June 29, 2006
Questionable stuff
OK, lots going on, and some of it looks non-legit.
First there's this business with the dueling Rachel Blake blogs. There's a blog up at http://rachelblake0.blogspot.com/ that says Rachel had her laptop stolen by the Hanso Foundation, so she abandoned her old blog and started this new one. It is giving out info and linking over to supposedly hidden videos on at least one in-game site. It looks faaaaaake to me. Way fake.
Adding to the fakeness feeling is that Rachel is still updating at her old site, which currently has a post with the "hieroglyphs" mentioned in her conversation with Zander, which she says Zander sent her (and of course they are the same as the ones in the "Simon" game).
Then there's www.hansoadoptions.org. It does have some stuff on it that looks like it's supposed to be clue-ish, but it doesn't really lead anywhere, and I can't see anything that makes it look real to me.
The key here is HOW were these sites found. If there's no direct path from a proven in-game site or source, then I'm not believing it. These two sites (Rachel's "new" blog and the adoptions site) just popped up as URLs, no one mentioning how they were found. There's got to be a path, and if there isn't, assume fakery.
Now, on to real stuff: Can someone please help me out with the ROT clues? I am bogged down and haven't been keeping up with the daily posts over there. What's the general sense of what they're trying to give us? Is it making sense and leading somewhere?
Movable Type 4.1
As i understand it on ROT.
1. Fiber said the next word was going to be today from a Dr. friend in a PS, Postscript maybe? 2.Friday "the Drake" presumably Mandrake will give a word.
3. Saturday would be the final word to make the sentence to enter into the address field after the / on RDB. sentence:
Words I have so far are Welcome, Your, next, video.
Just to follow up on the fakery...I'm starting to get kinda confused, and I'm getting a little worried about the future of this game. People are referencing a new "character" named Mandrake Wig...(reference to the ROT site obviously.) He's got both a Flickr and a Myspace account. There are some pictures, and some blogs, that may or may not give some clues. In fact, the folks over at the ROT threat specifically lead us to "the Drake" for our next clue...which leads to a clue, etc. So far, people have put together a couple of pretty verifiable word-clues: "Welcome" and "Your". But the two most recent..."Next" and "Video", are derived from Mandrake's MySpace account. I'm just a little iffy about his site. It just seems fake. Aside from the fact that it would be insanely simple to set up accounts like these (they're pretty open) just to try and throw people off, the page itself has quite a few typos, not to mention some relatively inappropriate language on one of his blogs.
I'm probably missing something, and maybe it is legit -- this game is gettin' crazy huge and hard to keep track of everything -- but along with what Ellen was talking about, I think the bottom line is this: As this game continues to expand in both scope and popularity, there will be those who will continue to pop up with fake sites, clues, etc...and it's likely that as time goes on it's going to be harder to spot the "obvious" fakes.
Those of us who are trying to play the game in earnest are going to have to realize that this is, unfortunately, part of the game now too -- seperating the fakes from the phonies.
Anyway, here's a link to Mandrake's Myspace...you guys think it may be fake too?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=84830367
(Sorry for the long post.)
ROT being updated? Porter password no longer works.
Wow. No sooner than I posted the ROT being updated. I get a newsletter from DR. Bole. He talks about remebering the name "wand prowess" and the p.s.reads. "Consuming a diet high in fiber can be beneficial to the BLOOD"
Doh! Wand prowess, anagram, New Password. Silly me! Sorry about bitty posts, posting as it happens.
Ok got the new password. Bole talks about bears, up north sea bear....white in colour.....etc
Sorry, found more. I was messing with all the words we have so far on RDB, nothing happens except with BLOOD this takes you to a page stating "page 1" link. It shows a file blood.psd. Which i think refers to photoshop, which I dont have. Somebody open it please.
Another email from Dr Bole.
