Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male hiker, "Denim" & "Mostly Harmless", Jul 2018 - Vance Rodriguez

[Bethan]

Am I the only one who has some reservations about this gentleman being identified & “returned” to his family’?

Don’t get me wrong....as a keen ‘sleuther’ I am intrigued by this mystery & have followed closely since I became aware of his discovery in early August 2018....however Demin appears to have gone to some lengths NOT to reveal his identity. It cannot be accidental surely.

We have also read that he shared information with a fellow hiker that he had been abused by his family, left home & vowed never to return.....( during a conversation where the other hiker had opened up about her own abuse.)

I don’t remember when/where I read this....but ( pretty) sure it was here on WS....I don’t use other sites....but sorry I can’t link to this.

I believe this was one isolated conversation/mention of this....so have no idea of the veracity of this ‘claim’......however that notion has always stuck with me.

Does anyone else remember this please?

I’m just concerned about his ‘right’ to remain anonymous....though I presume if he had felt strongly about this he would have written this down to be found after his death....as he surely realised he was dying in his final days.

Just my own personal thoughts.

I too am intrigued & want to know more about the person Denim was before the hike....however have misgivings.

@othram Is it safe to assume that if/when his true identity is known, checks will be made to see if he left any will or document stating his wishes as to what should happen to his mortal remains upon his death?

Would checks be made, prior to his family being informed? I’m sure you can answer as to protocol in such a situation.

There is no criticism intended in this post.....just concern for someone who feels like ‘ a friend’ to many.

 

[lsutoomaha]

The case means alot to alot of people. Totally understand the desire for updates. We are in the records-research phase, building trees and so on. No exciting update yet. This is not going to be a quick solve, but that's ok. Some cases take longer than others. We will get it done and update as we can.

Thanks for the post. Glad to know you are building family trees and understand that it will take a while. All I meant by "dead" is that the case in dependent on Othram's prowess, unless we are fortunate to have someone come forward with a visual identification.

 

[othram]

Thanks for the post. Glad to know you are building family trees and understand that it will take a while. All I meant by "dead" is that the case in dependent on Othram's prowess, unless we are fortunate to have someone come forward with a visual identification.

Hopefully the WIRED article has been making the rounds

 

[lonewanderer]

Am I the only one who has some reservations about this gentleman being identified & “returned” to his family’?

Don’t get me wrong....as a keen ‘sleuther’ I am intrigued by this mystery & have followed closely since I became aware of his discovery in early August 2018....however Demin appears to have gone to some lengths NOT to reveal his identity. It cannot be accidental surely.

We have also read that he shared information with a fellow hiker that he had been abused by his family, left home & vowed never to return.....( during a conversation where the other hiker had opened up about her own abuse.)

I don’t remember when/where I read this....but ( pretty) sure it was here on WS....I don’t use other sites....but sorry I can’t link to this.

I believe this was one isolated conversation/mention of this....so have no idea of the veracity of this ‘claim’......however that notion has always stuck with me.

Does anyone else remember this please?

I’m just concerned about his ‘right’ to remain anonymous....though I presume if he had felt strongly about this he would have written this down to be found after his death....as he surely realised he was dying in his final days.

Just my own personal thoughts.

I too am intrigued & want to know more about the person Denim was before the hike....however have misgivings.

@othram Is it safe to assume that if/when his true identity is known, checks will be made to see if he left any will or document stating his wishes as to what should happen to his mortal remains upon his death?

Would checks be made, prior to his family being informed? I’m sure you can answer as to protocol in such a situation.

There is no criticism intended in this post.....just concern for someone who feels like ‘ a friend’ to many.

Personally, if I stumbled across his true identity with 100% absolute concrete evidence that it was him, I would contact the Collier County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies in the area he lived (if that was provided with the discovery of his identity).

That way, it is in the hands of legality, his family and his own wishes can be fulfilled.

Someone, somewhere, will be heartbroken to know that he has passed. For me, it is closure for his family and leading him to the burial he deserves.

