Year Zero Experience

42E Publishes Summary of Year Zero ARG

2008-04-11T14:45:00.004-05:00

Oh. Hai! Something actually happened. Well, kinda. Any speculation over whether the ARG is over is finally laid to rest with 42's summary of Year Zero. If you haven't seen this yet, definitely check it.

That's not to say there won't be a Part II to the Year Zero saga, but that's also not to say there will be one either. In the event that a part II comes along, this blog will fire back up, until then, back to the tumbleweed.

Starting to Get Dusty Around Here

2007-11-03T23:37:00.000-05:00

It's Not In Game...

2007-07-26T21:26:00.000-05:00

but cool nonetheless.

01001001010000010100110101010011010101000101010001000010.com

Wallpapers Added (OOG)

2007-07-16T19:16:00.001-05:00

A batch of Year Zero wallpapers was added to the YZ minisite today. It's not known if there are any clues at this time, but things aren't looking good.

Update: Doesn't look like anything is these, so consider this is Out Of Game, but cool nonetheless.

Update 2: Oh yeah, there's iPhone wallpapers ~~on the nin.com's download page too~~. But like the regular wallpapers, there's nothing game related in them.

Update 3: That link above doesn't really work anymore, so right click for iPhone wallpapers.

yearzero.nin.com/wallpaper/index.html
Discussion

Behind the Curtain, Just a Little Bit

2007-07-13T16:49:00.000-05:00

Nothing's going on with the game at this time, but I'd like to showcase some of the behind the curtain stuff that's been dug up over the course of the past few months.

Banksy
When the London mural went up, people immediately suspected that Bansky had some part of it. Specifically the pig cops in the foreground. I don't believe there's an official confirmation that he has any part of the mural, but it does match his style.

banksy.co.uk

ekundayo
Discovered some time ago buried somewhere deep in some post on ETS. It looks like he did quite a bit of the London mural, based on a couple of drawings on his website.
ekundayo.com

Joshua Clay
Most recently discovered by deusdiabolus on ETS via an article on Boing Boing. It appears he did the angel on the London mural, and the helo girls on the LA mural. And pictures of him standing next to the murals pretty much makes things official.

(pics from Joshua Clay's MySpace)

followtheshadows.com
on MySpace

Monti Sharp
Another discovery from a while back, but this one was recently rediscovered in this ETS thread. He's the actor that plays the part of Neil Czerno.

(pic from imdb.com)

imdb Profile for Monti Sharp

Is the ARG Back?

2007-05-24T01:46:00.000-05:00

Act Patriotic is up and running again, but unfortunately it's still a pilgrim stream. Hopefully this is an indication that things are firing back up.

Update: Nevermind. The site was removed again.

Proper Path to Act Patriotic

2007-05-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

The proper clue leading to actpatriotic.net (site currently not working) was unearthed last night. It was found buried in Vessel between 3:03 and 3:06. Analysis of this section of the song reveals a voice that is most likely saying "act patriotic."

A few different listens: 1, 2, 3

ETS Discussion

Banned Text List Complete, For Now

2007-05-03T11:40:00.000-05:00

The banned texts to the Mailstrom wreckage, Usurp, has had people stumped for quite some time, but not any longer. It was found earlier this morning. It's A Beggar at Damascus Gate by Yasmin Zahran:

Petra. January 1980

The desert wind was howling across the rocky plateau that surrounds Petra with a hissing cry that swept somewhere from the desert as I climbed through the siq and up to the Rest House, which stood on a rocky ridge near the village of Wadi Musa.

That is it for the banned texts, at least until the ARG fires up again.

ninwiki entry: Banned Media

The Hour of Arrival

2007-04-27T15:39:00.000-05:00

OSR phones started rigning. A recording of the message is right here, and here's what it said:

we think these phones have been compromised

we are going dark for some time

its up to you now, YOU are the resistance

this is the hour of arrival

Which leads to hourofarrival.net (24.4.1), the Danny Jane reference from exhibit24.

The banned text is YB Yeats, The Second Coming:

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

ninwiki entry: Hour of Arrival

Act I over???

New Stage in the Game? (SPEC)

2007-04-27T14:41:00.000-05:00

I seemed to have breezed past the importance of exhibit24.net, so here goes nothing. It's clear what the 24.xx.yy numbers mean now. They are an index of the evidence against a unnamed inmate, or should I say, Trent Reznor. Let's break it down, just to be sure:

Under the 24.11.2 entry:
The first Open Source Resistance meeting
Archival footage includes performance by dissident musician [CLASSIFIED]. Hi-rez and Uncut versions of this
footage can be found at www.OpenSourceResistance.net
Nine Inch Nails performed that concert.
Under the 24.16.4 entry:
Surveillance footage detailing the capture of inmate [CLASSIFIED]
("Survivalism" video)
This, of course, is a NIN video, and someone is seen being dragged away.
exhibitA.wav at exterminal.net lists the creator of that song (which is Capital G) as being held at Exterminal without bail. Trent Reznor created the song.

So, in the future, Trent and probably the rest if NIN is locked up at Exterminal, Neil Czerno is dead, the AIR movement was a failure, and the whole the dystopia thing happens. It looks as though the game is shifting focus. Everything up until now was just introducing us the the World of Year Zero. What happens now will probably directly impact the game. We'll get goals and directions and whatnot to try to save the future (and this is outside of the overall message of "wake up and give a shit" that we are to take into the real world), probably by following Neil around. Maybe they'll find a way to beam Carolina back to us, who knows. It looks like we the players are going to have plenty of opportunity to participate in things, I'm looking forward to it.

And putting a lot of us directly into the game was pretty cool. Anyone who plays an ARG is already a character in the game world, but it's a whole new experience when you are actually mentioned in the game (and given some archaic label like soft target).

Exhibit 24

2007-04-27T10:36:00.000-05:00

exhibit24.net (24.23.1) was found from the Capital G multitrack files. Spectros of 2 of the files revealed various avatars as used by members at ETS. Taking the first letter of those usernames gives us EXHI TWENTY. There may be a few more letters out there, but that was enough to figure out Exhibit 24 (since everything revolves around 24).

This site lists a bunch of subversive material (pretty much everything discovered to date), and identifies 2 subversive networks. Network 1 (24.24.1) is The Spiral, and Network 2 (24.24.2) is ETS. Some people have been marked as dead, informants, employees, soft targets, etc. I (madcactus on Network 2) showed up as a Soft Target.

2 additional pages are listed that we don't have access to. 24.4.1 is Danny Jane, and anotherversionofthetruth.com/violence.

Update: Many of the buttons we haven't actually seen are pictured on this site, including cleansing's shard. Giving us this page. The background text was found a while back.

Another Update: The banned text to exhibit24 is The Trial by Franz Kafka

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.

ninwiki entry: Exhibit 24

Multitrack Madness!

2007-04-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

Capital G, My Violent Heart, and Me, I'm Not were all released in multitrack format at nin.com/current, and stuff is already being discovered.

A couple of spectros from Capital G files:

Update: The images are from avatars of ETS members, and yearzero.nin.com was updated with the files.

The insanity continues at ETS.

Possible Leads

2007-04-25T12:01:00.000-05:00

Looks like we're in a bit of a lull right now, but there is ongoing work on some possible leads. Here they are:

The last page of the iTunes Year Zero pdf (basically the same image as the litho and the regular CD booklet cover) has what appears to have some lettering scratched just above the flag. These scratches are not on the litho or CD booklet. What are these letters? Are these letters?

Ongoing investigation on ETS
A united effort is underway to try to find the undeciphered banned texts. So far, Cedocore's was found, it's Joseph Heller's Catch-22:
Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
Ongoing investigation at ETS
There's a couple of verses printed in the Year Zero liner notes to the Greater Good that don't appear in the song. Does it mean anything ARG-wise?
Ongoing investigation at ETS
More letters were spotted, this time they're on the lithos. At least some people are seeing something. I don't see anything on my litho, but apparently its just to the left of star on the flag. Is anything there? What is it?
Ongoing investigation at ETS
This is mostly dead, chalked up as a manufacturing defect, but, on the US versions of Year Zero, a faint line is noticeable on the data side of the disc. There are few people still looking into this, but not many.

