The Sphinx's Lair

humn

8:00 PM

I miss Punk! It barely missed me while it had the chance.

I also miss the 60s, another close call.

Land Of 1000 Dances by Wilson Pickett with Lyrics

►

Almost every decade has missed me by millimetrs.

So I whisker by.

Among real puzzles I solved was hurtling down a street after my bicycle brakes snapped.

Seconds passed like lifetimes.

I wasn't even wearing shoes and considered how to sacrifice my lower surfaces.

Mithrandir

@humn wow, that doesn't sound like fun

humn

Solution turned out to be nothing more than reaching down and becoming the brake cable.

Mithrandir

Also, dropped one in the Practice Room and currently trawling YouTube

humn

What a ride!

Sid

8:16 PM

My bicycle brakes snapped when I was racing with my friend and going downhill... I still consider that my greatest piece of riding that I only escaped with a wound in the knee and elbow..

humn

! We're here to tell. Every time I pick up my feet to dance I wonder which face will land.

(Signed, fellow survivor.)

... next name change: survvr ...

... lucky to still have feet ... or a face ... or even a name ...

... each have been to the emergency room ...

... I've even broken a finger or two (... my own...) yet the beat goes on.

manshu

8:36 PM

@Sid hands and a lot more

Emergency room for name?

Turns out... I should be sleeping now. New session in college starts tomorrow.

humn

Summer's over?!

How swiftly the Mayfly in July.

Pleasant ones, sweet dreamer.

Beastly Gerbil

Considering how hot the nights are over here its more sweat dreamer than sweet dreamer for me

humn

(How to really type chuckles? Same here.)

(cheers to global warming, until the creek rises)

Beastly Gerbil

wheres an ice age when you need one :P

Rubio

for science --

signed -- my carefree alias

awww man. that failed.

Beastly Gerbil

8:50 PM

good luck editting :P

and <strike> doesn't work

you have to do \\ I think

\\\test\\\

nope...

humn

Anatomy lesson! I intend to be present for my exhumtn.

Rubio

I'm actually not sure how that <strike> got in there
.([signed](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/14524?m=32820269#32820269) back in just to thank you for the videos too) (signing out again)

Beastly Gerbil

~~oh right its this~~

Rubio

so yah it won't do url parsing on multiline. :(

Mithrandir

It won't do any markup on multi-line messages

humn

8:55 PM

Nothing works here.

Rubio

signed -- my carefree alias
(signed back in just to thank you for the videos too) (signing out again)
signed -- inquiring minds
<strike>signed - humn</strike> moot
(signed - lucky enough to tell the story)
signed - alter ego Pangloss (this is the best of all realistically possible worlds)
For what the answer's worth: I've got my ups and downs, and wouldn't be here as an example were the trace monotonic. Signed - (not really a Dr.) Pangloss.
signed -- music lover
C'mon puzzlers, pop a youtube. signed -- music lover

so that's what i was going for, now without the transcript links alas.

humn

When I give up trying to Pangloss over things I'll attempt Rubioianism above all else.

Beastly Gerbil

That list has made me listless

humn

I was born without an item in my list.

Weird that I was born with a list.

Beastly Gerbil

That must have been a weird skin mutation

humn

9:00 PM

Weren't for mutations . . . . don't get me started . . .

By the time I'm done mutating you won't recognize the result.

Beastly Gerbil

Just quickly... stuck on a maths problem... anyone know how I can prove a^4=2-3a given a^2=1-a?

Its a problem a friend set me... solved most of it but can't get that part annoyingly

humn

(1-a)^2 = 2-3a

(which does have multiple solutions)

Beastly Gerbil

I don't need to solve for a, just prove that :/

humn

So that's not a math problem, it's an interpersonal come on. Enjoy!

Beastly Gerbil

a what? :P

humn

9:04 PM

Your friend was tickling you.

Beastly Gerbil

I doubt it considering the rest

Thats just part of it, it ends with me having to use the golden ratio to estimate the 40 something th of the fibonacci sequence

And plus he isn't the sort to joke about maths

humn

Enjoy living in a wonderland of mathematics and earthlings, even if others don't.

Beastly Gerbil

I've got as far as working out that by solving them both as quadratics you get the same

(-1±sqrt5)/2

which is very close to the golden ratio...

humn

I face this dilemma again and again. The smartest people I know pretend to not know everything I do. Should I call them on that?

Beastly Gerbil

?

Rand al'Thor

9:12 PM

Wait, has @Rubio morphed into humn?

humn

? is my question

Rubio

No - that was every "signed, ..." message humn has written in here :)

Rand al'Thor

@Rubio I know - just looked weird when I scrolled up and saw humnisms from you ;-)

humn

Don't let it happn to you.

Truly, I am a hall of mirrors. Every aspect is a reflection. It happnd to me.

Rubio

It's an epidemic of humnentia

humn

9:17 PM

(On its way)

Look out, humnentia is catching. Go to the doctor before you get caught.

Catch a bull by tail or a lion by the horns.

Mithrandir

I believe it's too late. Signed, humn's fellow music lover.

humn

For anyone who can guess my actual internet names, "music lover" is the password. Think I'll change them to "Mithrandir" after my hair dye dries.

Rand al'Thor

Or after your hair dryer dies?

humn

My hair dryier has only one purpose in life now. To thaw my euphonium.

Mithrandir

♫ Lord of the Rings - Lament for Gandalf (with lyric)

►

humn

9:28 PM

(thank you both here and there for video links, Mithrandir)

My soldering iron likewise only lingers to burn my fingers. (That was an unintentional nonsequitor but the internet is misbhaving again. back after a reboot.)

Mithrandir

I'm pretty sure I linked this before, but again doesn't hurt:

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Ed Sheeran "I See Fire" [HD]

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Rand al'Thor

I have the idea for a new puzzle, but I'm still trying to work out what terms to couch it in.

It could work as a Word™ puzzle, but that might not be the best way to do it.

humn

Are you beginning with a list of pairs or an algorithm? Or both?

Rand al'Thor

That would be telling ;-)

Gareth McCaughan

to whom it may concern: there's a Contact game going on right now if you want to take part. (It's not particularly short of players, so no disaster if not.)

humn

9:40 PM

Welcome, fellow prisoner.

Rand al'Thor

Why, do you reckon the Word™ system only works for an algorithm and not a list of pairs?

All the ones I can remember have an algorithm rather than a list of pairs.

humn

They're shown as pairs, that's why i was saying what i did.

Never mind a whit i say. What?

Rand al'Thor

Q: What's the difference between a list of pairs and a pair of lists?
A: The Axiom of Choice.

humn

!

Rand al'Thor

That makes sense ... from a certain point of view.

humn

9:44 PM

Exclamation point of view (thank you for the setup).

I've never been the same since someone told me how improviszation works. It's like a relay. Just when you're out of breath you get to pass the baton to the next sprinter.

Dust up a cloud on the way to the finish line.

Stir up a storm while in the mix.

Platitudes'R'us.

humn

10:14 PM

Oh how I feel mortal after each a every escape.