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Story continuation based from this first riddle and this other riddle.

Bob was enjoying his day off at home when he received a message from John. John sent him a picture of a piece of art, the first piece of art John has ever created. John said that this art was a gift in return from the pylons he had taken (so that they are now even). At first Bob did not understand why John would make such a beautiful piece of artwork for him, until he remembered just how John was. Bob put his day on hold, in an attempt to find out why John really sent him this picture.

What does Bob find out from the picture?

(Below is the beautiful artwork)

Just a completely normal pylon.

(This shouldn't be very difficult for those who are able to solve it)

Here is the original sized image if it helps: A not so completely normal pylon?

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  • $\begingroup$ Is the picture intended to be that small? $\endgroup$
    – leoll2
    Jun 2, 2015 at 17:23
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting that this question has the 'cryptograms' tag. $\endgroup$
    – Bailey M
    Jun 2, 2015 at 17:24
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    $\begingroup$ @JLee It's what I'm currently doing. Perhaps it could be helpful to include this "trick" in the OP. $\endgroup$
    – leoll2
    Jun 2, 2015 at 17:27
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    $\begingroup$ I just hope there isn't a zip file of cat pictures in there... $\endgroup$
    – LeppyR64
    Jun 2, 2015 at 17:55
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @LeppyR64 lucky for us, John doesn't like cats. $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Jun 2, 2015 at 17:57

2 Answers 2

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The image contains a hidden message.

The grey pixels are the ASCII codes of each character in the message.

The message is:

Beep. Boop. This is John. You are getting quite clever Bob. First you won my beer by forging a triangle in a plank. Then you kept your job after I had taken some of your pylons. Let us see if you are truly improving your skills, by being able to decode this.

If you're interested this JavaScript code reveals the hidden message:

<img id=coded src="data:image/png;base64,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"/>

<script>

var c=document.createElement('canvas');
c.width=coded.width;
c.height=coded.height;

c.getContext('2d').drawImage(coded,0,0);
var p=c.getContext('2d').getImageData(0,0,c.width,c.height);
for(var s='',i=0; i<p.data.length; i+=4){
   //////// Ignore white pixels and translate the grey pixels into text
        if(p.data[i]!=255 && p.data[i]==p.data[i+1] && p.data[i]==p.data[i+1]) s+=String.fromCharCode(p.data[i]);

}
document.write(s);

</script>
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    $\begingroup$ I like how your name is the same as in the puzzle :) $\endgroup$
    – Trevi Awater
    Jun 2, 2015 at 21:02
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe that's how I know the answer ;) $\endgroup$
    – Bob
    Jun 3, 2015 at 3:27
  • $\begingroup$ Ironically, Bob has no answers on the previous two riddles... $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Jun 3, 2015 at 13:16
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(Edited) I finished the rest of it.

Beep. Boop. This is John. You are getting quite clever Bob. First you won my beer by forging a triangle in a plank. Then you kept your job after I had taken some of your pylons. It seems you are truly improving your skills by being able to decode this.

The solution is

Each square is a RGB code of some value (n,n,n). If you look at the n'th value on an ASCII lookup table, you get a letter.

(I did this before the edit, is this line still correct?)

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  • $\begingroup$ This is the correct answer for OocmX.png, which was the original file before the edit. $\endgroup$
    – LeppyR64
    Jun 3, 2015 at 11:19
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    $\begingroup$ Just so you know why, I accepts Bob's answer as his description better matched with mine. (Also his name works perfectly with the puzzle :p) $\endgroup$
    – Mark N
    Jun 3, 2015 at 13:15

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