brianundaunted

brianundaunted
First mentioned:	April 11, 2007
Brian's Imeem blog

brianundaunted is the Internet pseudonym of a Brian, a computer programmer who worked on Linderman's voting system.

About

On April 11, 2007, Hana Gitelman made a post on her website linking to brianundaunted's blog. Clues offered on Brian's blog lead to two of the passwords to Linderman's voting system.
On March 18, 2008, an unknown repeated poster used Hana's contacts to notifying of new postings on Brian's blog.

Heroes Evolutions

Brian's blog

Brian has made several postings to his blog at brianundaunted.imeem.com.

Category: Pursuit of Happiness

Hero Protagonist

On March 10, 2007, 1:57PM, Brian posted:

Okay, first things first. If this situation was just about my 30 pieces of silver, we'd take this to eBay or something and be done with it. But if you're going to play ball with me, you need to first UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION: I'm offering the Data to you because I want the meatbag to SUFFER. Not just because he's a freakin power-tripping psycho under that oh-so-lovable exterior, but because he's a freakin meatbag who badly needs a "hyper-reality" check. Fact is, I'm auctioning the Data instead of handing it out to the nearest anti-corporate hippy or the feds because while my lovable old boss sucks at life, I half-suspect that he owns the government AND the hippies, and the only kind of money that's going to get me out of the fallout after this is yours.

So welcome aboard. Over the next few weeks, I'll be taking bids for the Data, and through this site, we'll start developing an ... understanding of each other. Stay tuned.

i'll show you sparta

On March 11, 2007, 1:58PM, Brian posted:

It's come to my attention that some of you are freakin idiots. If I freakin wanted to sell you the Data now, I'd have done it already, natch?

Get your dictionary, cuz we're going to use big words now. I have a major demonstration coming up soon. I don't want any of you meatbags messing with the Data before then, see? Simmer down.

I'll give you a present or two early, but for now, just stay on target, Jetson. And by the way, all the bids suck right now, use the next couple weeks to practice writing zeros, one-layer idiots.

Christmas card

On March 12, 2007, 1:59PM, Brian posted:

It's almost Christmas, kids. Only we're going to do it my way.

Call this a fun little warm-up:

You are a superhero. You are tied up with ropes that are unbreakable. The villain that caught you says, "I like you, so I'm gonna give you a chance to free yourself." He puts you in front of two computers and says, "One of these computers always lies and one always tells the truth. You don't know which is which. You see those 2 doors? One is freedom and the other is instant death. You can ask one computer one question to figure out which door leads to freedom." What do you ask?

Fun

On March 24, 2007, 2:09PM, Brian posted:

I finished wrapping your first Christmas gift. This will be fun.

Speaking of fun, my fuzzy little employer gets worse by the day. Meatbags always get nuts they have to put their life in the hands of technology; it eats them up inside. I wish I could see the look on his face when the boogeyman really DOES come out from under the bed.

Stay tuned.

How about them apples

On March 30, 2007, 2:09PM, Brian posted:

We're getting close to the tech demonstration at work, and that means the end of the bidding. If you've been holding out, this is it, we're down to the wire, put up or shut up.

In the next few days, I'll be posting a couple surprises. Consider it the appetizer. But before you get too excited: Remember what I said about wanting to use this time to get to gain some understanding of each other? Yeah, you're gonna work for your lunch.

Res IPsum Loquitar

On April 4, 2007, 2:16PM, Brian posted:

Okay, kids, here's your first gift. If any of you one-layer meatbags manage to get the wrapping paper off, you'll have one of the three components of the Data, just because I love you so so so much. Just keep in mind that it's pointless without the other two parts, so keep the bids coming.

Three clues to what you're looking for, where it is, and what it does... 1) By Bells, by Trumpets, by Lights and Torches, by the report of Muskets, I can be executed with any object at all, provided the object is capable of a positional notation with a radix of 2. 2) preachtim, sonica, havicer 3) Ringo says John, Paul, George are keeping secrets!!