Ongoing investigation at ETS

The Actual Day This Blog Begins (INFO)

2007-04-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that this blog has posts dated back in February, this is the actual day this blog started. Anything before this post was built to provide a cohesive chronology of events up until this date. After this post things will likely be a bit more chaotic as we have over 17 months of Year Zero goodness ahead of us.

~~Also, to anyone who happens to stumble on this blog right now, I'm still building this blog. Consider this thing under construction for the time being.~~

Update: I think everything is in order. Now we go forward. Bring on the clues!

24.11.2 Found

2007-04-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

A new video was posted to OSR reveling where 24.11.2 has been hiding all this time. It was on the charter bus that shuttled people to the OSR meeting the other day. Also, the video shows an edited recap of the events from the other night.
Small (43MB)
Large (144MB)

Act Patriotic

2007-04-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

actpatriotic.net was found by checking IP addresses in the same block as other Year Zero sites. This is pilgrim stream 24.11 and nothing is known about it at this time.
ninwiki entry: Act Patriotic

New nin.com Pic

2007-04-19T14:01:00.000-05:00

A new picture was posted to nin.com/current from last night's OSR Meeting.

4_19_07.jpg

OSR Print Ads

2007-04-19T13:12:00.000-05:00

The OSR broadcast page updated showing the ads they took out in various publications around the country.

Austin, TX -- Austin Chronicle
Boston, MA -- Weekly Dig
Chicago, IL -- Chicago Reader
Los Angeles, CA -- LA Weekly
Orange County, CA -- OC Weekly
Orlando, FL -- Orlando Weekly
New York, NY -- Village Voice
Philadelphia, PA -- City Paper
San Francisco, CA -- San Francisco Guardian
Seattle, WA -- Seattle Weekly

LA OSR Meeting

2007-04-18T12:41:00.000-05:00

opensourceresistance.net updated today with more user submissions, and a note that they are going ahead with a meeting in LA tonight, and to stay tuned for another update tonight. They also posted a message further defining what OSR's mission is:

Yes, we are putting out some of your messages. Yes, what you see here, you can use.

This is not a website: it’s an idea. You don’t have to like the books we read or the causes we support.

Your meeting in Detroit or Dallas doesn’t have to be like ours: but you should meet.

You don’t have to vote for my candidate: but you should vote.

You don’t have to say what I would say: but you should sure as hell speak, while you still have a voice.

Members were contacted, and they were instructed to meet at a parking lot. When the people arrived, they were roped off, and told to await another phone call. After receiving the call, the members were then frisked, and told to put all electronic devices back into their cars, and they signed a waiver allowing them to be filmed.

Then a really old charter bus pulled up with blacked out windows, and they were taken to a secret location. At the location, they received a "pep talk" from Neil Czerno, and were treated to a really intimate concert by NIN (around 50 people in attendance). The set list:

The Beginning of the End
Survivalism
Last
March of the Pigs
We're In This Together
The Frail

At the end of The Frail, the concert was busted up by the SWAT team. Most of the concert goers got out unscathed and reboarded the bus, but a few people were held for questioning. They returned to the parking lot in a black van. NIN was tackled by the SWAT, and it is unknown what their fate was. The people at the event were told to be on the lookout for OSR ads, and more of these events were possible.

The full setlist was supposed to be:
The Beginning of the End
Survivalism
Last
March of the Pigs
Were in This Together
The Frail
Closer
Burn
Gave Up
Eraser
Wish
The Perfect Drug
Only
The Big Come Down
Suck
Down In It
Hurt
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Shortly after the meeting, opensourceresistance.net updated with a streaming video of the event. The original video was 59 minutes long, and included 2 different views of the meeting, and the concert. Shortly after the video went live, it was updated with a shorter video with only 1 view of the actual meeting. The flv's were recovered and available here.

ninwiki entries: Open Source Resistance, 2007/04/18_LA

Year Zero Released

2007-04-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

Some band called Nine Inch Nails released an album called Year Zero today. There's some creepy looking hand thing on the cover, and who's the government to say what I'm allowed to listen to? Assholes!

Flood

2007-04-16T12:01:00.000-05:00

The Flood wreckage was deciphered from the strings of numbers found throughout the Year Zero. The key to decoding them is to act like you are dialing a phone number. The path your hand traces is a letter in the code.

And these are all of the numbers in the booklet: 3462906303571437379, which decodes as: WFLOODSLHL7P3.

The page describes the Resistance by someone that was at the first OSR Meeting. Banned text: Also Sprach Zarathustra English Title: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche:

Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

Need Some Real Estate?

2007-04-16T11:47:00.000-05:00

viabilityindex.com (24.6.1) activated today, for the discovery, see this post. Viability Index is a real estate guide, and it rates various cities based on the effects global warming has had on them. This site is unique in that it links to websites from 2007. The banned text is from The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler:

But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

ninwiki entry: Viability Index

Mining for Life Correctly

2007-04-16T11:35:00.000-05:00

With the activation of the Usurp wreckage, we learn the intended discovery path for miningforlife.com.

Usurp banned text is still outstanding.

Mining for Life doesn't have any numbers on the site, but it was Pilgrim Stream 24.22. Most people are accepting this as 24.22.1, but it may not be. The banned text is Brazil by Terry Gilliam:

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings?
Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship. A ruthless minority of people seems to have forgotten certain good old-fashioned virtues. They just can't stand seeing the other fellow win. If these people would just play the game...

ninwiki entries: Mining for Life, Mailstrom

Brian Tsuoda

2007-04-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

briantsunoda.com (24.21.1) was discovered via the recently activated Scorpion wreckage (it even has a link and everything).

Scorpion: Email about a paper on The Presence. Banned text: Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf:

In that year, the sacred month of Ramadan fell in high summer. My father rarely left the house before nightfall, as the people of Granada were short-tempered during the daytime. Quarrels were frequent, and a sombre bearing was regarded as a sign of piety; only a man who was not keeping the fast could smile under the fiery heat of the sun, and only a man who had no concern for the fate of the Muslims could remain cheerful and friendly in a town exhausted from within by civil war and threatened from without by the unbelievers.

briantsuoda.com is a paper about The Presence, and gives a few explanations as to what the big ugly hand may be. The banned text is not deciphered, and there are some people looking into the blinking background. It may or may not be Morse Code. Ongoing investigation at ETS.

ninwiki entries: Brian Tsunoda, Mailstrom

AVOTT 0 Puzzle

2007-04-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

The 0 Puzzle was found through the Pain wreckage, and it describes some information about the inner workings of the Bureau of Morality, and the accounts of the "unnamed female agent" from the Starchamber Massacre (turns out she really does have a name).

How the puzzle works: The 1st line of each page is numbered, marking the page number. In order to find the next page, the last line of each page gives the clue. Sometimes a word is highlighted in the text, so that makes things a little easier. For example on page 0, the clue is "opposite", and "work" is highlighted. Play is work's opposite, so to get to page 1, you put "play/" after "/0/" in the URL like so: http://anotherversionofthetruth.com/0/play/ For the pages after that, replace "play" with the solution. If you screw it up there are pages with the common errors to guide you to the right path.

If you want to work through the puzzle yourself, don't look any further.

