Star Trek ARG Report 7: Live Drop Location + New Site Identified [UPDATE: UK Romulan photos] April 24, 2009
by Aliotsy Andrianarivo , Filed under: Star Trek ARG , trackback
The community building up around the alternative reality game for the new Star Trek movie has has identified likely locations for a "live drop" this weekend, and "Fe’s" Twitter points to our first new in-game site. See below for all the latest on this viral Star Trek fun.
APRIL 24th STAR TREK ARG REPORT 7
NOTE: if you are new to the Star Trek ARG see ‘Quick review’ at the bottom of this article
April 24 Analysis 1: Spain drop location identified
Many TM community members noticed
the oblique reference to real world place from the April 23rd chat:
PHPChatUser5: "… Fe, yours will likely be near the museum right by you with the rusty towers. …"
Since "Fe" is almost certainly in Spain, the community immediately started focused there for candidate locations. Although several were proffered, "Raphael" was the first to identify one that passed muster: the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Raphael found a picture that clearly shows two rusted towers in front of the museum.
Reina Sofia
April 24 Analysis 2: Board with Romulan markings from "Greatbatch" photo points to real world locations
Observant community members noticed an unusual board in yesterday’s photo from "Geoff Greatbatch." "abramsfollower," “Merzmensch aka kosmopol,” and "Matt," — who started friendly email banter with Greatbatch — were able to obtain a higher resolution image of the site from a different angle:
Higher res Romulans in UK image (click to enlarge)
Check out these signs
Recognizing the markings as Romulan digits, community members were able to decipher the following sequences:
48856723510
3568951396917
340522-1189104*
525231134114*later corrected by "Daoud" to 340522-1182404
In turn, the numeric sequences were interpreted as coordinates. Entering them into Google Maps yielded the following locations (thanks to "Mel" for the summary):
48.8567 2.3510
This coordinate is in Paris near the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_l%27H%C3%B4tel-de-Ville35.6895 139.6917
This coordinate point to the Tokyo City Hall in Tokyo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_City_Hall34.0522 -118.9104
This coodinate is near Los Angeles in a forest.52.5231 13.4114
This coordinate is near the Alexanderplatz in Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderplatz
Clearly, the third location doesn’t fit in with the rest. "PV," "Daoud," and "Mel" reworked the numbers, looked at the location of Los Angeles’ City Hall, and noted that it was, indeed, the third location.
So, we have something happening this weekend, according to the chat transcript, and five possible drop locations corresponding to each of the five members of the Team of Romulan Time Travelers (I am taking suggestions for a better name for the characters :) ).
Alice Forrest 700 compels WarpTube to boldly go … to Curbridge
The debate over whether Twitterer @aliceforrest700 was a player or "in-game" was decisively answered when she posted the following:
@Merzmensch I used to use Facebook but I kept being sargastic adn I am dyslexic, which si a problem especially for my Japanese friends,
(bold print added for emphasis)
This was posted shortly before "LtPiper"discovered the Facebook page for PHPChatUser1, one "Sargash Si."
While the community mulled over the hard-to-read enhancement of the board at the crash site, Alice offered another hint:
I would never use photoshop when it’s not needed would you?
Coupled with gentle promptings from "Geoff Greatbatch" to visit the actual crash site, community member "WarpTube" has volunteered to drive out to Curbridge to see if anything can be found. If you would like to help defray the cost of petrol for the trip, hop over to the chatroom and ask for his PayPal information. Godspeed, WarpTube!
NEW CLUE: "Fe" points to new in-game site
At 7:00PM GMT, PHPChatUser4 tweeted:
@PHPChatUser5 .eu
He also updated his profile picture:
New Avatar
"Sheryl" identified the picture as John Flamsteed, but also noted it’s the first portrait that comes up when one does a Google Image Search for our friend Johann Bayer. This reporter ("aliotsy") put the pieces together and identified the first new in-game site since April 17th: johannbayer.eu!
The site initially displayed a sequence of grey boxes, followed by a white box. The grey boxes allowed text input, and when the white box was clicked on, a grid over an odd background appeared:
Background
The background has since disappeared, and the site now only displays a grid over a plain white background.
UPDATE: Chink2love makes it to the crash site, takes photos!
Why use Photoshop when it’s not needed, indeed! "Chink2love" managed to make it out to the crash site and take pictures. We have a Romulan invasion in the Oxfordshire countryside!
Click images to see at Chink2love’s site
A note from Aliotsy regarding credit for clues and breakthroughs
This ARG has been an incredible community effort, and it’s been fun to watch. Often, disparate strands of thought offered by individuals have come together to weave new insights. That said, I really do want to ensure that individuals who first found and shared solutions with the community are credited. To that end, I’m keeping a close eye on the ARG chatroom (which is moving fastest), the comments here on TrekMovie, and on the thread at Unfiction. I’m not perfect, though, so I can occasionally miss out, especially in the chat (I’m now using the Java client, which keeps a longer record than the Mibbit client). Please bear with me, and let me know in the comments if I need to make any corrections.
Star Trek ARG – A quick review
The Star Trek Alternative Reality Game began a couple of weeks ago after some fans spotted URLs on the walls of ‘Star Trek Dance Party’ photos up at thecobrasnake.com, these clues led to more sites, which in turn led to more clues. Here are the previous TrekMovie articles on the Star Trek ARG:
- April 10th – first article identifying ‘binary’ sites
- April 15th Update, identifying ‘Malak0′
- April 17th Update: more ‘PHP chat’
- April 20th Update: Twitter conversation leads to "APUS:01-05"
- April 21st Update: Malak0 posts video of dropped device, leading to "CHAMAELEON:13-23"
- April 23rd Update: More Chatter + Romulans in UK
Also, all TrekMovie articles regarding this are now in a single Star Trek ARG Category.
