Post Race!

[dday9]

This post is not important.

[Shaggy Hiker]

No, you can easily place a one and the zero in different areas so that the hint is only found after some time looking at the backyard.

That's actually a pretty good idea. It, too, would have been expensive, but not prohibitively, since I couldn't have done it myself.

[Witis]

just one point:

Witis showed this:
'Nope, for example in post #55796 you said "The red bricks make up the eigth bit of every byte, since the ASCII character set (at least the normal set with the digits and punctuation) doesn't use the eigth bit".'

A statement of mine which is true.
Witis also misquoted it in this fashion:
"No misunderstanding, the red tiles in your backyard started as your binary delimiter."

Something I didn't say. The two statements are not contradictory. Every eigth bit is a red brick, but not every red brick is an eigth bit, nor must they be. That's a rule that was never stated or implied in any previous statement.

Sure you did, in addition to making every eight bit red you also gave your reasoning in post#55820:

"The other reason is that a two bit binary pattern is very hard to read. When written out, as in your posts, there is a clear left to right pattern to the bits. In the case of a 2D arrangement, a person could be forgiven to not finding any meaning at all. The pattern would look random, and any attempt to turn them into ASCII would work only if the person happened to start on a byte boundary and read in the right direction. That takes a whole lot of chance. I wouldn't expect anybody to figure out that there was a binary pattern, as it would appear random, and would read random in most directions, but by making every eigth bit red I left a clue as to how to read the pattern. A person might notice that the arrangement isn't truly random, and if they do, they'd also notice that the non-random part is a regularly repeating pattern of 8, which would suggest ASCII binary to any computer geek of the last couple decades. The pattern is an easter egg, but one with a hint built in."

Thus you started by making every eighth bit red so that it was possible to read the pattern i.e. by using the red bits as the character delimiter. Then you said that you added some extra red tiles as fill that "throw off the pattern in the picture" i.e. you added extra red tiles to throw an error and make it difficult or impossible to decipher the message.

I did struggle with whether or not to even include the terminal bricks in any run as part of the pattern. Bordering the entire pattern in red might have been a better plan, in the end.

True.

In a few places, the retaining wall is set onto the actual pattern, if I remember right. Time and effective gardening are obscuring those portions. My goal was vegetation that would drape down over the retaining walls, and that I have achieved quite nicely. The pattern is still there, you just have to herd the flox aside.

I am sure that anyone recognising a pattern is unlikely to be put off by any vegetation, especially if it can be easily pushed aside.

[Witis]

[Witis]

It could be the way of the Witis.

It IS the Witis way.

Go Freedom. \(^.^)/

[Witis]

[Shaggy Hiker]

Thus you started by making every eighth bit red so that it was possible to read the pattern i.e. by using the red bits as the character delimiter. Then you said that you added some extra red tiles as fill that "throw off the pattern in the picture" i.e. you added extra red tiles to throw an error and make it difficult or impossible to decipher the message.

Actually, I started by making every eigth bit red because I had three colors to work with and I was afraid that a gray/tan pattern would be really washed out. I spent a couple months considering different designs before going with the binary pattern. The design was not the goal, it was the result of the elimination of the alternatives. I actually had the idea long before I decided to do it. I thought it was kind of cool, but not worth doing, so I considered solid color (gray would be boring, tan would be nearly invisible, red would make it look like an oven), considered regular patterns (the irregular shape of the yard meant that nobody would be able to see the whole thing from any vantage point, so any pattern would be lost...and I suck at art), and only really went with binary because I had decided to go with a random pattern and realized that truly random was actually as hard as binary. I still didn't think much of binary because it isn't a large space, but once I did all the measuring, I realized that I had somewhere over 800 bricks, which meant some 100 characters (not exactly, but I forget the true number). I thought I would have less than half that number of characters, but 100 characters is enough to say something...short, at least.

