Click here to submit a clue for this page.
hance: Here's my breakdown:
Text: SR/CL: LEITMOTIV: DESTRUIAM ET AEDIFICABO WINTER TOUR ARBEITEN IM SCHLAMM THE DELIGHT OF MY FLESH THE JOY OF MY SOUL P0 BOX 668 02568 96.47 (etc) Numbers: 64 78 41 117 39 121 0 55 91 76 60 115 13 112 116 100 102 26 106 36 (104) (141) (127) (71) [96.47] 73
hance: 12.05.01"Arbeiten im schlamm" == "work in the mud" Zip code 02568 is associated with the following: VINEYARD HAVEN MA TISBURY MA MARTHAS VINEYARD MA NORTH TISBURY MA
Dave: 12.05.01
clue: All the numbers in this announcement, except PO Box 668 and 96.47 W., correspond to the magic square that we first saw on Decmeber 1, 1999. The complete square can be found in the December 1, 1999 clues thanks to Mogul.
mikey: 10.05.01
name: Mikey clue: "destruiam et aedificabo" seems to translate into something like "He destroys and he builds" or "I destroy and I build"...I think its Latin, though only one out of about 20 Latin dictionaries understood the words. "destruam et aedificabo" is the quote that Pierre Joseph Proudhon opens his book "The Evolution of Capitalism: System of Economical Contradicitons or, The Philosophy of Misery". He cites Deuteronomy 32. I looked for the closest match, and it seemed to be Deuteronomy 32.39 which says, "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand."...I took a look through a Latin (and Polish, see below) bible and saw nothing that resembled "destruam et aedificabo", so I would assume this means it is Proudhon's interpretation of Deuteronomy 32. There was a book or an essay named "Destriuiam et Aedificabo" written by a guy named Stanistaw Jedynak who is the director of the Institute of Philosophy and the Department of the History of Social Philosophy at Marie Curie University in Lublin, Poland...he studies foundations of axiology, history of ethics, social philosophy in XIX and XX century. clue: The mailing address of The Martha's Vineyard Co-operative Bank is P.O. Box 668, Vineyard Haven, MA, 02568. Its website is http://www.mvbank.com/
Bob: 12.05.01
clue: This is 12x12 grid, just like the most-perfect pandiagonal magic square of 12/1/99. All the numbers here appear in the same location indicated by the previous ad, with the exception of the safety deposit and zip code numbers. Here is the original 12x12 magic square that Mogul worked out: 64 92 81 94 48 77 67 63 50 61 83 78 31 99 14 97 47 114 28 128 45 130 12 113 24 132 41 134 8 117 27 103 10 101 43 118 23 107 6 105 39 122 20 136 37 138 4 121 16 140 33 142 0 125 19 111 2 109 35 126 75 55 58 53 91 70 72 84 89 86 56 69 76 80 93 82 60 65 79 51 62 49 95 66 115 15 98 13 131 30 112 44 129 46 96 29 116 40 133 42 100 25 119 11 102 9 135 26 123 7 106 5 139 22 120 36 137 38 104 21 124 32 141 34 108 17 127 3 110 1 143 18 71 59 54 57 87 74 68 88 85 90 52 73 Hope the machine likes my cut and paste, but if not you can see the clue on the 12/1/99 page. Since the number was 668, I just assumed it a reference to the safety deposit box. Actually: The Martha's Vineyard Cooperative Bank 40 South Main Street, POBox 668 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
near a terminal: 12.05.01
clue: At least this one doesn't have Hebrew or Sanskrit. Simple thought, the kind I like--one ZIP code gives a variety of places. That way the Freaks could shift the geometric figure from one three-set for one triangulation, then another three-set for another triangulation, etc. Also, we don't or at least I don't know how to analyze the numbers in the diagram. So they might be saying, "use two bases from Mayday 1991" and "one from North Tisbury" and so forth. Would give very different physical locations, especially if it is tied in with celestial navigation where a reference is a star or constellation. Same point many of us have made before--deceptively simple, probably intended to appear harmless.
Mikey: 12.05.01
clue: 96.47 W. runs through most of the midwest states...it was used in the '86 May Day page as a coordinate near Waco, Texas (Corsicana, Texas to be exact). It also runs through (a list of what I could find now): Granola, KS, Dallas, TX, Abercrombie, ND, Fargo, ND, Hickson, ND, Fisher, MN...the Islamic Center of Momin in Dallas lists its coordinates as 32.47N, 96.47W...
