Here is the latest contribution, from Michael M, a self-confessed avid +ORC reader and drinker of Malt Whisky (and therefore a very civilised fellow ;-) .
He speculates about +ORC the man, pointing out that he is a very fluent writer, and therefore his persona in the lessons is intentional, and may tell us less than we think about +ORC. He thinks it's the small slips that will tell us more. He also suggests a "mystical" Tarot analysis for the Riddle, but is not convinced it is likely. Michael writes:
I am apt to think that the solution to Mr Cracker's riddle is not as mathematical as you may think. He seems to go in for lateral thought as well as the strict linear/mathematical approach....
Some things I have come across ... that may be of use to you:
1) Tarot, or the book of Thoth....it's been a while since I was a mystic, but if you read your Crowley (777, The Book Of Thoth) you will find numerical attributions for the face cards as well as the standard depictions...i.e., a king whose colors are gold and who is only depicted in profile....
But +ORC is not remotely the mystic type, so this may not even apply....Out of all of your research, however, I think the heraldic area is the right one to follow through with.
Next, a suggestion about an approach to tracking down the URL and target files on servers:
Have you tried to do a NET USE (IP address/DomainName) on the pediatrician (and other) server(s)? It lists the shared resources such as directories, etc, but it's dicey on WANs (you may have to put the IP in an LMHOSTS file...). You might also try FTP'ing the site or downloading InternetNeighborhood from Tucows (allows you to browse remote servers ala Network Neighborhood in '95) to check out what pages exist on a server. I've been meaning to do an open-text search on +ORC and Wodka, I'll let you know what I find.
Finally, Michael examines what we can tell about +ORC from his writing:
2)+ORC is a writer. It's in the sentence structure: this is a guy who is comfortable with the written word. A writer who has been in the game for a while writes _in_character_: never forget this. +ORC's writing seems to be trying to fit into a character that he views (or thinks other will view, at least) as an authority: hence the use of commanding/authoritative tones and "stance", the confident air, the references to "lost" (and therefore "known only to masters") languages such as Latin, etc. . If +ORC was intending to sound well-read, he would write with more than just antiquated references (notice he never quotes, say, Sartre or Rimbaud or Husserl or Vonnegut). +ORC is trying to give the impression of a classical education, and whether he has it or not is irrelevant: in one case he is school-taught, in the other he is self-taught.
... Anyways I guess the point is to keep in mind that the chances are, given the degree of writing skill that +ORC exhibits, that he is writing in character and what we must focus on are his "little slips", not his consistencies.
_m
Michael admits not to have seriously tackled the Riddle yet, but he's curious about +ORC. It's interesting how many people are seeking +ORC.Any comments? /P>