The Worlds' Fair is thinking, pondering, mulling over, mulling under, obsessing around something, something not to be told, something requiring many prepositions. Something to be intimated, perhaps. But something not to reveal. Yet. Not yet. There are things that will lead you to it, things that are helpful. We've made some of them available. One is a fish. A picture of a fish, rather. One is a picture of the cow as a food factory. It's a cow. A third is Elvis related.
There is a puzzle being revealed, but we dare not step closer. We leave that to you. The puzzle is bigger than us, and so we stand back now and offer the rest of it for the world. There is maybe more, but not yet.
Look to the lowest left corner of this blog page. And there they sit. Here below they also sit:
What is the puzzle? What is it a puzzle of? Fire away. It has begun.
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It's an evolution thing? Fish, cow and Elvis. The progression is right. Although the food factory angle is interesting...
Progression? Cows are fish. As is Elvis. Is this some sort of unity of all vertebrates thing?
The fish image is by Ernst Haeckel (in the "about" section). The cow is a robot. Elvis is "swinging higher than the Space Needle." This is obviously a ruse (I think).
Hmm... I may have cheated I stuck all those things into google and got this site that had them all.
It was third on the list and look at the google excerpt.
Wierd Elvis site
Maybe it is like a complex series. There is an evolution type element (fits with the phylogenetic references in the blog in general - i.e. Haiku stuff). There's also a more temporal connection derived. i.e. the origins of each of the pictures moves from an earlier to a later point of time. Perhaps a geographical order as well? Ernst is German, Elvis is in the United States (or Seattle in the movie). Might help if someone knows where the cow picture came from. Anyway, point is, maybe all these various series point to a single answer? As well, it says:
"There is maybe more, but not yet."
I'm going to guess the next clue is something more biologically sophisticated than Elvis (?), happened later in time, and is site specific (depending on where the cow comes from). O.K. do I win a prize?
The cow picture comes from http://www.themeatrix.com/learnmore/milk.html. Info about the picture is as follows:
"This still from from a government filmstrip called "More Milk for Victory," was produced during World War II for the federal Farm Security Administration. Its vision of a virtual milk machine seems to anticipate the way selective breeding, aggressive milking schedules, long periods of exposure to light, and more recently, the use of artificial growth hormones have allowed the dairy industry to obtain more and more milk from the average dairy cow."
I don't think it helps with the complex series angle.
Is that fish some kind of puffer fish?
It's this fish. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tetrosomus_gibbosus.jpg). Tetrosumus gibbosus. Awesome picture actually. If you click on the high res image link, you can see this strange number "8" on its nose.
Hmmm... I'm gonna make a stab at it. It isn't Elvislution is it.... please tell me it isn't.
Link broke??
lets try again.
Elvislution
Nice. And so far, so good. To hopefully help, we've put up high res versions as links from the three images located on the puzzle sidebar. Oh yeah, and it's not Elvislution...
Could this be alluding to current events: that is the Japanese prime minister's recent visit with President Bush and their inaugural visit to Graceland?
Thus, the fish = raw fish = sushi, a primary and popular Japanese food preparation; cow= Bush, former governor of Texas where cattle production (and decimation) is only excelled by oil production; and Elvis = the Japanese prime minister's lifelong American Idol (countless pictures of him wearing Elvis' sunglasses and standing next to the Prez, Lisa Marie and Priscilla wearing politely amused expressions).
Just a thought, if not a fantastica one.
The turretfish is a member of the family Ostraciidae, the boxfishes and trunkfishes. A boxfish or trunkfish with horns, like this one, will be colloquially called a cowfish.
I don't know, though, it's a stretch to associate cows with the Seattle World's Fair or Elvis, isn't it?
Funny how googling "cow fish world's fair" leads back to this blog a few months back (Cow: A Story, By Carolyn Beckman). Maybe the editors just have a thing for cows and fish?
I'd have to say that cow story has got to be it, or at least the next clue in the hunt.
But that seems too obvious. The cowfish angle is neat. The number 8 also intriguing (any other hidden numbers in the other images?)
Is that a real Elvis movie? I challenge anyone to admit they've seen it. If so, is it any good?
Is that the diesel-powered food factory cow? Or one of the modern, fuel-efficient hybrid cows?
Seriously, I think the link is: They're all dead, but still get sighted occasionally by fans.
Hey! I didn't see my answer posted.
Does that mean I was right!!!!! (or was it just not funny fantastica???)
Gosh, Harper's rejections are one thing...but comment rejections....geeesh! without a form letter even...
(won't you at least email me to let me know or tell me if i should post it again?)
Or maybe you got the right answer... and it's a cover up.
Hey Scheherazade. Hmmm... we didn't do anything with your comment. Bit I do know that the Sb folks were tinkering with the comment stuff yesterday. Maybe, just a glitch?
Hmmmmmmmmm....
The fish is from Ernst Haeckel, who is from Germany. The cow is a WWII poster, and the Allies were fighting Germany (and others) in WWII. And Elvis served in Germany during his tour of duty. Could that be the link?
At this point in history, the World Cup is being played in Germany, and Germany is one of the finalists.
