Google's Da Vinci Code Quest
So, on a whim, I decided to complete some of the puzzles on Google's movie tie-in, the Da Vinci Code Quest. It consisted of 24 puzzles over 24 days -- I did the first 21 bored on a Sunday and finished the rest right after they were released. The first 10,000 participants to finish all 24 were promised a cryptex in the mail and a chance to win some prizes.
Today, in the mail, I got a mysteriously heavy box in the mail from noblecollection.com. Inside was one of the 10,000 winning cryptexes. The code to open the cryptex was written on the box: "GRAIL." I entered it in, and the cryptex opened up. (Is there any way for me to change the code?) A rolled parchment was tucked inside, with the words "Congratulations!" and a URL written upon it. Now I get to partake in a time-sensitive puzzle contest this weekend -- if I complete in the shortest time, I win.
Here are some pictures of the cryptex:
A hokey contest when I first started, yes, but getting the cryptex in the mail was pretty neat.
<<< Savage Eden George Meyer >>>
*cough*
ahem.
*cough*
*cough*
ahem.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR(HOMO!)RRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*cough*
thank you.
Your first link goes to some Amazon page.
whatever. it's not as cool as having a totally pointless email address worked into the poster for AI.
Actually it's way way cooler than that. What's the cryptex made of? Metal? And can you share the puzzle or is that verboten?
I'd say it's made out of metal. It's quite heavy.
Share the puzzle? I won't know what it is until the weekend.
Oh, you mean the URL: http://www.google.com/davincicode
I assume it'll require a Google login come this weekend.
My email was totally on that poster. Remember my email? AI. Man, it was awesome seeing the letters AI on the AI poster. That couldn't have rocked any harder.
That sucked.
Pretty cool Marco. Congrats. Has anyone read the Da Vinci Code book? I tried to read it, but couldn't get through it. I am surprised something so complex has caught on.
I read it, I think it'll make for a pretty good movie, although his other book Angels and Demons was better. Basically the same story, only with someone killing bishops during that 48 hour period when they try to pick a new pope.
That is so cool Marco. Were the puzzles any hard? If they were anything like the book, I imagine they were simple-ish. Give us some examples damn it. And I can't wait to see that thing.
I don't think the puzzles were very hard, although I expect the ones from this weekend will be.
Examples? Modifications of Sudoku, trivia that you could just Google, "observation" tasks where you would answer questions based on a video (found at Google video, of course), trivia tasks that involved searching in books via Google print, etc.
i was gonna say what jbg said (pretty much exactly), but you know i love you, crazymonk, and also that i'd excitedly accept anything for free. so, congrats, dude.
p.s. better or worse than bird-watching? i don't know.
Nothing beats a good bird watchin' session. Have you bought your knee high black socks, tight cargo shorts, and pith helmet yet c-monk?
Come back to the east coast and I'll show you my pinkbilled tufted egrett.
Oh, you know you enjoyed watching that crab get eaten alive.
By the underwater pipe? That was good. Also see this:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/16/bear.monkey.ap/index.html
No, this was another crab. The aforementioned Liam and I were sitting on the deck of a docked ferry preparing to take us back to the mainland from Martha's Vineyard. As we were sitting there, we saw a bird dive into the water and emerge with a large crab between its beak. The bird slowly swam towards a floating raft while the crab desperately kicked its legs. The bird, ignoring the crab, hopped onto the raft and put the crab down on its back, still kicking to no avail, the crab.
The bird then commenced to viciously eat the crab alive, starting with the soft parts of its belly. This was about 25 feet away from us, but because we had binoculars, we were able to watch it in all its close-up glory. Everytime the bird tore out a seemingly sensitive part of the crab, we cringed vocally (all the while others on deck were looking at us askance). Eventually, the crab stopped twitching.
That was some good bird watching.
Good story my friend. Good story.
That's weird... usually when seagulls catch a crab they fly up high and then drop them onto pavement to kill it and break it open. I've never seen one eat a crab alive like that.
Yeah, it was incredible.
I can attest to that story...I still have nightmares about it. The contrast between the surgical precision of the seagull's blows, each one removing an organ or chunk of flesh from inside the carapace, and the frenzied but useless convolutions of the crab trapped on its own back was, in its own way, more violent than anything I've seen on National Geographic channel, or most horror films. I've never before or since had "empathy" for an invertebrate organism. The whole thing seemed to take, like, five gory minutes, yet was rendered more disturbing by the machine-like, passionless, speed and efficiency of the seagull.
God save us all.
Yep, that was some serious birdwatching.
Later, the seagull pooped on crzymk's girlfriend.
The same seagull?
try creating a cryptex online