This is a very specific riddle I need help solving.  The first answer
"it" asks for is the city "SkyFlash" is being held.  After I find that
out I get a series of numbers and I have to figure out the code, I
will give these numbers to you in the same thread (I might have to pay
more for, but hopefully the same person will answer it).  Ok so here
is the riddle:

Hi, this is Vanessa.
We have a serious problem here. SkyFlash was abducted and is held for
ransom. He vanished on New Years Eve, we have no idea where he is
right now. He got abducted by an unknown group of people, we only have
guesses right now on who they are. The only hint we got was a video
they sent in a day later. You can download the video
(http://www.drewcomputer.com/abducted.avi). The sign he is holding was
already investigated and the quality improved. You can get our version
(http://www.drewcomputer.com/abducted.avi). Unfortunately we were not
able to decrypt it, but we do not think it has anything meaningful to
say. Your job, and mine, is to find SkyFlash. We have already located
a few cities that may be possible hideouts of the Talas organization,
which is believed to use such a secret language. Now we only need to
find the right town. Every hideout has a different entrance pass that
must be decoded, so be sure to visit the right one. Good luck on your
search.

P.S: Talas uses RSA to encrypt messages. SkyFlash managed to get their
public key from them a few years ago.
Its: e = 3 and n = 700683241. That may be of help to you..... I hope.

That's the riddle!  I need help, please!

The first clue from our video comes from the date/time stamp on the
bottom right corner of the video. The time is marked 21:00z meaning
21:00 zulu time or time relative to Greenwich, England. But as you
notice on the clock, the time is 1:00. Now since this is a clock, we
can't discern AM from PM, so we'll try both out. Looking at the time
zone map (linked below), if we calculate the two time differentials,
we can place our abductee in two timezones in the world. 9pm-->1am is
4 hours in the positive direction, or in the east, so one possible
location is time zone D (GMT+4). Going backwards, 9pm-->1pm is 8 hours
in the negative direction, or in the west, so the other possible time
zone is time zone U (GMT-8). Checking the map below, we have a short
list of major cities which SkyFlash may have been taken to.

In timezone D:
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Dubai, U.A.E.
Muscat, Oman

or in timezone U (Pacific time):
Las Vegas, USA
Los Angeles, USA
San Francisco, USA
Seattle, USA
Vancouver, Canada

As for which specific city he's being held at, I'm at a dead end. If
you could direct me to the webpage where this riddle is at, there are
probably other clues which may have been left out of this question
that would help narrow it down. The only missing puzzle is the name of
the group, Talas could be a reverse of Salat, which is the obligatory
Muslim prayer, and might sway the locations to be in timezone D. But
this is just speculation as I don't think I have the full puzzle.
Please clarify with the game URL or post more info.


Search Strategy:

"z time" on google:
://www.google.com/search?q=%22z+time%22

"time zone u" on google:
://www.google.com/search?q=%22time+zone+u%22


Additional Links:

Interactive Time Zone Map:
http://www.jgiesen.de/astro/astroJS/timezone/

Page on Salat:
http://www.islam.com/salat.htm


Thanks, it was a lot of fun to play dectective for a bit. Reminds me
of that old online conspiracy game Majestic.

skermit-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by computergod-ga on 09 Jan 2003 17:15 PST

I know that much, but the problem is, none of those cities are my choices...

The choices for the city are as follows:
Rio de Janeiro
New York
London
Munich
Paris
Albuquerque
Moscow
Cairo
Wan Ting
Berlin
Washington
Athens
Algiers
Beijing
Brasilia
Havana
Moroni
Riga
Sao Paulo
Tel Aviv
Warsaw
Zagreb
Manila
Magadan
Madrid
Lome
Luanda
San Diego
Little Rock
Dakar
Creston
Cotonou
Damascus
Kuala Lumpur
Paramaribo
Port Moresby
Rabat
Riyadh
Tallinn
Uralsk
Windhoek
Yaounde
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Trenton

Let me know what you think...

---

Clarification of Answer by skermit-ga on 09 Jan 2003 18:59 PST

Well without checking some of the lesser known city names, San Diego
is in the Pacific time zone, so try that. If that doesn't work, tell
me. And also, what's the URL of the riddle? I still think there are
more clues I could go on if I had the full puzzle with choices and
everyting to go on. Questions like, "Is there a reason the cities are
in that order to be chosen from?" and the like.

skermit-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by computergod-ga on 10 Jan 2003 16:05 PST

Now this is what I get:

1520875 970299 1481544 1061208 1259712 1520875 1442897 1601613 1000000
1191016
1601613 1157625 1728000 970299 1191016 1124864 1259712 1643032 912673
1259712

It is asking for the secret password.  I would give you the name of
the site, but it would ruin some of it and probably violate the terms
of this website as it has some rather inappropriate content

---

Clarification of Answer by skermit-ga on 13 Jan 2003 04:35 PST

Sorry, I went away for the weekend, and didn't see your clarification
until today. Which city exactly worked and spit out the data that you
received? Also was there any accompanying text at all that might serve
as further clues (i.e. the choices of cities which was omitted from
the original question). Any and all information you can provide will
help me determine a correct answer for you.

skermit-ga