What do you think? — and A NOTE before you comment
Before you post clues or speculation in the comments below, check the previous TrekMovie articles (including comments) to be sure they haven’t already been covered.
Star Trek ARG Forum
TM community member "Tom" hosts the very active ARG chat where much of the problem-solving is taking place. He has set up a forum for posting clues and speculation. It also includes links to the chat.
Other resources
- ARG site Unfiction also has a thread dedicated to the game
- Thread at startrekmovie.com
- This Star Trek ARG wiki is a great place to get caught up on the chats and their translations
Any new clues or theories? Let us know!
but again, be sure to check previous posts to make sure they haven’t been covered. If you really think you are on to something, send in a clue to tips [at]
trekmovie
[dot]
com. However, please keep tips to new (at least semi) verified clues, and not just speculation, that is what the comments are for.
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Comments»
I don’t get it. What’s the point of this game?
Wow. That’s more numbers than Lost
Want to throw in an addendum: there are some reasonable doubts about johannbayer.eu being an “in-game” site. Tread carefully.
Wow. This is really complex and confusing, but cool.
I first got into this and now its completely different from the start. Far to complicated for me. Although it is cool. It’s also awesome that WarpTube is going out there to see the site. Such creative people hahaha. I’m very excited to see the end result. I wonder if it plays with a plot line in the movie or countdown.
Chink2love actually made it out to the crash site:
Crash Markings 1
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0365.JPG.html
This is all over my head. I hope you folks figure it out. I think there are probably a lot of fans like me that are following your progress here without participating. Good Luck, were counting on you !
The correct coordinates:
48.8567,2.3510
35.6895,139.6917
34.0522,-118.2434
52.5234,13.4114
Crash Markings 1
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0365.JPG.html
Main Crash Markings…
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0366.JPG.html
THE SIGN…
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0374.JPG.html
Big writing Pt1
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0368.JPG.html
Big Writing Part 2
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0369.JPG.html
The slightly improve coordinates don’t change anything about the places google earth find with them.
It is still the same places as the article above mentions.
Big Writng Part 3
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0370.JPG.html
I have made with the coordinates a QR code.
But it is a little too big for the http://johannbayer.eu/ site.
Can someone decode it to look if it nevertheless says something useful?
Big Writing Part 4
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0371.JPG.html
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/img.php?s=8&d=48.8567%2C2.3510%0D%0A35.6895%2C139.6917%0D%0A34.0522%2C-118.2434%0D%0A52.5234%2C13.4114
Has anyone noticed there are 6 photos of numeric sequences on Sargash Si’s facebook page? The Japanese writing at the bottom of each picture translates to.
“Being able to point to these properly, although it relieves your world and the galaxy, please lend the hand!!!”
And Lastly a nice cheeky one of my with my SLUSHO! Hoodie on for any photoshop doubters out there!
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/CIMG0376.JPG.html
@19 James T. – Yes. If you assume a tic-tac-toe grid, with 1, 7, and 9 used as positioning blocks, the sequences translate to another QR code.
Check out this picture:
http://img.trekmovie.com/images/st09/arg/sudoku1.jpg
from this update:
http://trekmovie.com/2009/04/23/star-trek-arg-update-6-more-chatter-romulans-in-uk/
Oops, that was supposed to be 1,3, and 7.
Woo! I was starting to think it was too low budget or something to bleed into the real world. I love when ARGs go all weird and real world.
God, you guys are all so dedicated. And awesome. ♥
Not sure if this has been noticed yet. But in the picture of John Flamsteed on PHPChatUser4’s Twitter profile http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/PHPChatUser4, it looks like Flamsteed’s hand was Photoshopped out. Here’s the original http://www.nndb.com/people/727/000096439/
Any ideas on the significance of this, if any?
Good eye, Casaubon. Some other people noticed that his hand was normally in the shot, too. Unfortunately, these are two different portraits, though very very similar.
Right all pics have now been uploaded to :-
http://www.c2l.eu/Gallery/v/Chink2love/stARG/
C2L
@25 Thanks Matt, good point. Has anyone found the real original portrait?
@26 C2L – Amazing work! Great job.
To the people who think the game is a waste of time or whatever:
Why do you feel the need to continue commenting? If you don’t care, then STOP CARING. Some of the people playing are clearly enjoying themselves- the game is for them.
I just found something out.
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
You can’t create a 39×39 QR code with this site. It makes a 37×37 code and the next biggest is a 41×41 code. I don’t know if the fault lies with the generator or if 39×39 QR codes don’t exist.
..fascinating watching this unfold.
Thought about 232 over dinner and wondered from a comment Tom made on the BBS about MD5 codes.
232 in MD5 is be83ab3ecd0db773eb2dc1b0a17836a1
If you google that, you get strangely a concrete block company, but then a lone image at a Uruguayan website. I have no idea where that is. Anyone recognize it?
http://www.doveclub.com.uy/images/tips/be83ab3ecd0db773eb2dc1b0a17836a1/img_xtMXGuNdpNF.jpg
BTW, what an amazing job Chink2Love!! Any chance was there a QR code on the back of the piece of plywood, or any small objects lying around?
can you download the source for the thing on the bayer website?
The link is http://www.johannbayer.eu/390e9ad1a5af0a2f8e370020fb3a833c.swf
Gonna see if anything comes up from the src code
Daoud, that is an excellent question. Wish we had thought of that earlier!