I feel this way about all John and Jane Doe cases.

Afterall, we die two deaths in our lifetimes. The first when you physically die, the second when your name is last spoken.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

@lonewanderer
Very well said.

 

[birdie12]

Came here just to say that en francais, 'de nom' literally means 'name.' So that might be a coincidence but it potentially gives some weight to the Louisiana connection. Or he was just a guy who liked wordplay and knew high school French.

 

[lonewanderer]

Came here just to say that en francais, 'de nom' literally means 'name.' So that might be a coincidence but it potentially gives some weight to the Louisiana connection. Or he was just a guy who liked wordplay and knew high school French.

I had wondered about any French words and sound plays.

Like if Bilemy could be "Frenched up" to something like Bi-lu-mwah (or something similiar)

 

[birdie12]

I had wondered about any French words and sound plays.

Like if Bilemy could be "Frenched up" to something like Bi-lu-mwah (or something similiar)

hmmm, well 'bonne belle âme' translates to good beautiful soul. I am most likely reaching with this but it sounds nice.

 

[Bethan]

She said about the guy she hooked up with, "The person I’m referencing was bipolar, unmedicated and highly driven towards high risk behavior." I think we can rule him out as being MH. Anyone who has been around someone with unmedicated bipolar disorder knows how hard it is for them to blend in as normal. All the other hikers who encountered MH said he was "normal," mild mannered and gave off no red flags. I don't know if this person is telling the truth about her experience or not, but the person she's describing does not sound like MH.

Unless.......

he was unmedicated at the time she’s describing, but medicated during the hiking phase.
He may have run out of medication towards the end of the hike & become extremely depressed/unwell ( presumably there was no such medication among his belongings, bearing his name or in his body on toxicology)

I have a male friend, a similar age to Denim’s presumed age, who is bipolar & has to remain on medication ( Olanzapine) He has been VERY obese....a common side-effect of this type of medication. He now follows an almost obsessively strict diet & exercise regime in order to maintain a normal weight.

Also a male family member in his 30’s, with schizophrenia, prescribed the same/similar medication & is also morbidly obese. No-one is in any doubt this is due to the medication, but there’s no way this can be discontinued.

I was prescribed Olanzapine for several years & became obese, for the first time in my life
Olanzapine - Wikipedia

Olanzapine, sold under the trade name Zyprexa among others, is an atypical antipsychotic primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.[7]
For schizophrenia, it can be used for both new-onset disease and long-term maintenance.[7]
It is taken by mouth or by injection into a muscle.[7]
Common side effects include weight gain etc etc

This could explain Denim being somewhat obsessed with the nutritional content of the ‘snack bars’ ( or whatever the bars were)
Towards the end, as his mental health deteriorated, the obsession may have worsened (or he may have experienced delusions) leading him to become anorexic & literally starving himself to death.

From the NEDA
( National Eating Disorders Association)

“Despite the stereotype that eating disorders only occur in women, about one in three people struggling with an eating disorder is male, and subclinical eating disordered behaviors (including binge eating, purging, laxative abuse, and fasting for weight loss) are nearly as common among men as they are among women”

Just thinking out loud.

 

[Bethan]

That way, it is in the hands of legality, his family and his own wishes can be fulfilled.

Someone, somewhere, will be heartbroken to know that he has passed. For me, it is closure for his family and leading him to the burial he deserves.

I feel this way about all John and Jane Doe cases.

Respectfully clipped by me @lonewanderer

@lonewanderer
Very well said.

I absolutely agree @ChatteringBirds

My query was regarding this specific ‘John Doe’ because

1) He seems to have gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal his identity
&
2) His reported conversation regarding an abusive family member & his wish never to go back home.

( Also I am wondering if anyone else can remember reading about this conversation with a female hiker?)

