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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Lost Experience » TLE: General, Updates, Spec, & Info
[Trail] Gary Troup's "Bad Twin" (was Valenzetti)
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Alderaad
Boot

Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 58
Location: Boston, MA

 		Has anyone checked the UK versions of amazon or borders or B&N?

Just because they share some information with their american counterparts doesn't mean it's the same info.


If I wasn't up to my neck in testing I'd be over there now.

-Alderaad

PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 2:10 pm
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ixalon
Decorated


Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 238
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Alderaad wrote:
Has anyone checked the UK versions of amazon or borders or B&N?


I've looked but there's nothing on the sites (90% of the highstreet bookstores in the UK use amazon.co.uk anyway.)

No copies on the shelves in Borders, Waterstones, Ottakers or Forbidden Planet either.

PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 2:42 pm
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Alderaad
Boot

Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 58
Location: Boston, MA

 		I didn't mean copies of the book .. but different video clips on the websites.

PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 2:47 pm
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ixalon
Decorated


Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 238
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Alderaad wrote:
I didn't mean copies of the book .. but different video clips on the websites.


None of them either unfortunately Sad

PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 3:52 pm
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Etymologician
Boot

Joined: 23 Jul 2004
Posts: 59

 		Didn't see anything at Powells.com or strandbooks.com.

PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 4:20 pm
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danteIL
Unfictologist


Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 1990

 		The "Speaker" at the ABC "Inside the Experience" blog, is now directing us to a Wikipedia page about Valenzetti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenzetti

It looks legit to me, perhaps posted there by puppetmasters?

EDIT: Upon further consideration, the stuff about the Valenzetti equation starts to sound an awful like the work being done by the Mathematical Forecasting Initiative at Hanso. Another possible Troup - Hanso connection.

Also, the intro page at www.garytroup.net has been updated with a message from the publisher about Hanso's recent campaign against Bad Twin

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:08 pm
Last edited by danteIL on Wed May 10, 2006 7:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
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fred_bled
Boot

Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 16
danteIL wrote:
The "Speaker" at the ABC "Inside the Experience" blog, is now directing us to a Wikipedia page about Valenzetti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenzetti

It looks legit to me, perhaps posted there by puppetmasters?


Also, the intro page at www.garytroup.net has been updated with a message from the publisher about Hanso's recent campaign against Bad Twin

It yet again mentions 'UN members' as the source of Valenzetti info to Gary Troup. And didn't we have a sneaky dude in the Hanso staff who used to work in the UN?

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:16 pm
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fred_bled
Boot

Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 16

 		Okay, this was most interesting:

Checking out the Valenzetti entry on WikiPedia. Looking at the edit history tab, and finding that the article was originally entered by a user named 'Pilotsnoop'. At first I could view some barebone data about this user by clicking his name, but on a subsequent attempt, I was told that there was no such user. So, someone has already deleted that user to cover up their tracks.

However, the article had also been edited by someone else, who was only identified by the IP number 71.140.128.230. So I check out what other contributions he had made, and found a comic book called The Middle Man - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middle_Man - and guess who has written it? Yep, Javier Grillo-Marxuach - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javier_Grillo-Marxuach - one of the main writers of Lost episodes.

The article about The Middle Man has only been available on WikiPedia since May 7, so it wouldn't surprise me if it has been added mainly due to the ARG. That doesn't mean it's definitely in-game of course, but it's certainly interesting.

Has anyone actually seen a copy of the magazine in question for real anywhere?

EDIT: The abundance of hits when Googling for the mag proves that it's a legit thing. Guess this is a clever tie-in by Javi Wink

EDIT 2: On the other hand, reading a plot excerpt from one of the episodes of The Middle Man, I can't help but recognising some fun things:

Quote:
The banana peels lead them to Simionics LTD (Building the Perfect Ape) where they find Genetically Engineered Monkeys. They are given the tour by a Dr. Gibbs. Everything seems in order, until they find that not only is a monkey named Spanky missing, but he had access to a secret room where he had been collecting and watching mobster movies.

