The Legend of Satoshi Nakamato, FINAL STEP PUBLISHED.... 4.87 BTC GRAND PRIZE!

[bigmattyh]

guys, I would hate to cool your optimism down, but of course you realize that every second binary digit (5 of them coding every baconian letter) belongs to that crazy 0x1x1x pattern that is constant throughout the flames. It can't imagine the creator choosing letters and wording so carefullty, so that she can convey her intended message but chosen letters would not break the constant pattern.

They've been able to encode information into bitcoin public addresses (i.e., the snow poem). It's probably not beyond their capabilities to construct an arbitrary bitstream (and keep in mind, we're only talking about just the flame heights here) with enough sophistication to encode something else.

On the other hand, it makes much sense what RealOnTheMF said, that it is a massive coincidence: doing the exhaustive search of all possible permutations of all subsets of 8 flame segments, accepting CW or CCW order of each segment, skipping every 1 flame or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or whatever threshold he chose as the upper limit, applying the 011010 XOR or not, excluding first k flames when applying the XOR (k=0,1,etc.) ...

I agree -- I believe this is really just a coincidence. But there must be a methodology for deciphering all these 1s and 0s, and so far, no one appears to have had much luck in getting a foothold on it. It's interesting, and it's worth exploring.

[1714916768]

1714916768

[1714916768]

1714916768

[alphabetacanary]

Another observation re: data.

If you look at the first 17 bits of the inner track top color (l->r) against the first 17 bits of the outer track top color in same direction, they are identical.  I know you'd expect repeats even in random data but 17 bits in a row starting right on the boundary?  Odds are 1 in 131072 that'd happen?

inside colors
"000101010010110110", // outside track top, left to right

outside colors
"0001010100101101110010110000", // inside track top, left to right

[simsamsum]

interesting read

[colonel_koval]

Another observation re: data.

If you look at the first 17 bits of the inner track top color (l->r) against the first 17 bits of the outer track top color in same direction, they are identical.  I know you'd expect repeats even in random data but 17 bits in a row starting right on the boundary?  Odds are 1 in 131072 that'd happen?

inside colors
"000101010010110110", // outside track top, left to right

outside colors
"0001010100101101110010110000", // inside track top, left to right

amazing observation! And the more amazing is the fact that it is so simple and everybody has been staring at those flames for more than 3 years!

[alphabetacanary]

That's two more troll accounts to ignore....

[colonel_koval]

amazing observation! And the more amazing is the fact that it is so simple and everybody has been staring at those flames for more than 3 years!

I have this luck today that there is my alter ego (regards, clanestutr) paraphrasing the same exact minute what I was saying in my post (which was cool and unexpectedly a little creepy) and then there is this troll copying my post an hour later. I am reporting this one

[bigmattyh]

Another observation re: data.

If you look at the first 17 bits of the inner track top color (l->r) against the first 17 bits of the outer track top color in same direction, they are identical.  I know you'd expect repeats even in random data but 17 bits in a row starting right on the boundary?  Odds are 1 in 131072 that'd happen?

inside colors
"000101010010110110", // outside track top, left to right

outside colors
"0001010100101101110010110000", // inside track top, left to right

+ 17 leaves…

[Zebra.Guy]

Another observation re: data.

If you look at the first 17 bits of the inner track top color (l->r) against the first 17 bits of the outer track top color in same direction, they are identical.  I know you'd expect repeats even in random data but 17 bits in a row starting right on the boundary?  Odds are 1 in 131072 that'd happen?

inside colors
"000101010010110110", // outside track top, left to right

outside colors
"0001010100101101110010110000", // inside track top, left to right

+ 17 leaves…

please bear in mind that it does not have to be 17 intended matching digits. It as well may be that the intended number is 16 and the last one is coincidental.

Also, I was thinking that the two streams do not necessarliy have to be equal, they may be complementary (in the sense, that 0/1 is switched in the other stream, the substitution of color with 1 or 0 is arbitrary after all - at that point, at least) suggesting the double helix (in line with CompNeuro's way of thinking). Maybe the top left corner is the beginning of the folded two flame high, 76 flame long double sequence.

[feedo]

anybody knows how to read and interpret this:
https://imgur.com/a/D5srG

[chubbychew]

Whoa! A lot has happened here in a week's time. I'm going to try to replicate the results so I can play around with the data myself and hopefully contribute to the progress.

Some things I noticed recently:
1) There is what appears to be an "and" statement with that ampersand. It looks to me like it is saying "Flames & Leaves" or possibly "flames & blue". But I cannot figure out a way to get data out of the leaves. Or at least I can't figure out a way to logically order the leaves. 10 point down 5 point up 2 point left 0 point right.

2) There are 0 leaves touching the bottom boarder, 1 touching the right boarder, 2 touching the top boarder and 3 touching the left boarder. That could be quatrinary encoding but the leaves would need an order for that to be meaningful. The small leaf at the base of the queen is the smallest and is the only one with a green stem making it a reasonable place to start or end but after that ?? I tried knights move but didn't get far and several leaves are off the board.