Jessica 12.05.01
clue: I'm thinking God is "the delight of my flesh" and "the joy of my soul". Check out Psalms 84:2 "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." clue: Destruiam et aedificabo (Latin) means something like "destroy and edify". Consider Romans 14:19-20, I Corinthians 14, Ephesians 4, and I Timothy 1. clue: Notice the 12x12 grid. The number twelve appears _many_ times throughout the bible:link.
Dave: 12.06.01
The Z (ohm) H in the lower right corner of the grid might be a pictograph of some sort. I focused on it because of the ohm symbol. Turns out there's a researcher in Germany by the name Hartmut Zohm, or Zohm H. He works at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and, among other things, has worked on plasma physics in relation to fusion. For a random guy, he certainly fits some of the important ideas we've seen in other announcements. Here's a link to he's work profile:http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.ipp.mpg.de/ipp/dir-wl/leitung/zohm/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DZohm%2BH%26hl%3Den
Another thing a came across while searching for information about 12x12 magic squares is this link to a pdf file that has an exact copy of our magic square. Can anybody read polish?
http://www.swiatnauki.pl/pdf/200001/96-97/ian_stewart(najdoskonalsze_kwadraty_magiczne).pdfZeta Omega Eta, at bottom right. I've seen this translated as "abundant life." The word also appears prominently in Mayday 94 in a phrase that has yet to be translated. Also, I've no clue as to why, but of the many numbers in the grid, only four 104, 141, 127, and 71, are in parentheses.
Hance: I had assumed the numbers in parenthesis were to seperate them from the numbers in the Zip code and PO box, to keep the two 'tracks' of the message seperate.
dave: 12.06.01
Just saw the post, the Zeta Omega Eta explanation is much better then my Zohm H. I guess you can get burned sometimes for going out on a limb. Damn.
cashton: 12.07.01
clue: Bryan, I think you accidently scanned in the crossword by mistake ... I could just see 10,000 students puzzling over this one. "Now what the heck is 41 down?" ZOH is probably short for "zoe ek nekron" which pops up every so often. That's uppercase zeta, omega, eta. I kinda get the feeling he created this by first drawing out a 12x12 grid, filling it with the usual message text, but got a bit compressed for space near the end. That could explain why 96.47W has no latitude coordinate, "W." isn't split into two cells, there is no space (or number) between it and ZOH, and why the fragment "ZOH" appears right where you'd expect someone to scrap for a three-letter filler word. Also, why the use of parantheses near the end? So that the filler numbers wouldn't be part of the text?
near a terminal: 12.07.01
clue: Don't want to rain on anybody's parade but the ad on this screen says "d-e-s-t-r-u-a-m" There isn't any "i" so it isn't "destru_i_am" Considering what other people have said about this being a grid or a magic square, the exact spelling is probably important.
Mikey: 12.08.01
clue: Oops, sorry...the stuff I wrote above about Proudhon was using the correct spelling of the text. I guess for the other one (the book by Stanistaw Jedynak), that is irrelevant now, since I was using the wrong spelling, though I have the feeling it would be translated the same. However, the quote by Proudhon was "destruam et aedificabo" referring to Deuteronomy 32, and the translation is still something like "destroy and build" or something along those lines... clue: I've been trying to see if there's something mathematical in this, but there are 24 numbers of the whole magic square included here, exactly 1/6th of the total...I can't find anything good yet with the numbers here (or removed), but that might lead somewhere...
near a terminal: 12.10.01
clue: Just got done driving myself half crazy reading parts of the old correspondence that the webmaster received from the Freaks. Finally found what I vaguely remembered--try the one the webmaster has labeled "6/4/00". It is all number theory and they claim it is very elementary number theory. That's all I could understand of the theory part, Mikey and the Germans and I guess Bob will have to figure out the connection but I'm sure there is one because look at that same letter and you will find "Box 668" on one of the pages from them, in that same letter. That's why I think the exact spelling is probably important, all the parts count exactly but how they fit them together is beyond me. What anybody can see is that they never throw anything away,if it got said in 1989 or in the last ad, we'll see it again and one or more of us will suddenly see a connection. I wonder if they don't keep track of all these zillions of pieces in a big database? (Reading back through this, something else came to mind. Notice that the stamp on the envelope for "6/4/00" has San Francisco Bay and a ship on it. That fits one of the clues on this page.)
