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Rule Change starting #633

We have had a large number of correct answers (17 in the last 2 games) coming from non-verifiable e-mail addresses. These answers appear to be coming to us via anonymizing services such as TOR and/or VPNs, and judging from the structure of the answers and the fact that a large number of them seem to be from people with famous names, we strongly suspect they are coming from the same person or small group of persons. Why they are doing this is beyond us — there doesn’t appear to be any financial gain to be had from this, it just appears to be someone having their idea of “fun”.

This is a problem because we have had so many suspect answers that it is diluting the hard work that you wonderful people put in.

In an effort to combat this, we are instituting a slight rule change effective immediately. This change may or may not make a difference, but we feel we owe it to our regular players to at least try to combat this stuff.

So, here we go:

  • For a player to be recognized in the reveal, leaderboard or past winners page, they will need to provide a verifiable e-mail address and respond to a verification e-mail following their first contest entry following this post with the following exception:
    • Anyone who has played prior to Contest #630 and is in our database of players prior to Contest #630 will be considered to be verified already.
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Contest #632 — Noor III CSP, Ouarzazate Solar Power Station, Morrocco

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) refers to electricity generation by reflection and concentration of sunlight on a target, either a trough or a tower, heating that target and using that heat to run generators (boil water -> steam, etc).

The Ouarzazate Power Station has 3 CSP nodes, Noor I and Noor II are “trough” CSPs and Noor III, the image in the contest, is the world’s second tower CSP with storage (the first being Crescent Dunes in Nevada, USA). The sunlight heats a molten salt tank at the top, which stores the energy through the non-sunlight hours.

The sustained power generation from this site is about 150MW.

Those who got lit by these mirrors before the hint were:

  • Garfield
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Martin de Bock
  • Lighthouse
  • Walter_V_R
  • Phil Ower
  • hhgygy
  • Glenmorren
  • Gillian B
  • Rob de Wolff
  • Chris Nason
  • Andreas Meister
  • Yusef Yakub Hoca Fendi
  • Luís Filipe Miguel
  • Nancy Barbato
  • MC Solaar
  • John Gospel IV
  • Teemu Pukki
  • MiranDese-12
  • krenek
  • Luciano P.
  • pizzaro_12
  • Riel L
  • J.V. Conyers

And after the hint:

  • VliegendeHollander999
  • Elrober
  • Robin
  • David Kozina
  • MuThDdDe
  • Root007-1
  • Wista
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Contest #631: Santa Teresa Blade Facility, just west of El Paso, Texas, US

We started off this series of 10 with a location where wind turbine blades are stored – the Santa Teresa Blade Facility.

Diamond WTG Engineering & Services, Inc. provides wind farm owners with parts and services. The blades are constructed in Mexico and moved across the border to many locations like this one.

  • Glenmorren
  • Martin de Bock
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Garfield
  • hhgygy
  • Phil Ower
  • Lighthouse
  • LegoGame
  • Walter Schirra
  • BurningSoul
  • Fernando Antonio
  • Борис Карлофф
  • René De La Carte
  • Hans1789
  • WENDY COBURN
  • JimCricket1981
  • Walter_V_R
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Contest #630: Calipatria “Sea Level” Flagpole, Calipatria, California

The municipal flagpole in the small desert community of Calipatria, California was, at the time of build, the tallest flagpole in the world. The base of the flagpole sits 184 feet (56 M) below sea level, and the ball at the top sits at exactly sea level.

CalipatriaFlagPole.jpg
By Perdelsky (talk) – Link

CalipatriaPlaque.jpg
By Perdelsky (talk) – Link

The “Good Neigborliness” on the plaque is a reference to one Harry Momita. Harry was the town pharmacist in 1957. He and his wife Helen had lived in the Japanese internment camps during World War II, but Harry was a dedicated patriot, proud of his inherited home.

On a trip to visit their son in Los Angeles, the Momitas were in a horrible car crash. Helen was killed instantly, and Harry was critically wounded. The community drew together — they kept the pharmacy open with the help of a pharmacist from the next town over, they collected donations towards paying for Helen’s funeral and Harry’s medical care. When Harry was released and returned home, he was so touched by the graciousness of the town, that he decided he would work to create something that would make the town stand out.

The town’s elevation had long involved jokes about creating a building or something that would top out at sea level, but Harry took this idea seriously. He began to collect donations to build the flagpole, he got an architect and engineer to donate their time, he got a steel pipe company to agree to do the job for cost. Harry’s story and his quest started to make national and international news.

In May of 1958, the television program “This Is Your Life” featured him (the previous week’s guest was Kirk Douglas). They spotlighted this immigrant with a tragic past, still staunchly patriotic. They talked about his and Helen’s time in the detention camps. They also talked about his desire to build this monument to “Good Neighborliness”. Through the program, he won a car and several other prizes, including $1000 in cash — the last bit of cash he needed to start construction.

Those who found it — all before the hint:

  • Walter_V_R
  • hhgygy
  • Garfield
  • Eloy Cano
  • Lighthouse
  • Phil Ower
  • Paul Voestermans
  • Martin de Bock
  • Jean Noyau

Congratulations to the series winners, with perfect scores, hhgygy, Garfield, Lighthouse, and Jean Noyau.