Session Start (unfiction:#InquiringMinds): Tue Dec 20 20:28:03 2005
[20:28] *** #InquiringMinds: caspian_xmas kaitwospirit Rowan Dionysus Sherlock_Holmes Ofiuco [A]mberJoyToTheWorld Logger enaxmas 
[20:28] *** #InquiringMinds was created on Tue Dec 20 19:02:12 2005.
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[20:52] Sherlock_Holmes: hee...there's nobody here
[20:52] Sherlock_Holmes: we're all waiting for sethy-poo
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[21:19] *** #InquiringMinds: caspian_x kaitwospirit Rowan Dionysus Ofiuco [A]mberJoyToTheWorld Logger enaxmas 
[21:19] *** #InquiringMinds was created on Tue Dec 20 19:02:12 2005.
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[21:20] *** #InquiringMinds: caspian kaitwospirit Rowan Dionysus Ofiuco [A]mberJoyToTheWorld Logger enaxmas 
[21:20] *** #InquiringMinds was created on Tue Dec 20 19:02:12 2005.
[21:24] *** You are now known as c[a]spian_x.
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[22:14] inquiringmind: Hello?
[22:14] *** Logger is now known as Andrew.
[22:15] Andrew: Hey.
[22:15] Andrew: Seth?
[22:15] inquiringmind: Andrew!
[22:15] inquiringmind: yes, it's Seth
[22:15] *** Ofiuco is now known as Amy.
[22:15] Amy: Hi Seth!
[22:15] Rowan: Hi Seth
[22:15] Sherlock_Holmes: hi seth
[22:15] inquiringmind: I don't have a whole lot of time.  I have a meeting with Martha soon...
[22:16] Andrew: Understood.
[22:16] *** You are now known as caspian_x.
[22:16] inquiringmind: but I figured I'd see if you've made any progress on that puzzle
[22:16] Sherlock_Holmes: we're stumped
[22:16] *** You are now known as Caspian.
[22:16] Andrew: Well, not too much, I'm afraid
[22:16] Amy: we have little hints, but we're not sure what to do with them
[22:16] Andrew: We spent alot of time workign the geography angle and only recently gave that up
[22:16] inquiringmind: hello everyone, by the way
[22:16] Caspian: Hello Seth
[22:17] Caspian: Does the number 138 mean anything to you?
[22:17] Andrew: We've done some fiddling with Base16 and Ive TRIED to find info on converting Base85.. but.. no such luck
[22:17] inquiringmind: hmmmm, nothing that I can think of
[22:17] Caspian: 85 in Base 16 = 138 in decimal, i believe
[22:17] inquiringmind: ah, I see
[22:17] Andrew: The challenge is a sequential set of numbers doesnt seem to lend itself to any cipher that I know of
[22:18] Amy: AZ is-- what, arizona, the alphabet, 415A in hex
[22:18] Caspian: 1-16 could mean Base 16 (aka Hex), but then again Hex is usually associated with 0-15, not 1-16
[22:18] inquiringmind: since we've given up on the geography angle, is there anything else that AZ or 85 means to you?
[22:18] inquiringmind: I was thinking perhaps A-z, as in the alphabet
[22:18] Andrew: Amy thought that too
[22:18] inquiringmind: but I've tried emailing abcde... :(
[22:18] Amy: yup
[22:19] Andrew: Yep, we've tried that too.
[22:19] Sherlock_Holmes: what if it's a question of numerology?
[22:19] Amy: there seem to be too many numbers
[22:19] Andrew: Go on, Holmes
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[22:19] Caspian: are there alphabets based on only 16 letters?
[22:19] inquiringmind: doesn't seem to fit with A-Z though, does it?
[22:19] * Andrew searches for his old pledge book
[22:20] Andrew: I know Greek has less than the common...
[22:20] Andrew: But I dont think its THAT much less
[22:20] Amy: well, if a-z were just supposed to mean 'the alphabet'?
[22:20] Sherlock_Holmes: perhaps it's something to do with numbers.....
[22:20] Caspian: right, and then 1-16 pointed to the letters of a specific alphabet
[22:20] Andrew: The first 16 letters in a sequence have been tried.
[22:20] Andrew: a sequnce=alphabet
[22:21] Sherlock_Holmes: what if it's not the first 16?
[22:21] Andrew: mm..
