The Sphinx's Lair

humn

11:00 AM

Don't make me rev up toybt!

Aric Fowler

Okay quick, someone name a famous roller coaster!

humn

Big Dipper

Mithrandir

splash mountain

manshu

Roller coaster tycoon. :p

Aric Fowler

Thanks

Mithrandir

11:01 AM

Steel Dragon 2000

humn

Wasn't there a roller coaster famous for killing riders? In north New Jersey?

(looking up)

manshu

I never took a ride in roller coaster until 2020.

humn

... not necessarily killing riders ... "Traction Park":

Action Park

Action Park is an amusement park located in Vernon, New Jersey, United States, on the grounds of the Mountain Creek ski resort. The park consists primarily of water-based attractions and originally opened to the public in 1978 under the ownership of Great American Recreation, who also owned the ski resort which at the time operated under the name Vernon Valley/Great Gorge. The original Action Park was open until 1996 and featured three separate attraction areas: the Alpine Center (featuring an alpine slide), Motorworld, and Waterworld. The latter was one of the first modern American water parks...

manshu

"not necessarily killing riders"...does it mean it kills the audience too?

humn

@manshu , did you survive? (out of sequence)

manshu

11:05 AM

I don't remember. It was a long time ago.

Mithrandir

goes to ask a Meta.Puzzling.SE question and find that Rand already asked it

Aric Fowler

Yes, Manshu died in 2071 due to a time dilation

humn

and digital dyslexia

manshu

R.I.P. to my twin, who died in a paradoxical death.

Aric Fowler

Or perhaps, paradoxical non-death.

We still have not confirmed

manshu

11:07 AM

I guess we'll never know. He might be alive somewhere (in any other universe).

humn

(checking other universes)

manshu

(let me know if you find my twin)

humn

(I am almost your twin by now. Just be glad I can't afford airfare and replace you.)

Mithrandir

(let me know when we can stop using parentheses)

humn

{[how about now>"

manshu

11:12 AM

<<I cannot be replaced. Airfares are always going high. Your government needs a lot of money from you people. BWAHAHA.>>

Mithrandir

\/\/o_o\/\/

apparently I managed to draw a crab without meaning to

manshu

|\__/|
O_O /
----
Coz I'm Batman.

humn

)how I love typewriter (now called ascii) art!(

Aric Fowler

Perhaps you could use a quantum computer to simultaneously search every universe for your twin, who died in 2071?

humn

@manshu , Batmanshu!

manshu

11:16 AM

sounds more like:

Sphinx

0

Q: Who can really solve the Rubik's cube?

I am wondering who is able to solve Rubik's cube just by thinking without knowing the rules behind it. As far as I know the inventor Ernő Rubik was professor of architecture and he intended to help students to learn 3D imagination. However from my point of view it is really ridiculous and probabl...

three-dimensional

Mithrandir

y'can also do !<imageURL> when the URL doesn't end in .png/jpg/whatever

humn

Life lesson. Thank you, Mithrandir!

manshu

Mithrandir

no, without the <>

manshu

11:19 AM

aahhh...right.

Aric Fowler

manshu

Batman shoe

humn

See, manshu, that's why i want to step into your sole. You're just a shoe looking for a fingerprint.

(You know what i mean, and it wasn't serious.)

manshu

I've heard that the fingerprint of twins are same.

humn

My two fingers don't have the same print.

manshu

11:23 AM

checking the validity of the statement

humn

Ooops, now everyone knows i have only two fingers. Makes it easy to count in binary.

manshu

are your two fingers twin of each other?

Aric Fowler

Fingerprints are funny business.

Mithrandir

especially when you take adermatoglyphia into account

(smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/…)

manshu

Identical twins often share personality traits, interests and habits. They come from the same fertilized egg and share the same genetic blueprint.

To a standard DNA test, they are indistinguishable. But any forensics expert will tell you that there is at least one surefire way to tell them apart: identical twins do not have matching fingerprints.

Aric Fowler

11:25 AM

^ True.

humn

@Mithrandir , I actually performed that in chemistry lab by accident!

Think it was hydrogen peroxide. It dissolved my fingerprints into an indistinguishable sheet.

Take note, future criminals!

manshu

> "It's an exceedingly rare condition," says Sprecher, who's one of just a handful of doctors worldwide to have dealt with the disease firsthand.

It's not a disease. It's a boon.

A blessing.

humn

Quick take: Are zebras black striped or white striped?

Mithrandir

black striped

manshu

Why is every non-natural thing taken as disease? What if it is us who are infected by these fingerprints and those other people are normal?

humn

11:29 AM

manshu! you did it again.

Mithrandir

Zebras are black with white stripes.

manshu

zebras are striped unicorns without horn.

