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Puzzle Experiment #6
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah

 		Puzzle Experiment #6
Google Blogs Hacked
news_article.jpg
 Description   
 Filesize   34.31KB
 Viewed   126 Time(s)

news_article.jpg

PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:44 pm
Last edited by Omega on Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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clownhater7
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Joined: 01 Nov 2005
Posts: 90
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
http://different-freedom.blogspot.com/


Has an article with various misspellings:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
http://www.mediafire.com/ is the first part. What I found led to the wrong place so someone check this text, taken directly from blogspot:


spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they'd soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason?. Harassment ain't even the half of it. Forty-one shots tod two raised hands, cell phones and wajllets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I'd introduce them to pigs who love making teir guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bulles, making them a walking bull's eye, a livin piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we'll see if they finally weren' aware of the truth, if their eyes weren't finally open like a box of Pandora.

I'd show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The 3bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's clothing. T.K.O.'d by the right hooksc of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a rain, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.

They keep telling us all is equal. I'd tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary ars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build morej prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays.




this is what i got: http://www.mediafire.com/?djhtgt3twj

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:50 pm
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tabster
Decorated


Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 244
Location: Ohio
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
http://www.mediafire.com/?djhtgt3ctwj


ahaha i figured it out. pushing on forward like a Train.

got java source file.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
/**
* "Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation,
* whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion,
* and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say
* he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him
* to make war at pleasure." - Lincoln
*/

public class WarOnTerror
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// let the media burn!
String media = "http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/";

// "Sir, we've found oil! Err, I mean, weapons of mass destruction."
java.util.Random WMD = new java.util.Random(911);
String[] victims = {"Afghanistan", "Iraq", "Iran"};
String democracy = media + victims[WMD.nextInt(3)];

// fire some missiles...
democracy += "." + WMD.nextInt(10000) + "_Missiles";

// send in a couple soldiers...
democracy += "." + WMD.nextInt(9999999) + "_Soldiers";

// occupy the country for a few days...
democracy += ".NEVER_LEAVING";

// don't forget the bill!
democracy += ".500000000000_Dollars";

// call it "Mission Accomplished"
democracy += ".Bush_is_an_idiot/TheEnd.";

// the result: Democracy Soup!
System.out.println(democracy + "soup");
}
}

/**
* There is a divide in this world between,
* right and wrong. On one end is the Machine,
* bewitching.
*
* The Machine is never wrong, never not right.
* Digging through the gutter is the anti-bright,
* the poor who couldn't make it or take it,
* couldn't find a gun.
*
* When no one talks, everyone
* breaths a liquid solitude.
* One oxygen tank left, how long can you
* hold it.
*/

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:27 pm
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Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		Looks like we're going to need to actually run this in java. I would work it out by hand, but the fact is that it uses a specific random seed, so it would give a specific value that can't be determined by hand.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:18 am
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Big_Larry
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Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 96
Location: Not there... maybe somewhere else.
Agent Lex wrote:
Looks like we're going to need to actually run this in java. I would work it out by hand, but the fact is that it uses a specific random seed, so it would give a specific value that can't be determined by hand.


Is that necessarily the case? We have this in the code:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
// let the media burn!
String media = "http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/";


And when I compiled it, I got an error trying to run it.

However,

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
when I go to http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com, I get the following error message:

If this is your free trial server, EATJ.com shuts down your server every 6 hours. You can login your accout at http://www.eatj.com to restart it at any time and continue your trial. Or upgrade your account to BASIC or ADVANCED account

For BASIC and ADVANCED account servers, to avoid your server down, you can set up 24x7 monitoring. Login to your account and click monitoring check box in 7x24 MONITORING.

So the error I'm getting may not be in the code itself, but in the fact that the JSP server is not available.


Of course, I'm running Java on OS X, so it may not give this error or it may give a different result running through Java on Windows.
_________________
SPENGLER: According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
WINSTON: That's a big Twinkie.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:17 pm
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth
Quote:
Is that necessarily the case?


The full URL is composited based on the random number generator, and the random number generator is using a fixed seed (911) which means all the numbers will be the same every time it's run.

So, in a nutshell, yes: we need to actually run it.

Give me a minute...

*EDIT*

Using Visual J#, I get:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/Iraq.5460_Missiles.5095420_Soldiers.NEVER_LEAVING.500000000000_Dollars.Bush_is_an_idiot/TheEnd.soup


...which is an error page. I have no guarantee that the random number generator generates the same values they may be generating if using the same seed. Anyone out there have a true Java console or environment to try this in?
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:25 pm
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jjjj
Boot

Joined: 29 Jun 2006
Posts: 20

 		actually nighthawk it will matter depending on what compiler you're using. I'm using eclipse and i get a different answer.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:40 pm
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Big_Larry
Veteran


Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 96
Location: Not there... maybe somewhere else.

 		So I guess there are three questions here.

1. So since we haven't managed to figure this out and it's been over a week, how long will this stay open?

2. Is the EATJ server actually up and running? Is it possible that this has been solved and the server simply isn't giving us the answer or the next step because it's shut down?

3. So who exactly is "jjjj" and why didn't he/she post his/her answer?
_________________
SPENGLER: According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
WINSTON: That's a big Twinkie.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:44 pm
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Big_Larry
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Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 96
Location: Not there... maybe somewhere else.
Nighthawk wrote:
Give me a minute...

