VAST 2006 Contest - A tale of Alderwood

Answer information from the originators of the dataset

Mark A. Whiting, PNNL
Carrie Varley, PNNL

Tool(s):

Brute Force, bizarre imaginations, sharpened pencils. A little Visio, Word, and TextPad.

(250 words MAX). And of course we were part of the team that imagined the plot itself…

1. Who

Conspirators	Most relevant source files (5 MAX)
Rex Luthor, mayor	Oh, so many… the Backgrounder, the Excel phone calls, 1101243338500, Starbucks pictures (showing his Laurel at work),
Augustus “Bruce” Rinz, city attorney	1101243338500, 1101162452451, 1101163452222
Laurel Sulfate	1101243338500, the Pictures, 1101163356001
Alejandro Von Ryker	The pictures with the city folk, and then their Word docs
Delwin Sanderson	The pictures with the city folk, and then their Word docs. 1101163018599 (to Argentina), 1101163595600
Unnamed FDA Official	1101163356500, 1101163977242

Bystanders and Dupes
Dr. Boynton	Just look at the poor fellow’s pictures -- he is practically comatose!
Councilman Torch	And just look at his pictures too…this time, the one with Laurel in Starbucks….

2. Important events

Scenario Time	Events	Format	Elements Revealed	Subtlety High 1>2>3	Article Key
<Jan 2002	Alderwood Baseline Conditions; Mayor's plot to "Restore Alderwood" begins	Word	Foundation for scenario	3	Background(Word)
<Jan 2002	City Atty Rinz agrees to finance Lab	Text	Link between Rinz and overall scheme	1	1101243338500
<Jan 2002	Luthor and Laurel ("Laurie") Sulfate history is tipped off	Text	Link between Luthor and Laurel	2	1101243338500
Jan-May 2002	Mayor's Overseas Phone Calls: Mayor Luthor makes several overseas phone calls from City Hall	Excel entries	Link to Switzerland	3	Excel (Phone)
Feb 2002	Rinz link to questionable scientists	Text	Link to Switzerland	1	1101162452451
May-Oct 2002	Boynton Laboratory Construction	Text	Rinz linkage	2	1101243338500
May-Oct 2002	Boynton Laboratory Construction	Text	Introduce Boynton; Laurel	3	1101240332919
May-Oct 2002	Boynton Laboratory Construction	Text	Puts laboratory under suspicion	2	1101163840166; pictures
May-Oct 2002	Boynton Laboratory Construction	Word	Scientists suspicious	3	Word(Scientists)
	Boynton Laboratory Construction	Word	Scientists work on synthetic prion research	3	Word(Scientists)
Aug 2002	John Torch becomes active in politics	Text	Challenge to Luthor	3	1101631275108
Sep 02- May 03	Influx of new Voters for Luthor	Word	Link to Mayor on influx	3	Background(Word)
	Influx of new Voters for Luthor	Excel	Amount of new voters	2	Excel (Registry)
Feb 2003	Apartments reach 100% occupancy rate	Text	Amount of new voters	1	1101163661840
Mar-Jul 2003	Foreign land buy up	Text	Another foreign link via Rinz	1	1101163452222
Jul 2003	Torch announces bid for mayor	Text	Torch challenge	3	1101631275108
Aug 2003	Torch becomes liability to Luthor	Text	Torch Challenge	2	1101163019147
Sept 2003	Sanderson out of town (he's causing the "fake" mad cow)	Text	Oddly, he's out of town just before the outbreak	1	1101163018599
Sep 2003	Boynton Labs to help w/ mad cow	Text	Oddly, the labs ready to cure the new mad cow	2	1101163018612
Oct 2003	New Voting machines procured	Text	? Coincidence with other political elements?	3	1101163017765
Jan 2004	Prion breakthru at Boynton Labs	Text	Oddly, the labs ready to cure the new mad cow	2	1101163840166
Feb 2004	Torch seen as viable contender	Text	Torch challenge	2	1101163727099
Feb 2004	New voting machines installed	Text	More voting concerns	2	1101163726024
Mar 2004	Boynton Labs cure mad cow	Text	Oddly, the lab is able to cure the mad cow	2	1101163595600
Apr 2004	FDA investigation of Boynton	Text	Is there scandal at the lab?	2	1101163356500
Apr 2004	Torch scandalous rendezvous	Text	Laurel goes to Switzerland	3	1101163356001
	Torch scandalous rendezvous	Images	Torch is caught in scandal	3	Pictures File Photo 2
Jun 2004	Boynton Labs vindicated	Text	Oddly, nothing wrong is at the lab	2	1101163977242
Jun 2004-Nov 2004	Torch campaign goes silent	Text	Torch Challenge Gone	2	Lack of text!
Aug 2004	Luthor campaign seen going well	Text	Flying high	2	1101162945890
Nov 2004	FDA investigation ends	Text	FDA investigation may be tainted	2	1101163977242
Nov 2004	Voting machine difficulties	Text	More voting concerns	2	1101162413930