 

[Startropic1]

Apparently my notes (and the pdf) are too big to include as attachments here, so here's a Google Drive link: Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files

I am a programmer, and I analyzed the notebooks of computer code found with unidentified deceased hiker known as "Mostly Harmless." The case was first brought to my attention by John Lordan's BrainScratch youtube video. A fellow brainscratcher recently notified me that copies of the contents of these notebooks were released to the general public, and I was able to locate a pdf copy. (I'm sure you already have a copy of this pdf, but I have included it for reference just in case.) I have also included a MS Word .doc containing my notes from my analysis.

Let me briefly explain my background in programming: My primary major in college was Computer Systems Technology, which essentially studied all aspects of computers & electronics (hardware and software) but in no great detail (jack of all trades, master of none so to speak.) My studies also included graphics and video game design. My programming background specifically was primarily Basic and Visual Basic programming languages, but it was determined through my Computer Science professor (through a questionnaire from his masters thesis) that I am actually able to read any programming language. As such I have indeed explored other languages beyond the two that I initially studied. At the same time, I have also been programming my entire life, (grandson of two engineers), starting with my grandfather's Commodore Vic 20 back in the 1980s. It also helps that I am very good at reading chickenscratch (bad/not very legible handwriting), because a lot of the text in the photocopied versions of the pages found in the pdf are a bit difficult to read. It made the task take a little longer, but I was able to decipher the majority of the text. (The portions I still couldn't make out, I could probably discern from the original pages or a higher quality scan.)

I was able to read and understand the vast majority of the contents of these notebooks. Not all of it was programming, (such as the nutritional information of energy bars---I have no background in nutrition or dietary science.) Explaining every single line of these notes would result in a lot of tedium that covers nothing but simple programming concepts, and thus would add pages of useless information rather than aid this case. As such I have focused my notes on identifying what the portions of code are / supposed to do as a whole and elements of the writings that can actually help identify this man. I am more than happy to elaborate on any aspect that either of you may have further questions about, my contact info will be listed at the bottom. I must also preface that with this code being handwritten, it is highly unlikely that would actually work if inputted into a computer. (I explained this in a little more detail within my notes.) Lastly, I noticed that there was a note included in the pdf that describes the notebooks as being "incoherent." Having reviewed the entire pdf, I must disagree with this assessment. While the subject matter of the author's writing does vary, it's all comprehensible and I have no trouble following it.

I will summarize the most useful points here:

First, I noticed a couple details about the author's writing style: In at least once instance the author uses line numbers in a page of code. This is a practice that has not been used since the 1970s/early 1980s. The author also makes a point of using a particular style of zero: Ø The author uses this zero even in pages of plain english, (such as the page of nutritional information.) I have a the same habit. If you look at your computer keyboard, you will see that neither 0 key on your keyboard, (there are two such keys if your keyboard has a numberpad) has the slashed zero. On modern computers you only find these zeros in a DOS command prompt or within programming utilities. The slashed zero was common on older computer keyboards & typewriters from the 1980s and older. This speaks to the scope of the author's background in programming, to the degree that they would habitually use this type of zero even in plain english. I believe both of these traits suggest the author had been involved in programming for a very long time.

The PDF's included note suggests that the computer language used in the notebooks is Java. Initially, I agreed with this assessment--until I began to notice certain keywords in the code that made me start to question it. I reached out to some other programmers online who are more proficient with Java than I am to verify whether or not these keywords are in fact used in Java. They concluded that the main language used in these notebooks is in fact NOT Java, but the C language. C is the old form of what today is known as C++. (There was also C+ in the time between the two languages.) Once again, we are potentially dating the code. Understand that all computer languages are actually very similar to one another, (which is why I can read any of them.) It's not difficult to mistake one for another, and if misidentified, to conclude it is "incoherent." The other programming pages that are not C language require more explanation, which I provided in my notes. There are also several pages of number series and diagrams. At first I could not fully decipher these pages, but the author included information in the second notebook that explains what the letters, symbols, etc. in these diagrams mean. With that added information I am now able to reproduce what the diagrams are describing if necessary. The pages that are strictly a series of numbers may still need to be analyzed by a mathematician, (preferably with a background in applied mathematics.)