Page 0 - Clue: opposite | Highlighted: Work | Solution: Play
Page 1 - Clue: it has six letters, all in alphabetical order | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: glossy (the only word in the text that matches the requirements)
Page 2 - Clue: “what you really want to be remembered for” | Highlighted: Girl Scouts | Solution: goldaward
Page 3 - Clue: made up of only the same four letters, repeated. | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: hotshots (the only word in the text that matches the requirements)
Page 4 - Clue: the missing direction | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: left (down, right, are in the text)
Page 5 - Clue: N1*N2*N3*N4 | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: 3168 (multiply the numbers in the text: 11*4*36*2)
Page 6 - Clue: Adding 1 letter to the end turns a 1 syllable word to 3 | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: cameo (add "o" to came)
Page 7 - Clue: … fear of … Highlighted: Nothing | Solution: agoraphobia (in the text: "… big open spaces feel …" agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces)
Page 8 - Clue: It has 7 musical notes | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: baggage (only word in the text that matches the requirements, baggage contains ABGE -- musical notes, and 7 letters)
Page 9 - Clue: made up of one of one, two of another and three of a third. | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: tattoo (only word in the text that matches the requirements, tattoo contains 1 "a", 2 "o"s, and 3 "t"s)
Page 10 - Clue: +zinc | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: brass (copper + zinc = brass)
Page 11 - Clue: able was I ere… | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: radar (able was i ere i saw elba is a palindrome, the only palindrome in the text is radar)
Page 12 - Clue: all the vowels | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: equation (the only word in the text with each of the vowels (aeiou) is equation)
Page 13 - Clue: cabbage king’s mood | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: merry (cole slaw is made of cabbage, Old king cole was a merry old soul.)
Page 14 - Clue: past present | Highlighted: swing, dashed | Solution: ~ (a tilde (~) is a swung dash (the approx sign ~ ))
Page 15 - Clue: works backwards | Highlighted: nothing | Solution: devil ("lived" backwards in devil)
Page 16

Banned text is from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey:

MCMURPHY (V.O) (through loudspeaker) Medication time! Medication time! Rise and shine! Rise and shine! Time to say goodbye... Everybody up, up, up!

ninwiki entries: Another Version of the Truth

Wreckage is Pain

2007-04-16T08:23:00.000-05:00

By combining exhibitA.wav with Capital G, a voice is heard saying "wreckage is pain." Of course, this sends us off to the Mailstrom. But we don't have a shard. No worries. Just put pain in for the wreckage and hit submit, it sends you to this page. Compare that page against the normal try again page, and you'll notice some differences.

Take all of the capital letters out of the error message, and that's the shard.

New Match: Pain -- anotherversionofthetruth/0, another page on AVOTT. Banned text: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk:

Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die. For a long time though, Tyler and I were best friends. People are always asking, did I know about Tyler Durden.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom, Capital G

Exterminal Active

2007-04-16T07:57:00.000-05:00

exterminal.net (24.7.1) is no longer a pilgrim stream (See previous entry for discovery), and has lots of content. We learn where cedocore.com/rswtb came from, and a bit about the Extrajudiciary Federal Detainment Camp out in Guam.

One of the big surprises from this site, is a 39MB wav of Capital G, called exhibitA.wav. Immediately people attacked this clue. exhibitA was combined with various rips of Capital G until this was discovered.

We also find out what happened to our friend from iamtryingtobelieve.com.

The banned text is Watchmen by Alan Moore:

Rorshach's Journal. October 12th, 1985. Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.

ninwiki entries: Exterminal, Capital G

Rebel Art

2007-04-16T07:28:00.000-05:00

freerebelart.net (24.2.1) was discovered a few days ago from the liner notes to Year Zero, and up until now, this site was a pilgrim stream. There's a couple of cool things you can do at this page, one of which is you can receive an almost instant phone call, and you learn the real purpose of this website.

Recording of the callback

The call originates from the same number on the back of Year Zero (866-445-6580), so calling that phone number will give you the previous message.

Also, on the next page (if you don't want to receive the phone call, just hit submit) you can rat out anyone you want via email. Clicking the big button at the bottom of the page will send out an email to whatever email address you want, and it sends a bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) to informer@freerebelart.com, you get this response:

Thank you for helping us identify other citizens in need of re-education.

It will be a long time before the United States can have full confidence in you as a citizen, but we realize you are working hard to correct your earlier mistake. If any of the people you identify as subversive do in fact take the step of signing up at freerebelart.net, we will review the status of your citizen points and consider reinstating a portion of them based on your actions.

Now more than ever, America needs you, heart and soul. Welcome home.

United States Bureau of Morality

----

To help you make better choices, please review the information at http://www.ThePriceOfTreason.net Remember, your browser activity is being logged and monitored.

The banned text is from Raymond Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder:

But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

ninwiki entry: Free Rebel Art

Activate Pilgrim Streams!

2007-04-16T07:16:00.000-05:00

The pilgrim streams were activated at midnight eastern time. That means Free Rebel Art, Exterminal, Viability Index, Mining for life, and the Scorpion and Usurp wreckages are all now in play.

Mining for Life

2007-04-15T23:07:00.000-05:00

miningforlife.com was discovered in one of the most amazingly simple ways ever. A Google search for "Pilgrim Stream" found it. At least that's the theory, the person that found it never said how.

And yeah, another pilgrim stream. (24.22)

Mining for Life

Viability Index

2007-04-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

viabilityindex.com was discovered by combining a these images together:

From the Robot OSR handout:

EU Year Zero booklet:

US Year Zero booklet:

Created this:

It's missing a piece or two, but it was enough to find the new site. Also, this is another pilgrim stream (24.6).

ninwiki entry: Viability Index

OSR Phones Starting Ringing

2007-04-14T22:28:00.000-05:00

People with phones from last night's meetup were called today, and they were put through a number of questions like what does OSR mean? are you 18? are you available on the 18th? are you bringing a guest? and others. Some people didn't answer their phones for one reason or another, and they were left messages of disappointment; they may or may not be contacted in the future.

LA OSR Meetup

2007-04-13T22:08:00.000-05:00

7:00 came, and the OSR meetup in LA went off without a hitch. People who showed up received one of 2 ammo boxes full of resistance loot. The contents of the boxes:


Black Resistance Kit  Red Resistance Kit
10 Flyers             10 Flyers 
10 Buttons            10 Buttons
1 marker              1 marker
1 hat                 1 hat
1 bandana             1 bandana
1 patch               1 patch
4 stickers            4 stickers
1 stencil             1 stencil
                      1 phone

The cool kids with a phone inside their box had this message inside:

If you are 18 or over, and will be in LA area Wed. Apr. 18th we need you. If not, give this hardware to someone else.

the phone is your membership card to the resistance. Within the next few days we will use it to contact you with details of this first resistance meeting. It will get you through the door.

Keep it charged, and keep it with you at all times, Most importantly, there are only 100 minutes of use on these phones, so use them up and you'll be SOL.

We'll be in touch.

The loot:

More pics and vids in this ETS post

OSR Meetup Pregame

2007-04-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

Just before the OSR Meetup was about to happen, a few more buttons were handed out.

Found: hubris, 39tpLe, Ad54S7

New Match: Hubris -- Marine writes his girlfriend. Banned text: The Crucible by Arthur Miller:

There is a misty plot afoot so subtle we should be criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships.

New Match: Regret -- Olive Oil. banned text is already discovered.

Only cleansing remains unmatched now.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

Wreckages From the YZ Booklet

2007-04-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

Turns out that shards and wreckages don't have to be from buttons anymore. Clues from the liner notes gave us two more wreckages. Scorpion, and Usurp. Unfortunately they're pilgrim streams.

Scorpion is from the gun on the right digipack foldout.

Usurp came from the red numbers (573a75737020533a333937573450) scattered throughout the booklet. The the numbers were paired up, and converted to ASCII.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

One Country at a Time

2007-04-11T21:12:00.000-05:00

onecountryatatime.net (24.11.1) was discovered from context on the LA Mural, and is a comic drawn up by a street artist.

Other versions of the site, since it's a comic and all:
pdf format
cbr format

It is speculated that Mark Bagley is the real world artist for the artwork.

The banned text is from Pleasantville by Gary Ross:

BOB: [to David/Bud and Bill] 'You are charged with descration of a public building and the intentional use of prohibited paint colors in violation of The Pleasantville Code of Conduct and "Laws of Common Decency." Do you admit that on the night of May 1 you did consciously and willfully apply the following FORBIDDEN paint colors to the North Wall of the Pleasantville Police Station: Red, Pink, Vermilion, Puce, Chartreuse, Umber, Blue, Aqua, Ox Blood, Green, Peach, Crimson, Yellow, Olive and Magenta?'

ninwiki entry: One Country at a Time

OSR in LA

2007-04-11T20:55:00.000-05:00

Most people on OSR's mailing list received this email:

Unbelievable, the quality of stuff you have been sending in. Check out the new content on the site-and beyond that, people are starting to submit platforms with real potential. From campus DJs and copy store clerks to people with connections at major networks and publications. This feels like the start of something real. (I'll be sending out the first few connections soon, so please keep them coming. Every voice out here helps.)

