Title: “Tempus omnia revelant”
Common interpretations: “Time reveals all things”, or “Storm reveals all”
I guess at one point Storm/Code_/0418_08151814 got kinda fed up with us saying things like “I wish he would just give us a clue already!” (NOTE: for added irony, look at the next post in that link) and made this page. If flavrans is correct in his interpretation, then the TOR page has everything else we need to solve the HALOS file cipher.
Which also explains “Vox populi vox Dei”.
Translation: “The voice of the people is the voice of God”
We, the people (“Vox populi”) wanted hints, and the noise became so great that Storm (“vox Dei”) threw his hands up and said “okay”.
So basically, the Title + the first line of the page can be read as:
“I, Storm, am giving you some hints to solving the HALOS puzzle because you keep asking for them. So here you go. Good luck.”
var buster = Math.floor((Math.random() * 9999999) + 1);
window.location.replace("https://www.bmrf.us/zero.html?" + buster); The random number in the query string is to make sure the browser fetches a fresh copy of the page instead of potentially reusing a cached version of it. It’s a technique known as cache busting (hence the ‘buster’ variable name).
As for the ASCII art, it’s identical to the ASCII art seen in the 2010 Black Mesa Incident ARG (sadly, the archived version of the original ARG site appears to be gone now). I don’t know if that’s where it originated, or if it originally came from somewhere else. Most likely, an image to ASCII converter was used to create the ASCII art, so the characters used are just a result of how that converter worked. For comparison, take a look at this ASCII art image of the wikipedia logo:
Speaking of hidden stuff in HTML code, i found this a wile ago within blackmesasource.com and mentioned it, however it was apparently ignored.
[code]
[/code]<!--div class="twelve columns">
<h2>We are looking for talent</h2> <div class="slidedescription">Do you have a friend or relative who would make a valuable addition to the Black Mesa team? Immediate openings are available in the areas of "Level Design" and "Programming" Please contact Black Mesa personnel for further information. If you have an associate with a background in the areas of "Level Design" or "Programming", please contact our Civilian Recruitment Division.</div>
</div-->
I’m still interested in kxbm.net article, more specifically, base 64 codes. As you remember, each picture, plus 1 script tag, are named in base 64, and when translated, they are quotes from scientists from Black Mesa. Since I don’t think this is accidental, there must be a reason for them, and those specific quotes.
Any ideas?
After re-reading the forum posts leading up to the arrival of the TOR page, I think what I said earlier that people had been crying out for more clues, was perhaps putting it a bit strongly. There was that one post you linked to. But I think the problem was that at this point, the activity in the forum thread had started to slow down and a lot of the players had started to drop out. The OP stopped updating the original post, and that caused some confusion and frustration among people who hadn’t kept up with the recent developments in the ARG.
That led to Storm updating the OP on Dec. 11, 2012. But in this confusion, a moderator, not realizing that Storm had already edited the OP, added a note that it wasn’t up to date. Then early on Dec. 12, 2012, the TOR page was posted to the wiki and Storm added “Tempus omnia revelant” in black (invisible) text at the top of the OP.
The irony is, it took almost a day and a half after the TOR page appeared before it was reported on the forums. Someone, who may or may not have been Storm himself, posted this comment on the TOR page:
The IP address of the poster is close to the ones used in the IRC clues. If this was indeed posted by Storm, it confirms that the TOR page does contain a clue to the HALOS puzzle. At the same time, if we consider the fact that Storm also created an empty Storyline page on the wiki, and the repeated efforts by @0418_08151814 to focus more on piecing together the story, it’s also possible that the TOR page was created to help us do just that. Perhaps the TOR page, in addition to containing a clue to the HALOS code puzzle, is a palette of elements which we can use to “paint” the story.
I think it’s very possible that “Vox populi vox Dei” is another way of saying that “we [the people] write the story ourselves, built on the clues found within it.”
I think the kxbm.net article was to bring in new people to the ARG. There was a sequence of events which lead to this page, and in turn lead to the ARG.
I also have noticed that it has been three years since the tempus page appeared on the wiki so i just wanted to bring that up.
In speaking of the wiki, i happen to notice that flavrans9 updated the stormseekers website page and added something.
“The grilled pizza image looks very similar in appearance to a triddler puzzle, but without the number clues surrounding the grid. [1]”
If this is a triddler puzzle than our number clues may somehow be 21 and 1 and “congratulationsyouwonthePIZZA” may just be a red herring.
Also Jacky, i have considered kxbm.net irrelevant to the ARG but something still brings me back there and i don’t know why.
