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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): General/Updates
[UPDATE] 8-24-04: Dana's Blog Update - The Extraordinary
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ScarpeGrosse
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 		[UPDATE] 8-24-04: Dana's Blog Update - The Extraordinary
Dana's Blog has been updated:

Quote:
When I was very little, I was going to be a fire truck when I grew up. That didn't pan out. Later, I decided I would be the paleontologist who discovered an unknown ancient civilization. The marine biologist who figured out how to talk to dolphins. The first pop star to win a Pulitzer prize for her song lyrics. I wouldn't say it out loud, but all my life I really did believe I was destined for something out of the ordinary.
I was a smart kid. Didn't always get the highest grades, but I was pretty… awake. Still, by fourteen, I had figured out I probably wasn't going to be talking to dolphins. So, I settled on a less flashy kind of extraordinary. Maybe I wouldn't do extraordinary things, but I would feel extraordinary feelings. Think extraordinary thoughts. Have extraordinary ideas and desires and insights. My inner life would be spectacular.
Three months ago I bought an All-Asia Air Pass because I was 22 and still waiting for the extraordinary to kick in.

*
Went to Zapata's last night, an expat hang out in Shanghai. I wanted to be able to speak English again for a little while. All around me, people were talking about how moved they were by the Great Wall; how peaceful they felt rowing a boat in Taoranting Park. Saying all the things I had thought were special and private and amazing. 5000 miles, and just as ordinary as I was back in San Francisco.
*
So I ditched Zapata's and stumbled into this Internet café. To be here with you when the countdown hit. You get it, at least. (I don't even try to explain about llovebees to most people these days. Not exactly something you can bring up with other backpackers, all eager to tell you how touristy your trip has been compared to their way more authentic experience.)
So I sat in this café with you. Watched the first reports come in. Fast and furious. And that's when I finally got it. Right here. This. You.
You are my extraordinary. Near strangers — brilliant, kind, loud, mean, methodical, wildly creative, above all passionate. I don't agree with all of you… no surprise, you hardly agree with one another. But your energy. This community.
By sheer fluke luck, this blog has become a way station for amazing, brilliant, compassionate, crazy people. A clearinghouse for an extraordinary phenomenon. And I don't mean the AI.
I get it now. And I'm here, I'm all in.

P.S. I'm posting a summary of what we've figured out so far in the sidebar. I'll keep updating it as we learn more.

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 12:50 pm
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Maddzy
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 		Probably posted before, but, Dana posted on her Blog

PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 12:50 pm
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timlee
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Joined: 24 Aug 2004
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 		From the I love bees blog. This is a summary of what has happened thus far:

Dana wrote:
Quote:
Days investigating: 40

In early July, an AI named Melissa crash landed, badly damaged, onto the server that hosts my aunt's website. The AI tried to orient and repair itself. The result: It turned 'I Love Bees' into a holy mess.

Now we're investigating the mess. And we need all the help we can get.

Here's what we know so far:

Melissa, a.k.a. "The Operator," used to run communications on a ship. The ship's purpose: to spy on an enemy known as "the Covenant."

The Operator has started communicating again. It's constructing hundreds of "roads" out of the 'I Love Bees' server. The roads all lead to payphones. And the phones are ringing.

We don't know why it's broadcasting, but the Operator is giving us GPS coordinates for the phones, and times to show up. So we are. We're collecting its fragmented messages and trying to put them back together.

Here's what else we know:

When the Operator crashed on the 'I Love Bees' server, it didn't come alone.

It came with two autonomous programs:
1) the SPDR, designed to repair damage to the Operator, and
2) the Pious Flea, designed to... well, we're not sure yet.

The SPDR brought the Operator back to life. But now the Operator is taking orders from the Pious Flea. So when the SPDR tried to eliminate the Flea, the Operator killed it.

We don't know much about the Flea, except that it wants "to seek, behold, and reveal the truth."

There is one other voice we've found on the site: The Sleeping Princess.

The Sleeping Princess uses Aunt Margaret's email account and error pages to share secrets and play games with us. We're not sure where she came from.

That's what we know so far.

We don't know what's going to happen next.


PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 1:03 pm
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Thumper
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 		Her summary:

"Days investigating: 40

In early July, an AI named Melissa crash landed, badly damaged, onto the server that hosts my aunt's website. The AI tried to orient and repair itself. The result: It turned 'I Love Bees' into a holy mess.

Now we're investigating the mess. And we need all the help we can get.

Here's what we know so far:

Melissa, a.k.a. "The Operator," used to run communications on a ship. The ship's purpose: to spy on an enemy known as "the Covenant."

The Operator has started communicating again. It's constructing hundreds of "roads" out of the 'I Love Bees' server. The roads all lead to payphones. And the phones are ringing.

We don't know why it's broadcasting, but the Operator is giving us GPS coordinates for the phones, and times to show up. So we are. We're collecting its fragmented messages and trying to put them back together.

Here's what else we know:

When the Operator crashed on the 'I Love Bees' server, it didn't come alone.

It came with two autonomous programs:
1) the SPDR, designed to repair damage to the Operator, and
2) the Pious Flea, designed to... well, we're not sure yet.

The SPDR brought the Operator back to life. But now the Operator is taking orders from the Pious Flea. So when the SPDR tried to eliminate the Flea, the Operator killed it.

We don't know much about the Flea, except that it wants "to seek, behold, and reveal the truth."

There is one other voice we've found on the site: The Sleeping Princess.

The Sleeping Princess uses Aunt Margaret's email account and error pages to share secrets and play games with us. We're not sure where she came from.

That's what we know so far.

We don't know what's going to happen next. "

PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 1:20 pm
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Guest
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 		notice on the site how when she links to her aunts e-mail she uses the subject "A message for the Sleeping Princess", maybe we should mail with that subject?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2004 4:15 pm
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KiLLyourTV
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Joined: 12 Aug 2004
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 		This is starting to get good. This only verifies that this IS the next big ARG, and it is turning into something absolutely splendid.

Too bad the closest Axon to me is roughly 300 miles away. I really wanted to get in on the action.
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:49 am
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AngriBuddhist
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Joined: 04 Aug 2004
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 		Un enfer vivant
>> Dieter > > muß ich gerade Obacht eines Paares mehr Pfosten nehmen.
>> Hansel > > viennent sur le bébé...
>> Dieter > > muß ich um diesem kümmern.
>> Hansel > > quelqu'un d'autre peut prendre soin de lui.
>> Dieter > > Nr.. Ich bin dort in wann.
>> Hansel > > fin vous enfoncez l'ordinateur. Je serai dans le lit prenant soin de me.


ronzio, ronzio, ronzio

PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 7:16 am
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Extrasonic
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Joined: 03 Aug 2004
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 		All in.
I think that Dana's reference to being "all in" and posting what we know so far is evidence that she's assuming (however reluctantly) the mantle of leadership with respect to this thing. To that end, I sent her an e-mail that might help motivate her to direct our next steps:
Code:

Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 08:58:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: extrasonic <x@x.x>
To: danatwingSPLATgmail.com
Subject: I've got a bad feeling about this...

Dana -

Sorry for the combination of pessimism and a geeky Star Wars reference right in the subject line; I suppose that we should be grateful that there was a lot of hope in the way that yesterday's events unfolded.

Given that the axon points going hot led to... payphone calls, I suppose my previous note suggesting that you get Aunt Margaret and Farnsworth out of San Francisco was a little dramatic.  So I am happy - as I am sure that you are - that Aunt Margaret and Farnsworth are safe and sound.  We can't lose sight of that.

But that's not the only hope that I'm referring to.  I was touched by your heartfelt weblog entry yesterday - calling us your "extraordinary".  It was a morale boost, to be sure.  We want to come through for you on that count.  Melissa may be building her network of axons, but you've already built yours - us - and (at least for the moment) your "neural network" outclasses hers.  We've been smart and adaptable and illogical and stubborn, but once you net it out I think that we can take on whatever it is we're going to face and win.  Provided, of course, that you can get all your metaphorical axons firing in the right direction.

