what in the hell was Petra doing?
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what in the hell was Petra doing?
It has been a while since i have read any BeanVerse...
But thinking back i remember Petra doing some whacky programming stuff with the dragon image...
now i think i know a thing or two about computer and images especially. But i do not know what it is that she was doing with the image...
Is Card messing with me? and goin all sci-fi dude? or is that some remenant of applications past?
can someone please help?
cuz truth be told i wanna do that too...
But thinking back i remember Petra doing some whacky programming stuff with the dragon image...
now i think i know a thing or two about computer and images especially. But i do not know what it is that she was doing with the image...
Is Card messing with me? and goin all sci-fi dude? or is that some remenant of applications past?
can someone please help?
cuz truth be told i wanna do that too...
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I think what you're referring to is the message in the image that was designed for Bean to find... right? So there was the dragon, the "clever poem" and the encoded message once Bean knew to look for it.
Unfortunately, I don't have the books here to quote or anything, but essentially, the dragon and poem were just to lure Bean into looking at the visual image of the dragon more closely, looking for a message of some sort. The message she "encrypted" was just a binary code (as I recall) playing with the size / color of the markings on the dragon, which she knew he could understand if he only noticed them in the first place.
I don't remember the message. Maybe it was her location? Basically, it was "HELP - HERE I AM" but I don't remember the specifics! It's been too long I guess. I need to go back and reread it!
PS - I thought it appropriate that I answer, since my avatar is that dragon... I only wish I remembered more details about it!
Unfortunately, I don't have the books here to quote or anything, but essentially, the dragon and poem were just to lure Bean into looking at the visual image of the dragon more closely, looking for a message of some sort. The message she "encrypted" was just a binary code (as I recall) playing with the size / color of the markings on the dragon, which she knew he could understand if he only noticed them in the first place.
I don't remember the message. Maybe it was her location? Basically, it was "HELP - HERE I AM" but I don't remember the specifics! It's been too long I guess. I need to go back and reread it!
PS - I thought it appropriate that I answer, since my avatar is that dragon... I only wish I remembered more details about it!
Share this dragon - If you do - Lucky end - For them and you! Petra
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thats just rasterization...
i mean was petra hiding messages in between the pixels themselves? it didn't make any sense to me, if achilles had the battle kids under complete surveillance, how was she able to manipulate code and play with machine language.
I mean i can't even log on to myspace at school... lol
i mean was petra hiding messages in between the pixels themselves? it didn't make any sense to me, if achilles had the battle kids under complete surveillance, how was she able to manipulate code and play with machine language.
I mean i can't even log on to myspace at school... lol
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It is a "phantom" that results from reducing an image (digitally).
So basically, Petra's code was camouflaged to look like something that happens by mistake while reducing an image to upload it onto the net, but it wasn't a mistake at all of course...A compression artifact (or artefact) is the result of an aggressive data compression scheme applied to an image, audio, or video that discards some data that may be too complex to store in the available data-rate, or may have been incorrectly determined by an algorithm to be of little subjective importance, but is in fact objectionable to the user. Artifacts are often a result of the latent errors inherent in lossy data compression.
Share this dragon - If you do - Lucky end - For them and you! Petra
Look the term 'compressions artifacts' up on wikipedia...thats just rasterization...
i mean was petra hiding messages in between the pixels themselves? it didn't make any sense to me, if achilles had the battle kids under complete surveillance, how was she able to manipulate code and play with machine language.
I mean i can't even log on to myspace at school... lol
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As I recall... he noticed the slight distortion around the altered area of the image, looked at the data around it, and somehow deduced the code that Petra used by just looking at it for awhile. OSC went into some details, but I can't even remember what the code was, so I can't remember. Something involving dropping all vowels, among other things, I think.my question is how bean decrypted it... did card go into it?
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Put the archive (.zip, .rar, .7z) and the pic (.jpg, .gif, .png) in the same location, and navigate to that location within a terminal, and once you're issuing commands in that location, use:
cat archive.rar >> picture.jpg
Then, to open it, change the extension and open it with whatever archive manager is appropriate.
cat archive.rar >> picture.jpg
Then, to open it, change the extension and open it with whatever archive manager is appropriate.
