a clock? It could also be a unit circle (this whole thing has my math geek thinking)?
The pages are numbered 7.51 and 7.52. Why? Maybe times? Sunrise?
I think the second page says:
Quote:
now is not the time the time will come ???[whynot?] ??[now?] when will we be more than human less than the monsters that slouch
Like I said, my inner math geek is working over time, but this all reminds me of trigonometry. The various references to pi, the indication of angles on the "clock device", and "the rise is a fall is a rise" makes me think of a sinusoidal wave. Not sure that helps at all, but I thought I'd share.
ETA: Okay, here's my go at the first half of the first page...
Quote:
The great network of people [symbol for "therefore"] inform
There is a secret in the trees in the
leaves in the gro??s [groves?] in the sky i've m?t? the math of
things of the land that was lost and
the fallen
[In the sun/clouds drawing:] a family will be found
not found made
the[?] make will[?]
be found the lost
lost will be found
and the found ???
The sun never rises [the u looks like a Greek mu, but that could be coincidence]
The sun is falling
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:58 am
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
I had an idea that possibly it you held the page up to the light, something might be revealed. I tried printing the page out front and back but it didn't line up very well (probably because of the placement on the scanner) so I did some Photoshopping. Interestingly, some of the elements did kind of line up. Maybe on to something. Will play around with it for a bit and see if anything emerges.
ETA: It looks like the one blog in Frank's blogroll has finally posted something of quasi-interest. http://caughtbythegil.blogspot.com/ and it's a post about White Rock Lake. Hmmm...I think I will comment.
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:44 pm
vapor
Entrenched
Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 1188 Location: Dallas, TX ya'll
What happened to the second book that got ordered. It's been over a week, right?
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:00 pm
VeritasK
Veteran
Joined: 19 Feb 2010 Posts: 98
I didn't get a book, or even an email saying it was being sent out...
Just got todays mail and nothing there. Sort of expected it to be there yesterday or the day before.
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:25 pm
deadmcdekh
Boot
Joined: 13 Apr 2010 Posts: 11
I spent some time trying to overlay the 7.52 page over a map of downtown Dallas and surrounding areas... the multi-line vertical lines on either side of the circle point seem to be highways, or major streets, with the serpentine lines (withe "islands") seem to just scream rivers... but I'm not able to overlay it with any accuracy. I centered on both Reunion Arena and Trees, but can't quite get it. There's a pretty close match around Reunion with 75 and I-35, but some of the other lines dont quite match up. Nothing screaming "Ah-hah!" to me yet...
Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 2:26 am
xoNightshade
Boot
Joined: 29 Mar 2010 Posts: 24
At White Rock Lake there's a "Celebration Tree Grove." Here's the link: http://www.whiterocklake.org/?page_id=500 Don't know if it's relevant.
Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 4:51 am
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