[10:15 AM] Apple Tree Puzzle Contest: Macs Painted Red, Dangling From A Tree (With Pics)
Tim Mityok, President of Public Access Software, sent us a note about a remarkable and unusual contest he spotted in a local magazine. The contest involves a tree with seven Macintosh (as in 128k) that have been painted red, and a puzzle created by mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientsts. Throw in some Runes created for the project, and you have the Apple Tree in Uberhip. The contest aspect of this pop-art project involves solving a puzzle based on Runes placed on the bottom of each Mac. According to the contest web site:
Welcome to the Apple Tree on Uberhip. The Apple Tree is a hybrid Sculpture/Mobile made from "vintage" Macintosh computers. These Macs have been painted a briliant red and each have a Rune of our devising on the bottom in solid black. This piece was designed and crafted by a group of physicists, mathematicians, and computer scientists between August 4th and August 14th, 1999. It is being displayed publicly for several weeks at a local Tempe, Arizona Restraunt/Bar Casey Moore's Oyster House at Ninth and Ash.
Originally intended to simply embody the play on words, the "Apple Tree" quickly bloomed into an intricate and cryptic puzzle. The encrypted message enjoys a diverse sampling of all walks of life including mathematics, art, music, literature, and c omputer science. The entirety of the sculpture includes seven (7) hanging macintosh computers, one fallen mac, and a title plaque which also contains a large portion of the included hidden messages. This web page is intended to completely recreate the s culpture such that it can be solved online.
In addition to the satisfaction of having solved the riddle in a chic new piece of pop art the first person to completely solve all parts of the puzzle and demonstrate that solution to the creators will receive a Macintosh Computer.
This is an image of the Apple Tree. There many other images at the contest web site.
The Apple Tree
The organizers have issued a few clues to help people figure things out, so go and check it out.
Thanks to Mr. Mityok from Public Access Software for sending us the note!
The Mac Observer Spin: Ok, to be honest, this puzzle contest is a tad on the bizarre side, bordering on the mystical. However, it offers a very hard challenge and uses Macintosh computers, so what's not to like?!