Local news-some very serious artists in LA are making a difference in a very public place. Check out the piece near Melrose and Ogden in LA. If you're worried about where this country (and this world) is going, check out their work. It will remind you why you should be worried: but maybe give you a little juice for the fight, too.

Lastly, a few of us are talking about organizing a meeting here in LA. If you're interested, show up at the Melrose location at or a little after 7 pm on this Friday evening (April 13th). Wear something that shows you're one of us. Stand under the big pig and follow the revolver across the street to the van. Knock twice. When you've got the stuff, get out of there fast. Don't attract attention. Don't be followed.

That's it for now. Sometimes it feels like hope is hard to come by. What you're doing makes hope a little easier for me to find.

Neil

----

To be removed from this list, reply to this mail with "unsubscribe" as the subject line.

Investigation of the location revealed a giant mural (24.11.3).

Links to additional pictures of the mural are in this ETS thread

This accompanied an update to the OSR site with more great user submissions.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut (OOG)

2007-04-11T13:45:00.000-05:00

Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five passed away today from irreversible brain injuries to a fall he took at his Manhattan home. Slaughterhouse-Five is featured as one of the banned texts in the Year Zero ARG.

Red Horse Vector

2007-04-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

redhorsevector.net (24.9.2) was discovered from a distorted voice in The Great Destroyer at 2:24. Much audio work was done to the song, and a voice emerged that said "red horse vector."

This site describes the Red Horse Virus, and how the US is protecting a few choice people in key governmental, corporate, and clerical positions against terrorist use of the Red Horse Virus on US soil.

Included is a video (24.9.1) of Jed Mather's execution, showing the effects of the Red Horse Virus. This is a possible explanation for what agent was used at the Starchamber Massacre. The beginning of the video is in French, this is the translation:

This guy, leaves the embassy without escort, it believes like that we will help him, he believes we will keep him, to drive his car with his dog, without bodyguard, and that we will say, look, it is American not like the others, it will be our friend that one...

Something to note: The CIA is no longer the Central Intelligence Agency, it's now the Consolidated Intelligence Agency. Most likely the same Consolidated that administers the Consolidated Mail System.

Year Zero history: Jed Mather's execution

ninwiki entry: Red Horse Vector

Trent Comments on Recent Events (News)

2007-04-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

Trent Renzor made the following comments today:

As we approach the end of this leg of the tour I find myself slipping into a depression. Part of it is touring itself - I've really had enough at this point. Another factor has been the production headaches of this tour. I was busy finishing the record and didn't have the resources to dedicate to getting overly involved in the light show this time around, assuming my instructions had been followed... This led to multiple personnel changes and the end result - a poor light show which made / makes every show feel like a disappointment on some level to me.
And... as flattered and happy as I am regarding the interest in Year Zero, it's still frustrating to see that as hard as you try to make the experience as cool as it can be for fans, most people will still hear a poor rip and ugly scans of your artwork - ruining the excitement / secrets / experience. Blah blah blah. Weird position to be in.

Rob Sheridan also had some choice words concerning the low quality images of the packaging and liner notes. Basically he told us to back off and wait for the damned album to drop.

Exterminal

2007-04-06T20:17:00.000-05:00

exterminal.net is another early find, and is also a pilgrim stream (24.7). It was found from binary code printed on the Year Zero CD that was only visible when the thermochrome heated up. Like so:

Normally the CD is black, when heated, it's white. The code:

0110 010 1011 110
00011 101 00011
00101 0111001 00110110
1011 010 010
1101110011000
010 11 011 0
0 0 01 0 1 1 1 00 110
1 1100 1100 1 01 01
11 0 1
0 0

When the code is converted to ASCII, the url exterminal.net is given.

ninwiki entry: Exterminal

Free Rebel Art

2007-04-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

freerebelart.com was discovered early via a prerelease copy of Year Zero. freerebelart.com is printed in the liner notes. This discovery was accompanied by a series of other low quality images of the packaging at ETS.

Currently the only thing on this site is "Pilgrim Stream 24.2 - Data in Transit" most likely this will happen with future sites that are found early as well.

ninwiki entries: Free Rebel Art

Grace the Teacher

2007-04-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

gracetheteacher.net (24.8.1) was discovered by someone with really good ears. Faint Morse Code was heard in Another Version of the Truth, and it was determined to be grace the teacher. The website describes the events of a family that moved out to the country where Parepin is not in the water.

Clips of AVOTT with the Morse

ninwiki entries: Grace the Teacher, Parepin

Minor OSR Update

2007-04-04T19:51:00.000-05:00

OSR updated, returning the numbers to the site. Appears to have been a slight oversight.

Year Zero Player (OOG)

2007-04-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

In response to the album leaking all over the NINternet, yearzero.nin.com updated to include the Year Zero Player(link is dead), allowing NIN fans to listen to the album in full. Incidentally, the player was of higher quality than the leak, prompting many people to shitcan the stuff they just downloaded.

Phone Number on Year Zero Packaging

2007-04-04T19:35:00.000-05:00

An image of the back of Year Zero popped up revealing a phone number intended to be used to rat other people out for listening to subversive music.

Calling the phone number (866-445-6580) tells a different tale.

Recording of the message

24.12.2 in the message.

ninwiki entries: 18664456580

More Hackery

2007-04-03T19:12:00.000-05:00

The brute force searches are over, the remaining three shards now have matches. Going the other way to try to match regret and cleansing will take something on the order of years to complete. So here's the latest finds:

Cleaver -- The Presence makes an appearance at a NASCAR event (the date is right for the Daytona 500, it's not mentioned). The banned text is The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier:

They murdered him. As he turned to take the ball, a dam burst against the side of his head and a hand grenade shattered his stomach. Engulfed by nausea, he pitched toward the grass. His mouth encountered gravel, and he spat frantically, afraid that some of his teeth had been knocked out. Rising to his feet, he saw the field through drifting gauze but held on until everything settled into place, like a lens focusing, making the world sharp again, with edges.

Necrotic -- A break-up letter. Banned text: ???

Parasite -- Teenagers in Year Zero. The banned text is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides:

But I was beginning to understand something about normality. Normality wasn’t normal. It couldn’t be. If normality were normal, everybody could leave it alone. They could sit back and let normality manifest itself. But people—and especially doctors—had doubts about normality. They weren’t sure normality was up to the job. And so they felt inclined to give it a boost.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

OSR Updates, They Really Are Taking Submissions

2007-04-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

OSR updated today, adding a couple more pages, one of which is user submissions. There's some talented people out there, awesome work guys!

...But they seem to have forgotten the numbers

Belladonna

2007-04-02T18:58:00.000-05:00

Belladonna was found by a brute force dictionary search to match 3Mz3tU with its wreckage. The banned text is Angels in America by Tony Kushner:

I see the universe, Joe, as a kind of sandstorm in outer space with winds of mega-hurricane velocity, but instead of grains of sand it's shards and splinters of glass ... You ever feel that way? Ever have one of those days?

Work is underway to match the unmatched shards with a wreckage...

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

Spore Found

2007-04-01T18:46:00.000-05:00

The shard pQw2pP was posted on ninwiki, but no explanation was given as to how it was found. It matches with spore, so we get a new Mailstrom page.
themailstrom.com/spore_pQw2pP.htm Turns out the insurance companies are even bigger bastards in the future. The banned text was discovered a few posts back.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

RIP Darren Kroupa (OOG)

2007-04-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

Darren Kroupa passed away today after a battle with malignant melanoma. He was known in the Year Zero ARG as a "notorious underground figure" on the Secure Broadcast Informatics site.

New Cedocore Page

2007-03-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

Something new was discovered on the German Survivalism single. The following letters were highlighted on the inside: rswtb, and notches on the spine of the case spelled out cedocore.

The two were put together and cedocore.com/rswtb was found. Now we find out that Cedocore also makes Opal. The banned text is Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond:

Will tourists someday stare bewildered at the rusting hulks of New York’s skyscrapers, much as we stare today at the jungle-overgrown ruins of Maya cities?

ninwiki entries: Cedocore, Opal

Cleanising Backgrounds Found

2007-03-28T19:13:00.000-05:00

Another find using the leetspeak method
c734n51ng_01.jpg
c734n51ng_02.jpg
c734n51ng_03.jpg
Banned text: Beloved by Toni Morrison:

The Women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were it's only victims.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

More Wreckages

2007-03-27T18:46:00.000-05:00

More buttons out of the Cleveland listening party.

