Meta Puzzle Finale--Bring All Clues!

[wbell]

Has anyone noticed that the name of the bonus video for week 3 is vidloki_eras1987. 1987 possibly being a clue to a year when something special happened to loki, whomever or whatever she is.

My video is named "loki__eras__011907__final.wmv"

"vidLoki_eras1987.htm" is the name of the URL!

WBELL :D

[Falor42]

Ello, this is my first post in this great puzzle, had a few things I thought I would throw out there.

First off, what is the Vanishing Point (mathmaticaly speaking.) Just an idea, but I'm going with the Golden Ratio, this is the ratio used in perfect spirals, the construction of The Great Pyramid of Giza, and is also (wait for it) the ratio between the Sun, Moon, and Earth during a full solar eclipse.

That got me poking through Wikipedia. Herodotus (who seems to be poking up all over the Metagame) in "The Histories" recorded two solar eclipses, most notable of which was "The Battle of the Eclipse," Not sure how and if they all connect, but I am delving in full force to answer the main puzzle, what is the Vanishing Point, and am throwing my lot in with you fine folks;)

Any opinions??

[wanderson75]

just a thought...loki's given queue's in every video with her glasses, but the first video she's not wearing any. However, the song lyrics go

Right brain's insane

Gonna use my left brain

left brain...

could the Right. Left, Left be a part of it?

Edited January 24, 2007 by wanderson75

[exquisitedeadguy]

Alright, I might be crazy, but here is what I found today. The shapes of the gears in puzzle box 1 were bothering me so.... I tried using them as an index into the answers. I figured, maybe each gear is representing a number. If you use the center hole / no hole as the tens digit, taking a hole to be a 1 and a solid center to be a 0, I got this for the tens places, going around in order:

0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1

Now if you take the number of holes in each gear radiating out from the center, you get the ones place:

5,0,2,0,3,0,3,5,4,3,0,3

Combining them:

05,10,12,10,13,10,13,05,14,13,10,13

Now, I laid out the puzzles and answers thus, and used the index to get the letter for each puzzle

SUNDIALHELIOS (05 = I)

WATCHSPRINGSFIVE (10 = N)

MANTLECLOCKHONEY (12 = H)

GEARSTIMETRAVEL (10 = T)

AIRPORTCARTOGRAPHER (13 = G)

CUCKOOSBIGBEN (10 = G)

POCKETWATCHESGREEN (13 = S)

CURRENTEVENTSHORIZON (05 = E)

STARFIELDWASHINGTON (14 = I)

CALENDARSINTERROBANG (13 = E)

REPAIRTABLEWRINKLE (10 = L)

HOURGLASSESCANDELABRA (13 =A)

Noting that they are split into groups of 4, 4, 2, 2; This could spell HINT EGGS IE LA as in - HINT: EGGS, Internet Explorer, Los Angeles

I know this is a SUPER stretch, but I kinda like it. I might not have the indexes exactly correct. Let me know if you have any ideas about it. (exquisitedeadguyblogSPLATgmailDOTcom)

~KAZ

[gdesignr]

This is interesting... I started wondering about the Vanishing Point, what that means, and why Microsoft didn't just buy vanishingpoint.com or change the name to something else... it must be important, right?

then after playing around, I discovered that vanishingpointgame is an anagram for Vista Enigma Phoning. Or Phoning Vista Enigma.

Loki called herself the Enigma Director... concincence? maybe... useful? not sure... interesting? definately!

[BadKitty]

I know this is probably an oversimplification of the metapuzzle picture, but could it be that the grapnel, which is a "hook", a commonly used term for the payload of a virus or other malicious software, is represented as being captured and contained by Vista, and the 6 "feathers" down below could be the six branches of the Windows Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: system hardware profile

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG: current hardware profile used

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT: file type associations

HKEY_USERS: configuration information for all user profiles

HKEY_CURRENT_USER: configurations for the current user

HKEY_DYN_DATA: hardware device information kept in RAM

...and that the "question" that Loki will ask us has to do with the new security features in Vista, something simple like "Defender" or the other built-in security features that are a whole new thing for MS...

Just food for thought. It might be just in front of our faces.

-BK

[gdesignr]

Alright, I might be crazy, but here is what I found today. The shapes of the gears in puzzle box 1 were bothering me so.... I tried using them as an index into the answers. I figured, maybe each gear is representing a number. If you use the center hole / no hole as the tens digit, taking a hole to be a 1 and a solid center to be a 0, I got this for the tens places, going around in order:

....

