Issue 4 Sunday noon Minicon Medallion Hunt Bulletin Pennysadder and pennywiser The Medallion Hunt is drawing to a close, and it’s been good solid fun. Out of a spirit of infinite pulchritude (or some equally impressive word), the Cluemeister has decided to give a final round of clues for the five medallions remaining at large. There’s still opportunity to find these— you just won’t have a guarantee of being able to find the Cluemeister to redeem them before the Dealer’s room closes. Remember—the lettered medallions are good for prizes, not Dealer Dollars. 4 p.m. is the final curtain call for the 4th Annual Medallion Hunt, as that’s when Closing Ceremonies begins. (Exception: Medallion F is a Floater that may be available, with matching prize, through the Dead Dog party.) The secrets of the other four medallions, including the Big Kahuna, will be divulged during Closing Ceremonies. Three more for the piggy bank The following medallions have been redeemed since Issue 3… 5. Sometimes the obvious things are the easiest to miss. The clues for this medallion emphasized the simplicity of its hiding place, with a recommendation to check the toothpick-adled status chart for help. In fact, Medallion 5 was stuck to the back of the chart—right behind the number 5 itself. Congrats to Jonathan B. for putting this one together within minutes of Issue 3 hitting print. (Oh, and the percentage signs used to set off the “See BBT on reverse side” text in Issue 2 were a subtle clue—the % comes above the 5 on the keyboard, thus drawing attention to the raw numerality of that glyph. You got that, right?) 8. This camouflaged medallion was affixed to one of the decorative circles in the elaborate framework of one of the lamps in the north tower atrium. It was snagged by Lisa F., who started out looking for something brass and graduated to lamps after the second clue. E2. Your Cluemeister was disappointed to find that no enthusiastic screaming hordes were rimming the poolside in anticipation of this medallion’s release at precisely 7:45 Saturday night. Apparently no one figured out the pool code for the pool medallions: the colors given in Issue 1’s clues correspond to the numbers of the classic pool balls matching those solid colors. Brown, purple, orange is therefore 7:45. As it happens, the pool was hopping with oblivious byswimmers, one of which was young Tristan L. It was he who claimed the blue Easter egg and the associated prize. I’ve got your number The task for Medallion 9 was to guess the Cluemeister’s favorite number, which could only be done during official Hours of Redemption, one guess per person per hour. While nineteen—oops, make that twenty— guesses ended up adorning the Post-Its outside the door, none was successful. As the last Hour of Redemption is now over, no one will be wresting this penny from the Cluemeister’s badge. Time, then, to give the answer. And the answer is… 343. The clues lead to it in the following ways: 343 is a cube number, which explains the ‘box’ clues. It’s the number of the monitor of Installation 04 in Bungee’s Halo games, 343 Guilty Spark. It’s the number of firefighters who died on 9/11, the number of a prominent tank in the movie Goldeneye, and the number of frames in which JFK’s limo was visible in the famous Zapruder film of his assassination. It’s a nice Friedman number in that its digits can be used in order to make itself: 343 = (3+4)^3. The fact that it goes up one and down one as you read across explains the up-down nudge. And the fact that it’s the same backwards and forwards makes it a palindrome. Now that the combined forces of fandom have failed to discover this secret number, the Cluemeister intends to use it in a game for children at a public library. Muahahaa! * See BBT on reverse side!! * CLUES: ROUND 4 π. Each number corresponds to a single digit. F. [image] G. Look for the first seat in a place called Beb. H. H is for Hogwarts! Q2. In. The. Bar. Last chance, folks! Zip to it! —The Cluemeister The Bozo Bug Tribune The Transplanted Organ of Minicon 44 Vol. 44, No. 0.4 Marsupial fandom: Doug Burrows, that handsome young wombat on the registration table, is here to promote next year’s Worldcon in Australia! Stop by to say hi and admire his badges and passport. He’s even been to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! He urges you to think seriously about attending the Worldcon and seeing his much larger cousin. See the ad inside the cover of the program book! Joint panel review: Friday afternoon’s events in Veranda 2 were more interactive get-togethers than panels. They both featured people showing off their toys and trying the technology brought by other people, whether personal electronic devices or pop-up books. The cozy space heightened the sense of intimacy, while the layered tables made for an exciting presentation forum with multiple levels of festive immediacy. These panels come collectively (and retroactively) highly recommended. What else can we logically say? —Your editors Quotes from the Steampunk panel: “I can put on a corset and still kick your [Ø] with a wrench!” —Audience member “What about zeppelin pirates?” —Sharon Kahn When challenged to come up with a single symbol for steampunk, panelists had these suggestions: The gear. (Karl Schroeder) Goggles. (Richard Mueller) A zeppelin. (Sharon Kahn) Collected by Jeanne Mealy. Sunday morning 4 a.m. Krahn-Gahlon pulse check: Gaming: 6 Games: 4 Bar: 7+2 Consuite: 1+1 Pool Area: 3 By counting: 1 By gaming: 11 Cluemeister: 1 Music: 7 Film: 1 Pulse counters: 2 Total: 47 (plus 1 pool-cleaning robot) If this makes less than perfect sense, you had to be there. Ambiguous Registration Count*: Pre-registrations: ~320 At the door: At least 94 * Scientists warn that no warm body count can safely be inferred from these figures. (Final numbers available at post-mortem.) Perennial wisdom: In closing, Laurel K. & Kevin A. would like to remind you: “Don’t be a dodo. Don’t ever be just one.” Hmmm…if only there were some sort of network of dodos… —See you next year, in some forms or others! Sharon Kahn – Editor in Absentia Thorin N. Tatge – Editor in Fact © 2009 by the Minnesota Science Fiction Society. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors, not necessarily anyone else’s.