by Hobbsicle » Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:00 pm
GalFisk
Does it finally appear to: jump forwards? YES, because... Go too fast? Jump backwards? Do something apart from moving the hands? Move one hand without the corresponding movement of the other?
LemonCurry
Apparently, no one has asked yet: had the thieves restored the normal camera view when Henry looked the third time? YES!!!
*************SPOILER**********
To repeat the puzzle statement, with relevant info added:
Henry was quite ready to go home, but he still had a couple of hours to go before six-o-clock AM. As the night security guard at the art museum, there was very little excitement to be had, save for maybe the rat he chased through the sculpture garden a few hours ago. He shifted at his desk and stared blankly at nothing in particular for a few moments before looking at the clock on the wall in one monitor of the live security feed and trying to will it forward.
Suddenly, he realized there was a problem. Comparing it with his watch, he noticed that the clock was nearly ten minutes behind. Probably running slow. But it was such a small one, and certainly not anything he was going to do anything about, not being in much of an “above-and-beyond” mood just now, or ever. So instead he turned his mind to dinner, which would be ham, he decided.
A bit later, and he glanced at the time again. Hmm. Actually, there was a different problem altogether, but it was almost equally unimportant, and it was not in his job description to care. The clock in the footage was showing the same time as before, so it must have run out of batteries. It was probably something Greg the night janitor would take care of, eventually. He saw Greg meandering down the hall, listening to headphones in another security monitor, in the opposite end of the museum. Then again, maybe he won’t.
A few minutes later, he checked the clock a third time. It had now been restored to the correct time, and Greg hadn't been anywhere near it. This time, he hesitated a moment, then jumped up, banging his knee against the desk in the process, and ran out of the office, his chair still spinning when the door slammed behind him. It's not quitting time yet, so why is Henry in such a rush?
Because he realizes that the footage itself must have been frozen or looped for that amount of time, which suggests that there had been, if not some kind of malfunction, then tampering with the footage by thieves. Although it might be too late, since the restored footage suggests that the job has been done, he has to do his job as a security guard and investigate!
Thanks all! It was interesting to see the different solutions proposed. There were some good ones there, but I liked the idea that he didn't notice the problem until there no longer was one.
Good job to LemonCurry for the final solve and some key questions, to GalFisk for doing a lot of the leg work, and to Balin for discovering the looped footage element. And thanks to all who participated.