Facility J [Profile Change] - Ground hog love

[Luminous]

Profile Change:

The groundhog on the mountain did not run
But fatly scuttled into the splayed fern
And faced me, back to a ledge of dirt, to rattle
Her sallow rodent teeth like castanets
Against my leaning down, would not exchange
For that wary clatter sound or gesture
Of love : claws braced, at bay, my currency not hers.

Such meetings never occur in marchen
Where love-met groundhogs love one in return,
Where straight talk is the rule, whether warm or hostile,
Which no gruff animal misinterprets.
From what grace am I fallen. Tongues are strange,
Signs say nothing. The falcon who spoke clear
To Canacee cries gibberish to coarsened ears.

147 164 151 156 153 153 167 144 161 164 163 153 150 152 143 144 154 171 152 155 141 161 157 145

Edit: If this is octal, it translates to: gtinkkwdqtskhjcdlyjmaqoe

[Luminous]

http://www.poems-and-poetry.com/sylvia- ... -poem.html

Brought this over from the other thread

[Loki]

Groundhogs... right...

I would start counting letters to see if it's a cipher of some sort... but I'm feeling singularly unmotivated to do pretty much anything right now... (including real-world stuff)

[blahblablee]

i'll bring this over

Working on numbers this is what i got so far

Code: Select all

147 164 151 156 153 153 167 144 161 164 163 153 150 152 143 144 154 171 152 155 141 161 157 145

Text ----> dec/char

Code: Select all

49 52 55 32 49 54 52 32 49 53 49 32 49 53 54 32 49 53 51 32 49 53 51 32 49 54 55 32 49 52 52 32 49 54 49 32 49 54 52 32 49 54 51 32 49 53 51 32 49 53 48 32 49 53 50 32 49 52 51 32 49 52 52 32 49 53 52 32 49 55 49 32 49 53 50 32 49 53 53 32 49 52 49 32 49 54 49 32 49 53 55 32 49 52 53

Hex ----> Text

Code: Select all

IRU2ITR2ISI2IST2ISQ2ISQ2ITU2IRR2ITI2ITR2ITQ2ISQ2ISH2ISP2IRQ2IRR2ISR2IUI2ISP2ISS2IRI2ITI2ISU2IRS

Seems too patterned to be a coincidence

[TOSG]

Found something:

Vigenere-decrypting the poem with Luminous' octal translation of the numbers gives: "Now they know" as the first few letters.

EDIT: Whoops! There's more to the message:

"Now they know where to find me"

[blahblablee]

WOAH nice catch TOSG

[TOSG]

So:

Who is this message directed to?

Where DO we find him?

Is there more to this puzzle?

[ignatzmouse]

Well, there is the poem Walter chose (I wouldn't have picked him as a Plath man, people are full of surprises). Written in 1958, Plath had been married to Hughes for 2 years (and in this poem it shows, which is unexpected) and was teaching at Smith. I had to look up the reference to Canacee, which is from Chaucer's Squire's tale: Canace wore a ring with the gifts of healing and speaking with birds, which she used to cure a wounded falcon. I guess the message is that Walter is a grumpy old misanthrope.

Hmm, not sure this is going to get us anywhere, perhaps we're waiting for YouTube to finish processing his next video...

[Luminous]

So:

Who is this message directed to?

Where DO we find him?

Is there more to this puzzle?

We do know where to find him . . . Princeton. There was a return address on the package I received. Wonder if that's what he means?

[TOSG]

So:

Who is this message directed to?

Where DO we find him?

Is there more to this puzzle?

We do know where to find him . . . Princeton. There was a return address on the package I received. Wonder if that's what he means?

Good point - I had forgotten about the return address.

If he's referring to that address, then it seems that he wants to be found.

[Luminous]

So:

Who is this message directed to?

Where DO we find him?

Is there more to this puzzle?

We do know where to find him . . . Princeton. There was a return address on the package I received. Wonder if that's what he means?

Good point - I had forgotten about the return address.

If he's referring to that address, then it seems that he wants to be found.

That's kind of what I thought when I saw it. Else why a street address instead of a PO Box? Or why a return address at all?

Musique said she would drive by and do a photo shoot.

[chershaytoute]

Well, there is the poem Walter chose (I wouldn't have picked him as a Plath man, people are full of surprises). Written in 1958, Plath had been married to Hughes for 2 years (and in this poem it shows, which is unexpected) and was teaching at Smith. I had to look up the reference to Canacee, which is from Chaucer's Squire's tale: Canace wore a ring with the gifts of healing and speaking with birds, which she used to cure a wounded falcon. I guess the message is that Walter is a grumpy old misanthrope.

Hmm, not sure this is going to get us anywhere, perhaps we're waiting for YouTube to finish processing his next video...

It probably doesn't mean anything in the scheme of things, but...

From what grace am I fallen. Tongues are strange,
Signs say nothing. The falcon who spoke clear
To Canacee cries gibberish to coarsened ears.

Walter left in less than the good graces of his former employers. I was wondering if he had had the cure.

Maybe it is something aimed at just a subset of men...and it won't work for him? "Tongues are strange, Signs say nothing." One on whom the cure works allows the falcon to speak clear (to Canacee)?

<back to my corner I go>

[ignatzmouse]

From what grace am I fallen. Tongues are strange,
Signs say nothing. The falcon who spoke clear
To Canacee cries gibberish to coarsened ears.

Walter left in less than the good graces of his former employers. I was wondering if he had had the cure.

Maybe it is something aimed at just a subset of men...and it won't work for him? "Tongues are strange, Signs say nothing." One on whom the cure works allows the falcon to speak clear (to Canacee)?

<back to my corner I go>

I wonder if Walter's citation of Plath's citation of Milton is deliberate: does Walter feel he was cast out after a war in heaven?

And there is the reference to a ring that cures. Hmm, plasmid rings anyone? "The bacteria that didn't get a plasmid die. The bacteria that did get a plasmid survive."

[chershaytoute]

That's a good point, Mouse. I can follow once you mention the plasmid ring, but that way beyond my level of biology... This is why I'm sitting in the corner watching, for the most part, of course...

[ShardinsKitten]

Wow, you guys did this one fast, nice work.

Did someone send Walter a message with that? He'd tell us if we weren't looking deep enough.