Found: atropine, 3Mz3tU, cleansing, 6k961G, jp411r, Nnqa49

New Match (from old buttons, the page wasn't live until today: Venom -- Black market organ shipments. The banned text is The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer:

But the compassion lasted for only a few minutes. He understood it all, knew he could do nothing about it any longer, and was not even tempted. What was the use? He sighed and the acuteness of his mood slipped out with his breath. There were some things you could never fix. It was too mixed-up. A man had to get out by himself or he became like Hennessey, worrying over every gimcrack in his life.

New Match: Infarction -- Someone ordered a sex book. The banned text is Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein:

Christ was crucified for preaching without a police permit. Sweat over that, instead!

New Match: Needle -- Run away to Belize! The banned text is 1984 by George Orwell (again):

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

New Match: Sickle (NSFW) -- Sex toy spam. The banned text is already discovered, look back a few posts. There's an email address on this page, and it works. Sending an email to PenetratorXL@consolidatedmailsystems.com returns this reply:

Sales of PENETRATOR XL have been discontinued pending litigation.

If you look at the first letter of each line on the wreckage page, it spells "Nerochip Extraction." Using that in the subject line to the same email address returns this:

If this is one of Willie’s friends or clients, Willie is in prison. I guess it was just more important to him to look after you than it was to take care of me & anna-marie. I hope you think it was worth it. I’m still waiting for the Glorious Resistance to send me a box of diapers and some baby food and job that pays more than minimum wage. Oh—right. Those jobs are for people who AREN’T married to dissidents.

New Match: Widow -- Vox News reporter is tired of terrorists. The banned text is M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang:

GALLIMARD. Butterfly, Butterfly...(He forces himself to turn away, as the image of Song fades out, and talks to us.)The limits of my cell are such: four-and-a-half meters by five.

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

Open Source Resistance

2007-03-27T18:16:00.000-05:00

opensourceresistance.net (24.5.2) was mentioned on thepriceoftreason.net. Unlike the other websites in-game. This site is set in 2007, so no glitchyness because this wasn't sent to us by the SBI crew.

This site updates frequently, the original version of the website is mirrored by NetNinja. Also, this site marks a new stage in the ARG. OSR takes user submissions, bringing more interactivity to the game.

There's a couple of emails the site, subscribing to the mailing list (list@opensourceresistance.net with "subscribe" in the subject line)

Thanks. You are now on the Open Source Resistance email list. I don’t sell, I don’t spam. If you want to get off, write back with "Unsubscribe" in the subject at any time.

Welcome. There are more of us than there are of Them. Let’s make that count for something.

Sending a submission (submit@opensourceresistance.net with "content" in the subject line) returns this:

Thanks! I mean that. Your particular piece may rock my world or leave me cold, but the fact that you put the time and energy into making it in the first place is what matters the most. That kind of effort is the thing that allows me to hope the future will be better than I fear.

I never know exactly when I’ll have time to review submissions, but I will try to get to it soon.

Year Zero History: The resistance movement begins in March of -15 BA

ninwiki entries: Open Source Resistance, Neil Czerno

Don't Be Un-American

2007-03-27T17:51:00.000-05:00

The following email was received by a seemingly random group of YZ ARGers:

<DCS1000@thepriceoftreason.net>

<TRACE>
<INITIALIZE: DCS1000 v24.5.3>
<SEARCH>
<IDENTIFIED: http://www.iamtryingtobelieve.com>
<IDENTIFIED: http://www.anotherversionofthetruth.com>
<IDENTIFIED: http://www.artisresistance.com>
<ERROR: http://www.solutionsbackwardsinitiative.net/pilgrims>
||||| date-time failure |||||
<RESUME SEARCH>
<IDENTIFIED: email address of recipient>
<END TRACE>

ATTENTION!

The Bureau of Morality has identified you as A CONSUMER OF DISSIDENT MATERIAL.

This is a one time warning. Any further attempts to view, consume, or distribute un-american content will result in the loss of citizenship increments and/or the imposition of fines, penalties, or imprisonment.

You have choices. Make the RIGHT ones.

For further information on making good choices, visit http://www.thepriceoftreason.net

Bureau of Morality
One Nation Under God

24.5.3 is listed in the email. Sending an email to dcs1000@thepriceoftreason.net yields this result:

This server does not accept incoming mail. Do not attempt to explain, deny, or justify your activities.

Friends, parents, teachers-anyone can try to shake your belief in America. Traitors and dissidents aren't stupid: some of the things they say can sound very reasonable. But...

REASON can be TREASON.

Remember the cost. http://www.ThePriceOfTreason.net

This, of course leads to The Price of Treason (24.5.1), a website administered by the government as a way to make people act "American." A new character is introduced, Neil Czerno, a prominent resistance leader through the years. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is the banned text:

Rattlesnakes! Don’t take chances with ’em, an’ if they argue, shoot first. If a kid’ll kill a cop, what’ll the men do? Thing is, get tougher’n they are. Treat ‘em rough. Scare ‘em.

Year Zero History: Neil Czerno's background

ninwiki entries: The Price of Treason, Neil Czerno

Listening Party Leak (OOG)

2007-03-25T17:47:00.000-05:00

A really bad recording of the Chicago listening party leaked today, and quickly made it's rounds around the NINternet.

Another Version of the Past

2007-03-24T17:35:00.000-05:00

A new page on AVOTT was found from the Survivalism pdf. One of the "revisionisms" in the pdf links to anotherversionofthetruth.com, so revisionism was used in the URL, taking us to a much needed page detailing the history of Year Zero. Click and drag the panels from the left and top to cover up the government's revisionist history, and read another version of the past.

The banned text comes from Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present:

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log.

Year Zero History: Tons

ninwiki entry: Another Version of the Truth

Survivalism Lyrics PDF Available

2007-03-24T17:29:00.000-05:00

The Year Zero minisite updated today with a link to the Survivalism lyrics pdf (link dead). On the last page of the pdf it says "Halo23i." The speculation is, this pdf was intended for distribution with the iTunes single, but it was delayed. It was released this way so we could get another clue. One of the "revisionisms" in the booklet links to anotherversionofthetruth.com.

The above link has been dead for a while. Luckily the Wayback Machine spares our precious bandwidth.

Another Background

2007-03-23T17:24:00.000-05:00

Another wreckage background was found using leetspeak.
regret:
r3gr3t_01.jpg
r3gr3t_02.jpg
r3gr3t_03.jpg
Banned text: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling:

Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you an idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one...

ninwiki entry: Mailstrom

5 More Wreckages, 2 backgrounds

2007-03-22T16:50:00.000-05:00

Tons of new buttons out of the Denver, Detroit, and Phoenix listening parties.

Found: atropine, gH319x, MKs742, needle, Ji3p09, slander, venom, D3i8Na, corrida, regret, Yr4893, flense, E5PPvv

New Match: Atropine -- Spring Break timeshares in Green Bay. The banned text is Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge by James Morrow:

Take your cup down to the Caspian, dip, and drink. It did not always taste of salt. Yahweh's watery slaughter may have purified the earth, but it left his seas a ruin, brackish with pagan blood and the tears of wicked orphans.

New Match: Corrida -- The Presence and Shiva. The banned text is The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels:

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

New Match: Flense -- Girlfriend rats out her boyfriend. The banned text is Orientalism by Edward Said:

On June 13, 1910, Arthur James Balfour lectured the House of Commons on 'the problems with which we have to deal in Egypt.' 'These,' he said, 'belong to a whole different category than those affecting the Isle of Wight or West Riding of Yorkshire.'

New Match: Pliers -- Animal abuse. The banned text is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien:

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack.

New Match: Slander -- Kid dies after playing a MMORPG for 5 straight days. The banned text is Hiroshima by John Hersey:

At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the girl office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk.

