I've got a theory I've been working on for a couple of days. It almost feels like a Eureka moment with no payoff *yet. I'm wondering if anyone else wants to help me see if I'm on the right track or if I'm close but got off somewhere. I really feel like I'm on to something here(...)
I like your theory very much. Finally thanks to your concepts we are somehow getting the leaves to play a role in decyphering the private key. A few observations from my side that hopefully you (we ?) will be able to incorporate too
1. why read one feature per flame, changing features? My impression would be to read all 3 features from each flame, but stick to your interpretation that the leaves would indicate the order of features and what value should be considered as 1.
2. why don't you consider thickness (blob)? There are two more leaves in the upper segment, one is touching a very thin colorless flame and the other is present in the upper segment only in a small part, and that second one is indicating a nice thick short flame. Either of them can indicate thickness (blob).