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

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

on google earth right at the coordinates is the Hancock tower, which is 344 meters tall. If you look at the roof of the building I believe it is a layout of the playing field....

There seems to be what looks like a track on top of the building.
Hm? I have no idea what this means.

Maybe the GDC's just taking us around in circles...

[Andy Grady]

Originally Posted by Libby K

There seems to be what looks like a track on top of the building.
Hm? I have no idea what this means.

Maybe the GDC's just taking us around in circles...

Funny you bring this up Libby...because the moment I heard that those were the coordinates for Copley Square, I immediately thought about the Hancock Tower...and the "Tracks" you see on it...here is why...

A little back history on the Hancock Tower...

A while back, the Hancock tower had some problems with wind. Apparently the high winds in the area would cause the tower to sway in such an extreme manner that it would cause the windows to fall out. To solve the problem, they gathered a group of engineers to figure out how to alleviate the problem.

What did they come up with for a solution?

They eliminated the top floor...put in some train tracks, and placed a counterweight on wheels on those tracks so that when the wind forces the building to sway in one direction, the weight moves in the opposite direction.

If you can find the correlation between the last number, and the height of the top floor...we might have an answer. Train tracks, counterweights, etc...

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

If you can find the correlation between the last number, and the height of the top floor...we might have an answer. Train tracks, counterweights, etc...

A few months ago there was a little discussion I think on CD about "counterweights" in the upcoming season ?

[AndyB]

Originally Posted by ebarker

A few months ago there was a little discussion I think on CD about "counterweights" in the upcoming season ?

Anyone remember the goals from MVL 07'... Counterweights...

[StephLee]

I've just been to see "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and thought I'd post my observations that go with the earlier speculations about a connection. If you care about having certain parts of the movie spoiled, don't read this next section.

---MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD---

The number 243 is part of the Library of Congress call number for the President's Book. This is both the main part of our third number backward, and a connection to the Library of Congress. It's also almost certainly coincidental, since it's such a small detail that I doubt the GDC could have found it online prior to the movie's release, and thus it would have nothing to do with our clue.

The more interesting connection I spotted was briefly mentioned earlier in this thread:

Originally Posted by jakflyer

ok, i have read all [most] of this thread and i saw the theories about the movie national treasure and the counterweight idea. I saw the movie tonight and thought i would put in my two cents: (this may or may not spoil the movie for you, its not that important though)

near the end there are four characters who have to stand on the corners of a giant wooden square that is balanced on a giant spike. They have to move around to keep the square balanced, and then they have to move together to try and raise up a corner so the guy could reach a suspended ladder.

Im not sure if i totally believe in the theory connecting the clue to national treasure, but if its true I would say that there would be something like that in the game, maybe four robots (using IR) that have to balance on a square in the center for the endgame.
Thats just what i think, its probably wrong though but just putting it out there

This goes with the discussion about the Hancock Tower and it's counterweighting system, and is a much more likely connection to the movie since it's a larger plot point and could easily have shown up on a synopsis before the movie was released.

----END SPOILERS---

I realize this is all probably entirely circumstantial, but it's very interesting, and made the movie even more fun since I was constantly looking for connections. (I'd definately recommend the movie, by the way.)

My random thoughts for the night.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

They eliminated the top floor...put in some train tracks, and placed a counterweight on wheels on those tracks so that when the wind forces the building to sway in one direction, the weight moves in the opposite direction.

What a cool solution to the problem. Thank you for posting that information, Andy! Neato.

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Andy Grady

A little back history on the Hancock Tower...

Some more back history on the Hancock....the positioning of the building and the use of the mirrors were used so that when you stand on the corner of Clarendon Street and St. James Avenue you can see the reflection of the old two John Hancock buildings in the glass of the new one.

Mirrors, anyone?

[PhilBot]

We know that If you take the lat/long and feed it into google earth, and then zoom in, there is some kind of thing right at the exact coordinates.

I don't think it's a "coincidence" that there is something at that exact coordinate. You can change the last digit of the lat-long and it doesn't move the target. That amount of precision is good to a few inches.

I checked out all the images and came up with one that shows the quad lamp at that point.

Here is the link. The lamp is in the lower right corner.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3136639.jpg

Quad.... where have I seen that lately on the FIRST site ....?

Phil.

[finaldark]

Originally Posted by PhilBot

We know that If you take the lat/long and feed it into google earth, and then zoom in, there is some kind of thing right at the exact coordinates.

I don't think it's a "coincidence" that there is something at that exact coordinate. You can change the last digit of the lat-long and it doesn't move the target. That amount of precision is good to a few inches.

I checked out all the images and came up with one that shows the quad lamp at that point.

Here is the link. The lamp is in the lower right corner.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3136639.jpg

Quad.... where have I seen that lately on the FIRST site ....?

Phil.

Well if you want to me be honest, if all it is revealing is the number 4, yea we get that already.. The IR sensor is able to be programmed for 4 commands, hence the 4 leds. Nobody understands what the hell the IR sensor is actually gonna do.. Maybe if we figured that out first, this new clue might help a ton...

[steadfasttuna]

Originally Posted by PhilBot

We know that If you take the lat/long and feed it into google earth, and then zoom in, there is some kind of thing right at the exact coordinates.

I don't think it's a "coincidence" that there is something at that exact coordinate. You can change the last digit of the lat-long and it doesn't move the target. That amount of precision is good to a few inches.

I checked out all the images and came up with one that shows the quad lamp at that point.

Here is the link. The lamp is in the lower right corner.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3136639.jpg

Quad.... where have I seen that lately on the FIRST site ....?

Phil.

Quad Quandary is the name of this years FTC game...

[PhilBot]

Originally Posted by steadfasttuna

Quad Quandary is the name of this years FTC game...

My point exactly....

[Spylake]

342 is Babe Ruth's life time batting average in round numbers, maybe if you calculate the number to full precision it is 342.242026.

Played for the Bosox too .. and Fenway park is right next to Copley Square.

Could it be a baseball based contest?

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Spylake

342 is Babe Ruth's life time batting average in round numbers, maybe if you calculate the number to full precision it is 342.242026.

Played for the Bosox too .. and Fenway park is right next to Copley Square.

Could it be a baseball based contest?

If by "right next to" you mean 6 miles, then sure.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...9911&z=15&om=1



And, I just remembered this past weekend the only obscure reference I recall that someone, who is named Woodie, made about Boston.

Sometimes, he said, he wonders how much society understands or appreciates scientific achievement. Using the Ted Williams Tunnel to make this point, Professor Flowers said, "Here you have a multimillion-dollar engineering triumph, and it's named after a guy who could hit a rock with a stick."

Quoted from both here:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1997/techday-0611.html
& also paraphrased here:
http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news...s/01710000.htm

[Spylake]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If by "right next to" you mean 6 miles, then sure.

I guess I should have left the MIT campus more when I lived there. But I do know what a Smoot is.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Spylake

I guess I should have left the MIT campus more when I lived there. But I do know what a Smoot is.

Maybe. But do you remember the length of the Harvard Bridge, measured in Smoots (without looking it up)?


-dave




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