32 – Are you downloading it?
So everybody has their heads cracking up over that flashpuzzle on the johannbayer.eu site. It has a 39×39 size, i assumed that it had something to do with that QR code. But it doesn’t, according to this schedule: http://nfggames.com/games/jphonegames/qrcapacity.shtm
the 39×39 size doesn’t exist! I posted this info just in case you people are still trying to find out what the image was in order to crack it!
@35 – Well I guess that just leaves a nanogram then http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonogram
–If you keep the whole outside rows and columns white, then you’d have a 37×37 size.
–Not sure what the puppetmasters are up to… but we’ve got what I call “fakirs” I guess:
http://twitter.com/PHPChatUser going as another php epsilon
http://twitter.com/PHPChatUser6 going as php omega
http://twitter.com/PHPChatUser7 going as php cinco
Funny pranksters, no doubt. Although #6 has an excellent link to Two Steps From Hell by Freedom Fighters (background music in the original Trailers before they had Giacchino’s scoring to work with)… If something not scored for Trek ends up associated with Trek, let it be that instead of “Faith of the Heart”.
The crash site photos are amazing! Wow!
One question, which I didn’t see on the prior posts: Flamsteed and Bayer – is there any connection with them (they did have some connection with the Solar System discoveries, for one)? Or, are their portraits just being used to cover the QR codes?
Chink2Love-
Do you happen to check out the surrounding area to see if there was anything else? Or the building foundation, or what ever it is that the Romulan number sign was next to?
@29 & 35
might it be a 37×37 with the border pixels simply being blank?
#38 Good question. Only astronomy buffs know this offhand, but of course Wikipedia is our friend :) Bayer’s Uranometria (”measure of the heavens”) in 1603 defined most of the constellations we still use today in the modern locations and names. He also indexed stars mostly by brightness with Greek letters, usually in order of brightness (alpha Centauri, beta Centauri, etc.) sometimes by position. John Flamsteed was the first British Astronomer Royal. He indexed all bright starsconstellations visible from the UK in order of right ascension. Things like 61 Cygni, 128 Trianguli, and 40 Eridani. We still use both of their designation types.
oooh fun, fun. I just hope ALLL of this is hidden on the DVD. Cloverfield DVD was severely lacking in ARG content, though it did have some :) I want all the key points on the DVD.
I’m not really getting this stuff fast enough to have any impact, but I love watching it unfold… Keep up the great work people!
what if the grid at
http://www.johannbayer.eu/
is supposed to be filled in like Bayer’s star atlas?
What were those constellations that were found earlier in the ARG
a 37X37 grid with a one “pixel” border would indeed be 39X39.
This is just too hard for me to do, but it is seriously cool to watch, i’m so excited to be following this, Thanks to all you guys and gals who are solving this and keeping the rest of us entertained, intrigued and hanging on the edge in anticipation of the next cryptic revelation.
Its like reading a good book. Best of luck to you all.
@37 Daoud, @40 Ediec, @44 Admiral_Blackcat — noticed that it could be 37×37, too. Hope that works out — I personally think johanbayer.eu is legitimate, but there’s good reason to think it isn’t.
@38 Raveoned and @41 Daoud — Daoud’s answer was an initial. Something else to note (courtesy of “Sheryl”): if you do a search on images.google.com for Johann Bayer (no quotes), that portrait of Flamsteed is the first portrait you see. It’s possible that the Gamemasters mistakenly posted an incorrect portrait (as they did for PHPChatUser5). Whether they did so intentionally or not is another question entirely. :)
NEW DEVELOPMENT: A ROMULAN SPOTED:
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3038.html
Of course, the Flamsteed designations I chose there are Tellar, Romulus and Vulcan. ;) So there’s a connection, but not to the ARG, argh! :)
Is there any idea still on the
INDUS:13-06
CHAMAELEON:13-23
x
x
APUS:01-05?
I was thinking it might be the start of a nonogram, but we’d need oodles more lines. Another thought was the number of letters in each constellation name could yield: which if letters are:
05:13-06 E:M-F
10:13-23 J:M-W
x
x
04:01-05 D:A-E
coordinates, times, let’’s try them on google maps.
#47 Game’s a foot… so now we have first, a Madrid coordinate:
40.408865 -3.693845
which is the location we already had… and
And a second Berlin coordinate:
52.525968 13.388433
which is exactly the Kunsthaus Tacheles
What’s the graffito on the left side of http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3169.html
First set of coordinates is somewhere in Madrid.
(40.408865,-3.693845)
Second set of coordinates is in Berlin.
(52.525968,13.388433)
Theory
They might not be from Neros crew but from the secret facility that upgraded the narada then realized they made a mistake doing it when nero started blowing up vulcan and then got sucked back in time so they followed and would up here and are trying to fix things.
Mario et al. Notice on the Cobra Snake main page, that they’re giving out stuff tomorrow 4/25 late morning to 4 pm (1600h) at 1147 N Sycamore Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038.
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html
If only we had a Angeleno on board….
hey just a thought but has anyone tried to replicate the black and white pattern from a few days age on the http://www.johannbayer.eu/ by chance
i’ve tried but you gotta get the pattern just right , maybe with someone with more pataince then me can give it a try, i think something will pop up
Which black and white pattern are you referring to, riknight? We have three of them now.
http://www.johannbayer.eu/ is not working for me at this time. Is it down?
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3147.html
Looks like another QR code on the botton left of the left poster. I can’t make it out. Anyone else wanna try?
