Click here to submit a clue for this page.Clues people have sent in: Hello Bryan, I've been puzzling over these "announcements" since arriving in Tucson almost twenty years ago.... I had a little free time this week and spent it becoming reacquainted with the whole thing. I wish I hadn't chucked my old wildcat copies and notes when I moved briefly to New York. Anyway, I got you scans of the two messages that I noticed aren't up on your site. The ones from April 1983. -Mike C------- Thanks mike!! -- bhance sjwk: clue: Another odd one - again, is this really from 1983? It's the same as the one from March 15 1985, but missing the statements underneath.bhance - I'm checking with our archives. I'll get back on this. Erin 05.17.2004 These words are from Hannibal, the general of North Africa. Inveniemus viam aut faciemus. We will find a way -- or we will make one! And just one more note, which might mean nothing, but they are on an archway at the University of Pennsylvania. Matt 12.04.2004 The translation of the Latin is technically wrong. While the jist is correct, the literal meaning is wrong. Viam inveniemus aut faciemus---it means We will find a road or make a road. Brian - 05.20.2005 smiley guy has seven hairs Juls 06.25.2005 The quote on the gateway at Univ. of Pennsylvania http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/via.html is "inveniumus viam aut faciemus" - here we have "viam inveniemus aut faciemus" - the former appears to be the original quote, a google of the latter turns up only this site, so it appears that we may have a misquote here. The quote is the same in the announcements from Nov 22 1983 and March 15 1985, I have not checked for any other instances. As I just noted on the 19 April 1983 page, the Hannibal quote should be "Inveniemus viam aut faciemus" not "Viam inveniemus.." - here we might also note that all the words in the quote have the initial letter capitalised as if it were a title, but it is not - this leads me to wonder if it has been written this way because it is actually being used as an acronym or somesuch. The only acronyms I could find for VIAF are not likely to be relevent, maybe someone else has thoughts on this. erthur 07.31.2005 7 (and the shadow number, 2) are the numbers for the moon. 7 is generally thought to be the moon at night in its natural element and 2 is the moon in the daytime sky. Marcel B. 09.01.2005 Interesting theory on the acrostic. From what I remember of studying Latin, the word order is largely irrelevant. Juls 09.19.2005 Re. clue by Marcel B. - thanks for the info on the word order being generally irrelevant but it still may be relevent in this context, very much so. Imagine if, for instance, that phrase were the url to a website - one version would take you straight there but the other would get you somewhere else and possibly nowhere - they would have done this for a reason. :) One other thought on this - maybe they put it this way because they just wanted to dissociate their use of the phrase from any connection with the Univ. of Pennsylvania. Jay C. 09.21.2005 clue: "Viam invenemus aut faciemus" On the way, we shall find or we shall construct/make/do". I'm no pro at Latin, but downloaded a Latin translator. D. Thomasson 04.09.2006 Hannibal's quote is not in the correct word order as Juls 06.25.2005 post confirms. The correct order is "INVENIEMUS(1) VIAM(2) AUT(3) FACIEMUS(4)." 1234 octal = 668 decimal. See http://www.borderschess.org/668.htm The ADW announcement changes the word order as: "VIAM(2) INVENIEMUS(1) AUT(3) FACIEMUS(4)." 2134 decimal = 856 hexadecimal. 8*5*6 = 240 (120+120) or (12*20) 856 decimal = 1530 octal 1530 is the year of the Confessio Augustana (Augsburg Confession). Using gematria, the total number value of each letter in Hannibal's quote adds up to 295. 2+9+5 = 16 and 1+6 = 7. 16 octal = 14 decimal and 24 pental. 2*9*5 = 90. 90 hexadecimal = 144 decimal (12*12). 12 hexadecimal = 33 pental. The word "FACIEMUS:" F(6) + A(1) + C(3) + I(9) + E(5) + M(13) + U(21) + S(19) = 77. Most of these numbers are used throughout the Biblical Scriptures, and all of them are used in the ADW announcements. By the way, 240 decimal = 360 octal. D. Thomasson 04.22.2006 The real Latin phrase: "INVENIEMUS VIAM AUT FACIEMUS" means "We will find a way, or we will make one." The creator of this announcement, along with 84-Sept13 and 85-Mar15, may have been an alumnus of the Lutheran based St. Andrew's Episcopal School educational system that was founded in 1947. The Latin quote is the School's motto, and can be seen on their school crest along with the date: 1947. The crest is divided into four sections by a cross (Greek Letter "chi") that is the shape of the cross on which Saint Andrew was martyred. The year 1947 is a key number in the ADW announcements. Read more at: http://gosaints.org/school/ Bill: 07.19.2006 I was just wondering what the origin of that quote is. Was it a Latin writer like Polybius or Livy because I doubt Hannibal acutally spoke it in Latin. C.E. 04.04.2007 I hope this doesn't rain on the parade, but it may be relevant. Unlike English, Latin doesn't depend on word order for clarity. You can write the same words in almost any order and have the same meaning.
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