The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (14 of 24)

I finished second today. Congratulations Micheal for solving the challenge the quickest.

My question "Translate nzm from Atbash to English" 'nzm' in Atbash means 'man' in English.

How did I get that answer? Try GoogleFact SMS or see the comments for details on the Atbash cipher.

Syntax: translate nzm from Atbash to English

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (13 of 24)

The symbol challenge did not increase in difficulty today as suspected. I was able to solve the puzzle with no mistakes. I hope the same was true for you.

Lets see how many differant screenshots we can collect today of solved puzzles. Before you place your last piece into the puzzle take a print screen of your puzzle and post a link to the image in the comments. If you need me to host the image file, just send it to me in an email davincicodequest@gmail.com. Here is mine.



My question was, "Translate aringhe from Italian to English." The answer was herrings.

I finished 2nd today after David. Congrats David, and send me a link if you want me to include one in this post. Look forward to seeing you all again for tomorrow's challenge. What are we all going to do when we don't have these puzzles to put together everyday?

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Today we will complete the 13th challenge, the 3rd symbol challenge, and the 1st challenge in the 3rd level of difficulty. I am still challenging everyone to see who can come up with the answer the quickest today. For the Grand Prize of today's competition, I will add a link to your website (or a website of your choosing) in my post. I know that is a weak Grand Prize but hey it is just for fun anyways right.

Also, I have a bonus question to answer. What do the numbers that are in bold (above) have in common? (Hint: related to the Da Vinci Code).

Good Luck Everyone!

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (12 of 24)

Everyone did a great job with the puzzle today, and a few of you were able to solve the puzzle before I could. Congrats to Steve who was the first to officially post the solution including a screenshot! This geography challenge was a fun challenge today that included a game of Where’s is Waldo at the end. After you put the puzzle pieces together you will see a satellite view of ...? Rome

And for the Where’s Waldo (The Greek Cross) part check out the tip of that big red arrow. Well we are officially half way through the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge. For those of you who are concerned that you won't win a prize because we are giving away freebies, have no fears.

I anticipate everyone making it to the 23rd challenge without a problem. We have already discussed that the puzzles are not intended to be terribly difficult. Sony wants to keep people interested in the movie, remember this is ultimately a marketing technique. I will not post my answer to the 24th puzzle until after the contest is over.

See everyone tomorrow same time, same place, same game.

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Yesterday I did a little trash talking in a comment on my last post. I realized after reading the comment that some of you may have taken it the wrong way. If so, please accept my apology. My intention was simply to give you a little extra challenge.

The extra challenge is to see who can come up with the answer the quickest. Now if you can't get to the puzzle right at 1 PM you can still participate in this challenge (but no cheating). Just leave your solution and the time it took you to solve the puzzle in a comment and we'll see who was able to come up with the solution to the geography challenge the quickest.

Also, another Da Vinci Code related puzzle was brought to my attention yesterday (see the comments on my last post). But, unfortunately that puzzle has already been solved (see the comments on my last post).

If you find an interesting puzzle/challenge for GoogleFact readers, feel free to leave a comment to that accord. Also, if you need extra help on any of the puzzles or you have a question you can contact me at davincicodequest@gmail.com.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (11 of 24)

Here we go again, 11 down 13 to go. Today's challenge, my favorite type, the chess challenge, was a bit knotty today, just kidding. Google Common!! People are going to stop visiting my blog for solutions if you make the questions so dang simple!! And then I won't have raised any money for my college tuition!! What is that about?

Chess is the greatest board game on earth, well after shoots and ladders, oh and Candy Land. So practice up on your chess with this challenge since the questions were so retardedly simple. It took me longer to type this up (way longer) than to answer those questions.

If you still need the answers, I won't let you down.

"A word that can be read the same backwards and forwards is called?" A palindrome

"Jacques Sauniere's body was found in which part of the Louvre? The Denon Wing

"The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog is an example of" A pangram

I wonder how many of Google's PhD's it took to come up with these questions? Maybe that will be tomorrows question. My answer would be zero for that question. These questions were probably created by 10 of Sony's smartest executives. Way to go guys!! Just Joking again...

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (10 of 24)

Here it is folks, the 10th puzzle and solution. The difficulty of the puzzle definitely increased today. The questions were vague and the answers required some finesse to get them worded in the correct form. For instance, I am certain most of you saw the first answer in the video, but weren’t exactly sure what shape or word properly described the object. For the second question, more than likely your first guess was water which would have been wrong, and by the third question you were probably just stumped and irritated.