Gordon 12.11.01
name: Gordon clue: What I assume to be an English version of the article by Ian Stewart in Polish mentioned by Dave can be found at:
More information about these magic squares can be found at:
Latin scholar: 12.14.01
clue: Re: Destruam et aedificabo Enough with the "..means something like...". It means this: "I will destroy and I will (re-)build." This phrase does not occur anywhere in the Vulgate (the latin translation of the bible).
near a terminal: 12.14.01
clue: OK, folks, all you math people might get a lead from "Isomorphisms on Magic Squares," Ali R. Amir-Moez. I found it on a webpage devoted to Number Theory: "www.maa.org/pubs/cmj-index/other/number.txt" All I know is that "isomorphism" means same shape or even same body, more generally, same form. Well, here is one in the same form that has appeared before and it is a magic square. I gather this stuff is used in cryptology because I found it on a search engine by putting in "magic squares" and right after that "cryptology"
anonymous: 12.15.01
clue: These guys are, of course, into levels; specifically, four levels. It might be useful to figure out how many ways the grid can be divided into four equal spaces, and whether any message might become apparent.
Bob: 12.14.01
clue: Like the others, I first found translations of "destruam et aedificabo" as, essentially, "destroy and rebuild." However, I much prefer Jessica's suggested translation: "destroy and edify." At first glance, it's an oxymoron: How do we edify by destroying? But, upon reflection, edifying by the destruction (or conquering) of a culture is a remarkably succinct summation of human history. Think back to the early ads and their references to British colonialism; May 1, 1986,: "Mistah Kurtz is not dead."
bill: 12.18.01
clue: Dave, don't feel bad about the Zohm thing just yet...recall the clues from 5/1/2001: the uuencoded text in the ad is from a paper by a Dr. Zbyçek Trka, also a physicist (albeit in Prague). Search-engine coincidence? Or yet another clue?
cynic2: 12.19.01
clue: Very short on time but one thing seems obvious and that is how many different languages in this one? I count 4, English, German, Latin, Greek. They make constant reference to 4 levels and different numbers lie under the boxes where the languages appear on the grid. Looks like a method to me.
Bob: 12.20.01
clue: I've not seen this remarked on elsewhere, so: the character called "The Pimp" wrote Bryan to advise him that this ad would be published, as he has on other occasions. (The note is in the "Recent Developments" section). Specifically, he advised Bryan to "lay hiz Pickerz N Stealerz" on a copy. The capitalization is his and this is a phrase he has used before. The phrase "pickers and stealers" appears in Hamlet. In Act III, Scene II, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are trying to get a straight answer from Hamlet about a request the Queen has made, but Hamlet refuses to answer directly, saying at one point, "my wit's diseased." Finally, Rosencrantz becomes frustrated and says, "My lord, you once did love me." Hamlet replies, "So do I still, by these pickers and stealers." Hamlet is displeased and, when, moments later, musicians enter with recorders, he takes one of the recorders and asks Guildenstern to play it. Guildenstern declines, saying he doesn't know how. Hamlet says it's easy, you just make music, here's where you blow into it, here are the stops. Guildenstern replies, "But these cannot I command to any utterance of harmony; I have not the skill." And, finally, we come to Hamlet's speech that I think has some relevance to our current endeavor: "Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me. You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me." So, if the phrase "Pickerz N Stealerz" is not used at random, and little here appears to be random, the message seems to be: "Hey, Bry, we love you guy. Have fun with all this stuff. But do not think that you can 'pluck out the heart of my mystery.' Though you might solve some individual clues, you'll never put it all together." Or maybe it's just some weird coincidence.
