The PRE game fun...

[stephantom]

i think the last equation would help a lot...!!

There you go, that is the best I can do for now, I am still trying to get things clearer. I just wrote on the image using my graphics tablet. I hope you don't mind and you can read my writing ;-)

[SuperRob]

Actually, the number is just a little over 500 people, but just a minor detail...

That's splitting hairs. It's certainly less than 1000, which was the point of Loki's statement.

Anyway, I'm wondering if there's any point in doing anything more with this. The "race" starts when the countdown timer expires, which is at CES. I think it's safe to say that they're not giving anyone a headstart, so anything else you discover is surely just about the purpose and theme of the contest, and not about the actual contest itself.

The most common proposal is a tether, usually in the form of a cable or ribbon, spanning from the surface to a point beyond geosynchronous orbit.

And what point in geosynchronous orbit would you need to tether to? The ISS, of course.

[Ron Burgundy]

i havent seen this posted yet but i think it was mentioned a few posts back...anywho this is for reference; its the map on the video with the area she had circled from Hotel Bellagio

[LAWLESS]

I really think this is about the space elevator. Do you remember NIAC ? It's Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts phase 2.

This document in combination with the book The Space Elevator (Edwards and Westling, 2003)

summarizes the work done under a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts Phase II grant to

develop the space elevator.

Here is the link to the document : http://liftport.com/files/521Edwards.pdf

[SuperRob]

I really think this is about the space elevator. Do you remember NIAC ? It's Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts phase 2.

This document in combination with the book The Space Elevator (Edwards and Westling, 2003)

summarizes the work done under a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts Phase II grant to

develop the space elevator.

Here is the link to the document : http://liftport.com/files/521Edwards.pdf

I think the Space Elevator is related. But it doesn't exist yet. The ISS does, and is what the Space Elevator would connect to. Remember, every clue should relate back to one common thread.

[Janna May]

I really think this is about the space elevator. Do you remember NIAC ? It's Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts phase 2.

This document in combination with the book The Space Elevator (Edwards and Westling, 2003)

summarizes the work done under a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts Phase II grant to

develop the space elevator.

Here is the link to the document : http://liftport.com/files/521Edwards.pdf

umm perphaps it is this elevator thing then.. and Microsoft have provided the OS for running the thing...

oh ... :|

[MountainGirl]

IMO, they're going to name something after the winner. Something that will be spoken often.

[StandingInAlley]

and wat does it have to do with Microsoft ?

[LAWLESS]

I think the Space Elevator is related. But it doesn't exist yet. The ISS does, and is what the Space Elevator would connect to. Remember, every clue should relate back to one common thread.

I think it relates to the misspelled city names. The misspelled letters were NIAC.

[Mdunham2005]

Hey, I've joined the game late but after being introduced to it by Simsie, I've read through all 84 pages on the forum. Good work so far!

I can't remember whether this has been mentioned before but anyway, I was browsing through Window Vista's site and found in the 'The Community' page the initial 'Most of you wont figure this out' code.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/community/default.mspx

I don't know whether this has anything to do with the prize or whether we are being mislead.

But hey, I thought it might have some importance.

[Where are You?]

NIAC is short for 2 things,

Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts or

Normalized Image of the Absolute Conic

I think both of them sounds relevant. But i don't know

[konamouse]

I think it relates to the misspelled city names. The misspelled letters were NIAC.

I think the misspelled names are a dead issue. The spelling was quickly corrected. If it was still a clue, they would still be misspelled.

[stephantom]

I think the misspelled names are a dead issue. The spelling was quickly corrected. If it was still a clue, they would still be misspelled.

I tend to agree on this one.

[Mdunham2005]

Linking with my post earlier, I followed some of the links of 'Popular Blogs' at the top of the page and three other sites had the intial 'Most of you wont figure this out' code.

The initial one http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/

On the Windows Vista Team blog http://windowsvistablog.com/

and

The Hive blog http://hive.net/Member/blogs/the_insider/

Once again I don't know whether these are just to promote the game or are supposed to be misleading for us.

[NodakPaul]

Linking with my post earlier, I followed some of the links of 'Popular Blogs' at the top of the page and three other sites had the intial 'Most of you wont figure this out' code.

The initial one http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/

On the Windows Vista Team blog http://windowsvistablog.com/

and

The Hive blog http://hive.net/Member/blogs/the_insider/

Once again I don't know whether these are just to promote the game or are misleading for us.

I think those are just to promote the game. All of them are just listing the first clue.

[n_K]

i'd find it funny if someone just sent an email to MS asking what its about and they just put it in plain english... lol

[NodakPaul]

I tend to agree on this one.

I'm not so sure. The names were pretty glaringly misspelled, and they have changed things in the puzzles before. Remember that the first soduku was changed to give us a second solution?

I don't know... if they can miss four HUGE spelling mistakes on a high profile page with very little actual content, then I would be worried about the state of their quality control over at Microsoft... ;)

[n_K]

I don't know... if they can miss four HUGE spelling mistakes on a high profile page with very little actual content, then I would be worried about the state of their quality control over at Microsoft... ;)

they released windows, doesnt that say somethin about the quality control people anyway ?

