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Is Monique gonna be there? If so, I'll teleport there on time from Mauritius

I think we have to analyze this further. I don't think that either the time, the place or the phrases are just made up without purpose. They are probably of importance. Why ask where to find an umbrella? What bells are the contact hearing? And what does "Liberty doesn't come without a price." mean?

Let's look at them again.
"Do you know where I might be able to find an umbrella, sir?"
"It seems I'm hearing bells!"
"Liberty doesn't come without a price."

Why would I want an umbrella? Probably because it rains. If I didn't had an umbrella I would have to go inside somewhere.

The contact replies with "It seems I'm hearing bells!". A look at Google Maps reveals that about 800 feet south of Franklin Square there is something called "Liberty Bell Center". Bells. Coincidence? I think not.

Last we will have to say "Liberty doesn't come without a price.". I don't get that one. But I think the location and the phrases are linked together.

#include <unistd.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
void main(){int p=ntohl(0x6E696E65);int q[]={p,ntohl(0x7479),p,0xA};write(1,&q,0x10);}

Not sure I can make it - Swiss-Air isn't being terribly helpful with the flight from Zurich!

That's an interesting idea, 99. It's possible the locale was just inspiration for the phrases, but it might mean more. Well spotted.

The phrase "Liberty doesn't come without a price" has only one entry on Google, but it's a flickr for NY's statue of liberty.

Well, it's said that Ben Franklin made his famous "lightning strike" discovery there in Franklin Square (the "kite and key" experiment.). 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_S … ladelphia)

first hit searching for ben franklin and umbrella:
http://umbrellashoppe.blogspot.com/2007 … nklin.html

And Yes, ol' Ben does figure very prominently into the US' Liberty Bell thing, and it's liberty in general.

Suppose there could be something in a quote he said or a book he wrote.  Would be in a similar fashion to how other heists have taken pieces from Lewis Carrol.....

I'm absolutely certain this has nothing to do with it:
http://www.keithandthegirl.com/forums/s … 021&page=3

There may be something in here:
http://www.elyrics.net/read/s/something … yrics.html

or maybe?
http://fi.edu/franklin/bells.html

http://www.as.wvu.edu/coll03/phys/www/d … /e_a4a.htm

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/

... off to sleep....

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"Liberty doesn't come without a price."
http : //tw.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=EXFhe95c-3U

???

can't  follow the link - locked site from work

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Info on the statue/ lightning bolt in Franklin Square
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/26689/
Overview of Franklin Square on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=h&q … &z=19&om=1
The whole thing looks like a big D.
Have no idea if any of this helps...

- a nerd of a different color

This is the liberty bell in Philadelphia..

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell

I am an unauthorised user..

Too bad it isn't in Belgium ...

Only real men dare to wear purple!

Oh yeah !! That would be good. Instead of umbrella ask for good beer

Orange Obviously

That just reminded me of the saying, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

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however goes there, make sure you have a video camera - the rest of us need to see what goes down.

keeping cool in the Amazon...

From The New Penguin Book of Quotations (Cohen, 1996), p.308, entry 16:
Wendell Phillips 1811-1884
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty - power is ever stealing from the many to the few." [Speech in Boston, Mass., 28 Jan. 1852. This sometimes has been considered a quotation by Phillips from Jefferson, but without justification. Also attr. to Patrick Henry]
Wendell Phillips is also the guy who said, "Every man meets his Waterloo at last."

- a nerd of a different color

Probably has something do to with the American War for Independence or the American Revolution?

I'm feeling purple today

raleigh, nc or i'd go. glad to see things are starting up again   i forget who it was yesterday, but here's your real life macheist involvement you wanted.

How important is it really to get a video or tape of the handoff? Isn't the goal just to get the package?

And the passphrase probably doesn't have any special significance surely - grasping for straws people? It's just part of the game. They could have used any passphrase (and I bet a lot of you would still try to find the hidden significance). I agree with Balboa, probably the passphrase was inspired by the location and that's all.

If you are going to video it you'll probably freak him out if the camera is in his face and he might take off - use a shotgun mic in a folded newspaper and dress as a homeless person and sit on a nearby parkbench (Enemy of the State)... ;-)

Some very wild thoughts:

"Do you know where I might be able to find an umbrella, sir?"
- Franklin Court is a "ghost structure" outlining the spot where Franklin's house stood (A house with no Roof!) - Franklin died here in 1790

"It seems I'm hearing bells!"
- Liberty Bell Museum
- Someone rang the town bell and confused Bostonians began to fill the streets. -> so bells were rang when the Brits were approaching -> American Revolution -> ""first against the wall when the revolution comes"" -> who was the first one who got shot? -> ?
- or a reference to some other music or sounds: the theme music for the Monty Python Show, the Liberty Bell March was actually written by John Philip Sousa for the Liberty Bell's visit to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.

"Liberty doesn't come without a price."
- "Give me liberty or give me death" a speach by Patrick Henry ???

Quick Google search brings up the name, "Crispus Attucks".  But I'm not American, so it may not be right.  Anyone care to clarify/expand on this?

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I disagree. There aren't any good user groups or anything in Philly... I leave kinda close.

Also, unfortunately I won't be able to go
Good luck stoker and others!

Proud member of the Orange team!
Let's go into theAmazon.

Not to be out done with wild theories:

What about the last two lines in the message:
"Time is of the essence here and I really need your help because I feel that I'm in grave danger" - From 1741 to 1835, a portion of the Square was used as a cemetery by the German Reform Church; some of the graves still remain. (from Wikipedia)

Also the last line:
"Help me Macheist, you're my only hope" reminds me of the line in star wars of the princess "holo movie" from R2-D2 saying "Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope."