The vast majority of programming pages appear to be video game design in nature. The author describes a system in his game for randomly generating levels. Based on some of the key words used in his code, a possible match for this code is a computer game called Screeps: https://www.screeps.com/ While this game has a lot in common with the code found in these notebooks, there isn't enough to make a 100% definitive match. It is however, a very strong candidate.

There appears to be at least two different programming projects in these notebooks, both involving game design. I have divided them into two groups of key words that can help identify the projects:

Project 1 (randomly generating levels): Creeps, mines, haulers, builders, upgraders, refiller, miners, rooms, energy. (Towards the end of the documents there is a section about a 'Nanite Guild', this seems to fit with this project's use of "rooms" and "energy.")
Project 2 (an RPG game): This uses some very specific job/class names: Assassin, Ranger, Bard, Energy Thief, Acrobat, Knife Thrower, Siphoner, Witch, Chaos Mage, Energy Mage, Focuser, Necromancer, Changeling. This is a very specific set of job/class names that shouldn't be too difficult to match to a specific game.

 

[lonewanderer]

Apparently my notes (and the pdf) are too big to include as attachments here, so here's a Google Drive link: Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files

I am a programmer, and I analyzed the notebooks of computer code found with unidentified deceased hiker known as "Mostly Harmless." The case was first brought to my attention by John Lordan's BrainScratch youtube video. A fellow brainscratcher recently notified me that copies of the contents of these notebooks were released to the general public, and I was able to locate a pdf copy. (I'm sure you already have a copy of this pdf, but I have included it for reference just in case.) I have also included a MS Word .doc containing my notes from my analysis.

Let me briefly explain my background in programming: My primary major in college was Computer Systems Technology, which essentially studied all aspects of computers & electronics (hardware and software) but in no great detail (jack of all trades, master of none so to speak.) My studies also included graphics and video game design. My programming background specifically was primarily Basic and Visual Basic programming languages, but it was determined through my Computer Science professor (through a questionnaire from his masters thesis) that I am actually able to read any programming language. As such I have indeed explored other languages beyond the two that I initially studied. At the same time, I have also been programming my entire life, (grandson of two engineers), starting with my grandfather's Commodore Vic 20 back in the 1980s. It also helps that I am very good at reading chickenscratch (bad/not very legible handwriting), because a lot of the text in the photocopied versions of the pages found in the pdf are a bit difficult to read. It made the task take a little longer, but I was able to decipher the majority of the text. (The portions I still couldn't make out, I could probably discern from the original pages or a higher quality scan.)

I was able to read and understand the vast majority of the contents of these notebooks. Not all of it was programming, (such as the nutritional information of energy bars---I have no background in nutrition or dietary science.) Explaining every single line of these notes would result in a lot of tedium that covers nothing but simple programming concepts, and thus would add pages of useless information rather than aid this case. As such I have focused my notes on identifying what the portions of code are / supposed to do as a whole and elements of the writings that can actually help identify this man. I am more than happy to elaborate on any aspect that either of you may have further questions about, my contact info will be listed at the bottom. I must also preface that with this code being handwritten, it is highly unlikely that would actually work if inputted into a computer. (I explained this in a little more detail within my notes.) Lastly, I noticed that there was a note included in the pdf that describes the notebooks as being "incoherent." Having reviewed the entire pdf, I must disagree with this assessment. While the subject matter of the author's writing does vary, it's all comprehensible and I have no trouble following it.

I will summarize the most useful points here:

First, I noticed a couple details about the author's writing style: In at least once instance the author uses line numbers in a page of code. This is a practice that has not been used since the 1970s/early 1980s. The author also makes a point of using a particular style of zero: Ø The author uses this zero even in pages of plain english, (such as the page of nutritional information.) I have a the same habit. If you look at your computer keyboard, you will see that neither 0 key on your keyboard, (there are two such keys if your keyboard has a numberpad) has the slashed zero. On modern computers you only find these zeros in a DOS command prompt or within programming utilities. The slashed zero was common on older computer keyboards & typewriters from the 1980s and older. This speaks to the scope of the author's background in programming, to the degree that they would habitually use this type of zero even in plain english. I believe both of these traits suggest the author had been involved in programming for a very long time.