REPAIRTABLEWRINKLE (10 = L)

HOURGLASSESCANDELABRA (13 =A)

Noting that they are split into groups of 4, 4, 2, 2; This could spell HINT EGGS IE LA as in - HINT: EGGS, Internet Explorer, Los Angeles

I know this is a SUPER stretch, but I kinda like it. I might not have the indexes exactly correct. Let me know if you have any ideas about it. (exquisitedeadguyblogSPLATgmailDOTcom)

~KAZ

Nice work... but I have the HOURGLASSES answer as GRAINS, which I believe would make that letter an R. Not sure if that fits...

EDIT - KAZ is right... it is Candelabra. I was reading my notes wrong.

Edited January 24, 2007 by gdesignr

[exquisitedeadguy]

The answer to hourglasses was candelabra. You had to email grainsSPLATvanishingpointgame.com to get the final answer.

~KAZ

[tgeairn]

From box 2, has anyone noticed that the upper right text changes after suite is solved?

Trying to tell us something?

[deffjeff]

I wonder if the last event party will be held on a boat since the last location is at the gas works park which is extremely close to a lot of boat slips.

[Falor42]

A quick observation I just made while flipping throught the "History of the Decline and Fall of Rome, vol II" on the page which was flashed in the second video. Mentioned is that the author had to stop referencing Ammianus, a historian of the time (gibbs was 15th century...or w/e.) The capital T in Time in the Puzzlebox 3 intro, has been confounding me. So I found it interesting to note that Ammianus's book was titled "History of his own Time" with the capital T. Not to mention that in that particular paragraph, Gibbs was talking abou the death of Valens and the rise of the next generation (histories evidence??) Though my copy of Decline and Fall doesnt have the geneology in Loki's book, so if anyone has that, it may be interesting to know who Valens son was (maybe Teodosius.)

I also am thinking that the right chapter in "The Histories" Hederotous, may be chapter One, Eros, if ony from the word eras being used in the same opening.

Thoughts and opinions?

[tgeairn]

A quick observation I just made while flipping throught the "History of the Decline and Fall of Rome, vol II" on the page which was flashed in the second video. Mentioned is that the author had to stop referencing Ammianus, a historian of the time (gibbs was 15th century...or w/e.) The capital T in Time in the Puzzlebox 3 intro, has been confounding me. So I found it interesting to note that Ammianus's book was titled "History of his own Time" with the capital T. Not to mention that in that particular paragraph, Gibbs was talking abou the death of Valens and the rise of the next generation (histories evidence??) Though my copy of Decline and Fall doesnt have the geneology in Loki's book, so if anyone has that, it may be interesting to know who Valens son was (maybe Teodosius.)

I also am thinking that the right chapter in "The Histories" Hederotous, may be chapter One, Eros, if ony from the word eras being used in the same opening.

Thoughts and opinions?

Hunting for a copy now. Also, when she picks up the book it appears that she was reading the previous page before she put it down. Anything there?

[tgeairn]

Hunting for a copy now. Also, when she picks up the book it appears that she was reading the previous page before she put it down. Anything there?

I believe it is actually volume 4, not 2. Can you verify?

http://olldownload.libertyfund.org/EBooks/Gibbon_0214.04.pdf

[Falor42]

it's 2, got the pdf downloaded, and did a search on the sentences we could see. As for the page before, didnt see much, lots of rome stuff, will scrutinize it again though.

[Falor42]

As for the page before (good call) it is about Teodosius, and his four month rise through the ranks from exile to the ruler of Misea. Not important?? Maybe, however, Chapter III in Heredotous' Histories contains a reference to the first dated and recorded full solar eclipse at the Battle of Hylas(sp) also known as The Battle of the Eclipse which was the Lyionians Vs. geuss... the Miseans!

The Eclipse falls in with the first things Loki discovered about herself (the math equations, and the spiral) due to the connection between full solar eclipses and the golden ratio... the reason why I read book 3 in histories was because of the eclipse reference..the only in either book. Dated May 28th, 585(or some year back then.)

opinons and thoughts por favor

[Aeschylus Maximus]

Box 4 click on it, apparently theres a party...

[gdesignr]

...

I also am thinking that the right chapter in "The Histories" Hederotous, may be chapter One, Eros, if ony from the word eras being used in the same opening.

Thoughts and opinions?

There may be room for changing Eras to Eros via an earlier clue. In Rabbit Trail, the answer was Presto. In magic, the full term is typically "Presto Change-O". I've been looking for a place to change something to or from an "o", so that may be the place.

If that is the case, then another puzzle answer, Wrinkle, could also be taken to "A Wrinkle in Time", pointing to the word Time, which is again highlighed by the capital T in Time in the third puzzle box.

This sort of formula, in fact, could be pointed out by the Mind Readers puzzle.