[feedo]

Whoa! A lot has happened here in a week's time. I'm going to try to replicate the results so I can play around with the data myself and hopefully contribute to the progress.

don't be excited too much as i don't see any real advancement or even where to start.
maybe you mean by (Whoa! A lot has happened) that The %6a5&*BlaBlaBla isKeyFile!

reasonable place to start or end but after that Huh?? I tried knights move but didn't get far and several leaves are off the board.

don't waste your time trying to memic knight movement on the board
First it's not a chessboard, second that piece is not a knight as it takes more than one square on the board so you don't know which square to start the movement.
That piece might be everything except than knight, and don't forget it's a wonderland!

[feedo]

i noticed that the image in the first page has a frame! is this frame a part of the original painting?
https://imgur.com/a/KsC6l

[chubbychew]

One more observation: I followed the spirals initially. Both the clockwise and CCW spirals leave out the inner right side. That is: there are 8 sections of flame and 7 are represented by the spirals. Leaving out the inner right side you have 128 flames. That number seemed significant but whatever.

[sini]

There's a lot of new ideas swirling around. I think we need to remain complicit with trying to make sure we identify which are plausible and which aren't.

[zbyszek2]

I would like to share an idea with you, it was probably mentioned before but with no much response,
idea: The branches and leafs show a path to the solution

The beginning of this puzzle is (quote from "The Phoenix and the Turtle" by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)
So between them love did shine
That the Turtle saw his right
Flaming in the Phoenix' sight:
Either was the other's mine.  

here is a picture of the idea:
https://imgur.com/gallery/XeMgS

the puzzle is divided into "sections". The path, what to do next, is shown by the branches (sometimes partially obscured by other objects) and leafs.
According to this theory we are in section 1, arrow 1. :-)

some observations: there is the phoenix hair, a brunch "skipping" 1 or 2 branches below, a K (or R or B) and a leaf pointing at the small blue flame

[cryptopuma]

Does the creator of this masterpiece has its own answer?its like you are decrypting a century old riddle.

[clanestutr]

I would like to share an idea with you, it was probably mentioned before but with no much response,
idea: The branches and leafs show a path to the solution

The beginning of this puzzle is (quote from "The Phoenix and the Turtle" by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)
So between them love did shine
That the Turtle saw his right
Flaming in the Phoenix' sight:
Either was the other's mine.  

here is a picture of the idea:
https://imgur.com/gallery/XeMgS

the puzzle is divided into "sections". The path, what to do next, is shown by the branches (sometimes partially obscured by other objects) and leafs.
According to this theory we are in section 1, arrow 1. :-)

some observations: there is the phoenix hair, a brunch "skipping" 1 or 2 branches below, a K (or R or B) and a leaf pointing at the small blue flame

I'm having a difficult time following your path. The eye points to the (#2) leaf, but then what? The leaf points down & right. Wouldn't we go to the next leaf?

If the idea is to follow the vine that the leaf points to, then that's hopeless. The vine disappears almost immediately and doesn't give any indication of direction.

The leaf with the #3 on it points back up into the flames. But there is no number 4? And yet there is a number 5?

It's an interesting idea and I'd like to follow it, but I think you may have left out some things.

[zbyszek2]

I'm having a difficult time following your path. The eye points to the (#2) leaf, but then what? The leaf points down & right. Wouldn't we go to the next leaf?

If the idea is to follow the vine that the leaf points to, then that's hopeless. The vine disappears almost immediately and doesn't give any indication of direction.

The leaf with the #3 on it points back up into the flames. But there is no number 4? And yet there is a number 5?

hm... yes I've probably missed some numbers

here you go, the full path:
https://imgur.com/gallery/rI1x1

1. follow  leafs
2. follow vine branches (cyan color)
section 1, cyan path, do something with:
3. blue flame  
section 2, cyan path, do something with:
4. white square (probably position)  
5. white queen/bishop
6. blue knight
7. rays (?)
8. white square (probably position)
9. go to  section 3
section 3, yellow path, do something with:
(and so one..., unfortunately we are still in section 1)
(leafs marked green are probably associated with leaf 12)

[bigmattyh]

Another observation re: data.

If you look at the first 17 bits of the inner track top color (l->r) against the first 17 bits of the outer track top color in same direction, they are identical.  I know you'd expect repeats even in random data but 17 bits in a row starting right on the boundary?  Odds are 1 in 131072 that'd happen?

inside colors
"000101010010110110", // outside track top, left to right

outside colors
"0001010100101101110010110000", // inside track top, left to right

Just to add to this: I've run comparisons between every string of inner and outer flames, reversed and flipped (exchanging 1s and 0s), and no other strings match up their first bits like this. Most comparisons match only 0, and the most any other pair of strings matches up, is 7. (Also note, the script double-counts, since every permutation flips one of the strings.)

 0: 448 (0 characters matched at the beginning of the string) 
 1: 230
 2: 91
 3: 65
 4: 33
 5: 17
 6: 8
 7: 2
 8: 0
 9: 0
10: 0
11: 0
12: 0
13: 0
14: 0
15: 0
16: 0
17: 2

Could be a coincidence, but the 17 really stands out.

[vit05]

It has 5 BTC now. I am wondering if there will be one day that this puzzle will worth more them a Monet paint.