[22:21] inquiringmind: The thing that really strikes me is the simplicity of this puzzle and the page
[22:21] Sherlock_Holmes: yeah
[22:21] Andrew: Its almost too simple, isn't it?
[22:21] inquiringmind: Makes me think that this is going to be something much more simpler, like we have everything we need.... yet just can't see it
[22:21] Caspian: Many of the puzzles seem to be simpler than we originally thought
[22:21] inquiringmind: sorry, much more "simple"
[22:21] Caspian: That would fit the pattern
[22:21] Amy: omniglot.com has alphabets galore
[22:22] inquiringmind: These old fingers don't like to listen to the brain anymore
[22:22] * Sherlock_Holmes lights his pipe
[22:23] inquiringmind: I wonder if we're looking for some specific sequence
[22:23] Andrew: OK. So... we've go the number 1-16 and the alphabet.
[22:23] Amy: and 85
[22:23] Andrew: And the number 85
[22:23] Andrew: Unless 85 is arbitrary.
[22:23] Andrew: SImply part of the sign thats supposed to lead us to Arizona and then to the alphabet
[22:24] inquiringmind: that certainly is a possibility
[22:24] Caspian: Don't discount the 85 yet, though
[22:24] inquiringmind: right, keep it in your back pocket
[22:24] Caspian: If it were only AZ, he could have just used an Arizona shillouette
[22:25] Caspian: what's the filename of the page, again?
[22:25] Caspian: ???.html
[22:25] inquiringmind: was it argonaut?
[22:25] Sherlock_Holmes: argonaut
[22:25] Sherlock_Holmes: filename of the image was logo.jpg
[22:25] Andrew: Yes, but so far every single page name has refered back tot he previous puzzle
[22:25] Amy: I'm wondering what argonaut has to do with sea anemones
[22:25] Andrew: My instinct is that Steven would through us such a change up.
[22:26] inquiringmind: everything just seems to plain, the white and black, the name logo...
[22:26] Amy: 'oh argonauts were sailors' seems like a stretch
[22:26] Amy: think that could be a clue?
[22:26] inquiringmind: I really think this puzzle is going to be solved using just what we see on the page
[22:26] Caspian: Steven seemed to subscribe to the Keep It Simple, Stupid approach
[22:26] inquiringmind: There's really no indication for us to go elsewhere.
[22:26] Sherlock_Holmes: here, what about this
[22:27] teh_lisa: so that means we have az 85 1-16
[22:27] Sherlock_Holmes: a theory: using only the first 16 letters of the alphabet, make a word who's numbers add up to 85
[22:27] Sherlock_Holmes: i gtg
[22:27] Caspian: i like that idea
[22:27] Caspian: we'll work on that Sherlock
[22:27] Sherlock_Holmes: yoga calls
[22:27] Andrew: There's no word that only uses the first 16 letters, I beleive
[22:27] inquiringmind: well let's focus on one element at a time and see what we can come up with
[22:28] Amy: well
[22:28] inquiringmind: What could AZ mean?
[22:28] inquiringmind: Arizona.... alphabet
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[22:28] Andrew: Arizona, Alphabet
[22:28] Amy: the end and the beginning
[22:28] inquiringmind: ;)
[22:28] Andrew: ... 1 and 16?
[22:28] inquiringmind: alphabetical order
[22:29] inquiringmind: anything else?
[22:29] Amy: hmmm
[22:29] Andrew: AZ .. AZ.. I saw it mention somewhere else while googling.. hang on
[22:29] Caspian: I think those are the main three
[22:29] Andrew: Everythign poitns to the state or the alpahbet
[22:29] Caspian: I would think Arizona unlikely, seems too obvious
[22:29] inquiringmind: and we can probably assume for now that Arizona is not the answer since we've all researched that extensively
[22:29] Amy: (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Az)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Az
[22:30] Caspian: I like alphabet or beginning and end
[22:30] teh_lisa: can we use an alphabet starting at a and the switching somehow to z?
[22:30] teh_lisa: the=then
[22:31] Andrew: I dunno.. I wish our codemasters were here.
[22:31] Amy: wikipedia gives us... a couple demons, some countries, and some languages
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[22:31] Andrew: Alright.. Az can also give us azimuth
[22:31] Amy: do you think maybe we'd get another foreign-language puzzle?
