This is Jason again. Grant’s right.. typing the solutions up are almost as challenging as the code itself! On November 14 the CM launched this one with this tweet:
I learned that his full name is “Jonathan Luther Jones” - hm.. this seemed to match up well with “Enter Properly”. He died in a train accident (“line ended here”) while traveling toward Vaughan, Mississippi which seemed to solidify that this was definitely the “who” on this one. The door wasn’t obvious yet even though it had already been said. I went back to the original tweet and then read it aloud - “Heard it in song or read it…” ah-ha. Reddit!
That realization led here:
http://www.reddit.com/user/jonathanlutherjones
Like some of the other profiles nothing about it makes it obvious it’s correct. Now to figure out the password… I had already “entered properly” to get to the profile so the only unused part of the tweet seemed like it had to be the password - “his line ended here”. I wasn’t getting in, and it sounds like ParanoidAndrew was also puzzled at the same spot. Keep in mind other active points were happening at the same time, so I think that took it’s toll a bit.
It was on the 18th that this tweet came and proved to be essential:
I figured Andrew had to be really close and I was frantically trying to find the text telling me what I had to do. I’m forgetting exactly where the message was, but it said to:
Change the password on the account.
Change nothing else. Doing so forfeits the point for all.
Tweet the famous last words of Casey Jones at the CM with hashtag CaseyJones.
When prompted, provide the password.
As someone that had never been in a Reddit account I was now frantically trying to find the option to change the password. I found it, changed it and then just sat for about 10 minutes catching my breath. After a double and triple check I posted this:
Heard it in song or read it yourself, you surely know his story. Trying to pass, his line ended here. Enter properly. #thegintercode
— Ginter Code (@TheGinterCode) November 15, 2014
At first I didn’t see it and was focused on the “heard it in song” part which took me to the Larger than Life inserts - Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and Pocahontas came to mind due to their respective songs. The style of the tweet also had me thinking that this was a return to the profile style point. “His” knocks out Pocahontas and “Trying to pass, his line ended here” knocked out the rest of the candidates so I started doing some research on the other cards in this set and found Casey Jones.I learned that his full name is “Jonathan Luther Jones” - hm.. this seemed to match up well with “Enter Properly”. He died in a train accident (“line ended here”) while traveling toward Vaughan, Mississippi which seemed to solidify that this was definitely the “who” on this one. The door wasn’t obvious yet even though it had already been said. I went back to the original tweet and then read it aloud - “Heard it in song or read it…” ah-ha. Reddit!
That realization led here:
http://www.reddit.com/user/jonathanlutherjones
Like some of the other profiles nothing about it makes it obvious it’s correct. Now to figure out the password… I had already “entered properly” to get to the profile so the only unused part of the tweet seemed like it had to be the password - “his line ended here”. I wasn’t getting in, and it sounds like ParanoidAndrew was also puzzled at the same spot. Keep in mind other active points were happening at the same time, so I think that took it’s toll a bit.
It was on the 18th that this tweet came and proved to be essential:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens - b. 11/30/1835, FloridaMO - fullest realization of great American novel - d. 4/21/1910, ReddingCT. #thegintercode
— Ginter Code (@TheGinterCode) November 18, 2014
Ok.. so we have the proper name for Mark Twain and details about his birth and death - similar to what you might see on a headstone. I processed this a bit and considered if I had to find the text on the actual Casey Jones headstone, but abandoned that pretty quickly. I went back to my idea that “his line ended here” pointed to the password and applied the formatting hinted at in the Twain tweet. With a password of “VaughanMS” the Reddit account opened, and my heart started racing.I figured Andrew had to be really close and I was frantically trying to find the text telling me what I had to do. I’m forgetting exactly where the message was, but it said to:
Change the password on the account.
Change nothing else. Doing so forfeits the point for all.
Tweet the famous last words of Casey Jones at the CM with hashtag CaseyJones.
When prompted, provide the password.
As someone that had never been in a Reddit account I was now frantically trying to find the option to change the password. I found it, changed it and then just sat for about 10 minutes catching my breath. After a double and triple check I posted this:
@TheGinterCode "Jump Sim, jump!" #CaseyJones
— Bosun Knows Best (@BosunKnows) November 19, 2014
To this the CM replied “And?” and I replied “bosunknows”, the new account password. Point Bosun!
Enter properly (with a misspelled password)
ReplyDelete/sadness
It's spelled this way in the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaughan,_Mississippi - this article about Vaughan does say there are multiple spellings... for some reason.
DeleteI must have entered VaughanMS 100 times with and without the comma on the night of 11/14. If that was the password I'm dying to know what the issue was.
ReplyDeleteBrian went so far as to send a note to that account (the CM should go track it down for us since he had access) that read "please change the password to Vaughan like Casey would have wanted" because we figured there was some obscure trick to the point.
Looking back its one of the funnier points from the contest for us.
I just checked my chat log to verify what I used and it was VaughanMS. I'm wondering if you were somehow at the wrong profile. I don't remember seeing the message you say should have been there, but I may have overlooked it.
DeleteI suppose it's possible that the account got locked for too many incorrect password tries? That's the risk when requiring codebreakers to log into an account in order to win a point. If you find the account before the password, you start trying stuff and lock the account.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly Reddit locks the IP out for a semi random (and increasingly longer) amount of time. I recall using proxies (both Grant and I) to test more password combinations more frequently.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's possible something went awry. It doesn't really matter, but this time I know I tried it rather than just missing it like the da Vinci combinations.