A seemingly-important stone object is extracted from the ground by Silas.
What is its shape? Octagon

An interesting viewpoint is that vantage point from which we last see Silas.
What is the last thing we see him touch? Holy Water

During the action in the video, we see many things shattered and destroyed, but what is it that will ultimately be broken? Silence

I apologize for not being able to actively participate in today's challenge due to the circumstances mentioned earlier. I also want to apologize for closing the comments down to registered users only. Please do consider registering to continue participating in the commentary and sharing your solutions with other readers (it only takes a few seconds to register).

I also need to thank the loyal visitors who promptly stepped up and kindly submitted the answers for the puzzles. Specifically I want to thank mcian for providing the first two answers, and Nicholas Ramey for providing the answer to the third question shortly after my original post. Thanks Guys!!

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (9 of 24)

Ok. I know I am late today, I had another lunch meeting (Yes I do have a day job). So I'll make this short and sweet and possibly do an update with some more information in a few minutes. Is anybody bored with these puzzles?

Coming from Google I was expected a highly academic challenge. Looks like instead Sony has turned this into a big marketing campaign. Why am I even supporting something from sony? Aren't they the ones who installed rootkits on all of our computers? Alright, enough about that, here is what you came to see.



My question after I hung the paintings was, "What month was Jean Cocteau born in?" And my answer was July. See this link. Please share your questions and solutions in the comments for others.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (8 of 24)

I thought these puzzles were supposed to be getting harder? Here we are on the 8th puzzle and I solved this one in the shortest time yet. Literally less than 2 minutes and that’s including flash loading/animation time. Of course I did get quite lucky and solved the debris puzzle on my first try.



My question was San [blank] and my hint was ISBN 0472113011. After a quick book search I had the answer in the title of the only search result. I personally don’t like this particular puzzle (the peg jump game revisited). Leave me a comment with your final questions and answers.

Sorry for the delay in posting Blogger has been Blogged down today and I could not publish any new content. See this post for more details on the status of blogger.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

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My Two Adsense

The next time you visit a website or blog, think about visiting their advertising sponsors. Visit those sponsors websites with an open mind to the products or services they may be offering. You may find it to be an enlightening experience, or you may find nothing at all.

I know from experience however, that it takes less than a few min to determine if the advertiser’s content is of value or of interest. However, by visiting the advertisers content you will have created revenue that fuels the economy of the Internet, and for that all publishers are grateful.

One of Google’s greatest accomplishments thus far, is the development and promotion of Adwords and Adsense, which allows small website owners / bloggers to increase traffic to, and generate revenue from, their published content. The Internet’s economy is much like that of the U.S. economy in the sense that it is comprised primarily of small website (business) owners. The content that these small publishers create has proven to be a valuable part of the Internet and it is the advertising programs like Adsense that allow these small website owners to survive among bigger sites with deeper pockets.

So, the next time you see an unobtrusive advertisement on a website, don’t think of it as the enemy, as we did in the past when we were being bombarded with popup ads. Think of the ads as the currency of the Internet. The currency that makes the content that we freely enjoy on the Internet possible. Let’s work together to strengthen the Internet’s economy by taking a few moments out of our days to support the little guys (who may just be trying to raise a little money for college tuition).

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (7 of 24)

One full week of puzzles will be completed today from the Google Da Vinci Code Quest. I have a meeting today from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. and so I unfortunately will not have the solution until a little later in the day, but check in today around mid afternoon. Take a moment if you would like, to help spread the word by digging GoogleFact for the Da Vinci Code Quest Solutions, and thanks again for stopping by. If you need more information about the Code Quest visit Google's Official blog.

Update - O.K. I can see everybody is anxiously awaiting today's solution. Here it goes. Today's puzzle the 7th of 24 is another symbols/suduko puzzle, how disappointing. I was afraid that Google was going to think outside the box and create a different type of symbol challenge. But hey, if you need to generate a lot of puzzles in a short period of time, just change the dimensions of a suduko puzzle 4 times right? Enough about that though, lets get to the solution.

And the question after, "How many atmospheres are in are in 2175 psi?" 148. Today's challenge emphasizes the point that there are in fact 12,358 puzzle variations. So my puzzle will not necessarily be your puzzle, but it is great to see other folks commenting on these posts with their solutions.

Here is a tip for the suduko challenges if you are struggling with them. Don't guess if a particular symbol goes in a square until you absolutely have to (in my puzzle I never did). Use the restrictions that the starting pieces impose to fill in the surrounding squares and with each new piece that you fill, you will be left with fewer choices to make.

I also feel the need to comment on why I am publishing these solutions (again).

1. There are people who may not have flash and hence cannot do the challenges. I want them to still be able to learn from and enjoy the experience.