Malak in Arabic, Malack in English is given name for both males and females. It is also the word for “angel” in Arabic, Hebrew, and Ethiopic (all of which are related Semitic languages). The plural of malak (”angels”) is malaa`ikah in Arabic, malakim in Hebrew, and mala`ikt in Ethiopic.
The title Malak or Malik is also used in the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan for tribal chiefs.
Malak is a northern suburb within the City of Darwin, in the Northern
(Copyed from Wikipedia)
It works for me, Gigastazio.
So we’ve confirmed the Spanish museum, and we’ve got two locations now in Berlin. But at least we have the time, 16:00. GMT, we’re presuming. I’m confused about the Berlin discrepancy.
Maybe the coordinates-party-photo was by Sargash himself, he holds the sigh to the camera :)
And seriously – the binary addresses were photoshopped. Is this sign too? looks real.
@62 – Where’s the 16:00GMT from?
63 – We’re assuming GMT based upon all their communications to date. The 16:00 comes from the above pic: http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3038.html
Those are the times, as promised by “O” for those two locations.
it could be 1600 local time, which is a little ahead of GMT. So whoever goes to these locations, show up early local time, and if nothing happens stay until 1600 GMT.
Things to look for: Person who’s bigger than average human. Hats covering ears. Arched eyebrows.
And don’t forget the laptop for real time updates. :)
Should happen on Sunday, but if available Saturday, get out just in case. ;)
@62 Re: Berlin discrepancy
Seems to me that the 2 coordinates in that party photo are the 2 locations that User5 was telling User3 and User4 to go to this weekend. As for the 4 locations from the coordinates from the crash site, I’m not sure what they’re for yet…
Dani – User4 is in Spain. And the museum (can’t think of its name right now) has been confirmed. You could be right, though, that the crash site coordinates are for something else altogether, and that the two in that photo are all that count for this weekend. For the time being, it would make sense (since there’s no Ca, Si is off the deep end and O would not need one).
GMT in Central Europe will be 2 hours behind local lime in France, Germany and Spain. So,18:00 in those countries, local time.
I’ve been saying for days that Alice was In-Game, and people kept denying it. Well, I told you so.
Alice is insightful and slightly eccentric, but not In-Game because she is aware of the fact it is only a game and she is aware of Star Trek as well.
hi gang, i wanted to say i am impressed and love how the community here is working together and building on eachothers finds, etc…it is great to see this all evolve. I cant really keep up as a player but am now enjoying being an observer
thanks again to aliotsy for bringing some order and herding the cats and thanks to chinks2love for going out there and taking pictures.
I don’t understand this AR games at all, but we have a fanclub in Madrid (Where the two rusty columns are). If there’s anything we can do to help, please give us instructions.
I send a call to my ARG friends in Berlin, so they are ready to go there. They just need to know, whether 16:00 is GMT. And whether it’s Saturday or Sunday.
Compare what PHPChatUser5 said:
“Just be ready, both of you, I’ll have your locations by Saturday – Fe, yours will likely be near the museum right by you with the rusty towers. “Al”, the other is on the eastern side of Berlin, by a derelict building in Mitte. I’ll need you to go the next day AT the time I give! Look for me in one of our spots.”
dude, good eye I’m pretty sure that is another qr code but I don’t have software good enough to zoom in on that, anyone else have some?
PHPChatUser5: Just be ready, both of you, I’ll have your locations by Saturday – Fe, yours will likely be near the museum right by you with the rusty towers. “Al”, the other is on the eastern side of Berlin, by a derelict building in Mitte. I’ll need you to go the next day AT the time I give! Look for me in one of our spots.
This is from the chat from http://2387-42.com/ .
The museum is the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
And the derelict building in Mitte is the Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin. It really look VERY derelict.
This is the front side:
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Kunsthaus_tacheles.berlin.II.JPG&filetimestamp=20081123144445
And that is the back side, which look even worse:
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:TachelesBack.jpg&filetimestamp=20060423194141
Thanx :-)
But our friends in Berlin are still waiting for conformation.
Is it Saturday or Sunday?
http://www.aintitcool.com/images2009/BigStarJessePhilips.jpg
If anyone from you own this poster, could you please make a good picture of the QR code, which is in the left lower corner?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code
We need a bigger photo from it!
@ 77
We guess it is Saturday because of the chat. But admittedly it COULD be Sunday, too. It isn’t so easy to interpret what user 5 said. But I think it would really be a shame if no one was there on Saturday, if something is there then.
sorry if this has been mentioned already
I dont know if this means anything at all but i had a look at sargash’s facebook translated his status, it reads:
I look for good people helping with the restoration of the warning message.
also i googled sargash and it came up with a webpage (http://sargash.com/ )which says:
“This site is coming eventually…maybe. :)”
im no computer wizz person so maybe some of you could do ur stuff with ip addresses and stuff :P
oh its IP is
74.208.27.190
I agree with Mel, looks like the drop is today, Saturday since she sent the location on Friday night. Golly, that’s confusing, though.
@72 Cheve — if it’s not too incovenient, see if members of your club can be at the following location around 16:00, between the two towers.
http://bit.ly/museomadrid
@ 72 — Oh: bring a camera, too. :)
and a laptop
and a bluetooth enabled device
built into the laptop
I’m not knocking somebody if they are into this sort of thing . . . to each his own. I’m just wondering how many people are really following this. A hundred people maybe? I dunno, that’s just a guess, don’t get angry with
me if I guessed too low.
