fail to solve nato tide challenge

nato-tide.py

'''
the gif with the challenge image can be found here:
https://www.act.nato.int/images/stories/events/2018/tide-hackathon/EA-FN.gif

EA contains the message "Keep :) Hacking"
not sure what FN contains

more details on the challenge:
https://www.act.nato.int/ar16

below is really bad code with combinatorial ideas for what to do... but it didn't work :(
'''

s = '''00320030003
1xxxx1x22x3
0x0330xx1x0
1xxx00x3xx1
0x0230x13x1
1x2200x11x0
13201202000'''

[['0', '0', '3', '2', '0', '0', '3', '0', '0', '0', '3'], ['1', 'x', 'x', 'x', 'x', '1', 'x', '2', '2', 'x', '3'], ['0', 'x', '0', '3', '3', '0', 'x', 'x', '1', 'x', '0'], ['1', 'x', 'x', 'x', '0', '0', 'x', '3', 'x', 'x', '1'], ['0', 'x', '0', '2', '3', '0', 'x', '1', '3', 'x', '1'], ['1', 'x', '2', '2', '0', '0', 'x', '1', '1', 'x', '0'], ['1', '3', '2', '0', '1', '2', '0', '2', '0', '0', '0']]

['13201202000\n1x2200x11x0\n0x0230x13x1\n1xxx00x3xx1\n0x0330xx1x0\n1xxxx1x22x3\n00320030003', '3301100\n0xxxxx0\n021x310\n02x3112\n3xxxxx0\n0100002\n0x30301\n2x3x220\n3x0x022\n0xxxxx3\n0101011', '30003002300\n3x22x1xxxx1\n0x1xx0330x0\n1xx3x00xxx1\n1x31x0320x0\n0x11x0022x1\n00020210231', '1101010\n3xxxxx0\n220x0x3\n022x3x2\n10303x0\n2000010\n0xxxxx3\n2113x20\n013x120\n0xxxxx0\n0011033', '0101011\n0xxxxx3\n3x0x022\n2x3x220\n0x30301\n0100002\n3xxxxx0\n02x3112\n021x310\n0xxxxx0\n3301100', '00020210231\n0x11x0022x1\n1x31x0320x0\n1xx3x00xxx1\n0x1xx0330x0\n3x22x1xxxx1\n30003002300', '00320030003\n1xxxx1x22x3\n0x0330xx1x0\n1xxx00x3xx1\n0x0230x13x1\n1x2200x11x0\n13201202000', '0011033\n0xxxxx0\n013x120\n2113x20\n0xxxxx3\n2000010\n10303x0\n022x3x2\n220x0x3\n3xxxxx0\n1101010']

#03 is always 003?

from textwrap import wrap

import requests
import urllib2
big_text = requests.get('https://norvig.com/big.txt').text
big_text = urllib2.urlopen('https://norvig.com/big.txt').read()
big_nums = [ord(c) for c in big_text]
freq_dict = dict(zip(range(256), [big_nums.count(c) / float(len(big_nums)) for c in range(256)]))


def find_offsets(nums, number_offsets):
 offset_to_error = {}
 for offset in range(256):
  new_nums = [(num+offset)%256 for num in nums]
  error = 0
  for c in range(256):
   new_f = new_nums.count(c) / float(len(new_nums))
   right_f = freq_dict[c]
   error += abs(new_f - right_f) ** 2
  offset_to_error[offset] = error
 sorted_offsets = [y[0] for y in sorted(offset_to_error.items(), key=lambda x: x[1])]
 return sorted_offsets[:number_offsets]

def ff(s, number_offsets=3):
 s = s.replace(' ', '').replace('\n', '')
 for word in [2, 3, 4]:
  for x in ['', '0', '1', '2', '3']:
   nums = [int(num, 4) % 256 for num in wrap(s.replace('x', x), word)]
   for offset in find_offsets(nums, number_offsets):
    output = ''.join([chr((num+offset)%256) for num in nums])
    print(word, x, offset, output)

transpose = lambda l: [list(i) for i in zip(*l)]
rotate1 = lambda l: transpose(l[::-1])
rotate2 = lambda l: transpose(l)[::-1]
flip1 = lambda l: l[::-1]
flip2 = lambda l: [L[::-1] for L in l]

def transform(a):
 ops = [random.choice([transpose, rotate1, rotate2, flip1, flip2]) for i in range(random.randint(0, 10))]
 if ops:
  new_a = ops[0](a)
  for op in ops[1:]:
   new_a = op(new_a)
  return new_a
 return a

# dumb way to find out there are only 8 ways to look at a 2d array without changing it too much
def all_combos(a, iter=10000):
 res = {}
 for i in xrange(iter):
  new_a = '\n'.join([''.join(e) for e in transform(a)])
  res[new_a] = True
 return res.keys()

def shuby(a):
 wow = all_combos(a)
 [ff(s) for s in wow]

# attempt to use the gif sequence vs just the final image...

s0 = '''    0 3 0  
1xxxx1x 2x3
 x    xx x 
 xxx 0x xx 
0x02  x 3x 
 x   0x  x0
1 2 1 02 0 '''

s1 = ''' 0  003 0  
1xxxx1x22x3
 x0  0xx x0
1xxx00x3xx 
0x02 0x 3x 
 x2  0x1 x0
1 201 0200 '''

s2 = '''00320030003
1xxxx1x22x3
0x0330xx1x0
1xxx00x3xx1
0x0230x13x1
1x2200x11x0
13201202000'''

def remove(initial, bad_stuff, include_x=False):
 out = ''
 for c1, c2 in zip(initial, bad_stuff):
  if c1 == '\n':
   out += c1
   continue
  if c1 == 'x' and include_x:
   out += c1
   continue
  out += c1.replace(c2, ' ')
 return out

def all_sequences():
 sequences = [s2.replace('\n', ''), (s0+s1+s2).replace('\n', '')] # original sequences
 sequences.append((s0 + remove(s1, s0) + remove(s2, s1)).replace('x', '').replace(' ', '').replace('\n', '')) # get rid of all x
 sequences.append((s0 + remove(s1, s0) + remove(s2, s1)).replace(' ', '').replace('\n', '')) # keep initial x
 sequences.append((s0 + remove(s1, s0, True) + remove(s2, s1, True)).replace(' ', '').replace('\n', '')) # keep all x
 return sequences

def all_arrays():
 sequences = all_sequences()
 return [[[c for c in l] for l in wrap(seq, 11)] for seq in sequences]

def shuby2():
 for a in all_arrays():
  wow = all_combos(a)
  for s in wow:
   print(s)
   ff(s, 3)
    
    
# in future, try using the weird thing on the left also?
# 0 other reasonable ideas at this point :(