Merry Christmas.

Words to Pass On

On April 4, 2007, 2:17PM, Brian posted:

What is this strange tingling in my extremities??

Ah yes, generosity. I decided to go ahead and toss the other present under the tree. If you're someone who can figure this one out, you'll know a little bit more about me, and more importantly, I'll care. I might even give you a discount on the Data.

(Naaahhh.)

And now, presenting today's award: dear, dear Shakespeare!

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least, Yet in these thoughts self almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then m state, Like to the lark at break of day arising Frm sllen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gae For thy sweet love remembered sch wealth rings, That thn I scorn to change my state with kings.

Category: Revelation

Showtime

On April 9, 2007, 9:43PM, Brian posted:

Alright, this is a big week or two at work, I won't be around for a while. Use the bidding address if you need to talk.

And by talk, I mean, update your bid. Otherwise, save your carpal tunnel.

P.S. And if by some miracle one of you jokers manages to figure out my little presents below while I'm out, just keep in mind that they're useless without the first part, natch?

Greetings

On March 18, 2008, 12:06PM, Brian posted:

I know it's been a while, but I have my reasons. Linderman, my old employer, is dead. At least he better be, or else I'm not going to be coming out of hiding anytime soon. It's time for me to start asking questions: who ruined my life, and why? It's time for me to get even. I'm not all convinced that Linderman is out of the picture. Maybe someone is following in his footsteps and still wants me caput. Either way, I'm out to get who wronged me and I believe it was Hana Gitelman. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Leads? Info?

Update

On March 18, 2008, 4:48PM, Brian posted:

Thanks for your help so far. It got me digging.

I think there's a leak in The Company that may have gotten a hold of Hana's contacts and already started communication.

I need your help in finding his/her identity. Searching through some files, I've learned that the profile is made up of 8 letters/characters.

Perhaps it has something to do with the clues sent out last week.

Brian at 9th Wonders

On March 17, 2008, a user known as brianundaunted joined the 9th Wonders message boards.

Brian's first post

On March 18, 2008, 4:46PM, that user posted the same "Update" post to the 9th Wonders "final riddle" thread two minutes before it appeared on Brian's blog. This confirms it is the same Brian.

Brian's second post

On March 18, 2008, 7:10PM, the same user made another post to the same thread, replying to another user's post:

> Riddle #3 - "I am two letters within one word, three letters apart."

Looking at the link again: http://www.samantha48616e61.com/needle.shtml

It appears that there are a number of words on that page that might qualify with the riddle given. I think if we lock down the other riddles, the letters that give the identity may be easier to come up with. Process of elimination or puzzle scrambling.

from first messages.

P. S.

from second message

41 confirmed, 2nd one not so sure yet.

from third message

E.R.

Brian's third post

On March 19, 2008, 6:34PM, Brian made another reply to the thread:

> Like, I'm not ungrateful for the help, but you come on here and say "I've learned that the profile is made up of 8 letters/characters"...so, how have you learned this?

I have my ways, but I can't reveal my sources.

I'm just trying to help you guys, as you've all been trying to help me...

Brian's puzzles' solutions

Brian's blog contains a number of posts complaining about his employer and refer repeatedly to an auction of the passwords needed to access the backdoor to Linderman's voting system. Two of the posts in particular contain puzzles which lead to two of the needed passwords.

Box 1

The password for the first login box is derived by following clues from a post on Brian's blog entitled "Words to Pass On". The post contains Shakespeare's Sonnet 29. Some words and letters are missing:

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

As illustrated in bold above, the missing words and letters spell out "look in my YouTube". Searching for brianundaunted on YouTube brings up this profile.