The backgrounds some of the wreckages were discovered to be named using leetspeak, and the backgrounds to 2 more wreckages was found.
Spore:
5p0r3_01.jpg
5p0r3_02.jpg
5p0r3_03.jpg
Banned text: The Fate of an Honest Intellectual by Noam Chomsky:

He's now living in a little apartment somewhere in New York City, and he's a part-time social worker working with teenage drop-outs. Very promising scholar—if he'd done what he was told, he would have gone on and right now he'd be a professor somewhere at some big university. Instead he's working part-time with disturbed teenaged kids for a couple thousand dollars a year. That's a lot better than a death squad, it's true—it's a whole lot better than a death squad. But those are the techniques of control that are around.

sickle:
5ick13_01.jpg
5ick13_02.jpg (NSFW)
5ick13_03.jpg
Banned text: Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman:

Heather's favourite number is two. She has two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, two hands, and two feet. Heather has two pets: a ginger-colored cat named Gingersnap and a big black dog named Midnight. Heather also has two mommies: Mama Kate and Mama Jane.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

3 More Wreckages

2007-03-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

New buttons out of the Dallas listening party.

Found: BGtg57, fratricide, 774HZx, tP366K, pliers, wetwork, c276E4

New Match: Bitter -- The Omega Men. The banned text is A Seperate Peaceby John Knowles

I felt fear's echo, and along with that I felt the unhinged, uncontrollable joy which had been its accompaniment and opposite face, joy which had broken out sometimes in those days like Northern Lights across black sky.

New Match: Fratricide -- Stonewall anniversary. The banned text is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman:

You couldn't blame it all on the military, though. The evidence they presented for the Taurans having been responsible for the earlier casualties was laughably thin. The few people who pointed this out were ignored. The fact was, Earth's economy needed a war, and this one was ideal. It was a nice hole to throw buckets of money into, but would unify humanity rather than dividing it.

New Match: Wetwork -- how to avoid the water. The banned text is A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess:

He was in the land all right, well away, in orbit, and I knew what it was like, having tried it like everybody else had done, but at this time I'd got to thinking it was a cowardly sort of a beschch, O my brothers. You'd lay there after you'd drunk the old moloko...

Year Zero history: The lynx, snow leopard, and orangutan have all been hunted to extinction

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

Wretched

2007-03-18T16:35:00.000-05:00

New buttons out of the Chicago listening party.

Found: wretched, Ypq2QQ

New Match: Wretched -- a soldier's confession. The banned text is Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto, — "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

Tumbrel

2007-03-15T16:27:00.000-05:00

New buttons out of the Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Diego listening parties.

Found: infarction, tumbrel, AD44Us, vC99iT

New Match: Tumbrel -- spam from the future! The banned text is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison:

I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, days, a spy in the enemy's country ever since I give up my gun back in the reconstruction. Live with your head in the lion's mouth.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

Put In Order

2007-03-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

Ourendtrip is an anagram for put in order. It took a little while, but using the right channel as a marker (it's an ascending tone), ourendtrip.aif from the Survivalism mulitracks was chopped up, and put in order. A voice is heard saying "case number 6455DA04."

Both versions of the file

The case number was taken over to the Judson Ogram staff page and the following information was used to log in to another case file:
User: Preston Gantry
Case number: 6455DA04
Password: francesca

Which accesses Moria Waag's file, and a really interesting take on The Presence. Banned text from Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire:

The decades - Fiyero thought, in love with her or at least so frightened for her that he could mistake it for love -- the decades looked on and didn't see her passing. They stared from their fixed mounts across at each other and didn't see the revolution striding between them, on her way to destiny.

ninwiki entries: Judson Ogram

New Buttons

2007-03-14T15:53:00.000-05:00

New buttons from the New York listening party.

bitter, blE34c, spore

No new pages though

Gasoline

2007-03-13T15:44:00.000-05:00

Buttons were released at tonight's listening party in Minneapolis. The lettering on the top of the buttons was inputted into Mailstrom's login box, and guess what? These things are wreckages and shards.

Found: I682fg, gasoline, uuu891, sickle

One combo works: Gasoline taking us to a really sad email. Damn that BoM! Banned text from Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America:

Mostly out of laziness, I decide to start my low-wage life in the town nearest to where I actually live, Key West, Florida, which with a population of about 25,000 is elbowing its way up to the status of a genuine city. The downside of familiarity, I soon realize, is that it's not easy to go from being a consumer, thoughtlessly throwing money around in exchange for groceries and movies and gas, to being a worker in the very same place. I am terrified, especially at the beginning, of being recognized by some friendly business owner or erstwhile neighbor and having to stammer out some explanation of my project. Happily, though, my fears turn out to be entirely unwarranted: during a month of poverty and toil, no one recognizes my face or my name, which goes unnoticed and for the most part unuttered. In this parallel universe where my father never got out of the mines and I never got through college, I am 'baby,' 'honey,' 'blondie,' and, most commonly, 'girl.'

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

I Got My Remixism

2007-03-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

Survivalism was released in Garageband 3 format today. What's this ourendtrip file?

Link

Also, ~~Joe Cool~~ Trent made an appearance at the London Mural

Survivalism Video on Official Site

2007-03-11T15:57:00.000-05:00

The Survivalism video was added to the YZ minisite today. Here's the links:

Low
High

Mailstrom

2007-03-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

themailstrom.com (24.1.1) was discovered from the Year Zero lithographs passed out during the Salt Lake listening party. This site hacks through Consolidated's encrypted data stream, and pulls out emails. To use this site we need a wreckage and a shard. The first combination is given to us on the info page (gallows/Y3RG7J), which takes us to an email dated 6 Jan 0000.

The banned text on the Gallows page is Orwell's 1984:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

Listening Parties Begin

2007-03-11T15:13:00.000-05:00

The Year Zero listening parties kicked off tonight in Salt Lake City. Party goers who pre ordered the album at the event were given a limited edition lithograph. And wouldn't you know it, there's a clue on the litho. In the upper left corner "The Mailstrom" is visible, leading us to themailstrom.com.

ninwiki entries: Mailstrom

Chip Sweep

2007-03-11T01:55:00.000-06:00

operationchipsweep.net (24.20.2) was descovered from context on operationswamp0000.net. It's basically the flip side of Op Swamp, this site describes the Brixton Chip Riots, and how criminals are chipped in the UK.

The Perils of Obedience by Stanley Milgram is the banned text this time:

The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' [participants'] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' [participants'] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation. Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.

Year Zero History: Brixton Chip Riots, UK Scales Act, The Chelsea Incident

ninwiki entries: Operation Chip Sweep

Operation Swamp

2007-03-11T01:48:00.000-06:00

operationswamp0000.net (24.20.1) was discovered using context on the London Mural. The site describes DIY nerochip removal.

The banned text is The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger:

I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff— I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy.

ninwiki entries: Operation Swamp 0000

London Mural

2007-03-11T01:30:00.000-06:00

A second AIR flier was discovered. This one had specific directions to a location in the Brixton area of London.

EC1 Kingsland Road and Old Street: Under the Bridge

NIN ARGers went out to check out the scene and discovered a billboard with some pretty crazy artwork.

Album on Flickr of the Mural
Big picture of the Mural

Numbers on the mural: 24.20.3
Numbers on the flier: 24.20.4

Cedocore

2007-03-07T01:11:00.000-06:00

cedocore.com (24.18.1) was found using context from judsonogram.net, and is a major pharmaceutical company, if not the only pharmaceutical company. They are the ones that make Parepin, and a host of other drugs.

ninwiki entries: Cedocore, Parepin

Judson Ogram

2007-03-07T00:52:00.000-06:00

judsonogram.net (24.16.2) was discovered from context on thewaterturnedtoblood.net. It describes a correctional facility -- Year Zero style.

The Staff page contains a login box. Using this information will grant access to another page:

User: Preston Gantry (from the picture on the right)
Case number: 4382BX12 (from thewaterturnedtoblood.net)
Password: francesca (the capital/lower case letters from thewaterturnedtoblood.net)

Successfully entering this information will grant access to John Ferminger's case file (aka John of Boston).

Cedocore is mentioned on this site.

