Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

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Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

I see we also agree on the origin of the mud!:)

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

is this chemical used for anything? Some teammates and I can't find anything online about it.

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

Well, its an organic; which probably means that it can kill you, and/or hurt you really bad and would need safety glasses (safety FIRST ;-) ). Other than that, I wouldn't ever, EVER want to try drawing it? (My only guess at meaning would be that its actual structure means something, but you would have to draw it NOT FUN!)

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

Well if it has anything to do with the third game hint, then it could be a large tetra.(?)

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

well...from this hint im gettin 2 ideas....(dunno if they've been mentioned)

#1. Two obelisks with tetras on top, one for each alliance, in which u must place squares on your obelisk to score exponentially like in 07 and place spheres on the other teams obelisk as a sort of blocking method... spheres could possibly be a bit bigger to take up space and they would probably be difficult to lift and control. Dont have an idea for an end-game type of scoring but yea...

#2. One decent sized tetra in the center of the field with some sort of...lets go with board just cause i cant think, balanced on the tip acting as a balance. Teams must place cubes/spheres on the beam to make there side heavier, only thing is this would have to either be a huge beam...or small shapes...or we can hope that alliances will only be able to place a few amount of shapes on the beam....

so yea thats what i got....after typing them im leanin more toward the first one...but yea now im gonna go and wait til kickoff saturday morning...

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

According to the wikipedia article on the Boston Marathon, Copley Square is the official finish line. This, along with the tortoise and the hare speculations lead me to believe this years competition will be a race. Perhaps there will be benefits to being the first to finish or taking your time.

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

Well, according to my eyes, it's approximately* between the old and new buildings of the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street. In the attached photo, taken on Boylston Street looking (ahem) approximately east, on the right from front to back: The Lenox Hotel, The Phillip Johnson addition (scroll down), the original McKim, Mead, and White building, and Copley Square and Trinity Church beyond. The finish line is painted on the street around the last "column" of the Johnson building next to the McKim building. You can also zoom in on Google Maps here and see "FINISH" painted. Copley Square may be the "official" end only in terms of that is where the runners are carried to the doctors, and where spouses go to pick up the remains. I recall the line used to be at the Prudential Tower when Prudential was the sponsor.

Regarding the history of Copley Square, it was created in 1883 and was originally a triangle lot because Huntington Avenue went straight thru it. The other triangle lot in front of Trinity Church was added a year later when they realized how silly it was having a three-sided square. The removal of Huntington Avenue thru the square was more recent.

Since the Hint was fairly precise ;) and did not give a tolerance, one must conclude they meant the plaza in front of the church and not anywhere else. Unless, of course, they posted it without Dave's advice, which would be silly. I'm still leaning towards a tortoise and hare theme.

By the way, Dave, perhaps some of the official Smoot websites should be updated, as both "a salute to Smoot" at the MIT website as well as the Lambda Chi Alpha website indicates 364.4 Smoots "and one ear" (MIT) or "plus 1 ear" (LCA).

*Since the two engineers above are debating the issue of precision and tolerance and the possible size of Mr Smoot's ear, a lesson the rest of us should tolerate and watch from afar.
_________________
Everything I know today I've learned from listening to myself talk about things that I knew absolutely nothing about. Gracie Allen

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

I am not sure it this point has been braught up yet but it was an idea i had.

The Boston Public Library is close to the coordinates in the clue, could the last number be some sort of dewie decimal code for a book that would refer to a clue some how?

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

BPL I believe uses Library of Congress cataloging; I think someone mentioned it many pages ago (I don't blame you for missing it).

342 in Dewey Decimal System is "Constitutional and administrative law", not a very hopeful path to go in. Not many numbers go to six places, but I seem to remember some sections did get that far, but I don't think 342 was one of them. Melville Dewey was an odd character; besides the DDC he advocated the metric system and simplifying the English language spelling. Thus his name became Melvil Dui.

Why, yes, in my youth we spent many a summer vacation going to visit libraries; my mother was a librarian -- can't you tell? (And her name was Marion.)

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

If 342.242026 refers to the heading, then it seems to point you right at the fountain. So maybe the game has something to do with water? :ahh:

However, because of the number of sig digits, it may be a heading to something much further away or something near but quite small.

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

This is my memory of it as well - the measurement was "364.4 Smoots + 1 ear." There was no +/-. I do remember going to a presentation once, where they gave a tolerance value for the measurement (in Smoots) but it had nothing to do with the ear. The ear itself I tend to interpret as just a silly way of completing the full distance of the measurement. I think the tolerance may have been added to the lore later on and not had much to do with the original fraternity stunt. (But maybe I'm not giving the guys enough credit.)

I'm not sure what the Smoot might have to do with the Game Hint but the discussion of units and tolerance is certainly relevant.

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

A fountain full of tetra? GO FISH!

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's dlavery's way of getting everyone off the subject when we get too close to the correct answer to the Hint. :)

Wikipedia says "the bridge's length was measured to be 364.4 smoots plus or minus one ear, with the 'plus or minus' intended to express uncertainty of measurement", which does lend credence to dave's version of the events. Why .4 plus an ear? Wouldn't 364 plus a leg be better? But why would two sources closer to the event omit this?

Yet reading Lambda Chi's webpage a little more may reveal more of the truth. Oliver Smoot himself says "Luckily ... we were cold sober" when a police van came upon them. But this was a fraternity pledge hack in 1958; a later quote from a younger frat brother says "later the story came out as 'he was stiff as a board' from earlier festivities at the bar!" I suspect the tolerance would be a bit more than "plus or minus one ear."

Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/FRC Game Hint #2
 

Here is what I am thinking so far...

Using Google Earth, the coordinates 42.349905, -71.076072 brought me to Copley Square in Boston.
Approximately 342 smoots away from that point is the Prudential Tower.
The Prudential Tower has a little message system using the red and blue lights on top of the tower.

Steady Blue, Clear View
Flashing Blue, Clouds are Due
Steady Red, Rain Ahead
Flashing Red, Snow Instead

IR board using different signals to perform different tasks..? That's all I got.