[PUZZLE][SOLVED] 12-13 "A Tiny Project" (Step 5)

[Sad Panda]

Approx. 7PM (PST) on 12-13-06, Tachyon updated her profile:

To my "Brother" :

Step 5: A tiny project.

MzczMTMzMzYzNjYxMzczMzMzMzgzNz M5

Decoding it with Base64, you get:

Code: Select all

373133363661373333383739 

Put that through your hex decoder, and you get:

Code: Select all

71366a733879 

then hex it again and it ends up as:

Code: Select all

q6js8y 

Reverse it and it's a tinyurl:

http://tinyurl.com/y8sj6q

Which takes you to:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148 ... sons/x.jpg

Which is this:


About an hour later, Tachyon updated:

[ a tiny hint: jx62t ]

URL:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148 ... ons/xx.jpg
Which is:


The first picture has been found on this website:
http://www.rubberdream.com/Catalog/Brad ... 941621.htm
The second picture has been found on this website:
http://www.hermann-uwe.de/photoblog/sci ... =_original

Noteworthy theories:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

so i think this means we have to cut out a wheel, write the code around the edges, and cut out another smaller wheel, write the other code around the edges of that one, and attach them in the center with a brad.

should give up a decoder wheel/ring.

Here's my take on this tiny project:

x=o
xx=oo (confirmation of x=o)

So, take your decoder ring and match x in one ring with o in the other ring by shifting them. Now, there's two ways of doing this:

Code: Select all

 Movies  C64FB2835D7A91E
  Ring   xtvouzwpmrnyqsl
---------|--------------
Loveline onzsymtvpqlwurx
  Ring   D61A5EF4793B8C2
         ^
         |
       match

or

Code: Select all

 Movies  C64FB2835D7A91E
  Ring   xtvouzwpmrnyqsl
------------|-----------
Loveline wurxonzsymtvpql
  Ring   B8C2D61A5EF4793
            ^
            |
          match

So, now we can decode any letter in one ring to the corresponding letter in the other.

We know that this step is called "A Tiny Project." The tiny is a reference to tinyurl, of course, which is how we found this pictures in the first place. But the project part would make a lot more sense if this was the step where we physically put together the two halves of our decoder ring.

In the chat, we've been talking about the very small ruler that is concealed near the top of the scissors picture. It's certainly not there in the original, and I think we have to assume that it's meant for us to use. But if we're building a decoder ring, then the ruler might come in handy so that we know which set of letters/numbers goes on the outside of the ring, and which set goes on the inner. That is, if x.jpeg stands for one set of letters/numbers, and the ruler shows that the diameter of the brad is smaller than the diameter of the scissors in xx.jpeg (which would stand for the other set of letters/numbers), then we would know that the x.jpeg set of letters/numbers goes on the inside of the decoder ring.

See where I'm going with this?

[mourningbelle]

Decoding it with Base64, you get:

373133363661373333383739

Put that through your hex decoder, and you get:

71366a733879

then hex it again and it ends up as:

q6js8y

It was assumed that it was either a tinyurl.com or tinypic.com url, but neither work...

[girlAnachronism]

damn, one minute too late! I guess I'll just confirm mourning belle's answer. it's the same that I got

[sparkyb]

I tried reversing it.

http://tinyurl.com/y8sj6q

takes you to

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148 ... sons/x.jpg

[Watch Keeper]

Is that a hat?

[girlAnachronism]

Excellent work sparky!

Though the picture is about as clear as mud.

A fingerprint, perchance?

Here's the pic:

[Watch Keeper]

Not a finger print, but looks like a picture of a hat taken from above. Though, it does oddly look like an eye.

[girlAnachronism]

That is by far the weirdest hat I've seen. It almost resembles a petri dish...but I'm supposed to be doing my science homework so my brain might just be screwing with me...

[sparkyb]

I think it looks sort of like a button. I feel like I faintly see writing, but maybe I'm crazy. Also do you notice the slight red/green separation? bad camera or a clue?

[girlAnachronism]

Sadly I have no art programs other than paint so my attempts to zoom in and revert the colors resulted in no revelations. Anyone else want to try?

[Sora_29]

See to me it looks like a really shiny button. The background looks like a fuzzy sweater. Not sure of course but it's strange non the less.

Sora_29

[Sad Panda]

Look at the photobucket url:
i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148/languagelessons/x.jpg

Could the album name be a page number?

[EDIT -- No that's automated. I ate a brain tumor for breakfast. My bad.]

[ambriel]

been screwing with the picture in photoshop. No luck yet.

[sparrow]

What does "language lessons" mean?


Sorry if that's a well-known thing.

[khjq]

I typed in languagelessons in the search engine on Photobucket, its someone's photobucket account name...