After a few scuffles with the talking Spanky, they return to Simionics LTD. There, they are greeted by a legion of monkeys and a cackling Dr. Gibbs. She planned to build an army of genetically engineered monkeys to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!


PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:58 pm
Last edited by fred_bled on Wed May 10, 2006 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Ard@School
Guest
danteIL wrote:
The "Speaker" at the ABC "Inside the Experience" blog, is now directing us to a Wikipedia page about Valenzetti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenzetti

It looks legit to me, perhaps posted there by puppetmasters?


A quick pop to the history page for that Valenzetti page shows that it was posted originally by one unknown user named "Pilotsnoop" and then edited twice by IP 71.140.128.230...

which, when clicked on in the Wikipedia page, dumps you over to a history of all that IP's contributions. The only previous contribution that *isn't* about Valenzetti is a set of changes to a summary of a this-world comic series called The Middle Men...

all prior changes to *that* entry are by Speakerwiggin, who's the same fellow as Speaker at Inside the Experience. Before Inside the Experience had its own site, it was hosted at http://hansofoundation.livejournal.com/ and comments on it were answered by LJ user "speakerwiggin."

Hence, if it wasn't directly the PMs, we know it was one of their accomplices, since we know who he is already, and thus I'd consider it at least tentatively in-game.

That being said, dude doesn't know how to make a Wikipedia article look even *remotely* legit. Wink

Ard
still at school

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:04 pm
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Lucy
Decorated


Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 163

 		This sort of manipulation of wikipedia has been done before. It is not something which is generally smiled upon.

Anyone remember Jamie Kane?
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/08/13/bbc_punks_wikipedia_.html

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:07 pm
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Ard@School
Guest


 		Valenzetti and the Drake Equation
Also, the Drake Equation is referenced in the Valenzetti Wikipedia article. For those of you who need a point of reference, the Drake Equation is one of the primary underpinnings of the theoretical side of SETI. It attempts to quantify the uncertainty involved in estimating the amount of possible alien civilizations in the universe; it's a way of mathematically presenting the Fermi paradox, which, in a sentence, is "Where are they?"-- ie, if there are so many planets out there, where are all the aliens already? Why has no one attempted to make First Contact with Earth?

New estimates for the parameters of the Drake Equation come out from time to time, but it's considered more of a thought experiment, a way to provoke discussion about the issues it addresses. Likewise, the Valenzetti Equation, while it may well have a definite answer as to the date of the apocalypse in the LOST universe, is probably used to ponder the issues of nuclear proliferation, climate change, disease vectors, and freaky potentially life-extended Nazis.

Ard

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:18 pm
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Ard@School
Guest
Lucy wrote:
This sort of manipulation of wikipedia has been done before. It is not something which is generally smiled upon.


Yeah, in an OOG sense, this is not the brightest move the PMs could have pulled. That article will almost certainly wind up serving purposes for which it wasn't intended by the PMs, and result in bad publicity for the ARG. I mailed myself a copy of the current one just in case, and suggest other players do the same.

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:45 pm
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SpiralBoundBook
Veteran

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 115
Location: Oahu

 		Re: Valenzetti and the Drake Equation
Ard@School wrote:
Likewise, the Valenzetti Equation, while it may well have a definite answer as to the date of the apocalypse in the LOST universe, is probably used to ponder the issues of nuclear proliferation, climate change, disease vectors, and freaky potentially life-extended Nazis.

Ard


Sorry, OT, but man, this is funny. Seriously, I'm at work and reading it made me snigger so loud the guy in the office next to me came in to make sure I was okay.

There's stuff going on in the other thread (the OB:EY one) wondering if Gary Troup is the one we should be wondering about on that CalTech sheet, not only [Dr.] Mittelwerk. Has anyone come across any connection between Troup, Valenzetti, Bad Twin and CalTech?

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 8:51 pm
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RPGgame
Unfettered


Joined: 02 Jan 2003
Posts: 501

 		Just in case the wiki gets erased which i imagine it will.

