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Winner of Assignment #3 | |
Angela is the big winner of the Paper Helicopter assignment! She really went all out with her helicopter. Luckily for her, Jud seems to have gotten back into Junior's good graces and is able to send packages out again so she'll be getting something in the mail. Wonder if it will have something extra like mine and Austin's. Sadly, I was not able to compete in this assignment as I sprained my wrist and couldn't do much with my right hand. That and I totally forgot about the assignment until it was due. But I'm mostly just blaming the sprained wrist. Sounds better that way.
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Assignment 4: Chinese Fortune Foods | |
Jud has hit another idea out of the park. After eating some Chinese food, he thought about how awesome it would be if you could get fortunes in foods other than fortune cookies. So our job is to prototype some foods that can have some fortunes inside of them.
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Jud Talks About Allen Keys |
In the second half of the Assignment 4 video, Jud starts to talk about Allen Keys. There are a couple of interesting things to note in what he says.
So Pantless said that some of you are really concerned about Allen Keys. I really thought that you guys knew Allen Keys was. I mean Austin, your steampunk tissue, I thought that was a tribute to everybody from Work With No Pants. You know, with Allen key right there. I was the nut over in the corner because I keep this whole thing together. And Ty, he's that vice grip that keeps me tightened up and puts the screws onto me, you know? Not to sure who the socket is. Maybe you can let me in on that one, Austin. But what else can I tell you about Allen Keys? He's a multi-faceted-sided guy. He's like a six-sided tool. He is a key to the operation of Ty Coin Inc. Austin, I'm really not sure how you got that vacation request from Allen Keys. He hasn't been talking to me since we had that argument just before he went on vacation.
First off, the six-sided tool bit is very interesting, considering we still have all those videos from the QR code trail that we haven't figured out passwords to yet. Is he somehow the key to unlocking them? If so, it's not his name (allen/Allen/allenkeys/AllenKeys). And there is nothing on his Xclusion profile to use. So if he is a key, he's really not a very good one.
The second thing is that Jud apparently had an argument with Allen right before Allen left on vacation - whenever that was. Sometime before May 29th which was when Allen was original scheduled to come back from vacation. It's possible that the argument happened around April 6 when Junior got made at Jud for not wearing pants to work and Jud comes up with the idea for Work With No Pants, but it's impossible to say for sure with the information we have.
I totally feel like I'm being a horrible puzzle solver because it seems like we should have enough to figure out a password or two, but I'm just not putting the pieces together properly. I think it might take a clue-by-four over the head in order to solve this.
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Meeting Jud |
I was lucky enough to attend the 2012 ARGFest held in Toronto this year. It had been mentioned that it might be possible to meet Jud despite it being a very busy week for Work With No Pants. So needless to say, I was very excited that I might get to meet Jud while I was in town.
That excitement went up when I saw that he was on his way to the FestQuest but sadly he must have been on another team because I did not seem him at all while we were walking around. I was beginning to lose hope that I would ever meet him until we bumped into each other at the bar at the end of the FestQuest. He had a prototype of my winning drink holder with him. Except for some reason his "straw was broken". When you tried to lift up on it, it was very heavy. Odd. The straw in my design was easily removable.
Jud then had to go and visit the restroom. If he had drank everything in his drink holder cup I wouldn't blame him as it was a very big cup. While he was in the bathroom, I took the opportunity to see what was wrong with his straw. When I opened up the cup, I noticed that it was attached to a set of Allen wrenches (keys). I removed the Allen wrenches and put the top back on the cup just as Jud came out of the bathroom.
Jud was quite happy that I fixed his straw. I didn't tell him what I had found in his cup. I don't know why, I just didn't. Maybe because I felt a little odd opening up his drink. But either way I didn't ask him what they meant. I probably should have since I had no idea what they meant. I'll just blame my extremely sore ankle on the fact that I wasn't thinking very clearly. (I sprained it a few days after I sprained my wrist. The walk from the last FestQuest station to the bar did it absolutely zero good.)