So, I knew that the binary pattern would have to be tan and gray, but I still wanted to use the red bricks to add variety, since the subdued color of the gray and tan would result in a mottled yard. The red bricks were much more vivid than the other two, and I wanted them in there, though as a minority so that the more vivid color didn't dominate the pattern. That was the real reason for using every eigth bit as red. The alternative was using every ninth bit as red, but I rejected that because every eigth bit would be the same color, too, so it would always be a two bit pattern. Looking back on it, that would have made an even stronger hint as to the reading order, and it would have told people whether gray or tan was 0, because the red brick would have nearly random colors on three sides, but one side would ALWAYS be a zero, which would tell people the direction of reading, and the value of the other bits. Of course, it would mean that the red was 1/9 rather than 1/8, so they would have been even more rare.

So, you can make up whatever you want about what rules I used, but the real rule was this: I wanted to make a backyard patio and had three colors of bricks to work with.


The system, as created, is internally consistent, and that's all that matters. If you have a hard time figuring it out, that's your problem. There is sufficient information to work out the entire meaning. I could have made it more explicit, but my primary goal was to create a backyard, not to create one that was easier or harder for a person to figure out the meaning.

[Witis]

Ok, at least you started with a cool idea, now you just have to remove the error, which shouldn't be so difficult, and you are back in business.

[Witis]

Bring the binary back. 1001

[Witis]

[Shaggy Hiker]

Ok, at least you started with a cool idea, now you just have to remove the error, which shouldn't be so difficult, and you are back in business.

I can't, the error is only in your mind, a place too difficult to delve.

[szlamany]

You can tell this is a programmers forum by the way you all can debate binary for pages on end!

I liked the mermaids better - or are they binary as well

[Shaggy Hiker]

They are, they just have large bits.

[szlamany]

Which leads to the obvious nibble...

[szlamany]

Nibbles and bits, nibbles and bits (careful for typos)

[Shaggy Hiker]

On a related note: Do mermaids get prune hands? If not, why not?

[dclamp]

Mermaid dont have hands...

[Shaggy Hiker]

That's a merman.

[Witis]

I can't, the error is only in your mind, a place too difficult to delve.

Heh heh, at least we now know the source of all of you anti-binary vitrol.

[Witis]

You can tell this is a programmers forum by the way you all can debate binary for pages on end!

Of course.

[Shaggy Hiker]

You can tell it's the post race, too.

I gave you the rules under which the pattern was drawn. They are consistent, and the pattern is consistent with the rules. There is nothing anti-binary about that. You came up with the idea that there is an error because you imposed additional rules that I never stated, then tried to tell me how I had originally conceived the pattern. The error is only in your mind. There is nothing in the pattern that violates the rules that were stated, and the rules are sufficient to determine the message...or at least about half the message, as I only posted one of the two pictures that make up the whole yard.

[henrytrs35]

You can tell it's the post race, too.

True. There are legit discussions going around here.

[FunkyDexter]

That's a merman.

Did you use your special fish biologist powers to figure that out?

[dday9]

Post race.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Did you use your special fish biologist powers to figure that out?

I did! It's a member of the Mermanus cartooni species. It was found in Family Guy in the episode Stewie Kills Lois Part II, and explained the difficult problem of mermaid reproduction left unanswered in other mermaid pictures.

[dday9]

I suppose mermen could reproduce like seahorses.

[FunkyDexter]

They're certainly hung like them.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Hung like a sea horse?

[Witis]

You can tell it's the post race, too.

Sure.

I gave you the rules under which the pattern was drawn. They are consistent, and the pattern is consistent with the rules.

You told us what you did i.e. you started with a cool binary backyard, then you admitted adding some extra red tiles which threw off the pattern and made it difficult or impossible to decipher your binary encoded message, finally you invented some new rules a couple of days ago, which cannot be reasonably deduced by anyone, in an attempt to justify your furtive backyard behaviours although, unsurprisingly, no-one believed you. :Þ

There is nothing anti-binary about that.

Oh the inhumanity, er, I mean inmachinity.

You came up with the idea that there is an error because you imposed additional rules that I never stated, then tried to tell me how I had originally conceived the pattern. The error is only in your mind.

Nope, you can see the extra red tiles throwing off the pattern and making it undecipherable on the top left hand side of the picture you posted in post #55790.