But I’d like to see the marketing department do something to try to get an extra million or two of people to go see the movie. The people who are doing these puzzles are already going to buy tickets. So what is the upside to investing the energy into creating these puzzles?
Sure, it’s a fun diversion for some, but we’re talking about a multimillion dollar investment by the studio with the production of this movie. Go find a way to get my kids to go buy Burger King kids meals and want to go see the movie.
Just an opinion.
OK, our friends in Berlin were now there, nothing happened near the Kunsthaus Tacheles. Nothing strange or weird. There were some weird persons, but these weird persons are actually a part of this Arthouse.
They made some photos, perhaps we’ll show them today later.
My friends will look there tomorrow at 16:00 again.
Another friend, twitterer @bevbrecher wanted also to look up the locations. Perhaps she could find something?
Merzmensch: do you know @bevbrecher? We think she might be in-game… She was one of the first to talk to Alice.
@88
;-)
Well, I want at least, she will found something, is she IG or OOG ;-)
I’m in contact with her since some time (ehm, like with Alice and Geoff Greatbatch), hehe
So my hopes are all at dear @bevbrecher!
here are brand new images from tokyo party!
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/index.html
check them out !
@90 Those were posted last light. There is one with a clue in it. See above posts.
this has gotten waaaaay to complicated to be fun. its become a chore.
good luck guys.
its being discussed on treailhead already but
a woman with strange makeup is holding up a piece of paper with numbers (co ordinates and times on it ???? clue?????
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3038.html
:-S
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/bodyoflies/IMG_3009.html
I just noticed, the woman in this pick has Romulan-like eyebrows anyone agree?
Willmah has it right, I will now copy it!
16.00 hrs
40.408865 -3.697845
-40°24′31.91” -3°41′37.84” (these are more reliable)
16.00 hrs
52.525968, 13.388433
52°31′33.45” 13°23′18,36” (these too)
OK!!! it’s in Madrid!!!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=40.408865+-3.697845&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.222969,114.257812&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=52.525968,+13.388433&sll=40.408865,-3.697845&sspn=0.01214,0.027895&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A
In the Kunsthaus!!! People Help!!! C’mon!!!
Anthony PLease readd!!!!
Hey Gary. Excellent sleuthing!
Yeah, this confirms the Spanish museum, but gives us a different location for Berlin. 16:00 may refer to GMT, or local. Either way, we think that ‘whatever it is’ will take place tomorrow.
So much to figure out!
Also, always feel free to join us in the chat (link is in the article)! We’ve been working on this almost non-stop (some would say too much).
its hard to navigate around this thread much less contribute in a effective matter to it
Hey, I’m just posting to say on something possibly 99% stupid that caught my attention. First, I am fourteen. I live in Scotland. I have never seen an episode of star trek (:S) but I was drawn to this ARG by Clovey Clues. The enthusiasm for this is like wow… But anyways..
You were talking about the monograms? (I think that is how it is spelled – the pixel clue things) Well, I was in town today and I was extremely bored, being dragged about by my parents, and in a shop I saw, on bottles of Pepsi, very similar monogram things. It could be nothing, but it looked like it fit in with the puzzle??
Sorry, thought the littlest thing, however useless was worth mentioning.
@99 Matt-
Where is the chat? Sorry, you mentioned that it was said earlier, but as 100 – Marvin said, it is hard to navigate (and locate) around this thread.
Yes get me to the chat!
All – it’s in the article. But here’s a direct link:
http://widget.mibbit.com/?settings=ce9a733dae31c19c6cf23d9e4a4db1fa&noServerTab=false&server=irc.tvdw.eu&channel=%23arg&autoConnect=true
(I hope that works)
@104 Matt-
Yes, thank you:):) Much appreciated:)
um dunno if this is helping or not, but cant get street view in berlin, but on the map theres a subway station around the corner,
Oranienburger or somthin, only that @bevbrecher person on twitter only has 1 fave person, in germany talking about train times and lunar cycles, (the translation is sketchy lol
http://twitter.com/bevbrecher/favourites
but that depends if they are IG
on the Madrid street view theres a Roman cafe thingy, romans – romulans just guessing there :P
I’ve started following her on Twitter, willmah. I’m not sure if she’s IG or not. But it’s worth checking out.
the black and white pattern on the baack of the hand held that was lifted off the johannbayer site
BREAKING NEWS!
User4 updated his Twitter page with a black background. Therein is a new QR! Still haven’t decoded it yet, but we’re working on it.
And here it is:
PHOENIX:01-20
A friend from Berlin, Siedler, was today near Kunsthaus Tacheles. There was nothing remarcable, but he did pictures. Tomorrow he go there again.
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=612216#612216
better quality in my blog:
http://merzmensch.blogspot.com/2009/04/star-trek-kunsthaus-tacheles.html
And: the girl with coordinates paper at the party pics… Is she one of the 5 chatting Romulans?
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee240/kosmopol/romulanerin.jpg
Hey kos, just posted back to you at unfiction too.
I think that’s definitely user5. She’s female, she’s giving out the information she said she would in the chat and she’s in Tokyo, presumably to take care of Si.
That’s my theory, at least.
That’s cool, Matt
So we perhaps know now, who we have to look for while of live events!
Really, uhmm who cares.
Actually better yet, besides the two hundred people who are obsessing over this, who the hell can even follow whats going on.
I just want to see a good movie on May 8th. You can keep your geeked out treasure hunt.