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Winner of Assignment #4 | |
It was another tough week to choose the winner of the assignments since there were so many great submissions. But after much deliberation (I'm sure) - Paul was announced the winner! Well, maybe. Because Paul only submitted a paper design, he has to prove that he can prototype his design, otherwise his prize will be awarded to the runner-up.
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Jud's Lucky Numbers | |
During the announcement of Winner #4, Jud gave up his lucky numbers: 7/32 7/64 3/16. I don't think I've ever seen anyone who had lucky fractional numbers before. But oddly, the numbers were somewhat familiar to me. Took me a while, but it finally dawned on me that Jud's lucky numbers were the same as what was on the Allen wrench I took from his drink: 7/64 and 3/16 7/32. Now I really wish I had asked Jud what they meant. Did he put the Allen wrenches in his drink to bring himself luck? Or did someone else put them in there to send Jud a message that they knew things about him? Either way, it's another clue that I know is important but I just can't figure out what it means.
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Assignment 5: Gourmet Ice cubes | |
Assignment #5 is probably Jud's most ambitious challenge yet. We are to rapidly prototype Gourmet Ice cubes. Not fancy shaped ice cubes trays, but actual finely crafted artisanal ice cubes that are fit for the rich and famous. And we have to make sure that we use water, not other liquid, because then it would just be a popsicle and that doesn't scream the elegance that Jud is after.
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Training Video for New Recruits |
Jud asked Pantless McGee to make a training video to catch up all the new recruits to what was happening at Work With No Pants. At first I was pretty excited by this because I thought "Oh great, a recap! I won't have to make a guide after all." But then, upon viewing the video, I realized it was not quite what I thought it was (or what I think Pantless McGee wanted it to be).
It's not so much a training video as it is random images of things that we've seen (or should have seen). It first goes through the QR codes asking "What secrets are you hiding?" Most of the images I do recognize from the webpages and videos, but there are definitely some that I don't.
So there's one thing in the video that I don't know the source of. Okay, technically two, but I'm not counting the underwear because even though it's not a picture that I took, it's functionally the same as the underwear I received in the mail and took photos of. There was a third image that I hadn't seen before, but after much searching through Xclusion (the way comments show up on there is really wonky) I finally discovered the source of conversation between Midge and Junior.
The unknown bit is the Proceed to Purchase photo at :13. The image itself is very recognizable - it's Ruben's Head of Medusa. But I have no idea where it comes into Work With No Pants/Ty Coin. I don't recall seeing it on any of the pages or in any of the videos. The only site where you can purchase anything is the Work With No Pants shop, and I don't see it there at all. The Medusa theme would fit in nicely with the Mortalalis Nanoceutical line, but there is nothing about Medusa in the descriptions and there isn't a purchase page at all on Ty Coin. The only thing I know for certain is that "Medusa/medusa" does not work as a password to any of the QR code videos. But what it actually means is a mystery.
So what is this video trying to tell us? I don't have any real proof, but I'm beginning to suspect that Ty killed his father in order to stop him from giving Midge money to start her own company. I also suspect that Rose's death at the same time was an accident - that she wasn't supposed to be in the car with Senior at the time of the crash. Hence why Ty keeps posting photos of roses on Rose's wall. [I also have an alternative theory where Senior didn't actually die in the murder attempt but Rose still did and Senior is the one posting roses on her wall.] I have a suspicion that Junior zapped Allen Keys in the zeusomg video killing him and that is why we no longer see Allen around anymore. I figure he was either a part of the murder of Senior & Rose and Junior was just cleaning up loose ends or Allen found out about the murders and was going to go to the police and Junior killed him to keep the secret. Oh, and Cyche is actually an AI and is the "person" behind the GE virus. [Alternative theory 2 is that Cyche is the one killing everybody off because it doesn't like the way it has been treated.] Basically, I have no idea what's going on and I'm just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
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Winner of Assignment #5 |
There were so many awesome submissions that Jud needed extra time in order to make his decision about the winner. Except something awful happened in the time between filming the Winner annoucment video and it being posted: JUD WAS KIDNAPPED!