The PDF's included note suggests that the computer language used in the notebooks is Java. Initially, I agreed with this assessment--until I began to notice certain keywords in the code that made me start to question it. I reached out to some other programmers online who are more proficient with Java than I am to verify whether or not these keywords are in fact used in Java. They concluded that the main language used in these notebooks is in fact NOT Java, but the C language. C is the old form of what today is known as C++. (There was also C+ in the time between the two languages.) Once again, we are potentially dating the code. Understand that all computer languages are actually very similar to one another, (which is why I can read any of them.) It's not difficult to mistake one for another, and if misidentified, to conclude it is "incoherent." The other programming pages that are not C language require more explanation, which I provided in my notes. There are also several pages of number series and diagrams. At first I could not fully decipher these pages, but the author included information in the second notebook that explains what the letters, symbols, etc. in these diagrams mean. With that added information I am now able to reproduce what the diagrams are describing if necessary. The pages that are strictly a series of numbers may still need to be analyzed by a mathematician, (preferably with a background in applied mathematics.)

The vast majority of programming pages appear to be video game design in nature. The author describes a system in his game for randomly generating levels. Based on some of the key words used in his code, a possible match for this code is a computer game called Screeps: https://www.screeps.com/ While this game has a lot in common with the code found in these notebooks, there isn't enough to make a 100% definitive match. It is however, a very strong candidate.

There appears to be at least two different programming projects in these notebooks, both involving game design. I have divided them into two groups of key words that can help identify the projects:

Project 1 (randomly generating levels): Creeps, mines, haulers, builders, upgraders, refiller, miners, rooms, energy. (Towards the end of the documents there is a section about a 'Nanite Guild', this seems to fit with this project's use of "rooms" and "energy.")
Project 2 (an RPG game): This uses some very specific job/class names: Assassin, Ranger, Bard, Energy Thief, Acrobat, Knife Thrower, Siphoner, Witch, Chaos Mage, Energy Mage, Focuser, Necromancer, Changeling. This is a very specific set of job/class names that shouldn't be too difficult to match to a specific game.

Dungeons and Dragons immediately comes to mind.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

Apparently my notes (and the pdf) are too big to include as attachments here, so here's a Google Drive link: Meet Google Drive – One place for all your files

I am a programmer, and I analyzed the notebooks of computer code found with unidentified deceased hiker known as "Mostly Harmless." The case was first brought to my attention by John Lordan's BrainScratch youtube video. A fellow brainscratcher recently notified me that copies of the contents of these notebooks were released to the general public, and I was able to locate a pdf copy. (I'm sure you already have a copy of this pdf, but I have included it for reference just in case.) I have also included a MS Word .doc containing my notes from my analysis.

Let me briefly explain my background in programming: My primary major in college was Computer Systems Technology, which essentially studied all aspects of computers & electronics (hardware and software) but in no great detail (jack of all trades, master of none so to speak.) My studies also included graphics and video game design. My programming background specifically was primarily Basic and Visual Basic programming languages, but it was determined through my Computer Science professor (through a questionnaire from his masters thesis) that I am actually able to read any programming language. As such I have indeed explored other languages beyond the two that I initially studied. At the same time, I have also been programming my entire life, (grandson of two engineers), starting with my grandfather's Commodore Vic 20 back in the 1980s. It also helps that I am very good at reading chickenscratch (bad/not very legible handwriting), because a lot of the text in the photocopied versions of the pages found in the pdf are a bit difficult to read. It made the task take a little longer, but I was able to decipher the majority of the text. (The portions I still couldn't make out, I could probably discern from the original pages or a higher quality scan.)