3. Locations

	LOCATION	EVIDENCE
1	Alderwood	Clearly…
2	Switzerland	VonRyker and Sanderson are from there, the City Hall calls are made to there, Rinz comes from there…
3	South America	Sanderson ensures Argentina has a prion problem Boynton Labs can solve (1101163018599…), the schnook!

4. Debriefing

The City of Alderwood

Mayor Rex Luthor

Mayor Luthor was sorely distressed at the sad state of the wonderful town of Alderwood, Washington. Despite his best efforts to revitalize the community, nothing was working. The decline began when the dot-com bust virtually destroyed the tourism economy. Then, the mad cow outbreak wreaked havoc with the local agriculture industry. People were out of work. Banks were reporting defaults on loans. Voters were moving away to the larger cities of Seattle and Portland. Luthor realized if something drastic were not done, both the town and his mayorship would be lost. After all, he still had several years active service planned before his retirement.

Mad Cow look-alike

As luck would have it, Luthor taken several biology classes during his football glory days at the university. Being mayor of an agricultural community, Luthor was passing familiar with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow disease. So much so, that he concocted a brilliant, albeit nefarious, scheme: If a look-alike disease to Mad Cow could be engineered, along with a miraculous cure, his problems would melt away. He could infect a few bovines at choice locations around the world, and sell cures for a magnificent profit. With the proceeds, he could finance the renewal of Alderwood, his political career, and ensure a comfortable retirement in his dream house along the banks of the lazy Alderwood River. Perhaps, a statue in the center of Swiss Park would be in order.

With a little more research, Rex found that few laboratories specialized in prion research (“prions” being the proteins responsible for the brain damage caused by mad cow disease), but perhaps if he worked the fringes of that community, he could find what he needed. He realized he would need a laboratory in Alderwood to achieve his ends, but laboratories were expensive and the town was broke. Luthor decided to turn to the independently wealthy Alderwood City Attorney Augustus “Bruce” Rinz. Rinz agreed to provide initial financing for the lab--for the good of the city, of course--in exchange for certain considerations in the future. Coincidentally, Rinz had a link to the world of hi-tech biology. His wife’s uncle, Alejandro von Ryker, was one of the leading academics in the area of international prion research. Rinz suggested that von Ryker would be an excellent collaborator in the efforts to build a successful laboratory, as he had recently decided to leave his laboratory in Switzerland to pursue research opportunities elsewhere. Luthor happened to came across an article that described the work of VonRyker and his associate Delwin Sanderson in the Swiss lab “Von Ryker Institute of Research AG”. It appeared that von Ryker and Sanderson had been conducting research considered questionable by some. Although demonstrating notable progress in Prion Research, it seems that their methods were inconsistent with national standards according to the Swiss National Surveillance and Research Board. In short, unethical and unscientific. This resulted in their summary dismissal from the Swiss National Surveillance and Research Council, thus ending their research opportunities in Switzerland.

Rinz facilitated contact between his Uncle Alejandro and von Ryker, initiating a mutually beneficial business relationship for all concerned. Von Ryker brought Sanderson to assist in the enterprise.