Spoiler Alert: I'll discuss the actual video in a little bit, but for now, just know that Angela (and everybody else) won.
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Judnapping! |
The unimaginable has happened: Jud has been kidnapped by an unknown military force!
I can't even process this (and I'm not the only one). Why would anyone want to kidnap Jud? As much as I adore Jud, I think a wet paper bag is more threatening than he is. It just doesn't make any sense. I can only think of two reasons why he would be abducted.
- He accidentally stumbled across something - I have no idea what or how, but maybe Jud accidentally stumbled across something with national/global consequences and he was taken because The Powers That Be thought he knew more than he obviously does. You don't think that his Water Extinguisher was really a high tech weapon that the Army is developing, do you? Or that his lucky numbers are really the access codes to a nuclear missile base?
- He was kidnapped to put pressure on Junior - I could see Jud being taken in order to force Junior to give up his death magic spell (if he actually has one). If this is the case, I do worry for Jud's safety since I'm not sure how much Junior actually cares about his brother.
Sadly, Pantless McGee doesn't have much information to share, despite the fact that he was there when it happened. He confirms that it was the military or at least some other high security firm who is willing to use helicopters and dogs to abduct a civilian. The one blurry picture that Pantless was able to pull off of his phone shows a guy in camo pointing a gun at Jud.
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Choosing a Winner |
During the Assignment 5 Winner video, Jud talks about how hard it was to come up with a winner. He even resorted to using a nursey rhyme to help decide. Except of course he couldn't remember the "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" part, just the "catch a tiger by its toe" bit and wants us to help him remember the words.
Jud goes onto say that for going above and beyond in her submission that Angela is the winner of Assignment 5. But because all of our submissions were so awesome, everyone is going to get a little something this week. Or we would have if someone hadn't come and kidnapped Jud.
So what is this "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" stuff all about? It's obviously a clue of some sort. I discuss it a bit with Pantless McGee on Twitter and he said that it reminded him of something in another language. I started reading through the Wikipedia entry" and finally found what I was looking for at the bottom of the Origins section.
David Zincavage asserts that the origin is Scottish and posits that the first line of the verse is a corruption of Inimicus animo, a Latin phrase that translates as "enemy of the soul."
That phrase again! But what the hell does it mean besides "enemy of the spirit"? I've tried using "inimicusanimo" as a password on all of the QR code videos and it doesn't work. There isn't any other place that I can think of to use it. Even tried seeing if it was a hidden user on Xclusion or a directory at Put a QR Code On It, but nothing. I'm at a total loss.
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The Kidnapping Video Clues |
Pantless McGee was actually filming Jud for Assignment #6 when the abduction took place. The camera was a bit damaged but enough of the video survives so that we can see what happened. Poor Jud. Hopefully he'll be okay.
Jud has been seriously dropping some clues on us in these last few videos. If only I understood what any of them meant. The first clue is for us to watch the training video and then take the survey. We should do the very best we can, and if we don't like our answers to change them and we'll get a different result.
The first time I took this survey after getting this clue, I chose all D answers and on Question 6 just chose 'All of the above' and got this as a result:
You earned 790 type B points out of a possible 790.
We have assessed your suitability to WIN a JOB at Work With No Pants as:
Pantsless: You demonstrate an inability to conform and/or get along with the rest of humanity. Some might suggest you have psychopathic tendencies but we think you are just incorrigible, exactly the type of employee we are looking for to be one of our International Representatives! When can you start?
Not exactly helpful. I went back to the beginning to see if maybe some of the answers were better than the Ds but when I got to Question 6 again, I wondered what the result would be if I checked all of the boxes instead of just 'All of the Above' with all D answers. And that's when I got this as a result:
You earned 880 type B points out of a possible 790.
We have assessed your suitability to WIN a JOB at Work With No Pants as:
Killer: Our eyes see all that you do.
Oh shit! That is not good! So someone was definitely murdered. But are they talking about Senior or Allen or someone else? And who are they talking to? Jud? Jud doesn't seem like a murderer. Junior maybe, but not Jud.