@114 Who cares? Obviously, you do, or you wouldn’t have taken five minutes of your valuable life to post a message telling us how much you don’t care…
Interesting if not creepy story going on here, makes for some interesting reading…don’t know how you all have so much time to do all this mind…
Honesly, I don’t have this much time. I’ve followed this at a distance in the evenings, and today (Saturday) is the first day I’ve had the opportunity to really “play”
There really isn’t just one or even two people doing this; its a concerted effort of SEVERAL people over at the chatroom and over on Unfiction who just brainstorm and think about different clues and what they might mean. Its a really neat kind of “cooperative fun” that really stokes the imagination.
The power and (if we can say so:) beauty of ARG is the teamwork. Even if the story sometimes goes its own ways, and the puzzles are weird, but our collaboration with each other is the most important aspect of this entertainment. Perhaps it sounds pathetic, but I’ll say it anyway: this is the future of entertainment, where people help each other with own skills, or just lurk and read – everybody can choice his involvement.
That’s why ARGs can take our time we don’t really have :-)
#114 Stick a sock in it… C’mon, some of us, from all over the world are enjoying it. It’s helping to pass the time before May 8. It’s bringing together some fans from multiple countries, and we know it’s a game. Plus, a lot of people are learning some real astronomy, with the constellations, Johann Bayer (a great person from over 400 years ago!), and even mistaken images of the later painter Bayer, and of Flamsteed. We’ve found the puppetmasters making mistakes, in other words!
As ARG’s go, this one has some interesting features. The use of The Cobra Snake group is extremely humorous. A bunch of aimless people at concerts showing firsthand why if there were aliens, they’d avoid Earth as being useless… and around it are pieces of a puzzle that someone went to some effort to create.
INDUS:13-06 (uncertain connection to Si)
CHAMAELEON:13-23 (sounds ‘cah’, from “CA”mille)
x prediction: TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE: (ends in “AL”, #3 for tri-angle)
PHOENIX:01-20 (sounds ‘fee’, from “FE”rdinand)
APUS:01-05 (”O” is centered in Los Angeles, “US”)
Good reasoning, Daoud. Seems like an excellent prediction. In the meantime, we’re still left with those numbers to figure out.
As long as those appended numbers stay at 26 or less, they seem to perhaps be some type of alphabetic cipher.
If it were just direct sequential substitution (and putting each constellation in place of ChatUser1 – ChatUser5)… M F M W _ _ A T A E
Hey everyone (directed mainly to Matt as well:P) just came off mibbit I think it’s called:P:P
If you can get a person to really enhance this photo and zoom it soz, cos its got the qr unveiled on trektoberlin section of cs:
http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/trektoberlin/IMG_6542.html
see you on mibbit sometime:P
If you are on the southern hemisphere, like sydney, and you watch to the south starlit sky, you can see Indus, Chameleon, Phoenix and Apus. Each of them have multiple stars. They are numbered lika alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, .. and so on. In this order the twitter accounts have these user names, too. But if I select the first star (alpha) of Indus, the second of Chameleon (beta), fourth of Phoenix (delta) and fifth of Apus (epsilon) it makes not really a sense. There is also no connection to the numbers, I think they cannot be azimuths or altitudes for stars because they are to low for it. Who is with me? :-) Any further ideas?
Well, in addition to the alphabetic cipher running to 26; if the numbers stay below 24, there could be a 24-hour clock, or a Right Ascension connection, too. With 01 and 13 repeating, it strongly suggests times.
At one point I had suggested that the numbers related to a clock, but in a more physical sense. If you put a clock face up against a star chart, then Apus seemed to stretch from the 1 minute to 5 minute marks, Chamaeleon from 13 – 23 (roughly). It all fell apart after Indus was found.
*shrug*
Oooh, didnt one of the php people say that they had to do their access points at exactly the right time or sumfin???
@39 I look around thefoundations however due to the soil and sheep poo i’m gussing that timber had not been moved for many weeks/months, there was nothing in the surrounding area either :-(
I added the current access point info to the table on the wiki:
http://startrek.wikibruce.com/PHPChat
what is this?!
http://www.startrekmovie.com/mosaics/booths/booth4/strips/400000391.jpg
Me likes… but… should you all like it too? i love it
geez, you suppose that chick realized she was flashing the Internet?
If we treated the numbers as something like angle and ascension to each constellation would it be possible to track back to a single location?
Maybe, Ajax. We need someone smarter than me to figure that out, though.
lol, Gary that’s funny!
Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, Gary, that is pretty awesome.
It is indeed, best image on a star trek site ever. don’t miss it!
http://www.startrekmovie.com/mosaics/booths/booth4/strips/400000391.jpg
Best to put a NSFW or something next to that. At the very least.
how in the devil did you manage to find that? There’s some other close calls if you try flipping througuh image numbers, but its really sporadic so I gave up lol looks like one of the booths was at a dance party cause I recognize some of these cats
Ummm, okay Gary, but it’s not WORKSAFE, for those who are curious.
Plus, it’s only a 2 X 1 QR code. Or it’s Braille. The message is “A” “A”
This is what the ARG has come to? *sigh*
Does somebody know, where in Japan was this Party? I could write them in Japanese in order to get some better pics of Barcode on the poster?
It might be more successful to find someone who has the poster who’s been to the parties or to the Austin TX showing where they’ve given them out… or to contact the artist Jesse Philips and see if he’d send such a scan of that QR code.
BTW, I’ve tried to back-fit the constellation codes, but the QR creator I have doesn’t produce a match. Does anyone know an online QR creator that creates a match to the codes? The kaywa site doesn’t seem to do this right.
@141
The problem is, we need a 39×39 matrix, and I haven’t found a good generator with this resolution till now (but I’m still searching).