The Banned text is Darwin's Origin of the Species

We shall best understand the probable course of natural selection by taking the case of a country undergoing some physical change, for instance, of climate. The proportional numbers of its inhabitants would almost immediately undergo a change, and some species might become extinct.

Year Zero History: Boston Red Tide Event

ninwiki entries: Judson Ogram, The Presence, John Ferminger, Cedocore

The Water Turned to Blood

2007-03-07T00:24:00.000-06:00

thewaterturnedtoblood.net (24.16.1) was discovered via context in the Survivalism video. It describes an inmate in Judson Ogram Correctional Facility, and artwork representing The Presence dominates this site.

Note the capital letters on the upper part of this page (same letters as the lower case letters on the lower part of the page), this will be important.

A Bible passage is given:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

which is from Ephesians 6:12. Entering Ephesians 6:12 into the password box (the thumb of the presence) takes you to The Broken Bride (24.16.3).

Those capital letters spell out "FRANCESCA," we'll need that soon.

The banned text this time is Howl: Part II by Allen Ginsberg:

Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs!
skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic
industries! spectral nations! invincible mad
houses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!

Year Zero History: Boston Red Tide Event

ninwiki entries: The Water Turned to Blood, Judson Ogram, John of Boston

Survivalsim Video

2007-03-07T00:03:00.000-06:00

Multiple USB drives were handed out to the London concert with two versions of the Survivalism video enclosed. A High quality version (164MB), and a low quality version (26MB) quicktime movie.

Survivalism on YouTube (NSFW)

Hidden letters flash in the time stamp at various intervals. When combined they are "THE_TURNED_TO"

Bible passages:
Isaiah 15:9 "For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land"
John 19:34 "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."
Exodus 7:21 "And the fish that [was] in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt."
II Kings 3:22 "And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood."
Rev 18.3.4 "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies," and "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

These passages plus the letters lead to thewaterturnedtoblood.net.

Additionally, 24.16.4 appears in the corners of various monitors.

Year Zero history: NIN may be in jail or dead.

ninwiki entries: Survivalsim, Opal

Listening Parties Announced

2007-03-02T23:49:00.000-06:00

The YZ minisite updated with a link to the (yearzero.nin.com/listen/index.html) listening parties for Year Zero (link no longer active).

An archived link is available from yearzero.netninja.com

SBI FTW!!

2007-02-28T23:18:00.000-06:00

Beside you in Time released, and the liner notes to the HD-DVD and BluRay editions contained a few odd words. "solutions," "backwards," and "initiative" A little bit of sleuthing turned up solutionsbackwardsinitiative.net, which redirects to securebroadcastinformatics.com where our hapless NIN ARGer reaches a puzzle.

The password box must be reassembled, and can be a bit frustrating. Just before the box is fully assembled, the password flashes in the password field. If you missed it it's "matt26:45-46." Successfully logging in leads you to the Pilgrims Page (24.19.2). Where we discover that a group of people from SBI are transmitting information 15 years into the past (that would be our present).

Back on the Secure Broadcast page, you can email francisco@securebroadcastinformatics.com which returns this autoreply:

As I write this, cops are coming to arrest me and my friends for trying to make America a better place to live. I'm an IT specialist, they are mostly scientists, ranging from graduate students to eminent professors. None of us are soldiers. None of us wanted to hurt anybody. We weren't in favor of violence-just the same free speech that used to be your right under the constitution.

If you look down, you will see an email I got two days ago. Is this the kind of country you want to live in? Are these the choices you want to make?

If you wanted a job here at SBI, ask yourself *which America do I want to defend?*

If you think about that for even a little while, be careful: the cops will be coming for you next.

Francisco Parro IT consultant

PS I'm sorry, Elaina. If they had come to me even a little sooner, I would have betrayed my friends to save you. Now it's too late for any of us.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr,
der protestieren konnte.

translation DE/EN:
When they came for me,
there was no one left,
to speak out

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From:
To: Francisco@securebroadcastinformatics.com
Content: hidden bandwidth

>>Dear Sir:

>>>>It has come to the attention of the Bureau of Morality's Internet Monitoring Taskforce that several of the clients for whom you handle IT seem to show bandwidth loads that do not match their formally submitted audit numbers.

We have asked for clarification of this matter on three occasions. Your replies have been either evasive or insufficient or simply late. Frankly, speaking as one human being to another, it has been as bad as dealing with a health insurance company.

>You may be aware of that frustration yourself, in the lengthy delays you have encountered trying to process the papers for your wife's breast cancer treatments. So I know you understand our frustration, and will be motivated to do your very best to explain these bandwidth discrepancies.

>>>>>>>>>You may submit any information in the full confidence that it will remain anonymous.

Perhaps your wife will start feeling better soon.

>A friend

The ">"s give us the number 24.19.1

The banned text on Secure Broadcast comes from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Have you ever heard the term 'hostages'? That's the latest punishment for saboteurs. It's the most horrible thing you can imagine. Leading citizens--innocent people--are taken prisoner to await their execution. If the Gestapo can't find the saboteur, they simply grab five hostages and line them up against the wall. You read the announcements of their death in the paper, where they're referred to as 'fatal accidents.' - October 9, 1942

The banned text on Solutions Backwards comes from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain:

It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.

Also Darren Kroupa is mentioned on the Secure Broadcast page as a "notorious underground leader," and was previously featured on a nin.com/current picture. For more on Darren Kroupa, visit the ninwiki page.

Year Zero history: 10 Feb 0000 -- Soulutions Backwards transmits data back in time to 2007 (-15 BA)

ninwiki entries: Solutions Backwards Initiative, Secure Broadcast Informatics, Darren Kroupa

Hollywood in Memoriam

2007-02-25T23:03:00.000-06:00

hollywoodinmemoriam.org (24.17.1) was discovered from invitation.jpg, which was bundled with the In This Twilight USB drive. It describes the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Los Angeles during the 81st Academy Awards.

Incidentally, at the time that NIN ARGers discovered this new website, the 79th Academy Awards were on TV.

The banned text comes from Walt Whitman's Caution

To: The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, Obey little; Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved; once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

Year Zero History: 2009 (-13 BA) Terrorist Bombings of Los Angeles

ninwiki entries: Hollywood in Memoriam

In This Twilight

2007-02-25T22:48:00.000-06:00

In This Twilight was leaked via USB drive out of Manchester. It too was a 320kbps mp3. Included with the song was invitation.jpg, which led to hollywoodinmemoriam.org.

ninwiki entries: In This Twilight, Hollywood in Memoriam

Pizza and Soda (OOG)

2007-02-25T22:40:00.000-06:00

Normally Spiral members are given early access to NIN concerts, and they get to see either all or part of the soundchecks. Not this time. Trent said to them, "Soundchecks are boring - listen to this," passed out pizza and soda, and played Year Zero in its entirety.

yearzero.nin.com Updates

2007-02-22T22:17:00.000-06:00

The Year Zero mini-site updated to include a trailer for the upcoming album, with a special appearance from The Presence.

Linkage:
High
Low

The blue sign flashing by says "I am trying to believe." (as shown on right)

/0024 appeared on a frame in the trailer (shown on left), and it was used as a URL on the site to unveil the cover art for the upcoming release. Incidentally, it also matches the expected Halo number for Year Zero.
YZ Coverart

ninwiki entries: Yearzero.nin.com, The Presence, Year Zero (The Album)

Art Is Resistance

2007-02-22T22:02:00.000-06:00

A flyer (24.13.2) was passed out at the Paris concert advertising artisresistance.com a website of the resistance.

The numbers are found on the warning page:

STOP!

By viewing this site, you are in direct violation of the Federal
Orderly Conduct Act (Section 24.13.1).

The perpetrator of this site has been imprisoned for agitation, subversion,
and disseminating anti-American propaganda.

Do NOT deface public property.
Do NOT continue viewing subversive documents.

Continuing to view this material will result in the loss of citizenship
increments. This may affect your ability to drive, to cross state lines, to
hold certain kinds of jobs, and to obtain various compulsory licenses (e.g.
marriage, worship, business, child-bearing).

Remember: FREEDOM IS A PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT

You may continue to examine this page:
1) for research, crime prevention, or pedagogical purposes only, and
2) if and only if you have an appropriate license from the Bureau of Morality.

