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Puzzle In xkcd Book Finally Cracked 90

An anonymous reader writes "After a little over five months of pondering, xkcd fans have cracked a puzzle hidden inside Randall Munroe's recent book xkcd: volume 0. Here is the start of the thread on the xkcd forums; and here is the post revealing the final message (a latitude and longitude plus a date and time)."
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Puzzle In xkcd Book Finally Cracked

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  • On Topic (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @03:55AM (#31424080)
    First Post [isxkcdshittytoday.com]
  • Uh (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Threni ( 635302 ) on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @03:56AM (#31424088)

    The start of the thread, containing spoilers, isn't much use if you want to attempt the puzzle and haven't got the book. Do I need the book? If so, this is something of a non-story, isn't it?

    • Re:Uh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @04:21AM (#31424208)
      Wait, there is a puzzle? Where? xkcd? What's that? Who? What year is it?
      Oh, it's /. - nevermind then, all makes sense now.
      • xkcd? What’s that?

        Please hand in you geek card. You have 30 seconds to leave the site.
        Starting... *loads shotgun* ...NOW!!

    • Re:Uh (Score:4, Informative)

      by IorDMUX ( 870522 ) <mark...zimmerman3@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @04:35AM (#31424252) Homepage

      Do I need the book? If so, this is something of a non-story, isn't it?

      No, because of the real-world relevance of the result [xkcd.com].

      I can't wait.

      • I wonder if the Lunar Eclipse will be visible from that point at that time. ~I
      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        There's going to be a wedding at that location on that date. What else would the 3's mean?
    • The answer is, in itself, useful, if you're an XKCD fan, and if you're in a position to make use of the information, which a significant number of XKCD fans and Slashdot readers would be.

      Step one: use Google Maps.
      Step two: use Google Calendar.

  • The puzzle of xkcd (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    has been explained for a while [xkcdexplained.com]. This is humor as it should be writ.

  • Prediction: (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Prediction:

    XKCD used all profits to rent out a C-130 Herc [wikimedia.org] to drop a metric ton of Ball-Pit Balls [xkcd.com] on that location.

  • Google maps link (Score:5, Interesting)

    by shird ( 566377 ) on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @05:46AM (#31424512) Homepage Journal

    FYI, a google maps link to the location:

    http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.769573+-122.483123&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16 [google.com.au]

    time and date: 2010-06-26 14:28:57

    • Well, the United Nations charter was signed on June 26, 1945 in San Francisco, but not in the Golden Gate Park (no idea of the exact time it was signed). I guess this is the 65th anniversary of a significant event. Good excuse for a celebration. What are the laws surrounding drinking alcohol in the Golden Gate Park?
    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If you look at the corresponding satellite image [google.com] it's a specific tree in Golden Gate Park [sfgov.org] in an area called "Speedway Meadow". It is right beside half a dozen picnic tables and it is about 100m from an outdoor stage. According to other information about the park, this area has barbeque pits.

      I used the San Francisco Parks Portal [parksportal.com] to search for events scheduled on that day in Speedway Meadow. Nothing specific shows up.

    • Did you remember to geohash [xkcd.com] it?
    • Holy shit, that's my birthday! Thank you Randall, I'm honored... ::sobs:: I've been reading your comic a long time, but this was really unexpected. It's going to be the best birthday party ever!
    • Somebody better book that site with SF Park and Rec right the fsck now.

  • Obviously, this isn't the next XKCD meeting. This is the date, time and epicenter of the Big One! Runaway! :)

  • Using all zeros as the IV to AES? I'm very disappointed in you, Randall.

    Misapplication of cryptographic tools should be a capital offense, even in the context of making puzzles.
  • by AdamTrace ( 255409 ) on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @12:04PM (#31427884)

    As I suggested in the linked XKCD forum, now that the puzzle is solved, it would be really nice to have a full write-up of the entire thing, including the unsolved puzzles themselves and a little more detail and background about the whole thing. That would have made for a much more interesting story to the general public.

    Direct linking to an unorganized web-forum thread isn't really much of a story. Oh well.

    For what it's worth, the puzzles in the XKCD book were really fun. They ranged from pretty simple (ROT-13, etc) to fiendishly clever. Even though every comic is available online for free, I'm glad I spent the money on the book.

    I was lucky enough to solve the final puzzle myself, and therefore happened to be the first person to have all eight keys and decrypt the message. As lame as this might sound, it was pretty thrilling.

    • by Kagura ( 843695 )

      I was lucky enough to solve the final puzzle myself, and therefore happened to be the first person to have all eight keys and decrypt the message. As lame as this might sound, it was pretty thrilling.

      That's really not worth a lot. And I bet Randall solved it before you did. ;)

    • Congratulations.

      No bullshit.
      That sounds like a lot of fun and I'd be thrilled to have been a part of it.
      Well done.
  • Looks like it's pointing to the shoulder of a cycleway. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=37.769573&mlon=-122.483123&zoom=16&layers=00B0FTF [openstreetmap.org]
  • What are the laws surrounding drinking alcohol in the Golden Gate Park? Tiffany Jewelry [mytiffanycvs.com] Tiffany Jewelry onlne [mytiffanycvs.com] Tiffany Accessories [mytiffanycvs.com] Tiffany BangLes [mytiffanycvs.com] Tiffany Cufflinks [mytiffanycvs.com] Tiffany Earrings [mytiffanycvs.com]

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