I wrote to cobrasnake btw. and asked CS people to make for me a makro of this barcode if they will see this poster next time. Or perhaps if the have this poster (who knows). Now waiting.
the johann bayer site (http://www.johannbayer.eu/) has that funny grid on it whereby if u click a box it turns black.
i dont know anything about QR codes but the grid is 40×40, maybe we to put in a QR code into the grid, but what code and that would take an age!!!
*sorry if said before*
@141 Daoud and @142 Merzmensch aka kosmopol:
Hey guys — Anthony from TrekMovie has the poster. He scanned in the code. I decoded it, and this is the site:
http://startreknokia.12dld.mobi
@144 unnessecary for us, many posters get there qr today
the message we got from a phone-call
check the arg chat for more info ;)
Here’s the English transcript of the contain the threat message, as much as I can hear.
“The subversives known as Iron and Aluminum are extreme public threat. it is your duty to supply us with any information you have regarding their whereabouts. Failure to do so will result in every horror being inflicted upon you and your kind. Your planet will be desroyed. Save yourselves. Contain the threat.”
After the message from comment 147:
“Yes please contact me. I need to know I can trust you.”
Message recording here: http://rapidshare.com/files/225981006/DW_A0005.wav That’s me at the end of the recording after the beep leaving a message.
148 – but that’s just LtPiper leaving a message
The German parts:
… und Aluminium sind stärker Bedrohung für die Öffentlichkeit. Es is eure Pflicht uns die Informationen zu beschaffen, die ihr eure Ehre Aufenthalt fort habt. Ein Scheitern in dieser Angelegenheit wird … Horror auf euch und die ganze Mensche auferlegt. Eure Planet wird bestört werden. Rette euch selbst. Grenzt die Bedrohung ein.
It is absolutely horrible German. A lot of grammatical mistakes and the pronunciation is bad, too. No native speaker said this.
All in all it means the same like the English parts.
For those who got lost (like me):
Apparently near the site in Berlin, someone was handing out flyers with rough pics of the Romulans (including the one from the party in Japan!) The fliers are asking us to “Contain the threat.” There was a number on the flier and that’s where the above audio recording came from. Also, the person handing out fliers said to “check behind the building” where apparently there was blood. GREEN blood!
Check the unfiction thread for pictures of the actual flier and more description: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27713&start=360&sid=938f6d7847fb9155880a2046e5f9d8ac
Pic of the flier:
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee240/kosmopol/Foto-0100.jpg
The German on the flier is also wrong. It should have been “irgendwelche” not “irgend”!
Pics from the happenings in Berlin (Thanks to chat user Amujan)
http://picasaweb.google.com/micha.spieler/StarTrekARGBerlinLiveSundayApril26th?feat=directlink#
Wow things move fast here! I think we need another new update page! This is tricky stuff and I am having trouble keeping up with all the new developments, and doing the other day to day stuff I have to do
Unofrtunately it seems that they have since taken down that picture that Gary found on the StarTrekMovie website
http://www.startrekmovie.com/mosaics/booths/booth4/strips/400000391.jpg
It’s not there anymore.
thats cool ! but how do i phone the number from the UK ??
#157 What was in the pic?
#157 Well, some might say “fortunately”. It’s surprising to have seen a major US media company made the mistake of not reviewing all the images to prevent frontal nudity. The before and after mosaics are still there, so you’re right they pulled just that one.
http://www.startrekmovie.com/mosaics/booths/booth4/strips/400000383.jpg
http://www.startrekmovie.com/mosaics/booths/booth4/strips/400000403.jpg
Of course there aren’t any QR codes, so this is moot.
Boobs
So… Is Sargash warning us, though he was part of the group at the begining?
Was this thing in Berlin form the landing-site-sign coordinates or O’s party-sign? Is she warning us?
And was the same thing happening on the other cities?
Or, could this be the person(s) who killed “Ca”, a/k/a Camille Dupont, a/k/a PHPChatUser2, a/k/a php beta, a/k/a CHAMAELEON:13-23
Oh yeah, and who was shot in Berlin? Ca is long dead in France. Who is the new dead?
New update!
A guy named colgado (http://twitter.com/colgado47), who is in Madrid just posted a very cryptic video. Seems as though it contains pieces of more QR code.
Is it our fifth (and last)?
Here is a link to the phone recording you hear when you call the number on the flier from Berlin.
http://hitching.net/startrekarg/containthethreat.mp3
Colgado47 http://twitter.com/colgado47 has written on twitter:
#startrekarg bluetooth madrid http://bit.ly/tQfft (?????)
When you download the file here
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=0514b9efd914786767cd7f7bd65f7eef4f8f87258dac4e155be6ba49b5870170
you get a short video clip where you can see the following picture:
http://i41.tinypic.com/33xwvx2.jpg
It could be apart of a QR code or it could be a part of what to put in at
http://johannbayer.eu/
At least that is what most people believe at the moment.
Here is where colgado47 at Twitter sent us. Several of us have downloaded it, and it’s safe (though I wouldn’t blame anyone if they didn’t feel comfortable with it):
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=0514b9efd914786767cd7f7bd65f7eef4f8f87258dac4e155be6ba49b5870170
Siedler has written at unfiction a very nice description about what has happened in Berlin at the Kunsthaus Tacheles.
