Countdown to PDC2008: Pick Your Sessions, Build Your Agenda and Win a Trip

Posted By: Dan Fernandez | Aug 22nd @ 3:32 PM

In this week’s edition of the PDC Countdown (only 66 days to go), Mike and Jennifer host the marketing manager of the conference who talks about all of the great opportunities to win, win, win! Trips to LA, tickets to the Dodgers or Lakers, a movie premiere, or a trip down the red carpet at the Emmy’s could be yours. Or you could design the PDC t-shirt that will be handed out to thousands of attendees!! Wow, you could go down in PDC history if you’re the winner! Plus, I suppose we also need to talk about content and sessions . . . . so in a double whammy line-up, the creative director of the PDC appears on the show to discuss the new Agenda Builder and My Sessions user experience on the PDC web site. So much to talk about, so little time! And there’s also Mike’s Hard Hat Challenge – can you solve it in 6 hours or less? On your marks, get set, go!

http://www.microsoftpdc.com/

Tags: PDC08

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mswanson

I'm excited to see how our viewers attack this week's Hard Hat Challenge. I've dialed-up the difficulty level a bit in the hopes that it might take longer than 6 hours to solve. But, it is a challenge, and if someone solves it within 6 hours, I'll be seriously impressed. I hope I didn't make it too difficult.

Good luck!

DukeNukem

In reply to mswanson

#Aug 22nd @ 12:35 PM

Hope it's not binary because i can't seem to decode it....

My answer: THE TRANSISTOR

mswanson

In reply to DukeNukem

#Aug 23rd @ 5:00 AM

DukeNukem...this isn't something that anyone is likely to guess, and no, that is not the correct answer. It is more difficult than the prior challenges, and I'll be very interested to hear how the eventual winner solved it.

Judah

While we all love giveaways, it appears to require PDC registration.

I'd love to go to the PDC! But I don't have a few grand to blow. (Wife would kill me!)

Microsoft, how about some giveaway trips to the PDC?

DukeNukem

In reply to mswanson

#Aug 23rd @ 10:58 AM

I know, it wasn't a guess really.

In the 1950's the transistor was invented, and the binary code with the least value is the group on the right. But I don't seem to be able to decode it propperly.
It isn't brialle nor Morse-code. Binary doesn't seem to give me anything readable either.

So I gave up and made a guess Wink

Jritz

In reply to Judah

#Aug 23rd @ 12:28 PM

Hi Judah,

Actually, Mike's Hard Hat Challenge doesn't require PDC registration. Anybody can give it a go and win the limited edition PDC2008 shirt. Go ahead, give it a whirl. Mike's upped the ante to see who can guess his riddle this time. Smiley

Good luck!
Ritzy

mswanson

Could it be that I've dialed this one up too high on the difficulty scale? I'm happy to give a hint, if anyone thinks it would help. How strange would it be to deliver another Countdown to PDC2008 episode before the Challenge is solved?

mswanson

Okay...I've received a lot of e-mail that describes some fantastic effort to solve this particular Hard Hat Challenge. Many of the messages tell me enough to confirm that a number of people are on the right track. Knowing all the brainpower that's being exerted (there are some development teams that are working on the problem), I started to wonder if I was wasting the collective developer effort in the world with a faulty Challenge. So, I manually solved the problem again tonight with my wife's help (I feel sorry for her Smiley

) to re-confirm its accuracy. I also re-referenced the foundational work that the puzzle depends on to ensure that I wasn't off base.

DON'T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT A FEW HINTS

Here are a few hints that might push some of you in the right direction:

Yes, the left side of the image is a frequency chart.
The primary technique is based on a paper from 1952.
The verbal hint from the show is very important. If I avoid the silly rhyme, I might re-state it like this: if two structures are considered "equal," first pick the structure that contains the element with the lowest overall character value.

I hope this helps!

tfraser
All Hail the Mighty One!

I have worked out how to solve the problem. I do not have the solution yet but I'm very close and will post it as soon as I am finished.

Edit 1: It turns out I was on the right track but was beaten to the final solution. Continue reading the thread for further clarification.