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Sphinx
Sphinx
12:29 AM
1
Q: Place three Knights, three Bishops and three Rooks on this board snippet

Tweakimp Place three Knights, three Bishops and three Rooks on this board snippet. The only rule: each piece has to be attacked exactly once. Notes: Ignore color, so every piece attacks every other piece whose square it can move to. I don't know how many solutions there are, but there is at l...

chess
 
lauir
lauir
12:59 AM
^ That song's title and accompanying videography completely belie the music.
One lyric gives the message away: "I wish that i could really tell you all the the things that happened and all that i've seen."
I just trudged a half hour uphill toward the most beautiful scene. Hills just beginning to flourish, in a sunset.
Along the way, a cripple was working the pavement, saw my feet, looked up and said "tread carefully." I said, "turn around."
Then they said "thank you."
So did i.
Every time i meet someone crippled i plead, "please give me all your secrets. I'm next."
By now i have enough secrets to fill a sidewalk. And i've gone to the trouble of needing them a few times.
When someone doubts it, i give them a pair of glasses.
Can't believe how happy-go-lucky i appear at first glance. Guess that's my nature. Certainly been my luck, on average.
 
Sphinx
Sphinx
1:28 AM
0
Q: Which shape is next in the sequence?

user43564This picture has been driving me crazy all day. Lmao

enigmatic-puzzle
 
lauir
lauir
Another passerby today tried to give me the city look.
I gave it back double and then gave the city smile.
They melted and said "hello."
That's city protocol: 1) I see you and couldn't care less; 2) I could kick your ass and this stare proves it; 3) Look again, these scars show it; 4) Nice to meet you!
So simple.
Last time i actually beat up someone, they became my best friend, almost half a century ago.
Had to show some others that they'd have to wait in line in the meanwhile.
All it takes most times is one move, it seems.
Usually it takes less than that. Helps to have scars.
To to to, it's it's it's gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous:
"I turn around again, it's love."
I know by know to let any accoster turn around again if they're willing to go to the trouble.
Half more seriously, we humans have a language that hasn't yet been literated.
Finger tips! I tried it out in a new light.
I looked down at those fumblers and everyone else's eyes followed.
The slightest twiddle seems to focus anyone's attention.
Welcome to planet earth.
Makes me want to dial a telephone.
Don't even pretend to not watch whenever someone's tips get busy.
(This is so easy when noboby's actually watching, idle chatter fills an idle chat room.)
(But half of the above is worthwhile!)
(And will be repeated for for for effect)
 
lauir
lauir
2:20 AM
Tippity tap. No echo?
 
Wen1now
Wen1now
TAP TAp Tap tap tap... ta.. .t
 
lauir
lauir
Spooky! But safe.
Dit to dat.
(Super nosily, @Wen1now, is English (in some form) your native language?)
 
Wen1now
Wen1now
Yes it is
 
lauir
lauir
Sure seems like it.
But i also know you speak mathematics quite well.
And a programming language or two.
So do i!
Or so i've heard.
 
Wen1now
Wen1now
I'm nowhere near proficient in any programming languages
I mean, I can program. But only superficially
 
lauir
lauir
2:28 AM
No one language mattters nowadays, they keep changing.
The overarching concepts are where it's at.
The details are reference paged. (As you know.)
Think i'll move to Australia. (Have the option all of a sudden.)
When I read Stranger in a Strange land i thought "well well, i don't belong anywhere either"
Every time someone tells me i don't belong "here" i say things like, "i'm fleeing from the last place i was told that."
^ That Echoes song up there is pretty long and good while at it. Neighbrs are waiting a few more hours to call the cops.
v ridiculous lyrics but good beat:
 
Sphinx
Sphinx
2:46 AM
0
Q: Dutch dice puzzle

rasherSomeone posted this over on Reddit then promptly removed it (I don't think it was someone trying to cheat on a test - seems an unusual question for such a thing), thought thus stack sub might find it amusing: The text of the first three panels translates (roughly) to: THIS IS: H holes in the...

riddle pattern
 
 
2 hours later…
Sphinx
Sphinx
4:37 AM
0
Q: A Christmas Tartan

DqwertyCChristmas was always your great aunt's favorite holiday, but it looks like this might be the first year that you'll be celebrating without her. Nobody really knows much about where she came from or who her parent were, since she was found on your great-grandparents doorstep as a child. All she ha...

enigmatic-puzzle visual seasonal
 
 
7 hours later…
lauir
lauir
11:25 AM
 
Wen1now
Wen1now
Yay more humning
 
lauir
lauir
Present edition: "Tony!"
 