Work began on the Laboratory in May 2002. An elderly, but respected biologist, Dr Boynton, was lured to lead the facility, as well as be an unwitting puppet for Luthor. A Luthor-handpicked executive assistant, Laurel Sulfate, was hired as Boynton’s personal executive assistant, guiding the respected scientist and leader with decisions and public statements. Luthor also realized he needs highly technical people able to support the two rogue researchers, capable of working in the highly specialized biotechnology field, but would also be willing to keep quiet. Word leaked out about the high-tech jobs to be had in low-cost Alderwood, Washington, as long as one played by the rules.

Torch, a political liability

Just prior to the influx of the new biotech workers, one of the farm communities’ leaders and city councilmen, John Torch, began to campaign against the Luthor administration in August 2002, claiming that insufficient attention had been paid to the plight of the farm communities, and that Luthor had lost touch with the common people. Initially, there was not much support for his campaign, as the economy appeared to be doing better. Armed with a alarming issues such as the problems with the overly-high occupancy rate of rental housing news and about European investors purchasing large tracts of river front property at bargain prices from the city, Torch pushed on for the common folk and declared his candidacy for Mayor in July 2003.

The Plot Thickens

At the beginning of September 2003, Sanderson was dispatched to South America to unleash the synthetic prion, under the guise of attending a technical conference and consultation with South American colleagues. Shortly after his return, a rare form of BSE is discovered in Argentina. Fortunately, Sanderson had just met with the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Foods in Argentina, who remembered Dr. Sanderson and requested immediate assistance from Boynton Laboratory. Quick action by Boynton Staff Scientists using an experimental drug prevented the catastrophic outbreak of BSE, saving the Argentine cattle industry from a certain depression.

In January 2004, Laurel Sulfate, speaking for Dr. Boynton, announces a major breakthrough in prion research by Boynton Laboratory. In March 2004, based on research and studies done on the Argentine Incident, a cure for a rare form of BSE is announced.

Alerted by Pure Food for Our World community watchdogs, in April 2004, the FDA becomes suspicious of the Lab’s activities and sends a team to investigate. Two months later, the Lab is given glowing ratings from the FDA representative.

Torch Flares, Then Sputters Out

Meanwhile, John Torch has been reaching out to the common people of Alderwood, pointing out that while the hi-tech workers are a significant boost to Alderwood’s economy, the farm community hasn’t equally benefited. Seeing Torch’s growing popularity by Feb 2004, Luthor knew it was time to do something drastic. The employees of Boynton Laboratory were subtly reminded who had taken care of them with their new jobs, new offices, new laptops, and comfy life at the lab; and that it was their turn to show the appropriate appreciation at the ballot box. Additionally, the lovely Laurel Sulfate was asked to ensure Torch’s campaign was permanently doused. Thanks to a rendezvous at the local coffee shop, the unsuspecting and happily married Torch was set up for a hard fall by a seductive Miss Sulfate. Scandalous photographs were taken and widely circulated. Acknowledging defeat, Torch exited the political scene and returned to the farm by June 2004. Although a cursory investigation was done by the Alderwood Chief of Police (coincidentally Mayor Luthor’s golfing buddy), the main witness (Miss Sulfate) was unavailable for questioning, having left the country for urgent business in Switzerland.

Sealing the Deal

To comply with recent voting method changes by the state government, Luthor had the voting machines replaced with new electronic voting machines in October 2003. While he was at it, Luthor called in a favor from some of the computer technicians from the Lab to reprogram the machines to ensure himself a decisive victory.

However, just after the Nov 4 elections, voting machine irregularities were found in another city. Unfortunately for Luthor, his new machines were of the same model and were included in a state-wide review. The investigation is still pending.

Another bit of news

The FDA official who had led the investigation of Boynton Labs was indicted on bribery charges in Washington D.C. He is being investigated for accepting bribes from a popcorn company in Georgia for allowing them to pass an inspection despite several violations of critical industry safety standards.

Diagrams

NOTES: These diagrams were used to help the judges identify the important pieces of information, and serve as a baseline for representing that information. We hope that teams will submit better representations of the data and explain how these were used to perform the analyses.