Ever since YouTube red came out it seems that YouTube has been forcing us to watch more ads: nanerpus on fire
[spoiler]A message to Dr. Horn:
Note to admins: I am not impersonating Stormseeker or anyone, all i am doing is sending a message to “Dr. Horn” about the ARG.
Base64
The reason I added that to the wiki page is because there’s a clear similarity between the grilled pizza triangle and a solved triddler puzzle, and it was noted in the forum thread a long time ago. The way the triangles are put together to form a larger grid is identical, except the grilled pizza image is slightly stretched vertically (the triangle isn’t completely equilateral). Also, the definition of triddlers, is:
"Triddlers are logic puzzles that use number clues around a grid to create an image.
The clues encircle the entire grid."
The french word for grid is grille… A pizza placed in a grid -> grilled pizza.
However, there are no similarities between the grilled pizza puzzle (at least the puzzle we know of that had the solution “congratulationsyouwonthePIZZA”) and a triddler puzzle. In the grilled pizza we had a finished image, where the small triangles in the grid were bits that formed a message in ASCII code. In a triddler puzzle, you are supposed to figure out what the image is based on the number clues surrounding the grid.
But maybe we need to do the triddler puzzle in reverse and write those number clues out. Maybe they can be used for something, but I doubt it. But I added it to the wiki page so it’s out there, in case it might be useful.
With the * = the red one, which always comes out as a 1.
I seriously doubt this is meant to be a Triddler. Sure, the comparison can be made, but I’m pretty sure this is a crimson fish. Let’s bring it back, guys and gals.
Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have suggested solving it as a triddler puzzle in reverse, since I didn’t really believe in the idea myself (sorry about that, Miles ). I am just saying that the idea for the grilled pizza may have been inspired by griddler/triddler puzzles. Obviously, the name “grilled pizza” is a pun. On one hand, it could mean a pizza heated/cooked in a very specific manner (on a grille). On the other hand, it’s a pizza message encoded into a triangular grid (grille).
On the question whether the grilled pizza is a red herring: Well, I would have been completely satisfied with that conclusion if it weren’t for the fact that stormseeker added this to the original post:
And there’s something about the order of the items in the list, as if it’s significant:
“This is a message left for Dr. Horn. Just to remind you in case of emergencies that the password to the HALOS files is BENALOHPAILLIER. I have programmed HALOS to send in level seven cases. You should bring pizzas.”
I mean, this just too peculiar to be ignored. Would stormseeker (as himself) include the grilled pizza solution to that list if it was a red herring?
The only thing I referred to as a red herring was the Triddler aspect of the grilledpizza.jpg, not the jpg itself. I am convinced that grilledpizza still has a part to play in solving this puzzle.
You know where terminal.bmrf.us came from right? bmrf.us originally had an actual Black Mesa front page complete with a login. That’s were terminal.bmrf.us came from. I wonder what would happen if you were to login with HALOS and BENALOHPAILLIER? We’ll never really know now, but it’s interesting to think about if there was something else there that we missed.
There was never an actual login on the original bmrf.us front page, just a link to terminal.bmrf.us titled “DALsys employees login”. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has an archived version of the bmrf.us site from November, 2013:
You know Star Trek quote “It is one thing to communicate with something mysterious but it is quite another to be silently observed by it. I am concerned whether it understands the same concept of reason that we do.” and the line “Raphèl maí amèche zabí almi”? What Halos is trying to say here is despite the fact that it’s a strange being that communicates in a different way, that it’s like us and we shouldn’t be afraid of it…
Oh, and going through TOR again, Halos is clearly an Artificial Intelligence, not some alien being trapped in a cage as some would suggest. There are multiple references to AI, especially on the heading (HALOS AUTOMATED).
The Cage/Satan thing is a throw back to the AI from Bugs. Same with J D Marcell mentioned on the Whiteboard. I think that’s why we are seeing a lot of Biblical references etc, that and the fact Niobium was also mentioned in Bugs and was needed to help build the final place for the AI to be housed. Thats why i think the Bugs Storyline and this Storyline are similar in the fact that the Niobium was used as a means of holding Halos, and the Niobium is the Cage for It.
EDIT : Plus i didnt binge watch that whole series 3 or 4 time for nothing!!!
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.
). I am just saying that the idea for the grilled pizza may have been inspired by griddler/triddler puzzles. Obviously, the name “grilled pizza” is a pun. On one hand, it could mean a pizza heated/cooked in a very specific manner (on a grille). On the other hand, it’s a pizza message encoded into a triangular grid (grille).