I was able to read and understand the vast majority of the contents of these notebooks. Not all of it was programming, (such as the nutritional information of energy bars---I have no background in nutrition or dietary science.) Explaining every single line of these notes would result in a lot of tedium that covers nothing but simple programming concepts, and thus would add pages of useless information rather than aid this case. As such I have focused my notes on identifying what the portions of code are / supposed to do as a whole and elements of the writings that can actually help identify this man. I am more than happy to elaborate on any aspect that either of you may have further questions about, my contact info will be listed at the bottom. I must also preface that with this code being handwritten, it is highly unlikely that would actually work if inputted into a computer. (I explained this in a little more detail within my notes.) Lastly, I noticed that there was a note included in the pdf that describes the notebooks as being "incoherent." Having reviewed the entire pdf, I must disagree with this assessment. While the subject matter of the author's writing does vary, it's all comprehensible and I have no trouble following it.

I will summarize the most useful points here:

First, I noticed a couple details about the author's writing style: In at least once instance the author uses line numbers in a page of code. This is a practice that has not been used since the 1970s/early 1980s. The author also makes a point of using a particular style of zero: Ø The author uses this zero even in pages of plain english, (such as the page of nutritional information.) I have a the same habit. If you look at your computer keyboard, you will see that neither 0 key on your keyboard, (there are two such keys if your keyboard has a numberpad) has the slashed zero. On modern computers you only find these zeros in a DOS command prompt or within programming utilities. The slashed zero was common on older computer keyboards & typewriters from the 1980s and older. This speaks to the scope of the author's background in programming, to the degree that they would habitually use this type of zero even in plain english. I believe both of these traits suggest the author had been involved in programming for a very long time.

The PDF's included note suggests that the computer language used in the notebooks is Java. Initially, I agreed with this assessment--until I began to notice certain keywords in the code that made me start to question it. I reached out to some other programmers online who are more proficient with Java than I am to verify whether or not these keywords are in fact used in Java. They concluded that the main language used in these notebooks is in fact NOT Java, but the C language. C is the old form of what today is known as C++. (There was also C+ in the time between the two languages.) Once again, we are potentially dating the code. Understand that all computer languages are actually very similar to one another, (which is why I can read any of them.) It's not difficult to mistake one for another, and if misidentified, to conclude it is "incoherent." The other programming pages that are not C language require more explanation, which I provided in my notes. There are also several pages of number series and diagrams. At first I could not fully decipher these pages, but the author included information in the second notebook that explains what the letters, symbols, etc. in these diagrams mean. With that added information I am now able to reproduce what the diagrams are describing if necessary. The pages that are strictly a series of numbers may still need to be analyzed by a mathematician, (preferably with a background in applied mathematics.)

The vast majority of programming pages appear to be video game design in nature. The author describes a system in his game for randomly generating levels. Based on some of the key words used in his code, a possible match for this code is a computer game called Screeps: https://www.screeps.com/ While this game has a lot in common with the code found in these notebooks, there isn't enough to make a 100% definitive match. It is however, a very strong candidate.

There appears to be at least two different programming projects in these notebooks, both involving game design. I have divided them into two groups of key words that can help identify the projects:

Project 1 (randomly generating levels): Creeps, mines, haulers, builders, upgraders, refiller, miners, rooms, energy. (Towards the end of the documents there is a section about a 'Nanite Guild', this seems to fit with this project's use of "rooms" and "energy.")
Project 2 (an RPG game): This uses some very specific job/class names: Assassin, Ranger, Bard, Energy Thief, Acrobat, Knife Thrower, Siphoner, Witch, Chaos Mage, Energy Mage, Focuser, Necromancer, Changeling. This is a very specific set of job/class names that shouldn't be too difficult to match to a specific game.

Most of the terms in Project 2 match D&D
Stub - D&D Wiki

Edit: @lonewanderer great minds, eh?

 

[Bethan]

@Startropic1 Very interesting....thank you for taking the time to explain your findings.

Welcome to Websleuths if you’re new to the site!