I think there is more to the message than just a meeting. I also wonder why they would have us "do" something that limits so many member. i.e. only a few people live in Philadelphia and likely of those, less can even make the meeting. I would think the whole Macheist thing is pre-thought out. What would they do if no one even showed up for the meeting? Wouldn't that ruin the game. Don't get me wrong, someone should go if they can, but I think there is more to it.

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I had this CRAZY theory that the informant is the cube from the picture left at the scene of the crime... but that's just absurd. Right?

...

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first against the well dot net

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Yes. I know that this led to nothing...
But I was looking for another name. And "tabooism" brought that one up. But still no other hint comes up...

we've seen it... or at least it has been posted. not believed at this time to contain any helpful info (the source is straightforward; the page does nothing).

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If I remember correctly from US History, he was the first casualty of the war, and a slave as well. I might be totally wrong though.

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No you are right.  Here is his wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks

NCSU here

the point made that they would pick this singular place that so many members would not be able to reach... makes me question whether or not to look into all these "clues" too

There's a lot of speculation that goes into that story - fitting for MH. Per Wiki, it is thought that he was a runaway slave, half-black and half-Native American, and possibly one of the Americans who assaulted a British soldier in the riot that became the Boston Massacre. It is fairly certain that he was the first killed in the incident. That is to say, he was indeed first against the wall when the revolution came. Or you could say his death was among the few that started the revolution.

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But other than the connection between his name and the "first against the wall when the revolution... etc" phrase, what has he to do with MacHeist?  Because I'm totally clueless on the matter.  XD  Other than the stuff about the Boston Massacre, I can't find anything about him that would connect him to MH.

Tabooism: *is useless*

I watch you fast asleep
All I fear means nothing

There's no known significance as of yet. I was just offering what I found (apparently tight after others who had found the same).

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Here's another rabbit trail for you guys...

The time of the meeting is 3:52. A quick google reveals a short horror film called "3:52" - Here's the imdb page and a trailer for it:
(i'm a noob and can't post clickable links)

www imdb com/title/tt0463856/

www zeitbyte com/media/chicks-with-flicks/8th-annual-film-festival/zbfolder.2006-11-12.6320595763/zbencode.2006-11-13.8862091340

Don't know of any relevance but it's fun to watch everybody chase after leads.

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I have nothing of interest to say regarding the movie 3:52 other than, "OOH.  AMERICA FERRERA IS IN IT."

I don't know if it has any significance, though. 

I watch you fast asleep
All I fear means nothing

Judging by the Radar in Motion Widget, it might be raining by the time our intrepid troops get there.

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As to the "It seems I'm hearing bells!" response.
Other than the obvious reference to the Liberty Bell, my second thought was the phrase "For whom the bell tolls".

It might be the the 1940 novel bye Hemningway:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls

But a more striking referral is to the song with the same title by Metallica:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls_%28Metallica_song%29

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" was featured on the the album "Ride the Lightning" - coincidence?

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3:52 is 15:52 on the 24 hour clock.

1 Corinthians 15:52
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

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we'll have a lot more to go on around 4:30pm EST. i kinda doubt a whole lot more information about this specific note or the meeting will come up before then.

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I think you're taking it too far.

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I've been looking at actual books:"On March 5, 1770, grievances of ropemakers against British soldiers led to a fight. A crowd gathered in front of the customhouse and began provoking the soldiers, who fired and killed first Crispus Attucks, a mulatto worker, then others. [...] Perhaps ten thousand people marched in the funeral procession for the victims of the Massacre, out of a total Boston population of sixteen thousand. This led England to remove the troops from Boston and try to quiet the situation. [...] Impressment was the background of the Massacre." Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492- Present, 3rd ed., Pearson Education Limited, 2003, p.67.
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as 'a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes,' with a footnote to the effect that the editors would welcome applications from anyone interested in taking over the post of robotics correspondent.
Curiously enough, an edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica that had the good fortune to fall through a time warp from a thousand years in the future defined the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as 'a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.'" Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Ballantine Publishing Group, p.64. (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Hitchhik … bb_product)

- a nerd of a different color

And it makes me very suspicious that Phil seemed to be encouraging the Crispus Attucks thing, although, according to Zinn, John Adams, the lawyer for the British soldiers, said something very similar to "a bunch of mindless jerks" about the crowd in front of the customhouse...

- a nerd of a different color

I don't trust him ... :-)

Could be for the good of the Heist or the bad. He could be leading us down a rabbit hole.

I'm going.

I know that we all do this for the fun of it but if we are all worth an average of at least $20 an hour in wages.  Take that times the amount of time we invest in MH and the software companies should be paying us. 

All that said, I have had no fresh ideas without more input from the MH team. 

Video/Audio is my specialty on a mac so feel free to PM if any work needs to be done in those fields.  I think I am signing off until later today.

Personal Communication Goal, "Don't use seven words when four will do."
-Rusty, Ocean's Eleven

But those are the key words right there, "doing this for fun." 

Think of how many hours from work you use to search for the latest posts on the forum or complete a heist

“Never confuse motion with action.”

Amen

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Yeah. As Josh said earlier...
I'm with you. Let's wait.

Good to know.

Cu later.

In support of my fellow Atlantians, I will further note that we have Big Nerd Ranch here in the area (with Aaron Hillegass).  So we definitely have strong developer support - let the next one take place in the big ATL!

Whistle while you work.  Patience is key.

So what happens if no one shows.

Leading the Revolution