Hmmm, my suitability makes me a Killer, huh? That would be a very good password to the QR code videos. Except for the fact that "Killer/killer" doesn't freaking work. *sob* Why the hell doesn't it work? This is becoming more and more annoying.
The other main clue that Jud drops in the video comes at :47 when he starts talking about his inspiration for Task #6. He states that he was watching an old Sixties movies called The 300 Spartans and starts talking about Demaratus when the door bursts open and he gets taken away at gunpoint. A couple of quick Google searches later and you can find this page with pictures of the actors from the movie - including one of Ivan Triesault as Demaratus! Finally! The source of that virus image! This totally has to be a password for one of the QR videos, right?
WRONG! Demaratus doesn't work at all. Same with demaratus, IvanTriesault, ivantriesault, 300, 300Spartans, 300spartans. Even tried looking again for a hidden directory or name on Xclusion with the same zero results. I seriously, seriously, seriously hate password puzzles. Even more so when you don't even know where the hell to look for the passwords. Demaratus and/or Ivan Triesault has to mean something. Otherwise, why would it A: be on Xclusion and B: mentioned by Jud? Can't even put into words how frustrated I am.
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Finally a Password! | |
So a few hours after my Twitter bitching about how much I fucking hate password puzzles, I got a message informing me that there had been a bit of a mistake. Something about a wrong backup and server issues and long story short - there was supposed to be a password given out with the 880/790 survey results. So I'm not entirely crazy! That's good to know. I don't know if the survey page is going to be fixed anytime soon, but the password we were supposed to be given is PAPRTYJR (which also happens to be the license plate of Junior's new car).
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Video #2 |
So checking out Video #2 (password PAPRTYJR), we find that it's just a recording of a phone call between Junior and an unknown man.
| Phone ringing | [Unsure of the name of the ringtone] |
| Ty: Hey, Tan. What's up? | [I'm assuming Tan is Tanino Jenson] |
| Man: How's [???]? | [Possibly 'dicks' but not at all sure. The man's voice is very muddy in this recording.] |
| Ty: Who the hell is this? This ain't Tan. | |
| Man: Relax, I'm a friend. A friend that can help you out now that Uncle [???]. | [Again, no idea. Unless 'an-tu-tan-due-tonga' is a word in some languge that I don't understand.] |
| Ty: Who is this? How'd you get this line? | |
| Man: It's really in your best interest not to know who I am, Paper Tyger. We need to meet in private to discuss our mutual interests. | [Guessing on spelling of Tyger here.] |
| Ty: What interest is that? I'm listening. | |
So that was odd. Some mystery guy calls up Junior, drops the name "Paper Tiger" while talking about mutal interests and Junior is all anxious to meet him. Wonder what mutual interests they could both share. For some reason, the name of the video (PaprTyJr 1) and the name in the corner of the video (papyrtygr one) do not match. Was hoping that "papyrtygr" would be a Twitter name or something, but couldn't find anything. (And of course it's not a password to anything.)
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Ty Coin Responds |
Ty Coin has issued a press release in the aftermath of Jud's abuduction, or as it is official known, arrest. It does not seem very promising for Jud at all. He's being held by the military following the discovery of Allen Keys' body. At least now we know why Allen hasn't come back from vacation. Although it does make Junior's approval of all of Allen's vacation requests a little suspicious. Unless he's going to claim that Jud posed as Allen and sent the requests out to make it look like Allen was still alive. I wish we knew what Jud and Allen fought about before Allen went on "vacation". It would at least give us an idea as to what kind of motive they are going to assign to this murder.
In other bad news, Junior also announced that he is stopping all operations at Work With No Pants. Does that mean I'm not out of a job? This sucks. Junior says he'll be reaching out to all representatives in the next few days, but as I don't think Junior likes me all that much, I can't see how he'd be willing to keep me on at the company. Maybe I'll be able to switch over to Here & After. They are going to need someone to manage their clients now that Jud can't.
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See the Intro page for a list of all the websites, plus brief information about this guide and the game.
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11:47 08/07/2012