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27713&start=360
“Now we are back from the ARG Event at the Tacheles. When we arrived at the location, the place looked like the day before. There was nothing special at the area. During 15 min we tried to find some wlan hotspots and other bluetooth devices. So the search result was only our own mobiles. Then our eyes saw a couple that had a little flyer in his hands. They showed him inconspicuously some times in our direction, but we couldn´t see the content from the flyer. Suddenly in front of the Tacheles a woman tried to distributed the flyers to some persons. We went to her and got the flyers. She gave us the information that we have to go a little way around the block. There waited another woman with the flyers. She directed us in a backyard. There were a lot of graffitis. On the ground we found some pictures, which were done with a pattern. It was the same like on the flyer. We searched a long time in this area, but found only a messy doss from a hobo. As we wanted to go home a sprayer came and fabricated new graffities with a pattern. A young woman came also and looked for the romulaner too. Her interests was the “sleepingplace” of the hobo. Not till then we saw the green “blood” in the sleeping bag. We found the right place! We made a lot of pictures. Also this woman told me that her friend got one or two messages. We assume that the PMs tried to sent it with bluetooth to us but it doesn´t worked.So they have to gave the message on this way. She will send it with Email to me. Nearly this message sounds: “Someone tried to cower. He can do it no more, because they will find him. He will go away”.
That was all and we went at home.”
Amujan made some great pictures from the place.
http://picasaweb.google.com/micha.spieler/StarTrekARGBerlinLiveSundayApril26th?feat=directlink&fgl=true&pli=1#
the segments in colgado47’s vid are just the same piece at different zooms, can that be used to make the rest of the QR code, or is that not enough ??
@ 168
People are trying to do that at the chat in the moment.
http://widget.mibbit.com/?settings=ce9a733dae31c19c6cf23d9e4a4db1fa&noServerTab=false&server=irc.tvdw.eu&channel=%23arg&autoConnect=true
I don’t know if that could work. It is much to complicated for me. ;-)
The Romulans brought Romulan ale with them to earth! ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/micha.spieler/StarTrekARGBerlinLiveSundayApril26th?feat=directlink#5329024870318627026
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Romulan_ale
Oo Romulan Blood in Berlin…
Strange messages…
To bad it was in Berlin, maybe we can get something near Wuppertal ;)
Man, nothing cool ever happens in my town!
http://2387-42.com/ is dead now, but the original chat transcript is still at http://97.74.158.186/
Wonder if that means they’ll be doing something new at 2387-42 soon?
Daoud, the site still works for me. Maybe just a temporary glitch?
@172 – It’s still up for me?
Yes the direct site still works. http://97.74.258.186
I was referring only the redirect site http://2387-42.com not working.
Aargh. http://97.74.158.186/ is what works.
In one of the chats, there was mention of one of the guys, “Al”, who is supposed to be “on the eastern side of Berlin, by a derelict building in Mitte.” Seeing how one of the coordinates matches up to Berlin on th east side of Mitte, I can assume that those coordinates are accurate locations as to at least one person showing up.
Greg – My understanding of what happened today (writeup hopefully coming soon) is that everything occurred at or near that location. So yes, you’re absolutely right.
Daoud – Yeah, I understood you the first time. The redirect site, 2387-42.com works just fine for me — forced refresh and all. Hopefully it’s just a temporary glitch on your end somewhere.
I’ve got new message by Geoff.
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=612432#612432
Do we perhaps jave to go to the Oxfordshire site again?..
I asked Malak0 a few days ago if anyone serious contacted him after his video, and also about his name & mail address. He finally answered me:
“Hi- no serieus contacts yet. Malako is my name for friends and familly. mklvnd is mkl (malako and family name) and vnd (the Vendée, where I come from)”.
Didn’t the romulans get to him yet? Or they’re not interested in him at all?
Well, he still answers us, he’s still in the game
here is something i got from the berlin video, siedler got over email:
http://i44.tinypic.com/j95y0m.jpg
Video from Berlin (send by Siedler)
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=612449#612449
The code says in l33t “a nomad clue”, but…
I don’t know, if it’s relevant, but “a nomad clue” is anagram for “manual code”
Forgive me if this is already discounted, but it seems obvious that someone should try to enter the QR codes on the grid at http://www.johannbayer.eu
Has this been tried? I would do it myself but I don’t have time to count the dots.
If it hasn’t already been noted, looks like the 2 portions of QR codes from Berlin and Spain videos match up in the middle. Let’s call Spain an ‘L’ and Berlin a ‘-’ shape. If you overlay the 2 where the centers match, then all you need are the 3 positioning dots for a full QR code. Someone with a little more experience please get it built and read =)
Nevermind, knew I should have checked UF first =D
I tried inputting the new QR code into the site. nothing
Heh. One of the guys in the chat room inputted some choice swear words. No luck with that either, but I’m sure it was gratifying. :-p
Oh well, worse ways to waste a morning……
is Geoff Greatbatch IG ??
only in one of his messages he said he had a nice pub lunch, and theres a pub close to the crash site called ‘The Flying Machine’
is it relevent ????W
192 – Yeah. Mr. Greatbatch is thoroughly IG. He very conveniently timed his iReport about the crash site for right after one of the chats where they mentioned his name.
CONTAIN THE THREAT REPLY!!!!
For your own safety, send us all information you have on these rogues. They want to destroy your planet, and we are here to help you stop them. We know these traitors all too well and can figure out what their plans are if you send us any of their belongings or any information you intercepted. We have their coded key from Berlin-Madrid but if we are to access the data it hides, you must send us the combined access-point quad. If we do not get to this data first, the rogues could unleash destruction unlike anything you can imagine. We have no time, if you want to save your world, tell us now what we need to know.
oh my !!!
what is the combined access point quad ??
is it the constellations???
Moving discussion over to the ARG 8 thread….