2. The information that I am giving out is freely available on the Internet already. Sure I am saving people time from having to dig through Google search results, but last time I checked people didn't mind saving time.

3. I am not actually giving out entire solutions. There are many variations to each day's puzzle and I am simply publishing my particular solution, which will probably be different from yours, unless of course you keep requesting a new puzzle until you get the same puzzle. By the way, I expect as the puzzles increase in difficulty, the number of variations in the puzzle will also increase.

4. For the simple purpose of historical documentation. Someday somebody will want to tell their kid about this great challenge Google made with 24 puzzles and how they one the Grand Prize. Their kid will ask, well what kind of puzzles were they, and now that person (which won't by the way be me) can look back and reflect on that experience.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (6 of 24)

Today's challenge remained at a low level of difficulty, i.e. another five minute or less task. But at least it was a fun simple task, as opposed to a dumb simple task. The challenge required you to put some puzzle pieces together that formed a picture of a location and then surf around on Google Maps to find the name of the city (if you didn't recognize it from the picture).

Well the latter half was more fun then the former becuase you always run across wierd looking images or roads on Google Maps that you would have otherwise never known about. See MapsMania if you have no idea what I am referring to. My puzzle happened to be of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and so the answer to my particular question was New York.

But hey, don't take my word for it check it out for yourself here. If you had a differant puzzle, leave me a link to your Google Map image location in a comment. I am curious to visit all of the differant locations they used (if any). If this is your first visit you can find more information about the challenge here.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (5 of 24)

I correctly assessed yesterday, that today's challenge would be more interesting than the previous 4 because the chess challenge actually requires mental effort. To complete this task you need to understand the game of chess (something all human beings should learn and enjoy before they leave this blessed or cursed as it may be planet). Or you have to know how to use an internet search engine, which admittedly only requires half a mental effort.

I decided to solve the puzzle by playing the game rather than researching the storyline. I love the game of chess, thanks Dad for teaching me early in life, and so it was a natural choice, but you may wish to play the game since the only official hint given in this quest was to do just that. If you need assistance with any of the challenges, or if you have questions about any of Google's products, services, or API's, you may leave your email in a comment and I will be happy to assist you.

Oh right, you wanted the answers to those questions so you don't have to play chess. Since you can't be persuaded otherwise, here they are.

"What is the spiked belt that Silas wears called?" A cilice

"What are the second, third, and fourth leading members of the Priory of Sion called?" Senechaux

"The engraved tablet that is supposed to reveal the hiding place of the Holy Grail is called the" Keystone

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (4 of 24)

Alas, Day 4 of 24 in the Da Vinci Code Challenge. I hope this is going to get more interesting quickly. I am starting to get bored with these grade school rearrange the pieces puzzles. If you haven't picked up on it yet Google and Sony have partnered up to market the new movie with Tom Hanks, "The Da Vinci Code".

“The symbol shown on Sophie Neveu (pictured at left) is called what?” The answer that appears after the pictures are correctly hung is Chalice.

I will more than likely regret asking for harder puzzles near the end of these 3+ weeks, but for right now I am just bored. Hopefully we can put our minds to work with tomorrow’s chess challenge.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (3 of 24)

Today is the 3rd day of Google's 24 days of puzzles. The puzzle offered up today was much better than the first two days and even required math knowledge (sorta). For more information on the puzzles and Google visit the Official Google Blog.

The sony trailer video can be found here.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (2 of 24)

Today is the 2nd of 24 days in which Google will release a new puzzle. The puzzle offered up today was another easy one that involved moving pieces of debris around on a map. You can liken it to a variation of the peg game that can be played at Cracker Barrel restaurants. (For more information on the puzzle and Google visit the Official Google Blog).



“Name the symbol on Manuel Aringarosa, pictured at left.” The answer to the question that appears after you have removed all but one debris is Greek Cross.

“Unlike the more commonly-known Latin cross, the Greek cross has arms of equal length, signifying perfection or balance. This symbol is also associated with the four points of the compass, the four alchemical elements, the positive sign and the symbol for addition. It appears on the Greek and Swiss flags, and a red version of the Greek Cross is the symbol for the Red Cross organization.”

Please understand I am not posting a screenshot of the solution. There are 12,358 different puzzles, or 515 different possible puzzle configurations each day (if evenly distributed). The screenshot is for those who aren’t participating but are curious as to how the puzzles look. However, the question that appears after you have solved the puzzle seems to be for marketing purposes, static for all puzzle variations.