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Not really; I'd consider this to be a completely different thing. This only works because the RAR format ignores all garbage it encounters before it hits the RAR header, and most programs for most image formats ignore garbage after the image data. You're simply putting together two different formats. Petra was altering the image data itself, with a visible result.Try opening that picture with WinRAR, change the extension to .rar if you have to. Not quite what Petra was up to, but similar.
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Wasn't there a pwebber at one point who actually did make the dragon pic complete with encoded message? I seem to recall this.
There's another home somewhere,
There's another glimpse of sky...
There's another way to lean
into the wind, unafraid.
There's another life out there...
~~Mary Chapin Carpenter
There's another glimpse of sky...
There's another way to lean
into the wind, unafraid.
There's another life out there...
~~Mary Chapin Carpenter
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Yes, I believe so. And the Dragon I modified to be my avatar was that dragon, as far as I know (although I didn't make it). But the encoded message was a bit more "blatant" than a mere "compression artifact" I think. But it's been too long for me to remember who or how or when or what...Wasn't there a pwebber at one point who actually did make the dragon pic complete with encoded message? I seem to recall this.
(As I recall, there is some Morse code along the spine... or was.)
Share this dragon - If you do - Lucky end - For them and you! Petra
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I cannot remember whose this is. Someone on Pweb II had posted this .gif and I liked it so much I borrowed it. It has been lying dormant on my olde computer for four years or so. I think this is the image you both were referencing.Yes, I believe so. And the Dragon I modified to be my avatar was that dragon, as far as I know (although I didn't make it). But the encoded message was a bit more "blatant" than a mere "compression artifact" I think. But it's been too long for me to remember who or how or when or what...Wasn't there a pwebber at one point who actually did make the dragon pic complete with encoded message? I seem to recall this.
(As I recall, there is some Morse code along the spine... or was.)
Whoa, that's so cool! I'm borrowing it, if nobody minds...
I just lost the game; you just lost the game.
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http://www.losethegame.net/
I know! I'll use my sig as advertisement space for my classmates. http://www.youtube.com/user/Theorem42
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Any way to repost this image or have it messaged to me?? It appears dead now...I cannot remember whose this is. Someone on Pweb II had posted this .gif and I liked it so much I borrowed it. It has been lying dormant on my olde computer for four years or so. I think this is the image you both were referencing.
Well, I'm your man. I'm the bloody bastard you wanted when you had me spawned. I'm your tool, and what difference does it make if I hate the part of me that you most need? What difference does it make that when the little serpents killed me in the game, I agreed with them, and was glad.
Re: what in the hell was Petra doing?
Back to the original question... What Petra did was take an image, and erase a line of pixels from it, then fill in that now empty line of pixels with a new line of pixels. This new line's placement and arrangement corresponded to letters, and functions as her message. She knew that Bean could figure it out if anyone could. The attached poem and the dragon picture were hints about the content of the message; the dragon obviously corresponding to dragon army, and the poem mentioning 'lucky end...' corresponding to Ender. In this way, Bean knew that there WAS a message, and the line of pixels that didn't match with the original picture of the Dragon was the only thing that could be a message. It was designed to look like 'noise' in the picture, a problem with the file that happens a lot when you resize a picture and the quality changes. Bean knew that the incorrect line of pixels was a message, and was eventually able to match the pixel placement to letters and numbers that gave him Petra's location and a reference to Peter, among other things.It has been a while since i have read any BeanVerse...
But thinking back i remember Petra doing some whacky programming stuff with the dragon image...
now i think i know a thing or two about computer and images especially. But i do not know what it is that she was doing with the image...
Is Card messing with me? and goin all sci-fi dude? or is that some remenant of applications past?
can someone please help?
cuz truth be told i wanna do that too...
Check it out, this kind of encryption made the news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/201 ... linephotos
“For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of allâ€
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