Wen1now
Wen1now
*lauiring
 
lauir
lauir
Our boss gave "Tony" my desk just to see sparks fly.
Tony wore designer shoes and i rarely even wore feet.
And did the sparks every fly, but in the lovey-dovey sense.
I'd come in and say the most implausible things. Instead of slapping me down immediately, Tony got busy looking things up on the computer.
And found out (almost) each time that i knew what i was talking about. Enough times to make a difference.
He's now a certified information scientist.
And now i look up things on the computer.
"every" up there = "ever"
Thank you, Tony. I learned so much from you.
But still don't wear designer apparel. On a good day.
"Tire tracks all across your back, i can see you've had your fun."
(Whew, internet lawyers try to stifle every fringe of Beatles and Hendrix, unsuccessfully at times.)
 
Sphinx
Sphinx
11:48 AM
0
Q: "Musical chair" for clock hands

A. P.A colleague and me usually make bets on the time when a simulation is finished. Next time I would suggest the following: At the time the simulation is finished we take a look at the analog clock on the wall: If the hour hand is closer to the 12 (in terms of the enclosed angle $\color{red}{\alp...

mathematics probability time
 
lauir
lauir
"And the nurse will tell you lies. Of the kingdom beyond the skies."
A parent of a friend got broadsided and interned recently.
She (the parent) is getting used to being the most functional person around.
She (the friend) is somehow getting used to it too.
Life is so full of solvers.
"Statistical reminder of a world that isn't there."
Yes, i know, misquote.
One night the mother of my moisture discovery allowed me to stay the night. Took almost an hour to get to class late. There was a note on the door. "Go to room [whatever]."
So i went there and they sat me down, on a desk far away from anyone with the sense of smell.
Sure enough, with adrenalin and hormones, another half hour before anyone else was done, that turned out to be a mathematics contest.
^ That's the story i really wanted to tell today. Her name is Kelley.
^ it just gets funner and funner to breach stories after the statute of limitation expires.
(Misspellings intentiional.)
Another co-worker once said how much she loves Prince. I: "Thank you for a clue." She: "You're not in my league."
^ hmm, never understood how clever those lyrics are. Another lucky strike. Never too late.
That song just sounded so cheesy when it came out. Listen again.
The performer on the right has my mouth. The one to her left has my eyes. The lead singer has my voice. Give them back!
Stuff them into my ears and you'll get my attention.
Still a cheese video, but also something else.
"to her left" = "to her right" = "to our left as we look" up there
(And, yes, her eyes are a completely different colr. But same look.)
 
lauir
lauir
1:11 PM
After a lot of other videos not suitable, as if this were:
 
lauir
lauir
1:35 PM
For you, @boboquack, fellow sheet music lover. Grow a few more fingers and play along:
It seems to be an authentic copy of what the dude wrote as piano music for his flautist love a few years after the ballet came out.
 
John Dvorak
John Dvorak
"Grow a few more fingers" almost sounds rude
 
lauir
lauir
(Best song not on internet: "A finger for you.")
(the lyrics, if i remember, chorus to "and one for you, and you too, and another.")
A weak rebound, but not all bad:
"Yeah, yeah, patience. How long will that take?"
^ That's a lot better without the ditty that usually follows it.
 
lauir
lauir
2:14 PM
Back to classical, another for you, Karentabile:
(That K-irl gets all my pet names. She taught me to romp the language playground.)
(You should be as lucky to be "Karentabile" sometime.)
(It's a combination of "tender loving Kare" and "cantabile.")
(And, of course, were you that lucky, the one nearby would be even luckier.)
(Give it a try.)
And anothek:
^ near miss. The one i was looking for:
"Were i salad i'd be splashing my dressing."
No other ding-dongs to chime in? Nature abhors a vacuum and i have just enough empty space to fill it.
 
John Dvorak
John Dvorak
2:36 PM
This isn't nature. We love vacuum.
 
lauir
lauir
Thank you, @John Dvorak! "We have the moon so why not the stars?"
 
John Dvorak
John Dvorak
No stars for you, buddy
 
lauir
lauir
My studs heal.
Sometime we need to talk information conversion. It's on the edge of black holes.
That tried to sound poetic but it's literal.
"edge" = "surface"
And black holes are those suckers that try to obey conservation laws.
They try to behave, but oh it's just no use.
I'm almost ready to prove mathematically that any attempt at conversion leads to a ripple in the carpet that unearths all kinds of delights.
The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. It dates from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. As so little is known of Bosch's life or intentions, interpretations of his intent have ranged from an admonition of worldly fleshy indulgence, to a dire warning on the perils of life's temptations, to an evocation of ultimate sexual joy. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel,...
(Stop me from straying into words; or don't.)
(It's all too true, though, measurable energy ripples from roundoff error.)
4
Q: How to keep up when converting between bases?