*EDIT*

Using Visual J#, I get:

http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/Iraq.5460_Missiles.5095420_Soldiers.NEVER_LEAVING.500000000000_Dollars.Bush_is_an_idiot/TheEnd.soup


Using BlueJ, I got:

http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/Iraq.5353_Missiles.3465085_Soldiers.NEVER_LEAVING.500000000000_Dollars.Bush_is_an_idiot/TheEnd.soup

Same error page. I'm beginning to think that option number two in my previous post is the current situation.
_________________
SPENGLER: According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
WINSTON: That's a big Twinkie.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:27 pm
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah

 		Solution
jjjj wrote:
it will matter depending on what compiler you're using.

Correct! Fortunately, there's a generic compiler available for all Java developers, called javac. Microsoft Visual Studio uses its own compiler for J#, so that environment will alter the random number generation.

Big_Larry wrote:
Using BlueJ, I got: http://deltafire.s43.eatj.com/Iraq.5353_Missiles.3465085_Soldiers.NEVER_LEAVING.500000000000_Dollars.Bush_is_an_idiot/TheEnd.soup

BlueJ, on the other hand, is not a compiler, but a visually oriented editor. BlueJ relies on javac to do all of its compiling (as does NetBeans, which is an excellent editor). Big_Larry's URL above is the correct generation of the link. If anyone downloads the Java Development Kit (any version will do), you can run javac from the command line and get the above result.

However, the server is indeed offline right now. I chose eatj.com because it gave a logical location to find a Java file at (eatj.com offers JSP hosting services, and it's free). But, I didn't notice the six hour shutdown problem until Big_Larry made mention of it... So, all last week, I had to manually refresh the server every six hours to keep it up and running, in case anyone tried it again--I couldn't refresh while sleeping, so there was a 4 hour down-time window each day; that, and I forgot to refresh it a couple times (Embarassed). For the weekend, I went out of town (Father's Day and all), and wasn't able to keep the server up. Lo and behold, Big_Larry tries accessing the correct page while I'm away and unable to keep everything refreshed. Rolling Eyes

That link is the end of the experiment. The final message isn't important, so I'll skip over that for now. I would have replied sooner, but last week was a bit taxing on me; apologies all around. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Comments on the setup and/or puzzles?


Edit: Ack! I was wrong about Eclipse; it does use its own compiler. That's quite annoying...
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Puzzle Experiments: #3, #4, #6

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:59 am
Last edited by Omega on Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		My only initial comment is that using random numbers, even generated using a fixed seed, is risky business. As was said, different compilers would give different results, and although the standard one was used it seems... well, as I said, risky.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:52 am
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Big_Larry
Veteran


Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 96
Location: Not there... maybe somewhere else.

 		Yay! I figured something out! Laughing

I kinda would like to know what the final message was, though.

More importantly, I'd like to know how y'all are making these "newspaper articles." I've seen them a number of times, and I'm wondering if there's some sort of template for 'em.

Something like this might be rather effective if found in an actual newspaper, even if it's in an advertisement. I like the faux article setup, but being that there's really no TINAG in this particular process, I don't know how well this would go over in a game if it isn't a physical newspaper.
_________________
SPENGLER: According to this morning's PKE sample, the current level in the city would be a Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds.
WINSTON: That's a big Twinkie.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:20 am
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danteIL
Unfictologist


Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 1990

 		Re: Solution
Omega wrote:

Comments on the setup and/or puzzles?


Um, my only comment would be that I didn't understand any of this because I'm not a programmer, nor do i know anything about Java, nor do I even follow what the puzzle actually *was*...

If something like this were in an ARG, you would be relying on a very slim segment of your audience to get it.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:12 am
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natas
PHP Ninja


Joined: 06 Oct 2007
Posts: 3177
Location: Northwest Indiana
Big_Larry wrote:


More importantly, I'd like to know how y'all are making these "newspaper articles." I've seen them a number of times, and I'm wondering if there's some sort of template for 'em.



http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
http://www.addletters.com/newspaper-generator.htm
http://www.jptestmorecambe.co.uk/test/

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:33 pm
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah
Agent Lex wrote:
My only initial comment is that using random numbers, even generated using a fixed seed, is risky business.

At first, I didn't think it would be that risky considering the wide-spread use of javac. However, after some research, I noticed that I had forgotten to account for Unix-based operating systems which use gcj to compile. I was also under the impression that Eclipse used javac, but I discovered this morning that it uses its own! (Mistake corrected above.)

Big_Larry wrote:
I kinda would like to know what the final message was, though.

The idea behind this ARG intro was that there was a hacker organization preparing to take up Internet arms against the government--think of these members as very radical anti-war, anti-Bush, and anti-America (in its current state) extremists. The blog attack, executed by one of the members, was the lead-in point to recruit fellow voices, those that agreed with the message of a "different freedom." The final message was one of the hackers asking you, the player, to choose a side. Later in the ARG, the players would learn to become hackers themselves through increasingly difficult hacking tests.

Big_Larry wrote:
I'd like to know how y'all are making these "newspaper articles."

I used http://www.getclippings.com/ to generate the basic Boston Globe article, and then I added the heading and text in myself with photoshop.

danteIL wrote:
If something like this were in an ARG, you would be relying on a very slim segment of your audience to get it.

As a programmer myself, I wanted to try utilizing my personal experience in creating a code-based puzzle, something straight-forward, which I thought would be a unique and new challenge for some of you. I mean, how many ARGs have asked you to compile code before? The way I see it, learning to compile Java is no more difficult a task than learning a new cipher, but I can certainly see why some would be detracted by the code. Experimentation is key!


ETA: Speaking of hacker groups... Although, I can't read Turkish. Neutral
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Puzzle Experiments: #3, #4, #6

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:27 pm
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