mikey: 01.04.02
clue: I got to thinking...this is a longshot, but what if...I was thinking more about the main topic, "Destroy and rebuild"...what if that is something we have to do with this magic square? Maybe there is something like we put back in all the numbers (according to the complete magic square we already have), rejumble it up to make another perfect square, and when the letters are substituted back in, there's some kind of message in there, kinda like a harder-to-solve kind of anagram? I would suggest the number stay at 668, maybe theres another way to reconfigure it to come up with 668? (this probably isn't quite what we're lookin' for, aw, but what the heck? :) ) clue: There are 4 different phrases spelled out in this clue. I was thinking, what if these refer to something like Greek/Roman gods/legends? The first one, "destroy and rebuild", is easy, that could be the Phoenix. The others, well, my multiple-god knowledge is limited to video games, but the "winter tour" can refer to whatever cold/ice/water god there is, the mud is of course earth, and the delight of flesh can be something like a human or the king of the gods. This, again, is probably too much of a stretch, but what the hay. :) I've sent a few emails to some people who know more about magic squares than I do, and I'm trying to see if they can give us anything useful. name: Mikey clue: On a whim, I emailed the Martha's Vineyard Co-op Bank for a history on their bank and it wasn't incredibly interesting, but just in case, here's what he said. -------- Hmmm... very interesting... I'm afraid I can't shed much light on the "mystery", although the whole concept is most interesting. We've been in this building for only about 20 years. It was a Doctor's (Dentist?) office and private residence before that. We have always been financially solvent...Only other thing that I can think of is the fact that most of the downtown of Tisbury(Vineyard Haven) burnt to the ground in 1883, although our building did survive. Check out http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/vh1914/vhn2a.htm for a little history. We're building #23 on the map. If it turns out that our building figures in the solution to the mystery, please let me know about it... just for my personal satisfaction. Good Luck !!! -------- That link says the following: 23. "Lucinda St. John -- (Co-op Bank)" "the Cooperative Bank building actually now, well it - a little history connected with this one. It was built in the 1800's by Capt. Matthew Luce, and eventually came into the possession of Mrs. Grafton L. Daggett who was living ther the day of the fire in August, 1883. As the fire rushed nearer, Mrs. Daggett spread quilts and heavy blankets on the roof, and wet them thoroughly, bringing water in buckets up through the skylight. Desperately she called for help. A completely unknown young man appeared, and said he came from a vessel in the harbor. And he promptly began carrying the heavy buckets to the roof. When the fire was finally over, the young man disappeared, leaving his hat which he had laid aside. He never came back for the hat. This bit of information was in the little pamphlet, Old Houses of Vineyard Haven, and I believe it was complied by Doris Hough. Also in this same building, Dr. Cosgrove had his office for quite awhile. I think that was just previous to the Coop Bank getting in there. So, this isn't quite an interesting lead, but what may be is that the entire town of Vineyard Haven (or Tinsley) had once burnt down and was rebuilt from the ashes.
hance:: wow, you emailed the bank? that's awesome.
bill: 01.05.02
clue: Here is a another (older) picture of the Co-Op Bank building:
http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/photos/vh8/V80904.HTM
and a picture of the good doctor himself:
http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/photos/p1/P14402.HTM
Bob: 01.07.02
clue: Re: 12/31/01 New Year's communique from The Orphanage. Check out the lyrics to "Spirits in the Material World" by The Police. In part: There is no political solution To our troubled evolution Have no faith in constitution There is no bloody revolution
JG: 01.07.02
ZOOH is life in capital letters, also short for born
Carpet: 01.09.02
668 is, of course, the Neighbour of the Beast. :^)hance: and the guy in 566 always complains about the noise from upstairs. :P
near a terminal: 01.28.02
clue: I may have a lead on one of those weird deals you just got in the mail. I don't want to commit until it is certain but somebody stopped me in the hall and suggested a lead. On my own I can tell you that I'm pretty sure that "arbeiten" stuff in German has been in before but it was way back. I don't have time today to work through all the old ones but I think it was one of those quotes from famous people. Also, didn't you get correspondence from Dallas or Houston last year or two years ago? I've always thought Dallas was sort of a nutty place and here it pops up in this one along with Corsicana. You had some good clues on Corsicana being directly connected with their interest in nuclear stuff. Could you give us a t-i-n-y clue on why they are into nuclear? You must know more than you're telling.