So is the answer....PORTUGAL??
Japan. They eat puffer fish, make the best robots (mechanical cow, kobe beef ), and the leader of their country is obsessed with Elvis.
OK. This has got to be it.
So there's an 8 on the fish.
And on the Meatrix site there's a 'Did you know?' with the term Omega 6.
Finally the Seatle worlds fair was in 1962.
So... logically that is the date August 6th, 1962.
Aaannnnd you know what happened on that date. Huh, you guessed it that the day Jamaica's Independance day.
So logically the answer can only be one thing... Pastafarianism!!
Here goes my theory once more: is this perhaps fuzzy logic connecting Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's recent visit with the American President?
My reasoning:
1. fish = raw fish = sushi, being the primary and popular preparation of seafood in Japan
2. cow = cattle = BIG Texas industry = Dubya, that is though he is technically a carpetbagger, he was the governor of Texas whose cattle production (and decimation) is second only to oil
3. Elvis = Graceland = the American president's GIFT to the PM of Japan (to thank him for his support in Iraq); they both recently made an inaugural visit to Graceland as Elvis is Koizumi's all time favorite American Idol; why he even donned the sunglasses of a dead man which caused his hips to sway while Dubya and Lisa Marie and Priscilla looked on in polite, diplomatic amusement
there. i wrote something to that effect last night. and all without the help of Google. honest. well, i did need help spelling K-O-I-Z-U-M-I.
(um, if I'm wrong, at least let me bask in this moment for a little while until you break the news)
me like this puzzle thing-- wrong or right--thanks guys!
Okay this is my third time printing this (I keep getting the comment moderator, so I apologize for the repeat).
Is this some sort of fuzzy logic relating the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's recent U.S. visit with the American President?
My reasoning:
1) fish = raw fish = sushi, the popular means of preparing seafood in Japan
2) cattle = BIG Texas industry = Dubya, though technically a carpetbagger, the American President was the former governor of Texas, a state whose cattle production (and decimation) industry is only surpassed by its oil production
3) Elvis = Graceland = Koizumi's passion, so the American President "thanked" the PM for his support in Iraq with an inaugural visit to Graceland, where the PM had no qualms shaking his thang and donning a dead man's sunglasses while Dubya and Lisa Maria and Priscilla politely looked on
there. that's what I've tried to send several times now. and no google was used in this process at all, um. except to properly spell K-O-I-Z-U-M-I.
thanks for the brain teaser--whether i'm right or not--boy i sure do feel like a winner!
This is fun. I came over from PZ's. It's amazing how differently people think. I'm not a scientist, so I looked at the cowfish, the cow, and Elvis, and immediately thought:
Cow Cow Boogie!
Wheeeeeee!
The 3 major world religions?
Holy mackerel!
I'm having a cow reading all the gyrating suppositions some of you are posting.
Keep it coming.
o
o
"Fish 'n' Chip Paper" by Elvis Costello and The Attractions?
Is this some sort of fuzzy logic relating the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's recent U.S. visit with the American President?
My reasoning:
1) fish = raw fish = sushi, the popular means of preparing seafood in Japan
2) cattle = BIG Texas industry = Dubya, though technically a carpetbagger, the American President was the former governor of Texas, a state whose cattle production (and decimation) industry is only surpassed by its oil production
3) Elvis = Graceland = Koizumi's passion, so the American President "thanked" the PM for his support in Iraq with an inaugural visit to Graceland, where the PM had no qualms shaking his thang and donning a dead man's sunglasses while Dubya and Lisa Maria and Priscilla politely looked on there. that's what I've tried to send several times now. and no google was used in this process at all, um. except to properly spell K-O-I-Z-U-M-I.
Did you notice that the images on the side bar have changed order? Before, Elvis was at the bottom. Maybe the order of the pictures don't matter so much?
Trust?
Truth.
the first three signs of the seven signs of the apocolypse? just had to throw that out there, you know...just in case.
Time?
Discworld?
The key is the world's fair. The bed goes from Colin to a butcher to a fisherman to the author of the story, who posts the puzzle on the web site.
The cow picture comes from http://www.themeatrix.com/learnmore/milk.html. Info about the picture is as follows:
Actually, I suspect the picture may be from The Agency of Nature or the Nature of Agency?, given the image name in the page source code.
Unfortunately, my brain has not yet connected the essay to any of the other clues.
the first (novel) revolving (video parorama) restaurant (food factory).
the fish has the same shape as the restaurant at the top of the space needle at the 1962 world's fair in Seattle.
Here are just some freeflowing thoughts that might offer something useful to the big brain who finds something in all this. It's not a progression.
elvis = king
video which turns slowly = pan
kingfish
bedpan
fish food
king pan
food king
panfish
king bed
food pan
food bed
flock
forward
needle
Scales.
Fish have scales, cows are weighed on scales before they become food, and Elvis... well, musical scales.
Or it's something else entirely. < shrug >
42
Perelman's Theorem?
the first (novel) revolving (video parorama) restaurant (food factory).
the fish has the same shape as the restaurant at the top of the space needle at the 1962 world's fair in Seattle.