 

[Startropic1]

Most of the terms in Project 2 match D&D
Stub - D&D Wiki

Edit: @lonewanderer great minds, eh?

D&D is foundational to a lot of RPG games. There are also D&D video games. So yes, D&D did cross my mind but I'm actually not very versed in its jobs/classes and whatnot. Things like "Chaos Mage" and "Energy Mage" seemed extremely specific to me and possibly other than D&D. So while D&D is probably an excellent foundational starting point, I think we can narrow it down further.
I'll go back over the RPG pages (and my notes) for more reference points.

Side note: I understand the debate about whether or not this man should remain anonymous. Fair point that this may be what he wanted. However, if his programming work was every completed and/or published, (also the notebooks did suggest to me project(s) that would have had a development team of more than one person), I would like him to get the credit he deserves for his work and whatever posthumous accolades there may be.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

D&D is foundational to a lot of RPG games. There are also D&D video games. So yes, D&D did cross my mind but I'm actually not very versed in its jobs/classes and whatnot. Things like "Chaos Mage" and "Energy Mage" seemed extremely specific to me and possibly other than D&D. So while D&D is probably an excellent foundational starting point, I think we can narrow it down further.
I'll go back over the RPG pages (and my notes) for more reference points.

Side note: I understand the debate about whether or not this man should remain anonymous. Fair point that this may be what he wanted. However, if his programming work was every completed and/or published, (also the notebooks did suggest to me project(s) that would have had a development team of more than one person), I would like him to get the credit he deserves for his work and whatever posthumous accolades there may be.

I found some of those terms connected with a wicked old PC game called Battle Mages. This person says, "You start as a human energy mage and in further campaigns you play as a necromancer, a green orc mage and finally, as a female chaos mage." (Battle Mages: Sign of Darkness Interview with Stanislav Scorb at FileFront - IGN)

Energy mages are also involved in Battle Mages.
Battle Mages Version 1.0.1 - AlliedModders

I have a friend who is into D&D and fantasy gaming. I'll ask her if those terms sound familiar.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I am a programmer, and I analyzed the notebooks of computer code found with unidentified deceased hiker known as "Mostly Harmless."

RSBM

Welcome to Websleuths and thank you for your insights @Startropic1. It's good to have a fresh analysis of the notebooks. I'm especially curious about the couple of pages with tables of numbers if you can figure those out. I'm stumped. It looks like line numbers on the left but then deviates.


FWIW there are already transcripts of much of the notebooks available and there has been a lot of research already on the Screeps angle (just search this forum for "Screeps").

But I like your pointing out the "slash zero". I agree with you that it's most probably the sign of a disciplined and experienced programmer. It also may suggest MH anticipated others might read or use his notes. That's typically when I now use it, although I first learned to use it as an undergrad in chemistry, not from programming. It's also used in medicine, ham radio, etc. (Slashed zero - Wikipedia). TBH, it's so familiar in science that I didn't even think about it.

 

[Narkj]

Thanks for such a thorough analysis of the notebooks. The experts I consulted with in my reporting also said this man was coherent and knowledgable.

I have heard the "this man wanted to die this way so leave him be" theory before and even if some part of me likes the thought of it, this is a police case and the reality is that his name will be out there. He was a smart man, very smart it seems, and he would have known police would get involved if he died in a tent. With the DNA work by Othram, it's very likely that he'll be identified. I was told that in Florida, since he's not the victim of crime, that his name will be released to the public.

 

[nannymo]

Thanks for that info Narj.....wouldn't it be awful to have followed this case for so long, donated money to get DNA results, finally have him identified, only to find out the family "wanted to grieve in privacy" and never learn his name? I would be crushed.

 

[fred&edna]

Even though I don't remember a lot of my very old-school knowledge of programming, I still slash my zeroes. It's something I can't "unlearn".

ETA: If the UID sleuthing community can raise enough money for Othram DNA testing, I'd bet they could come up with the funds to help take care of cremation/burial/grave marker... or the like... IF his family doesn't claim him.

JMO