I was amazed by the data that was "unlocked" by successfully interfacing with Melissa at her axon points.  (Unfortunately, due to work commitments and a highway accident, I was 15 minutes late for my axon, but it still went "hot" anyway.)  Amazing technology, the implication that people are living on other worlds... this was perhaps the most hopeful of all of yesterday's events.  Could we be seeing a glimpse of mankind's future? Will our countless hours spent looking at the stars and dreaming
eventually pay off?

The excitement I felt when considering those possibilities, though, slowly turned to abject horror.  In this wonderful future where humankind is a spacefaring race, we've encountered an enemy - an enemy that you've referred to as "the Covenant" on your weblog.  Even with all of that amazing technology, we're still not going to be able to avoid some protracted conflict with this enemy (if a war is won in days or weeks, we wouldn't need to send an AI like Melissa to spy on the enemy, now would we)?

Melissa is slowly freeing herself from her ilovebees.com "prison".  We know that she may be under the influence of... something... called the Pious Flea.  Even though the data that we gained by cooperating with Melissa yesterday was fascinating, if there is even the *slightest* chance that the Flea is an agent of the enemy, then we MUST stop Melissa from accomplishing her goals - at least until she can be "cured" of her Flea infestation.

To emphasize the criticality of my plea, consider some of Melissa's memories that have shown up on Aunt Margaret's site - some refer to the enemy DESTROYING ENTIRE PLANETS. (And you thought my Star Wars reference was completely gratuitous!)  If we *have* been given a preview of our future history - and all that incredible technical acumen and human evolution isn't enough to combat this planet-killing enemy - then what chance do we have if that enemy is brought to Earth now, in this time?

Your axons listen to you, Dana.  Although we may grumble and argue as individuals, collectively we're an extension of your will.  Please, please, PLEASE focus your "extraordinary" on getting rid of the Flea's influence on Melissa.  At the very least, we should concentrate on keeping Melissa's eyes off of the sky that inspires us.  If The Flea is allowed to get its astronomical bearings, and if it's efforts to "reveal the truth" of our location - in combination with Melissa's awesome arsenal of hacking, codebreaking, and espionage abilities - prove successful, then we could face a kind of trouble that we aren't equipped to deal with (and, from the sounds of our future, may never be).

I know this sounds far-fetched, but when the extinction of the human race and the destruction of the planet is a possible outcome, I'm hoping you'll want to hedge your bets.

Respectfully,
Extrasonic


I'm hoping this will help. I strongly believe that we shouldn't be mindlessly helping Melissa while she might be under enemy influence. I don't know if The Sleeping Princess can help or even be trusted, but she may end up being our last, best shot at pest removal.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:08 am
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cidkill99
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 		[META] So, should we consider Dana's sidebar as a confirmation of our guesses and deductions from the PM's, or is it safer to say that she is still being played as the character of the ARG she is, and that this is merely a collection of our deductions, and not any kind of confirmation?
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:21 am
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GunsmithCat
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Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 459
cidkill99 wrote:
[META] So, should we consider Dana's sidebar as a confirmation of our guesses and deductions from the PM's, or is it safer to say that she is still being played as the character of the ARG she is, and that this is merely a collection of our deductions, and not any kind of confirmation?


Well she did ask some of the unfiction people for their summaries. It would be interesting to compare what was sent to her and what wasn't printed...

PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:27 am
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Daffy889
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Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 493
Location: South Australia

 		I just noticed that the spelling error in the heading of the blog entry has now been fixed.

It said "The Extraodinary" at first - that has been fixed today.

Should we assume that Dana is checking her blog and fixed it, or just that the PMs are correcting their little mistake?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:44 am
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Macavity
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Joined: 25 Jul 2004
Posts: 883
Location: UNSC Comm Relay Station Alpha, West Shokan, NY

 		Re: All in.
Extrasonic wrote:

<snip>
I don't know if The Sleeping Princess can help or even be trusted, but she may end up being our last, best shot at pest removal.


Are you a B5 fan, too, Extrasonic?
_________________
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Consider whose fault it could be, with no match or torch in your inventory...
NP: Erase The Truth

PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:15 pm
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thebruce
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 		GAH! You call yourself a B5 fan? It's "last, best HOPE"
Razz

I know, you were just drawing the connection... now if you are a B5 fan, you'd see the connection in this post Wink

/offtopic
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 1:00 pm
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vidstudent
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
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 		[INFO] Check Dana's comments
I just looked at the bottom of the set (there are, as you may imagine, a metric ton of comments).