Jumbo: 02.01.02
clue: It does not have enough lines on either axis to be a go board but if you knew which 8x8 are the chessboard it would be possible to make moves according to prior instructions. That would lead you to data files and so on.
piter: 02.17.02
clue: 02568 is the zip code for Vineyard Haven, MA. PO Box 668 might be there. maybe someone should send a letter. or, 23 letters.
near a terminal 04.02.02
clue: Wish I had thought of this myself but somebody else suggested it and so I'll pass it along. I checked the one picture the freaks sent you that deals with this point and it seems to fit. On the one that says BEHOLD IT WAS A DREAM, they have underlined the stuff from Godel about only needing two points. I could study all the rest of my life and not have a clue what Godel was talking about but apparently it is accurate, works if you know the math and so on. Soooo, there is some form of reference or type of math setup where you can specify a location with only two points. It seems to me that makes this a brand new puzzle because you don't have to use triangulation or at least they don't have to. I wonder if the occasional references to triangulation aren't in there to throw off the unwary or at least the unlearned.
near a terminal: 04.12.02
clue: Took longer than I expected but there seems to be a link between the bizarre chocolate brain and other parts of the mystery. Actually I think there are lots of links but I don't have the time or the training to make them clear. The one that is very clear is 'Letter 7' in the mailing you received rather recently. It looks sort of like a back room in a house or maybe an office but not what you'd see when you come through the foyer. Knives on the wall and pictures of brains around the knives. I wonder if it isn't a room in one of those secluded houses that appear in the other pictures from that mailing. It would be tough to get inside, I'd bet that on that one. My guess is that we are going to hear some type of physiology references in the next mayday ad. Like many others I suspect they cue the insiders to locations. I'd really like to post some of those tiny remote cameras at each of those houses.
dave: 04.22.02
clue: I was tromping around the MathWorld website looking for something and I ran into the Magic Squares page. It got me thinking about the 12x12 magic square originally seen in the 12/1/99 announcement. I previously pointed out a link to a Polish reprint of an article written by Ian Stewart. Gordan found an English original of the Ian Stewart article published in Scientific American. Well I went back and read the article and what I noticed was the article's publish date. November 1999, right before the 12/1/99 anouncement. Assuming that the 12x12 square was copied from the Ian Stewart article, the anouncement authors seem to be collecting material right up to the last minute. Does this mean relevent and current inclusion of information or random incorporation of interesting topical items from periodicals?
Mork - 06.10.02
clue: There could be a lot more information on this page than meets the eye. For example, there are tons of mystical and historical connections with magic squares and a small library has been written about them. I think this is a 12th order, meaning it has 12 by 12 cells. Just take the word "cell" which is used in the standard analysis of magic squares. If the cells of the organization that puts these together are numbered and that seems very likely, then this contains explicit instructions for cell #12. You get the point--structure would tell you a ton of things if yuu knew where to begin and you had access to internal codes, like the members necessarily do. The term "weird" comes up again and again when people are sending in clues but I'm not so sure it is weird at all. The phone company does much the same with their internal codes and the really important codes are really secret. If you don't think so, ask some low ranking employee about "internal codes" and the books that contain them. They won't know squat. Same way, I think, with these. The people doing these are doing something important, they have to communicate and they have a fair amount of time in between projects or "capers" or episodes or call it whatever you like. Again, that is not unsual. Read about how long it took to plan D-Day or any other World War II theatre of battle. I tend to agree with the people sending in clues who think that the "weird" part is intentional. Good way to keep a secret.
Juls 09.17.2005
Destruam et aedificabo: as already determined, Proudhon did use this phrase, but it does not appear in Deuteronomy 32. However, it seems that it was an early Christian motto. "I will destroy and I will rebuild" was also taken as a motto by the Communist, Michel Bakunin. Bio here: http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bakunin/communist/communistbio.html
D. Thomasson 02.23.2006
The 25 numbers that are not part of the message: 64, 78, 41, 117, 39, 121, 0, 55, 91, 76, 60, 115, 13, 112, 116, 100, 102, 26, 106, 36, 104, 141, 127, 71, 73 - all add up to 1984. 1984, a book by George Orwell, originally written in 1948 then published in 1949 could be the simple solution of this message. Please see http://www.duplipensar.net/english/index.html and http://www.mycrypto.net/privacy/george_orwell_1984.html Here is an interesting quote I found about the book: Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 5) by Frank Herbert at http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A6Z6O41DRZQFH/002-7602315-7613625?_encoding=UTF8: "The message of Dune is, flee to the desert if you want to survive. Get off the grid. Learn to live on little under rugged conditions, for a force is coming that will devastate the whole planet. Learn how to operate under conditions of totalitarian rule using guerilla tactics, evading survellience. Develop codes and ciphers; communicate in undetectable ways. George Orwell foresaw these developments too as articulated in his book 1984." I'll leave it up to the readers to connect the dots with 1984. For privacy using encryption algorithms such as RSA, DES/3DES, BLOWFISH, IDEA, SEAL, RC4, see: http://www.mycrypto.net/encryption/crypto_algorithms.html . A couple other books that might be of interest for the readers are: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Deception Point by Dan Brown.