[22:31] inquiringmind: I certainly hope not 
[22:31] inquiringmind: :)
[22:32] Amy: aw, but language is my specialty :D
[22:32] Caspian: I wouldn't think so
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[22:32] Amy: oh yeah, weren't we wondering earlier if the pictures of the diskettes we got in the last email were somehow connected?
[22:32] inquiringmind: Well, we have a few good possibilities for the meaning of the AZ.  What about the 1-16?
[22:32] Caspian: Strifey, and James, we're brainstorming the AZ puzzle
[22:33] inquiringmind: ah, glad you brought those up Amy.
[22:33] Amy: hooray
[22:33] Andrew: Could you find them Seth?
[22:33] inquiringmind: The carpeting shown in the picture doesn't match any of the flooring on the station...
[22:34] Andrew: Could they be from his NASA days?
[22:34] Caspian: So it was taken on Earth
[22:34] Amy: does this perhaps mean they are not on the station at all?
[22:34] inquiringmind: I asked Cordelia if she recognized it and she said she didn;t
[22:34] Amy: ooh
[22:34] inquiringmind: That's what I'm thinking Amy.
[22:34] Caspian: I would think his NASA days or pre-space Orbicon days
[22:34] Caspian: given the subject matter or the story in the email
[22:35] inquiringmind: Just to be sure, I contacted one of my trusted friends on Earth and he is going to "drop by" the Mae's apartment there to compare the carpeting
[22:35] Amy: or, more unhelpfully, wherever he hid those disks, which could be anywhere? -- excellent
[22:36] Caspian: Do you think we'd actually need to find the disks though?
[22:36] Caspian: Or are the elements in the picture clues to the solve
[22:36] Andrew: Cant hurt to have as much evidence as possible
[22:36] Caspian: true
[22:36] inquiringmind: I never ignore a lead
[22:36] Amy: it would be helpful to have them
[22:37] Andrew: 1-16: numbers representing letter, their SUM... which is 136 I beleive of fthe top of my head,
[22:37] Caspian: Wait a minute, anyont notice the number on the box?
[22:37] Amy: nice leverage in a tricky situation
[22:37] Caspian: #86
[22:38] inquiringmind: I did notice that Caspian, although I'm not sure if that will play a part in this puzzle
[22:38] Andrew: So far none of the documents have factored into the puzzle
[22:38] inquiringmind: although, again, something to put in your back pocket 
[22:38] inquiringmind: exactly Andrew
[22:38] Caspian: good point
[22:39] Andrew: To do so now would be an extraoridnarily difficult knuckleball
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[22:39] Caspian: by the way, i was wrong
[22:39] inquiringmind: about?
[22:39] Andrew: And while they work for Tim Wakefield, they dont work well for creatign a trail you do want *someone* to follow
[22:39] Caspian: 85 (HEX) = 133 (DEC)
[22:39] Caspian: not that we've determined hex is important or anything
[22:39] Caspian: but just so the back pocket is full of correct info ;)
[22:39] Amy: haha, 1+3+3=7
[22:40] inquiringmind: yes, Steven obviously wanted me to be able to solve these puzzles.... I wish I just knew why
[22:40] Amy: hopefully we'll know by the end, right?
[22:40] teh_lisa: lol amy
[22:40] inquiringmind: I certainly hope so.
[22:40] Andrew: Alright. So. 1-16, what else cna it mean?
[22:40] Amy: i can always find the sevens :)
[22:40] Caspian: Seth, Steven was contacting you while you were still on Earth, yes?
[22:41] Caspian: Coded messages?
[22:41] inquiringmind: yes, he was
[22:41] Andrew: What if we paired of the numbers... instead of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,...
[22:41] Amy: 8x2?
[22:41] inquiringmind: Is there a way to apply the numbers to the letters or vice versa?
[22:41] Andrew: 12,34,56,78,91,01
[22:42] Caspian: well the obvious way would be A=1...
[22:42] Caspian: What about other ways?
[22:42] Andrew: Caspians got the traditional way, now we have seen variations on that used
[22:42] inquiringmind: we need to think outside the box
[22:43] inquiringmind: no idea is a bad idea
[22:43] Andrew: Alright.. what about some mathematical trasnformation BEFORE turnign the numbers into letters
[22:43] Caspian: If you add the numbers of the letters ARIZONA you get 83
[22:43] inquiringmind: what about number of lines it takes to draw each letter?  
[22:43] Caspian: [/random unrelated fact]
[22:44] Andrew: Interestign Seth
[22:44] Rowan: what letter takes 16 lines to draw it?