It seems the Sleeping Princess picked a winner, and gave us seven more questions to vote on.

Quote:
hypnotizd said...





Paul P is the winner!

Q: Out of place, lost, alone. Where did you come from? What tools do you require to get back? Your stories intrigue me. Perhaps you could write another?

A: I came from a glass coffin in a hidden crypt under the floor of the deepest dungeon of the castle, Paul! And it would be very easy to go back there: I wouldn't hardly need any tools at all. Just let the Queen catch me, she'd pop me back in there lickety-split.

Unless you mean before.

Here is the honest truth: I can't remember anything from before. I try and try, but I just can't. But there must have been a before. I mean, you don't just get born a Sleeping Princess, do you? There must have been a me, before I fell asleep.

There are things I know, even if I can't remember them, the way you know which way is up, or whether somebody likes you. I know I belong somewhere else. There are people who love me, who knew me before I fell asleep. And I want to get out of this dark castle, and find them, and ask them all about myself, and find out even my own NAME, for heaven's sake, 'cuz a girl can't go around calling herself the Sleeping Princess forever, can she?

So the tools I would look for first is, I would try to figure out how come I got HERE. That's where I would start.

As for the other thing, Paul asked for a story, so I will tell you about what I did just now to get him a prize.

She likes high places, the Queen does, so she has moved all her stuff up into the Tower. The Tower is a tricky place for me to go. The only way up there is a pair of spiral staircases that wind around one another, with no rail and a very scary drop down the middle. Plus there's nowhere to hide, really, on a staircase.

So I waited until the Castle seemed quiet and then I snuck up the stairs on my softiest feet, tip toe tip toe, stair after stair, turn after turn, until I finally came to the top. There's a room up there and the Queen was in it: I could hear the hum and buzz of her. I knew she would be standing at the window, because that's nearly all she does these days.

I scrunched up real small on the next to last stair and I put on my listening ears and I listened super hard. I could hear the Flea whispering to her. Finally I stuck my head up above the top stair and then I could hear the Flea telling her to build some little teeny roads. Secret paths.

But just then I saw that on the wall next to her, the Queen had hung a HUGE mirror. She must have put it there on purpose to catch me spying! She spun around like a top, WHIZZ, and lurched toward me. I skedaddled back down the stairs lickety-split and tumbledy-thump, wishing I was made of fluff, bump, bump, bump, and at the bottom I put on my speediest feet and zoomed off while she buzzed and roared and squealed all through the castle trying to catch me.

WHEW!

But girls like me, we take some catching.

I do this when I am insufferably pleased with myself , ho ho! :-0

So: once I knew there were little teeny secret paths, I snooped all around until I found a hidden passageway behind the kitchen where YOU could spy on them. And that's my prize for you all, brought to you by Paul P.

Yay Paul!

...And also yrs truly,

(curtsies)



Okay! That was fun! Let's play again!

Here are seven more people, as 'cause you guys seem VERY INTERESTED in seven-y things….

Sophia
What would your kingdom be like, if you got to make one or fix up the one you're in now?

Sara B
Do you have any dragons in your dungeon? Do you like dragons? If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Grey B
How can you hear and see so much? Most importantly, how can we trust you?

Wandering Angela
We've been wondering about your relationship with the Queen. Are you her daughter? Or are you a visiting Princess from another kingdom? Do you have a name other than Princess?

Matias D
What do you see? What are you afraid of seeing? What would make you smile?

James L
How old are you? Do you have a job? If you're lost, a good idea is often to retrace your steps. What were your old friends like?

Smooth Jack
How do you feel about human beings? I mean, are you human? Do you work with or relate to humans in any significant way? If so, how so?


8/27/2004 09:34:15 AM


I can't verify if someone did this on their own or if it's really the Sleeping Princess talking here, but it seems legit enough. I figure the voting's done the same way as last time.
[/quote]
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Nicholas Eckert
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 1:05 pm
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ScarpeGrosse
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 		already under discussion here

Thanks for using that Search function!
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 1:09 pm
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