There is nothing in the pattern that violates the rules that were stated, and the rules are sufficient to determine the message...or at least about half the message,

Half the message, what happened to the rest of it?

[Witis]

11101000100

[Witis]

Even though your backyard has gone all anti-binary, at least it still looks like a game of tetris.☺

[FunkyDexter]

It could be the way of the Witis.

Every time I open the thread and see that post I think of old 80s specturm games and think:-

Way of the Exploding Witis!

Haaayah!

[dday9]

Post race.

[Shaggy Hiker]

You told us what you did i.e. you started with a cool binary backyard, then you admitted adding some extra red tiles which threw off the pattern and made it difficult or impossible to decipher your binary encoded message, finally you invented some new rules a couple of days ago, which cannot be reasonably deduced by anyone, in an attempt to justify your furtive backyard behaviours although, unsurprisingly, no-one believed you.

The fact that you can't decipher the code when given the rules that are sufficient to do so says more about you than it does about the yard. As for the rest, you have made it all up, and it isn't the first time. Once you decide a set of rules applies, you never let reality intrude on your assumptions.

Nope, you can see the extra red tiles throwing off the pattern and making it undecipherable on the top left hand side of the picture you posted in post #55790.

They don't throw off anything. Binary patterns have only two values: 1 and 0. So what value do you suggest that the third color has? It can't be a 1 and it can't be a 0, because I have already said that the other two colors use those values. Why do you insist that the third color is vital to understanding the pattern? That would be like saying that the value of 2 is essential to reading a byte made up of 0 and 1.

Half the message, what happened to the rest of it?

In the original post, which I haven't found and haven't sought, there were two pictures that covered the entire yard. Rather than re-posting both of them, I posted just the one. So, the image is not the entire yard, only the first few words of it. If you figure out one half, I'll re-post the other.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Even though your backyard has gone all anti-binary, at least it still looks like a game of tetris.☺

What game of tetris have you ever played that had single blocks? There are almost no Tetris shapes in the whole image, nor are there enough colors for a game of Tetris.

[FunkyDexter]

What game of tetris have you ever played that had single blocks?

I've got that version. It's really easy.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Hmmm, if you wrote in Tetris shapes, would you be forced to write only block letters?

[Witis]

Every time I open the thread and see that post I think of old 80s specturm games and think:-

Way of the Exploding Witis!

Haaayah!

Are you talking about the Sinclair ZX Spectrum?
That company was founded by Clive Sinclair which almost released the SuperSpectrum and SuperBasic, a portable computer called pandora, and a desktop computer named Loki.
Sir Clive was knighted in 1983, suffered financical difficulties in 1985, and a year later he sold the rights to his computer products to Amstrad.
Bloody monarchist (knighthoods are still "honours under the Crown"), I was glad when it was all over.

That made me laugh:
"Despite his involvement in computing, Sinclair does not use the Internet, stating that he does not like to have "technical or mechanical things around me" as it distracts from the process of invention. In 2010 he stated that he does not use computers himself, using the telephone in preference to email." - wiki
=D

[Witis]

Post race.

Indeed.

[Witis]

As for the rest, you have made it all up, and it isn't the first time. Once you decide a set of rules applies, you never let reality intrude on your assumptions.

Do you mean that I am imagining the presence of a number of red tiles appearing at the top left hand side of the picture you posted that throw the binary pattern off?

They don't throw off anything.

They are your words not mine, I quoted you directly.

Binary patterns have only two values: 1 and 0.

I can't argue there Shaggy.

So what value do you suggest that the third color has?

Third colour? Didn't you just say binary patterns only have two colours?

It can't be a 1 and it can't be a 0, because I have already said that the other two colors use those values.

Now you have lost me Shaggy, your trinary colouring system is quite irregular.

Why do you insist that the third color is vital to understanding the pattern?

Can you please tell us once again the purpose the third colour?

In the original post, which I haven't found and haven't sought, there were two pictures that covered the entire yard. Rather than re-posting both of them, I posted just the one. So, the image is not the entire yard, only the first few words of it. If you figure out one half, I'll re-post the other.

Ah, I see, have you added any extra red tiles as fill in the other section of your backyard?