D. Thomasson 02.27.2006
clue: Overlay the octagon (120 squares) board from the bottom middle of the 92-May1 ad, on top of Kathleen Ollerenshaw's 12x12 Most Perfect Pandiagonal Magic Square as referenced in this ad. Previously I showed how the greyed in squares added up to 1267 that points to Roger Bacon. Now add up the 25 black squares (77, 67, 47, 41, 117, 103, 43, 2, 35, 75, 58, 53, 72, 69, 60, 49, 15, 30, 42, 102, 26, 108, 17, 3, 1) to get a total of 1312. The Papal Bull 'Vox In Excelso' (22nd March 1312), officially dissolved the Order of the Knights Templar. The Bull 'Ad Providam' (2nd May 1312), also issued by Clement V, ordered the assets and properties of the Knights to be turned over to the Hospitallers. Read more at: http://www.templiers.org/paris-eng.html http://www.templiers.org/templiers-eng.html http://www.ordotempli.org/knights_templar_dates_to_remember.htm
Beacon 03.06.2006
In Go black always moves first. There are 29 black pieces and 29 white. It would seem the white piece numbered 58 has just been placed and it is now blacks move again. Other than this why stick it to a postscript... unless that is what it is? i.e. a PS (which comes from the Latin for post Script or after the witten part). But PS to what?And is 58 a date 8th May / 5th August? Sorry I have not posted in some time and this is speculation which I do not usually post.
D. Thomasson 04.01.2006
I've mentioned previously that the numbers that are not part of the 01-Dec5 announcement's actual text all add up to 1984. If you multiply the digits of 1984 (1*9*8*4) you got 288 (12*24). The numbers 12 and 24 are used heavily throughout the Biblical Scriptures and the ADW announcements. See especially Revelation and John's vision of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).
Psychomike 05.08.2007
Postage stamp: Subtracting the corners starting from the top right: 5 2 7 14 Combining the results in the same order I got 14527. These numbers also appear in the corners of the pool ball rack, 2+5+7=14 http://www.maydaymystery.org/mayday/texts/88-may1.html Using the postage stamp theme, reinforced by the triangular postage stamp delivered to Mr. Hance, this zip code yields Penn Yan. 14527. I can ignore YAN but I like Penn. plf
Psychomike 05.09.2007
Sorry for not finishing my thoughts last night. I wanted to repeat D. Thomasson's overlay to see what LETTERS I could find. However, while referencing the pool balls, I saw the chessboard just above. Why not overlay that instead? But where? I liked the 'squares' as a starting point. 64 121 9 100 36 When aligning the chessboard and going back through the previously posted clues, I also found that when the top right corner matched 121 the bottom right corner matched 8. From Bob's re-post of the 12x12 "most-perfect pandiagonal magic square of 12/1/99." I recognized that an 18 belonged in that spot. There are 18 pieces on this particular chessboard. Very encouraging! With this alignment I immediately had the letters I needed to get the message: TELL MY BOY I AM f ON PEG (that f, pasted poorly, is one of the zeros I took for naught but later realized was PHI) At least it didn^Òt say: DRINK YOUR OVALTINE When I separated the letters the white and black pieces gave me I had a breakthrough: ENTYMOGY LAMB PIE LO f The pedagogy is realized when I got my final answer: ETYMOLOGY BEN PI LAM PHI That brings me back to my previous post. I like Penn. PI LAM PHI has chapters at Penn, Penn State and IUP, where the student newspaper is 'The Penn'. So who is 'ben'?