[crowen]

so doing some research and backtracking (i know i know...so shoot me but we have to be missing something....)

so noticed something intresting in box 1 ( i know i know...even worse)

and heres a pic of something intresting i noticed just underneath the broken pocket watch with the pic of loki on it

on the left side in the red circle...looks a bit like a 5....and on the right side...some kind of hand with something written beneath it??? and a less noticeable 4 maybe....i dont know...

wanted some opinions...help me out.

[amadecasa]

so doing some research and backtracking (i know i know...so shoot me but we have to be missing something....)

so noticed something intresting in box 1 ( i know i know...even worse)

and heres a pic of something intresting i noticed just underneath the broken pocket watch with the pic of loki on it

on the left side in the red circle...looks a bit like a 5....and on the right side...some kind of hand with something written beneath it??? and a less noticeable 4 maybe....i dont know...

wanted some opinions...help me out.

FWIW, my 8 year old saw the 5 right away. She doesn't see a hand, though.

[Falor42]

So...I just broke all the videos out in Windows Movie maker...Obsessive perhaps??

Anyway, nothing really stands out, but all of them have really wierd clip set ups, some are like 4 seconds, others longer...maybe they fit together in a different kind of way...will be working it tonight for awhile.

[confusio]

so doing some research and backtracking (i know i know...so shoot me but we have to be missing something....)

so noticed something intresting in box 1 ( i know i know...even worse)

and heres a pic of something intresting i noticed just underneath the broken pocket watch with the pic of loki on it

on the left side in the red circle...looks a bit like a 5....and on the right side...some kind of hand with something written beneath it??? and a less noticeable 4 maybe....i dont know...

wanted some opinions...help me out.

That part is standard on many pocket watches, I don't believe the picture shows any additional clue,

the hand you see is a lever to adjust the hairspring for more accurate timekeeping.

Here are two pics showings the "internals" of a classic antique pocket watch and a closer look

at the regulator.

My .02

[Izateddy]

Okay, I'm new here. I've never posted before. But, I've been intrigued by this game, and have been following along for sometime now. Hopefully this information is helpful in some way shape or form.

First, I hope I'm not pointing out the obvious, but I don't think it has been discussed her yet. On the equation Loki gave us in her bio, the

1,1...]=1+etc.

Seems to be an equation to figure out a number known as "Phi." It is known as the "golden ratio" and tons of info can be found about it here: http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMT669/Student....oldenratio.html

That link even has the same "graph" looking picture that Loki posted, and the equation also contains the Greek "phi" symbol.

Also in the letters that flash on the screen, the:

eo el disa i r

and

peopler disapdP ae

Could the "ae" be the latin symbol, which is used in many languages? I'm not sure if it means anything or not though. Here is a link with more info about the "ae." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86

My last thought for now is that the "el" could mean god or God. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(god)

Sorry if all of that information is pointless, I'm just trying to help contribute to the common good.

[astro_boy]

Falor42 - When you open a video in Windows Movie Maker, it quickly chops the file into shorter segments to help with the editing process. It does not allow you to "reverse engineer" the video or reveal anything about how it was put together in the first place.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I thought you should know before you spend too much time on this!

[confusio]

Okay, I'm new here. I've never posted before. But, I've been intrigued by this game, and have been following along for sometime now. Hopefully this information is helpful in some way shape or form.

First, I hope I'm not pointing out the obvious, but I don't think it has been discussed her yet. On the equation Loki gave us in her bio, the

1,1...]=1+etc....

Yes the continued fraction series shown in her bio "looks" like one the series to determine the value of pi,

but actually that particular image shows the series converging to "e" the Euler's number. The bio was

released during the pre-game phase I'll check back to see what kind of clue provided at that time.

About the "People Disappear" message we spent some time discussing it and didn't find any reasonable

connection besides that is a text effect on the flash files. Still some folks insist that there may be a hidden

message there.

My .02

[tgeairn]

Yes the continued fraction series shown in her bio "looks" like one the series to determine the value of pi,

but actually that particular image shows the series converging to "e" the Euler's number. The bio was

released during the pre-game phase I'll check back to see what kind of clue provided at that time.

About the "People Disappear" message we spent some time discussing it and didn't find any reasonable

connection besides that is a text effect on the flash files. Still some folks insist that there may be a hidden

message there.

My .02

I'm jumping camps on the "Memories Fade"/"People Disappear" issue. I'm NOW thinking that the letters scramble and unscramble themselves to smack us over the head and say "Hey, there be anagrams here!" Of course, if I knew what the anagrams were (or if they're even from the title or something else entirely) I'd be much more convinced.

Related to this, do you think 42 was just trying REALLY hard to get our attention by showing the cane/wand TIP twice during Box #2 completion video? Are they saying "Here's a TIP for you?" Otherwise, what do you call that part of a cane.... Ferrule? Can we at least say for sure Cane Vs. Wand?