The profile contains the following clue:

Okay, I've already deleted my amazing webcam collection, so the only reason you'd be here is if you figured out where to look by reading my blog, which means nothing more than you've got the problem-solving ability of the average gerbil, but hey, congrats anyway, here's your piece of cheese or whatever the hell gerbils eat: MIRROR, MINUS ONES

Look pointless to you? That's because it is. Unless you find out the number to apply it to, at which point it becomes the most valuable password you've ever eye-fondled in your life. Unfortunately for you, the missing number is hidden somewhere on my Flickr page. And where is that? I'll be nice this time and give you the first part: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_ ______/ What goes in the blank? Why, the next step in the following sequence!: 6 = 16 = 1116 = 3116 = 132116 = _______

To decipher the number sequence, read each number left-to-right. As you encounter each new digit, count the number of times it appears. The next number in the sequence is a combination of each encountered digit, preceded by its count:

Number	Read Aloud is	Gives
6	One "6"	16
16	One "1", One "6"	1116
1116	Three "1", One "6"	3116
3116	One "3", Two "1", One "6"	132116
132116	Three "1", One "3", One "2", One "6"	31131216

This leads to Brian's Flickr page. The page contains a picture of a boat on which the code "38 2x SLC" appears. Reversing this code and subtracting one from each of the numeric digits ("MIRROR, MINUS ONES") gives "CLSx172"--the "incorrect" password supplied by Hana during the Heroes Interactive session for The Fix and the password for the first login box.

Box 3

The password for the third login box is derived from a post on Brian's blog entitled "Res IPsum Loquitar", which contains the following clues:

Three clues to what you're looking for, where it is, and what it does...
1) By Bells, by Trumpets, by Lights and Torches, by the report of Muskets, I can be executed with any object at all, provided the object is capable of a positional notation with a radix of 2.
2) preachtim, sonica, havicer
3) Ringo says John, Paul, George are keeping secrets!!

The posts title contains the unconventional capitalization of "IPsum", indicating that the finished password will be in the form of an IP address. Clue number one indicates that the password is encoded in binary--the methods indicated all allow for on-off signals. Clue number two contains three anagrams: Primatech, Casino, and Archives. It refers to the corinthianlasvegas.com archives of Linderman's art collection. Clue number three indicates that the password is stored in JPGs (John, Paul, and George.)

Examining the corinthianlasvegas.com website and Linderman's archives, three images now contain superimposed binary characters:

• 

  From the archives, The President Stands Alone by Isaac Mendez is superimposed with binary.

• 

  From the corinthianlasvegas.com website, the header graphic for the About page contains binary.

• 

  From the corinthianlasvegas.com website, the header graphic for the Titan Club page contains binary.

The binary from Nathan's painting reads:

0100001101101111011011100110011101110010 
0110000101110100011101010110110001100001 
0111010001101001011011110110111001110011 
0010000001111001011011110111010100100000 
0110100001100001011101100110010100100000 

The binary from the About page reads:

0110011001101111011101010110111001100100
0010000001100001001000000111011001100101
0111001001111001001000000110100101101101
0111000001101111011100100111010001100001
0110111001110100001000000111000001101001
0110010101100011011001010010000001101111
0110011000100000011010010110111001100110
0110111101110010011011010110000101110100

The binary from the Titan Club page reads:

0110100101101111011011100011101000100000
0011001000110000001100000011011100111010
0011000001100100011000100011100000111010
0011100000110101011000010011001100111010
0011000000111000011001000011001100111010
0011000100110011001100010011100100111010
0011100001100001001100110110010100111010
0011000000110010001101110011000000111010
00110111001100100011001100110100

The next step is to convert the binary to ASCII text. Doing so reveals the following messages:

Nathan's painting:

Congratulations you have

The About page:

found a very important piece of informat

The Titan Club page:

ion: 2007:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a3e:0270:7234

The combined message reads "Congratulations you have found a very important piece of information: 2007:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a3e:0270:7234". This is the password to the third box; as the post title indicated, it is in the form of an IPv6 address.

Trivia

• Several of the photographs on Brian's Flickr account are actually pictures of writer Tom Inkel from when he was a child.

External Links

• Brian's blog
• Brian's YouTube profile
• Brian's Flickr account