[22:44] Amy: (ps didn't somebody say pictures are in base85?)
[22:44] inquiringmind: although that would only give us... 1 through 4?
[22:44] Andrew: Yes.
[22:44] inquiringmind: is there any way to represent the letters other than A - Z ?
[22:45] Andrew: Numbers
[22:45] Andrew: 1-27
[22:45] inquiringmind: a-z
[22:45] inquiringmind: 1-27?
[22:45] Andrew: 36
[22:45] Caspian: 1-26 ;)
[22:45] Andrew: oerr 26!
[22:45] inquiringmind: did they invent a new letter I haven't found out about?
[22:45] Andrew: Yes! I sleep.. sometimes!
[22:45] Andrew: Anyway.. what about Greek?
[22:45] Andrew: Alpha, Beta..
[22:45] Amy: I'm thinking of pictograms, but I can't see anyway to immediately apply them to English letters
[22:45] inquiringmind: sounds like you need some chicken and dumplings and a nap :)
[22:45] Caspian: maybe that's Steven's big endgame. He invented a new letter 
[22:46] Amy: ooo, chicken and dumplings
[22:46] Andrew: Sounds good, Seth
[22:46] Caspian: alright so we need to represent certain letters with 1-16
[22:46] inquiringmind: seriously, if you ever come to Wasilei station you must have Davina make you some
[22:46] inquiringmind: but yes, back to the puzzle
[22:46] Caspian: Since there are 26 letters and we have 1-16, we either need to leave some letters out
[22:46] Caspian: or certain letters use the same number, like the last puzzle
[22:47] Andrew: Greek letter
[22:47] inquiringmind: also, I guess in the same vein... is there any way to represent the numbers other than 1-16?
[22:47] Andrew: Also military
[22:47] * Caspian slaps head
[22:47] Amy: Seth, when you say 'represent', what are you angling at?
[22:47] Caspian: hex
[22:47] Caspian: 0-E
[22:47] Amy: there's an E in hex?  I thought it went up to F?
[22:48] inquiringmind: well, I'm just thinking that sometimes you're blinded by what you have physically in front of you
[22:48] Amy: true
[22:48] Rowan: if it went up to F, there would be an E wouldnt there?
[22:48] Caspian: apparently Andrew's counting disease is contagiious
[22:48] Andrew: words
[22:48] Andrew: one
[22:48] Andrew: two
[22:48] Andrew: three
[22:48] Andrew: four
[22:48] Andrew: five
[22:48] Amy: ... ignore me, I am a dorkus :D
[22:48] Caspian: no, you're right, it does fo to F
[22:48] inquiringmind: ah interesting
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[22:49] Amy: ottffssentettffs
[22:50] Andrew: Id say ROT that, but its ridiculous.... too many double letters for it to be any word
[22:50] Andrew: Of course, as we cruely learned durign Luck... Steven does no nessecarily use real words
[22:50] Caspian: 85 = "ef"?
[22:51] inquiringmind: ah, just as it seems we're making progress I must leave you.
[22:51] Amy: aww
[22:51] Andrew: Oh Seth..
[22:51] Andrew: Before you go.
[22:51] inquiringmind: Martha doesn't appreciate tardiness
[22:51] inquiringmind: yes, Andrew?
[22:51] Andrew: How's the revised Progress Report look?
[22:51] Amy: good luck
[22:52] inquiringmind: oh!  Excellent!  I'm going to proof it one more time and drop it off at Bronco's in the morning.
[22:52] inquiringmind: I can't thank you enough for that!
[22:52] Andrew: I'll pass that along
[22:52] Caspian: Good luck with Martha, Seth
[22:52] inquiringmind: And thank you all for helping me with this investigation. 
[22:52] Caspian: Hug Stevie, Cordelia, and Davi for us
[22:52] Andrew: Be careful around her.. somethign about her sets off my spider sense.
[22:52] Andrew: Or I'm just paranoid
[22:53] inquiringmind: Continue on the path you started and let me know if you find anything interesting
[22:53] Amy: will do!
[22:53] inquiringmind: and don't worry... I'm always careful. 
[22:53] inquiringmind: Good bye!
[22:53] Caspian: Bye Seth!
[22:53] Andrew: Later, Seth
[22:53] Amy: adios
[22:54] *** Amy is now known as Ofiuco.
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