Also, there is a link to a previously unavailable page in the AVOTT forums, describing a Missing AIR artist.

Year Zero history: AIR artist is missing

ninwiki entries: Art Is Resistance, Another Version of the Truth

Trent Sporting the Resistance Flag

2007-02-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

A new picture was posted to the current section of nin.com of Trent Reznor with an unusual flag on his shoulder.

nin.com/current/photos/2_21_07.jpg

For a Safer America

2007-02-19T21:36:00.000-06:00

uswiretap.com (link redirects to case_number_required) was discovered in the 216-333-1810 phone message.

The message mentioned case file 71839j which leads to uswiretap.com/71839j (24.3.3).

This passage from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is this site's banned text:

All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I've changed all the names. I really did go back to Dresden with Guggenheim money (God love it) in 1967. It looked a lot like Dayton, Ohio, more open spaces than Dayton has. There must be tons of human bone meal in the ground. I went back there with an old war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare, and we made friends with a cab driver, who took us to the slaughterhouse where we had been locked up at night as prisoners of war. His name was Gerhard Müller. He told us that he was a prisoner of the Americans for a while. We asked him how it was to live under Communism, and he said that it was terrible at first, because everybody had to work so hard, and because there wasn't much shelter or food or clothing. But things were much better now. He had a pleasant little apartment, and his daughter was getting an excellent education. His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes.

Year Zero History: The Starchamber Massacre

ninwiki entries: 12163331810, US Wiretap

Me, I'm Not

2007-02-19T21:25:00.000-06:00

Another USB drive appears. This time with Me, I'm Not as a 320kbps mp3. Included on the drive is another file: 2432.mp3, lovingly referred to as "crickets." A spectro of the file reveals another phone number, 216-633-1810.

Recording of the message

The recording leads to uswiretap.com

Numbers:
24.3.2 -- from 2432.mp3 and the ID tag for Me, I'm Not
24.3.1 -- from the phone message

Year Zero history: The Starchamber Massacre

ninwiki entries: 2432.mp3, My Violent Heart, 12163331810

Trent Speaks (NEWS)

2007-02-16T21:19:00.000-06:00

Trent Reznor comments on his blog at The Spiral:

Exciting times. Maddening times. Somebody needs to get the internet working in Europe for one.
The term "marketing" sure is a frustrating one for me at the moment. What you are now starting to experience IS "year zero". It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride.

The Presence Rears It's Ugly Hand

2007-02-14T21:10:00.000-06:00

A peculiar noise at the end of the My Violet Heart leak prompted some ARGers to put the track through a spectro. An image of The Presence was found.

ninwiki entries: The Presence, My Violent Heart

The Hobbit

2007-02-14T21:07:00.000-06:00

Analyzing the backgrounds of the known websites reveals text from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The following excerpt was found:

For your hospitality our sincerest thanks, and for your offer of professional assistance our grateful acceptance. Terms: cash on delivery, up to and not exceeding one fourteenth of total profits (if any); all traveling expenses guaranteed in any event; funeral expenses to be defrayed by us or our representatives, if occasion arises and the matter is not otherwise arranged for.

310-295-1040

2007-02-13T20:53:00.000-06:00

Another tour shirt pops up. This time the highlighted texts reveals a phone number: 310-925-1040.

Recording of the phone message

Year Zero History: No free elections

Number on the shirt: 24.15.1
Number in the phone message: 24.15.2

ninwiki entries: 13102951040

My Violent Heart

2007-02-13T20:47:00.000-06:00

The song My Violent Heart was found on a USB key, and was the first leak off the Year Zero album. Embedded in the ID tag for the 320kbps mp3 was a link to anotherversionofthetruth.com, the intended discovery path for the website.

NIN fans cannot contain themselves.

Consolidated

2007-02-12T20:18:00.000-06:00

consolidatedmailsystems.com (link redirects to citizen_unkown) was discovered through context in the AVOTT forums. Using the forum alias nooneimportant as part of the URL, we find a message from Angry Sniper. Consolidated Mail Systems is a combination of all mail delivery, both physical and electronic, in the World of Year Zero, and administered by the Government.

The numbers are found in the following pop-up:

WARNING CODE 24.10.4 (All page functionality disabled): You are not the citizen assigned to this account. Close this window immediately and stay where you are. Authorities will be in contact shortly for appropriate reeducation.

ninwiki entries: Consolidated Mail Systems, Angry Sniper, The Presence, Opal

Church of Plano

2007-02-12T20:03:00.000-06:00

24.10.2 churchofplano.com was also discovered in the same IP block as other Year Zero sites. It was intended to be found via context at 105thairbornecrusaders.com.

Bible Entries: Romans 13: 1-7, and Psalm 58

Year Zero History: 13 Feb 0000 -- Future sermons at the church

ninwiki entries: Church of Plano

The 105th

2007-02-12T19:46:00.000-06:00

Another website discovered in the same IP block as other Year Zero sites. 105thairbornecrusaders.com (24.10.6) was intended to be discovered through context on bethehammer.net.

Year Zero History:
Sep -13 BA -- 105th commissioned as a response to the LA terror attacks
4 Feb 0000 -- The Presence spotted
Military campaigns in Syria, Yemen, Chad, Kashmir, former-Iran,
post-Iran and Turkey

ninwiki entries: 105th Airborne Crusaders, The Presence

Be The Hammer

2007-02-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

bethehammer.net (24.10.7) was originally discovered in the same IP block as other Year Zero websites. Originally it was intended to be found via a link in the AVOTT forums. Be The Hammer chronicles the actions of a former member of the 105th Airborne Rangers.

ninwiki entries: Be The Hammer, Angry Sniper

Another Version of the Truth

2007-02-12T18:30:00.000-06:00

The website anotherversionofthetruth.com (24.10.8) was in the same IP block as other Year Zero sites and was discovered early. The front page of the website shows a pleasant image of a farm, with the text "America is Born Again." Clicking and dragging the image reveals a more sinister image, and a link to the forums list.

Inside the forums, there are a couple of audio files,
opalo.mp3,
ballgameOver.mp3,and
nohurry.mp3 (Wasn't put on the site until the 13th)

Morse code was later discovered in the audio files, giving us these numbers:

24.10.1 -- nohurry.mp3

24.10.3 -- opalo.mp3

24.10.5 -- ballgameOver.mp3

Website was originally to be discovered through the ID tag of the My Violent Heart leak.

ninwiki entries: Another Version of the Truth (Website), BallgameOver.mp3, Opalo.mp3 (includes translation), Nohurry.mp3, Baseball in February, Angry Sniper, Opal

Unfiction Picks Up on the ARG

2007-02-12T18:19:00.000-06:00

The good people over at Unfiction get right to work and discover that 105thairbornecrusaders.com, anotherversionofthetruth.com, bethehammer.net, churchofplano.com are in the same IP block as iamtryingtobelieve.com.

Let The Madness Begin

2007-02-12T17:43:00.000-06:00

This tour shirt was discovered in Lisbon, Portugal:

Upon closer inspection several highlighted letters were found, spelling out iamtryingtobelieve. .com was added to the end of the letters, and the 1st website to the Year Zero ARG was discovered, iamtryingtobelieve.com.

This site introduces us to Parepin, something the government is putting into the water under the guise of protecting us from bio-terrorism. The author is off the Parepin now, and is thinking much clearer.

We are also introduced to The Presence. A phenomenon that appears to be a giant hand reaching down from the sky.

Other conventions we are introduced to are wildly formatted text, glitchy images, and the numbers. 24.14.1 is found on the tour shirt, and 24.14.3 is found on the website. It is unknown what these numbers mean.

An email address is given for the website: water@iamtryingtobelieve.com this is the autoresponse:

------------------------AUTO_RESPONSE--------------_--

Thank you for your interest. It is now clear to me that Parepin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bio-terrorism. The Administration is acting purely in the best interests of its citizens; to suggest otherwise was irresponsible and I deeply regret it.

I'm drinking the water. So should you.

Breaking down the dashes in the email response we get another number - 24.14.2

And Nine Inch Nails fans go completely crazy.

ninwiki entries: Parepin, The Presence, I Am Trying to Believe.