lauirHere is a schematized binary channel that neatly conveys a decimal number. $ \require{begingroup}\begingroup \def\T {{ \cal T }} \def \Ti {{ \T \raise5mu{ \text- \scriptsize 1 } }} \def\Bx #1{{ ~ \rightarrow ~ \boxed{\, #1 \,\Large\strut} \: \rightarrow ~ }} \def \BTi {\Bx { \kern 1mu ...

signal-processing information-theory computational-mathematics
^ that was a clue elsewhere
I should just publish and shut up. But this milieu is so much more fun.
And everyone has seen other truths to no avail.
But here Deusovi (to name a few) makes things look as easy as i try, and i try to make things look fun.
Don't make me try to make things look obvious. That's my day job.
Here, oblivious is a welcome mat.
(Fine song. All i need, by the way, is another good song and sedation, not any kinds of uppers.)
No other piracy of the moment? Here's a good long one while breakfast formulates:
 
 
3 hours later…
Sphinx
Sphinx
6:22 PM
0
Q: What am I? (word modification)

gnoviceAdd a letter, and I become that which helps create me. Take away two, and I become soup. What am I?

riddle
 
lauir
lauir
6:59 PM
Tony, part twony:
(but first, Natty. Twony taught me how to tuck in the edges:)
Tony got me to a conference on information once.
And at the same time showed me his project from a book design course.
That audacious design was 3 times as tall as wide, had page numbers along the middles, and publishing quotes on every page.
I pretended to try and hide Tony's sample within the conference brochure but the lecternist (Tufte) said, "put that thing a away and pay attention."
So at the first break i ran across street and got a pornographic magazine in which to hide Tony's book, as if nobody would notice.
The lecternist didn't miss that move, but realiszed i was paying full attention in more than one direction, and said, "that's better."
My favrite page from that book: Henry Ward Beecher -- "Where is human nautre so weak as in a bookstore?"
Tony's last words that day: "Keep it."
 
lauir
lauir
7:15 PM
@lauir , "nautre" = "nature"
@lauir , you're telling me.
"You did so, you did so, like you never did befo."
(And now "wait wait don't tell me" is in full swing.)
(And now it's stumbling between skin colors. Silly humans. Call me @specieist.)
 
lauir
lauir
7:44 PM
(Or @chättyrätty.)
 
lauir
lauir
7:54 PM
Rrrrrrrrrrrrr, i'm getting tired of trying to type English. Think i'll call my musical muse and speak New Jersey. On a good day.
(Before then, as if i hadn't spilled these beans before, if you want to really learn English, visit New Jersey.)
(Once, there, a stranger came up and told me i looked like i knew what i was doing. I said, "now i feel like i was born only yesterday." She said, "you heard me.")
(I called her "my Rosetta stone." She didn't know what i meant and still made me feel like i didn't know what i was talking about!)
(One of these days language won't fail me. Until then, there are parentheses.)
^(two different "she"s up there. One remained a stranger.)
Just because it's been more than half a minute since last time and just about time this time:
^first time i head that i had two thoughts: "Yes have musical skill" and "Gonna assemble a good sound system."
. . . many blown speakers since those thoughts, i'm yet not satisfied . . .
 
lauir
lauir
8:45 PM
. . . as long as nobody interjects . . .
 
lauir
lauir
9:05 PM
And on the way out this time, on a rough note, after watching some news:
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
@lauir I can't tell if you mean that you'll be willing to write a post on Literature or not...
 
lauir
lauir
I should! But haven't and won't for a while.
I have material from many sources, and Hein hasn't been covered.
“We ought to live each day as though
it were our last day here below.
But if I did, alas, I know,
it would have killed me long ago.”
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
0
Q: What makes a poem a Grook?

MithrandirI recently learned, while listening to the flow of wisdom, music, and monologue that flows from lauir, that there's a type of poem called a 'Grook'. Quoting from the Wikipedia page: The grooks are multi-faceted and characterized by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, rhythm and ...

poetry terminology
(cc @Rand)
 
lauir
lauir
And you did!
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
I asked. Now you can answer ;)
 
lauir
lauir
9:16 PM
So you dare.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
 
lauir
lauir
!
@Rand is exactly who reminded me a day or two ago of Hein, via Lem. To try and squeeze thoughts through an English funnel can be fun.
I'm guessing that your first language also isn't English, @Mithrandir.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
@lauir It is, although I do speak a second.
 
lauir
lauir
Right on! Can never be sure.
And fortunately don't need to be.
"What we know we don't believe. What we believe we don't know. It's like that. And it's fine."
^That's a Grook without the rhyme."
(Was looking for this this this:)
"Learn to talk, your friends will be impressed . . . but you'll never be able to rest."
 