Quote:
Valenzetti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Though shrouded in mystery, this much is known about the Valenzetti Equation: it is a mathematical calculation designed to predict nothing less than the exact number of years left before the extinction of the human race. Although little is known about the circumstances leading to the creation of the equation, mystery novelist Gary Troup put forward an interesting theory in his sole non-fiction book "The Valenzetti Equation" (a fair-to-middling tome which owes as much to popular conspiracy fiction as it does to higher mathematics).

According to Troup - whose research is primarily based on interviews with "UN members" willing to break their non-disclosure agreements, and recently declassified Soviet files - the equation was the end result of a study commissioned by the United Nations following the Cuban Missile Crisis. With their respective nations having just faced the very precipice of mutually-assured destruction, the United States and Soviet Union - under the auspices of the Security Council - secretly sought Valenzetti out as a disinterested third party and charged him with the creation of an infallible mathematical algorithm for the prediction of Armageddon.

Less than a year later, Valenzetti returned with his eponymous equation - which, reportedly, is not unlike the Drake Equation (sometimes mistakenly referred to as the "Sagan Equation"), but far greater in complexity. Because of the conditions of secrecy under which Valenzetti produced his work, the totality of the equation has never been brought to light, nor has his final tally for the number of years left before the human race extinguishes itself with nuclear fire. Compounding the mystery is Valenzetti's steadfast refusal to discuss his work (he is best known for allegedly torching his proof of Fermat's last theorem after it was verified by a group of colleagues). Valenzetti's mysterious death and Gary Troup's disappearance (and presumed death) on Oceanic Airlines flight 815, which was lost over the pacific on September 2004.


Enzo Valenzetti

Very little is known about Enzo Valenzetti, save that he was born in the island of Sardinia sometime in the late 1920's. Identified as a math prodigy from an early age, Valenzetti attended the prestigious Fibonacci State Institute of Advanced Sciences early in life - achieving the equivalent of a full doctorate before the age of sixteen - but his strident desire for privacy, compounded by a gag order placed on his personal information by the Italian government - reportedly in exchange for his services - has thwarted even the most intense of inquiries into his career and movements, and Valenzetti's death silenced many who sought to tell his story. Similarly, Valenzetti has never published his research - but his reputation is legendary among mathematicians and scientists alike.

As a young man, Valenzetti reportedly spent a significant amount of time in the company of such luminaries as Kurt Godel, Albert Einstein, and John Forbes Nash, but, as no record exists of his having had a tenure at any major academic institution, it is difficult to establish his exact contributions to the field. Most controversial among those who follow advanced mathematics is the contention, made by several prominent figures in the early sixties, that Valenzetti was first to devise a proof of Fermat's last theorem - a proof verified by several colleagues - only to throw the completed work in the fire so that - according to his former assistant - "other could have as much fun as he did in solving it."

Valenzetti's most legendary contribution is said to be his eponymous equation. Anecdotal reports indicate that Valenzetti, at the request of the United Nations, devised a complicated algorithm capable of predicting the exact date of the extinction of the human race. As with so many things relating to Valenzetti, the actual equation has never been seen. The result of Valenzetti's equation remains unknown and is the subject of much speculation. Sadly the answers to many of the mysteries of Valenzetti's life vanished with him after his single-engine plane crashed during a trans-European flight.

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PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 9:30 pm
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cpasquini
Boot

Joined: 05 May 2006
Posts: 30

 		The www.garytroup.net site has been updated with this text in regards to the anti-Bad Twin newspapers adds:

'A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER:
We have received many calls and e-mails asking about the recent advertising campaign done by the Hanso Foundation about our recent publication of BAD TWIN. While we can't respond to you individually on this matter, please know that this issue is of great concern to us, and we are investigating what actions we should or shouldn't take in relation to this complaint. Meanwhile, thank you for your attention and consideration. '

This has also been added to Hyperion's site:

http://www.hyperionbooks.com/titlepage.asp?ISBN=1401302769

PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 12:56 pm
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