The 18 Cryptograms of Western University (Part 2)

I found some time to think about the cryptograms since my last post. Apparently, there has been another found since then, putting the number to 19. Granted, I don't want to have to constantly rename it, so i'll keep it at 18 cryptograms for now. The purported 19th page The key fact I decided to consider was the fact that there are really only 4 letters- The Leaf letter, The Gem letter, the Feather Glass, and the Feather Table.The Importance of the picture over the content To prove my point: Here are the endings of two Gem pages. Notice how the symbols are...

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The 18 Cryptograms of Western University (Part 1)

There has been an interesting mystery brewing in Western University of  London, Ontario. 18 pages filled with strange symbols have been found slipped in the middle of various textbooks in the political science and economics department library. Given a puzzle like this, I couldn't find it in myself to turn it down. Page 14 of 18 A First Look I suggest taking a look at the letters if you are interested in reading further. You can find the album of the letters here. Here are a few facts that are immediately noted: The letters appeared to all be...

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Malaysia 370- Follow up analysis of possibilities

My previous article was an analysis of the Malaysia 370 situation. It wasn't meant to provide new information, but rather highlight the likelihood of certain scenarios and the key questions that should be answered. However, analysis isn't the full responsibility of a strategist- there comes a time where he must also decide on a plan of action. Possible routes of the Plane In this article, I ponder the methods I would employ in order to find out what happened to the aircraft/recover it and the people. This will be written from the current situation...

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The Silver Blaze of Malasyia Airlines Flight 370

Edit: For clarity, this post is meant simply to provide a perspective and frame of view on the situation. I intended to point out critical points, and highlight likely possibilities. This isn't really meant to provide "new information", as I am not close enough to the actual scene to be able to provide that information. A follow up article about plans for action can be found here.  I've made a mistake recently akin to Sherlock Holmes' mistake in Silver Blaze. I assumed that given the fame and well known circumstance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370,...

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Strategic Analysis Outcome: League of Legends IEM- IG v. Fnatic

This is the second part of this article, and the test to see if my analysis was accurate. You may have issues following this if you aren't especially familiar with League of Legends or its meta. The Laning Phase (less roaming, more CSing) The game begins with IG deciding to swap their top lane with their bottom lane. They were aware that the standard lanes would give the advantage to Fnatic, and a swapped lane would be much more successful. Additionally, given that they had 2 people (Vayne and Thresh) against 1 person (Lulu), Wukong took the opportunity...

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Strategic Analysis: League of Legends IEM- IG v. Fnatic

League of Legends is a very popular online video game that has deep strategic roots and an insane learning curve. I've been interested in the strategic underpinnings of it for a while, and finally feel somewhat comfortable enough to try and analyze the strategy behind it. I decided to start by analyzing the team compositions of a recent match. You can find the match here. I started by watching the Picks and Bans, and then proceeded to analyze each team composition's strengths, weaknesses, and goals. Then I tried to imagine how it might play out and...

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Practice Lateral Thinking with Riddle #3: Black and White Hat Demon

Riddle of the Black and White Hat Demon(Difficulty: Hard) Yet another riddle that I've done a poor job renaming. This is a riddle I heard while I was in Game Theory class several years ago, I take no credit for it other than butchering the actual details. It goes a little something like this: Somewhere in the world there is a small village of people who live on a tiny island. They have a population of only 100 people, but every single citizen has perfect logic, perfect memory, perfect hearing, and perfect vision. Life is good on the island. However,...

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Musings of Strange: I hate the word "Obvious"

Originally I had planned to release a video along with my next article. It would have been a departure from everything that I had made so far, and I had hoped it would bring some excitement. Unfortunately, the data was lost, and now i'm forced to hold it back for a while (I may still release the article though). In the meantime, I've decided to create an "informal" section of my blog dedicated to general thoughts and musings. This would involve less "how to" and provide more lively commentary. This section is known as "Musings of Strange".  Today's...

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Riddle #2 Walkthrough: The Salesman and the 3 Daughters (Spoilers)

This post is meant to walk you through the thinking you would have to do in order to solve the "Salesman and the 3 Daughters" riddle. If you have not read the riddle question yet, you should click here. Walkthrough *Warning: Possible Spoilers* Well, what would the answer look like? There are 3 daughters, and they are an age. So the answer will be 3 numbers that are larger than 0. Next, we know that the numbers all multiply to equal 36 right? Here, I'll even do the work for you: 36 x 1 x 1 18 x 2 x 1 12 x 3 x 1 9 x 2 x 2 3 x 3 x 4 6 x 6 x 1 6 x 3 x...

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Practice Lateral Thinking with Riddle #2: The Salesman and the 3 Daughters

This a fantastic little riddle I heard from Day9, a popular Starcraft commentator. I'm obviously going to somewhat butcher it by telling it from memory. There was once an insurance salesman who went door to door trying to sell insurance. He happened to knock upon a door in a particular cul de sac, and a nice woman opened the door. The insurance salesman then proceeded to talk about how great his insurance is. The woman stopped him and said, "Hold on. I have a challenge for you. I like my insurance agents to be clever, and if you can answer my question,...

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