davdi
davdi
"It's a race to the bottom, but alas its not fair. That SOB was already there." @lauir - Is that a Grook? :) and Hello
 
lauir
lauir
9:29 PM
Most songs are Grooks in that sense. Can't wait to see how someone else answers your question, @Mithrandir!
And @davd! Did you see my characteriszation another day of you? (backtracking, but you can probably beat me there)
Dec 20 at 16:26, by lauir
@Rubio , someone who taught me that the only reason we ever wake up is to share ideas for each others' dreams
 
davdi
davdi
I think so... something about telling you to turn your head and see it a different way?
 
lauir
lauir
That was another time.
 
davdi
davdi
I think I remember that conversation... must have been a year two ago. Still true though.
 
lauir
lauir
@d!
For anyone watching, that @d showed up unannounced one year, and today, just to reflect everything we always suspected.
(You don't have to perform on cue at this moment, @d, as long you keep me from following the couch off the fourth story again.)
 
davdi
davdi
that is a memory close to when we first met
 
lauir
lauir
9:39 PM
All you have to do is see where i'm askant and then i feel safe.
I'm feeling a little badass now.
 
davdi
davdi
i can't stop laughing... I love that vid, so many memories with that one
 
lauir
lauir
@d, did you see my new language (re)discovery?
Of fingertips. Most of us have a few.
Used to be more subtle, but now that everyone thumbtypes, those tips are more expository than ever.
Think i'll stop watching lips and go straight for the tips for hints.
(Probably not, though, i'm mouthralled.)
 
davdi
davdi
yes it is an under appreciated sense for sure
 
lauir
lauir
And others (and probably you, certainly myself) just don't seem to keep from twitching there.
Even "twitter" should be renamed "twitcher."
 
davdi
davdi
@l how to post youtube inline? Just a link? or markup?
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
9:50 PM
just a link
it'll onebox
 
davdi
davdi
Then I leave you at the moment with that, need to go for a while :) enjoy
 
lauir
lauir
Thank you for another visit of a new kind!
@Mithrandir , you speak the same language! Thank you too, again and again.
One of these days i'll learn.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
*laughs*
 
lauir
lauir
10:12 PM
(And my musical muse called too, just to let me overhear her charm everyone else.)
"I know you did." never sounded as gorgeous.
My violin-teacher musical muse.
I just gave her a compliment and she said "that is true!"
One of these days i'll hang up that phone for good and get a mobile.
 
thecoder16
thecoder16
Time to make a Christmas puzzle, though it’ll probably be simple
 
lauir
lauir
A Christmas crossword?
 
thecoder16
thecoder16
Ah, probably not that straightforward :P
 
lauir
lauir
10:28 PM
A crooked crisscross-cryptic?
 
thecoder16
thecoder16
Probably not that complicated either.
My puzzles are mostly one sided and based on a simple concept
 
lauir
lauir
That's what you think.
For you, Cinders:
I haven't even begun to Cyllogisze.
@thecoder16 , there's truly an art to making simple things look complicated.
I usually try to make complicated things look simple. Works half of the time.
The other half of the time they wind up looking impossible.
"Cinders" is even less trepidatious than i.
With less than half the tissue reparability and more than twice the need.
Life, just, ain't, fair.
^ for you, @Mithrandir, colleague in search.
^ tied for best song ever
Tied with almost every other Marvin Gaye song.
"Father, father, we don't need to escalate."
(And i have the gentlest father, that's merely a quote.)
(Just occurred to me: I'm the bruiser of the family. As ready to dish it out as to heal.)
(That's both reasons why i tramp about without fear and why strangers share their secrets with a smile.)
(I share my secrets with a smile too.)
(To have no fear makes it just as easy to share to good stuff as bad.)
(When someone shows me fear and bad stuff, i just ask something like, "you think you're scared so far?")
(You'd feel safe with me alongside. I know someone else like that and learned a few things.)
(They are a pussycat, as i, but has been through hell, likewise, and needed someone to see through the facade.)
(musical analog:)
FCCu!
If you haven't woken up in a pool of blood you haven't entirely lived.
When confronted, another puzzle i pose is "Your blood or mine?" Ah to have no fear.
Last time, the assailant wound up asking, "may i have that shirt?"
I wound up saying, "of course, you got off easy."
What a weird planet. Spin me off, manshu.
^ that's me, i've died a thousand cowards' deaths and lived to tell.
Most of those close calls were purely emotional. But quite a few were carnal.
"Carnal" = vital, not sexual, peril. . . . this time.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
11:52 PM
@lauir oh, I have.
I had a bad nosebleed in the middle of the night.
 
lauir
lauir
La vie!
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
Absolutely freaked my parents out.
 
lauir
lauir
Sure believe that.
Welcome fellow floater!
And after clearing your passageways:
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
takes deep breath
doubles over coughing
 
lauir
lauir
Looks like you're taking a bow.
 
Mithrandir
Mithrandir
11:59 PM
straightens up, sits at piano
 
lauir
lauir
Oh now you have fingertips too?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
 

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