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The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (1 of 24)

Google annouced that it has partnered with Sony to create a series of puzzles to promote the upcoming movie, "The Da Vinci Code" set to release May 19th. One puzzle will be released everyday for the next 24 days. Be one of the first 10,000 to solve all of the puzzles and you will win a collectors item from the movie (valued at $30).



"What is the symbol on Robert Langdon's forehead?" The answer to the question that appears after the symbols are arranged correctly is Blade.

"The blade or pyramid is the alchemical symbol for fire. It also symbolizes masculinity and in combination with its complement shape the chalice, the blade forms the Star of David or Solomon's Seal. The blade is also an equilateral triangle, a symbol of the Christian trinity."

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Linux (I know it's not Google)

Every once it a while it is necessary to go off topic, and this is one of those times. Why? I am so glad you asked.

Because, there is no greater feeling than the one you get when you finally discover the workaround for an irritating bug in mysql-administrator on that one obscure webpage at 5:00 in the morning and spend another half hour repackaging the software for Ubuntu Linux so it works correctly out of the box. It's just really super fantabulous. Seriously. Nothing like it.

export DEBUG_DONT_SPAWN_FETCHES=1

Now why didn't I think of that? Why even bother repackaging it you ask? Because I can and because I am just cool that way. Incidently, this workaround allows you to use "User Administration" without mysql-administrator freezing up.

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Template Change

I changed the template! I didn't really care for the last template all that much, so I went in search of a new one. I found this one at http://blog-templates.ravasthi.name/ Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it.

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Gmap Reverse Phone Lookup

I don't quite understand why Google hasn't incorporated reverse phone lookup in their maps via local.google.com or maps.google.com or whatever they want to call it. In any case they have all of the tools necessary to achieve such a simple task. If you didn't know, you can already search google.com for a phone number and retrieve a residential or business listing. See this search as an example.

With the new version of the Google Maps API coming about I am hoping maybe they will revist this idea and try incorporating a phone search into the lookup. It seems like a convenient feature for two reasons. First, it is just plain easier to type in 10 digits than to type in a complete address. Second, I can easily remember my friends phone numbers, but I have a lot more trouble trying to remember their addresses.

I created a little demo for personal and education use, but it also shows how this might work if it Google did incorporate a phone lookup into Maps. You can visit the demo here - http://www.googlefact.com/maps/PhoneMap.php

As a side note, I used the code I already had from my sms post to do the reverse phone lookup.

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Gmap v2 - resizeMap()

A few days ago Google announced their latest version of the Google Maps API on the API blog. The latest release is version 2.45 but the official v2 (2.44) release post announced that all API users would be forced to upgrade from v1 in approximately a month (5/03/2006).

I thought their might be some people out there who are using John Resig's Auto-Scaling Maps script. If you are one of those folks, you will need to modify the resizeMap function for version 2 of the Gmaps API. Consequently, I went ahead and re-wrote John's function so you don't have to. If you aren't familiar with his resizeMap function, it simply takes a collection of points representing the markers that are currently rendered on the map, and then centers the map to the middle of those points while adjusting the zoom level of the map to ensure all of the makers are plotted are visible. The zoom level is set to the finest zoom level that still contains all of the markers.

It would be quite convenient if Google provided this functionality inside of the API but it appears that they have no plans of working it in to the second version of the API. Thanks John for providing the original source code for this functionality. The Auto-Scaling code for v2 can be downloaded here.

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Google Analytics - Incredible and Free

Google Analytics has to be the most useful tool Google has offered to date, other than search of course. I waited 3 months for my invitation to finaly arrive in my inbox, but I would have waited 3 years to be able to use this great web utility free of charge. Analytics currently provides a comprehensive analysis of web traffic for up to 5 differant web sites. The free service is intended to give web site owners a taste of the functionality available in its pay for software product, Urchin. Analytics tells me who is visting my site, when they visited, where they came from, how long they stayed and a host of other statiscal data from my website (or blog).

Much of the data is also available in the form of flash based charts and graphs. These animated charts make analyzing data easy and user friendly. The data can also be exported to text, xml, and excel. I provided a partial screenshot of my homepage screen below. If you have a personal website or blog, you want Analytics. If you own a company that generates revenue from web traffic or advertising, you need Analytics.



Changing subjects, I was curious as to whether Google Base was worth a dime, or if it was just the newest playground for spammers. Analytics allowed me to determine that Google Base is a valuable place to publish content. You can see on the chart below that 50% of my visits have been from Google Base. Additionaly, after I added an entry into Base my blog was picked up by Google's search index and I started recieving hits directly from Google.com. Consequently, I'll be making a post in the next few weeks to discuss the benefits of publishing content on Google Base.

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