[kwasior]

I'm sure that writings below light cone diagram is "Time dilation and length contraction"

Special_relativity, of course there is no delta sign but in physics some time you can skip that.

"...Suppose we have a clock at rest in the unprimed system S. Two consecutive ticks of this clock are then characterized by Δx = 0. If we want to know the relation between the times between these ticks as measured in both systems, we can use the first equation and find

This shows that the time Δt' between the two ticks as seen in the 'moving' frame S' is larger than the time Δt between these ticks as measured in the rest frame of the clock. This phenomenon is called time dilation..."

I think that may be connection to clocks from film...

(sorry for my poor english :D)

Edited December 28, 2006 by kwasior

[episode]

I'm not so sure. The names were pretty glaringly misspelled, and they have changed things in the puzzles before. Remember that the first soduku was changed to give us a second solution?

I don't know... if they can miss four HUGE spelling mistakes on a high profile page with very little actual content, then I would be worried about the state of their quality control over at Microsoft... ;)

It wasn't a second solution. Just the word that it spelled was different. None of the greater than and less than symbols changed, thus solving it was the exact same thing.

[Bei337]

Just throwing in couple of links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spiral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_gra...tional_constant

[SuperRob]

I'm sure that writings below light cone diagram is "Time dilation and length contraction"

Special_relativity, of course there is no delta sign but in physics some time you can skip that.

"...Suppose we have a clock at rest in the unprimed system S. Two consecutive ticks of this clock are then characterized by Δx = 0. If we want to know the relation between the times between these ticks as measured in both systems, we can use the first equation and find

This shows that the time Δt' between the two ticks as seen in the 'moving' frame S' is larger than the time Δt between these ticks as measured in the rest frame of the clock. This phenomenon is called time dilation..."

I think that may be connection to clocks from film...

(sorry for my poor english :D)

Just want to point out for anyone that I haven't convinced yet that Time Dilation and Special Relativity are also two concepts that come into heavy play for someone who is being shot into space. As you accelerate, time slows for you. An astronaut wearing a watch would find that his watch would be behind one left on earth when he was to return.

[Accipitridae]

Since people are a bit stuck on the Grand Prize trip to Space thing... I thought so too at first, but...

"Here’s a riddle for you:

At the end of our journey together, I will be discovered—and I will disappear.

One person will find me at my vanishing point. I will make that person famous in a way the world has not seen before. Their name will be repeated as many times as there are stars in—

No. Let’s be more precise. That name will be repeated as many times as there are grains of sand on a beach. That’s my promise.

Your chance to be that person will start when the countdown hits zero."

While this isn't the /zenith directory, it's obviously talking about the grand prize. The riddle refrains from saying Stars in the sky, rather it's sand on the beach. I think that might be a hint. But let's focus on following the clues rather than trying to guess the prize. I'm sure it will reveal itself as we get closer to solving some of the puzzles.

Just thought I'd add, as someone pointed out earlier. The number of grains of sand on a beach is supposed to be roughly equivalent to the number of stars in the milky way (our galaxy). It would seem our riddler has a sense of humor.

Edited December 28, 2006 by Accipitridae

[CrimsonRedMk Member]

FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_a..._by_nationality

Surely less than 100 :)

Yea but...there have definetly been more than 1 American in space...that table only shows one!

Since people are a bit stuck on the Grand Prize trip to Space thing... I thought so too at first, but...

"Here?s a riddle for you:

At the end of our journey together, I will be discovered?and I will disappear.

One person will find me at my vanishing point. I will make that person famous in a way the world has not seen before. Their name will be repeated as many times as there are stars in?

No. Let?s be more precise. That name will be repeated as many times as there are grains of sand on a beach. That?s my promise.

Your chance to be that person will start when the countdown hits zero."

While this isn't the /zenith directory, it's obviously talking about the grand prize. The riddle refrains from saying Stars in the sky, rather it's sand on the beach. I think that might be a hint. But let's focus on following the clues rather than trying to guess the prize. I'm sure it will reveal itself as we get closer to solving some of the puzzles.

About the sand and stars...didn't that come from the bible? (Not helping am I?)

[SuperRob]

Since people are a bit stuck on the Grand Prize trip to Space thing... I thought so too at first, but...

"Here?s a riddle for you:

At the end of our journey together, I will be discovered?and I will disappear.

One person will find me at my vanishing point. I will make that person famous in a way the world has not seen before. Their name will be repeated as many times as there are stars in?

No. Let?s be more precise. That name will be repeated as many times as there are grains of sand on a beach. That?s my promise.

Your chance to be that person will start when the countdown hits zero."

While this isn't the /zenith directory, it's obviously talking about the grand prize. The riddle refrains from saying Stars in the sky, rather it's sand on the beach. I think that might be a hint. But let's focus on following the clues rather than trying to guess the prize. I'm sure it will reveal itself as we get closer to solving some of the puzzles.

Except that there is nothing left to speculate about. This isn't the game ... it's the pre-game. The game doesn't start until January 8th. In fact, I'm fairly certain that we've already exhausted any clues that will be given to us at this point. We know where it starts, and when. We know generally where the other events will be and when (more precise locations will probably not come until the game starts in earnest). We know what some of the prizes are and have clues about the grand prize.

Seriously, what else do you think would coming at this point?