BBC Code challenge

[martin]

and how about the paper clips?

[MarkB]

Hmm, the Earth is in the wrong position for the end of August so 10th September is still a winner. I think that the Moon's position might not be accurately drawn unless we're looking at a different year altogether.

OK, I had the moon going round the wrong way! This means is has done around 3 1/4 orbits, given that 6th September would be 3 orbits, it brings us back to the 13th of September (or thereabouts).

Also, we're talking about three days difference to get to back to the 10th, which is more than 10% of the moon's orbit, or around 38 degrees, which I'm sure would be noticeable on the position of the moon. I think we're much more likely to be talking about the 13th (give or take a day) than the 10th.

[Ted]

Lot's of other dates are falling out of other clues so I should be able to eliminate some around this date as I'm guessing that each clue gives a unique date.

Yes Martin, the date is only a part of it (to do with ordering of the answers I think) and decoding the rest is also part of the task.

[Ted]

According to this - http://kalender-365.de/lunar-calendar.php - there is a Full Moon on 12th September. Does that make the diagram still say 13th?

[StBarnabas]

Ted
as I have already stated, the diagram is for c 2 days after full moon so my money is on the  14th rather than the 13th. Hopefully Ivan, EA and Desp will make an appearance here soon and it will be interesting to hear what they think.
Sean

[Ivan]

I don't think it's an anagram:

http://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/cgi-bin/nph-an?line=RNONTOETEEORIODABACHOUGTSTIRRIABLEWUDNTUSA&words=no+limit&dict=antworth&doai=on

[Ted]

The code at the bottom of the page is a Baconian cipher and part of a larger segment that has now been decoded (using columnar transposition and a discovered key of 'Euclid'.

It says:

cE.xx.21L      STAND STILL HERE <BR> DIFFICULT
cE.34.41R      Y AT THE BEGINNING COMES FROM <B
cE.40.22L      R> MODESTY <BR> YOU ARE THE GENTLE
cE.08.08L      ONE <BR> IGNORE THE STROKES <STOP>

Stand still here
Difficulty at the beginning comes from
modesty
You are the gentle one
Ignore the strokes.

Still working with others on how to put it all together and the meta-meaning. The last lines of each of these text blocks (there are 12 altogether ordered by signs of the zodiac - that's why the Capricorn sign is on this page) seem to fit together into a series of instructions.

[Ted]

Just about confirmed to myself that the correct answer is 14th September, as that appears on the page that the cipher on this page is a prequel to.

Seems you probably need to take time of day into account to accurately see what the date might be from the diagrams.