He talks about being in a hotel and meeting Mandrake Wig, or Manny to his friends. Mandrake says "Let me give you a tip, a single word that will enrich
your life, as it has mine." Dr Bole then says he anagrams the name to "waking dream" And the word he received from Manny that day was "YOU"
Ellen: I think that's the original e-mail that we got when we first found the ROT site...
There haven't been any posts here on the RoT site's password being changed so I'm just gonna lay everything I've done out and sorry if I'm rehashing old news...
I got the new RoT news letter and the yellow lab's name "Wand prowess" is an anagram for "new password" (signalled by the lab telling the Dr to remember his name "not as it is but as it can be." )
The PS clue from Rachel (should I question the legitimacy of this source??) leads me to believe that the password is in the post script.
(PS: Consuming a diet high in fiber can be beneficial to the BLOOD.)
I tried "blood" but don't know if this is a reference to fiber optics? or what.
I am also stumped on how "Maslow's Hierarchy" of needs ties in (after a great deal of study in psy) except that the highest level is self actualisation (all about you)and keeping "your" eye on the prize seem to have the same thrust.
Basically I should have my detective's badge stripped and booted out but hope this helps someone else crack it.
Gee what a gasbag!
I'm out 'till monday. (sneaky work poster!)
Oh, and the poem...
does the first line "In the Pacific I'm in the ocean bare," mean an island??
and
"when I'm up north I'm the sea bear." is that a reference to a polar bear??
maybe I've been watching too may reruns of LOST!
OH WOOOHOOOO!
the RoT password is "polar bear"
Gimmy my badge back!!
Just letting you know, Dick Cheever's blog has been found. I saw it in the sourcecode of www.broadbandstories.com around 8:00, then went to the Speaker's website and found that people were already discussing it. http://dickcheever.blogspot.com
Has anyone received the email from ROT. I dont have a lot of time to make anything of it but I know its got to lead to the next clue. Lots of info in it.
I can't get into ROT with the old password, "porter." I received the new newsletter from Dr. Wally Bole (which contains a P.S. - note to those following the ROT clues). I have figured out that "wand prowess" unscrambles to form "new password"... but what the heck is the new password?? Help!
I found the password. I don't want to spoil it, so let me tell you that the password is two words and those two words refer to a white animal that has also been seen on LOST.
I went to the mandrake myspace website..it's surely a fake..I base this on a very bogus picture of wally bole' on the mandrake myspace site...someone just photoshopped bole's head on a body and placed it on top of the verizon store picture....I looked up "verizon store" on google images and found the same background picture that the faker used for the pic of wally' if you look in the back left of this pic the same person is standing there in the wally pic and on the one without wally bole' on google images .....here is the link I found using google images...
http://chris.pirillo.com/_photos/pic01310216.jpg
and if that still doesn't make you a believer just go to google and type in "verizon store" and you will get the same pic without wally bole' as the first image...quite pathetic...
-Matt-
type in blood, money, sorrow, after the / and each will give you three pieces of the letter ..... I did not find this clue I got it on thelostexperienceclues.com
ROT site: porter doesn't work anymore!!!! What is happaning?
mandrake wig is an anagram for waking dream.... possible clue?
I find it hard to believe that a MySpace account would be in-game. I doubt that ABC/Disney would be giving free ad time to Fox/News Corp. We've seen how commercial this game has been so far, and that would be a rather anti-commercial move.
that adoption thinsg a sponsored link, probably how it popped up everywhere
DJ Dan has been updated. Eyes on the man is now Mittlewerk!
DjDan new podcast over at ROT http://www.retrieversoftruth.com/users/BroadBandBeatnik/htdocs/audio/MathematicalForecasting.mp3
The blog for Mandrake Wig is in-game. They've given two words to the secret clue from ROT, and his photo page has given the second part of the ROT letter and a third word for the ROT secret clue. Have some faith once in a while...
Did anyone see the new video on the Dick Cheever blog?
http://www.youtube.com/user/thecheever