John Dvorak

Zebras are uniform gray with high-frequency anisotropic noise.

manshu

We don't have scientific name for the unicorns. :/

Aric Fowler

The zebra pattern is recursive. It is both white on black and black on white. The foreground becomes the background, which becomes the foreground. This is why zebras can traverse across the dimensions.

manshu

11:35 AM

gotta go.

Tata

humn

thank you for another terrestrial fly-bye-bye-bye!

Mithrandir

adieu

Cows quack

@AricFowler which only proves the fact that zebras are of a unicorn breed

humn

Does that mean that zebras don't actually exist?

Aric Fowler

@Cowsquack Indeed.

John Dvorak

11:38 AM

@manshu equus rhinocerus

humn

Actually, I heard that zebras do actually exist and that they tend to herd in a triangular space-filling pattern. Still don't know if that's true.

Aric Fowler

Zebras are a quantum phenomena. When not observed they are both black and white. When observed they are both black and white. They never converge onto either black or white and continue to exist in both states indefinitely. This is because they are not of this world.

John Dvorak

Zebras exist in a stable superposition of white with black stripes and black with white stripes.

humn

Don't make me put up a White Stripes video! (Because I'm not familiar enough to pick out the best one.)

Worth a try (shortest one found):

The Raconteurs - Bang Bang

►

(It's a tribute to a tribute, what could be better?)

(And it wasn't even White Stripes, just a derivative but awfully close.)

...

Aric Fowler

@JohnDvorak That's the word! I forgot what it was called. Superposition, guys.

Anyone else heard of Quantum Chess?

humn

11:54 AM

Do tell! At the start of every game, any possible game is possible.

(I dwell, at times, in superposed calculations, and think their potential is oversold.)

)enough parentheses(

The trick to superposition is to have resolution in finite time.

Aric Fowler

It's a real game you can play on steam. On any turn, one can either make a regular move, or a quantum move. Pawns cannot make quantum moves. A quantum move is two regular moves, but there is a 50% chance it did not happen.

This results in the piece being in superposition of having moved and having not moved. You have two copies of that piece until it is measured. You can quantum move until the probability of a piece being in a certain square is 1/8th and after that it cannot quantum move. You can pass through pieces which are in superposition, however this generates more superposition since there is a chance that that piece was there, and a chance it wasn't there.

It is possible to quantum move the king, and if one of the kings is taken you have now both lost and won. Play continues until there is a 100% chance that one side has won.

It's currently in open beta but i recommend

humn

I'm blown away! Link?

Aric Fowler

I'll link a video as well as the steam page.

Stephen Hawking faces Paul Rudd in epic chess match (feat. Keanu Reeves)

►

store.steampowered.com/app/453870/Quantum_Chess

humn

Thank you! (I already had many think-aheads, some of which might materialisze after review.)

... watching the video and already laughing(!), someone is playing chess against Hawking by reading chess and quantum books ...

What a gas! Thank you @Aric Fowler.

Aric Fowler

12:13 PM

Yep, I love it. If you have Steam you should play it, too!

humn

Will give it a try, but I play games for sport, not to win.

That's why another plug for Fun Game Theory! It's not how you play the game, nor whether you win or lose, only that everyone feels included and has fun.

I so much love the idea from quantum chess that nobody knows how the game is going!

Sp3000

10. "Let's all have fun together"

humn

! (is that pure poetry or a reference elsewhere?)

The best games i've played have been without score. Newcomers are allowed to keep score secretly and everyone else can tell when they do.

Secret score-keeping doesn't last long. We just play until we stop, not until a magical score. Then we rest. And play some more.

Sp3000

(More No Game No Life / anime references - I picked up the first light novel's English translation today so it felt apt)

humn

(Please elaborate.)

Sp3000

12:26 PM

(On the book buying or the book?)

humn

)On what it means/meant to you(

Aric Fowler

guys, did I do alright? puzzling.stackexchange.com/a/54061/27412

there's a TL:DR at the bottom.

humn

Welcome, stranger!

(take that two ways)

(not the "welcome" part, which is always genuine; the "stranger" part)

Aric Fowler

SPF 3000? That's some strong sun cream.

humn

There's someone I have to mention without a name. It was in the early 1970s and this thorn infiltrated every computer system around.

(If you're watching, you know who you are.)

At last one institution, upon which USA national security relied, realized that it would be better to hire this individual than to swat him.

Worked out well. (End of fable.)

...

Aric Fowler

12:46 PM

Heh

humn

The only ways i understand why others here don't go on like me about bizarre encounters are: 1) Just haven't had the luck, or 2) Are discreet.

Or 3) Not the place.

But 4) When there's a still, almost anything goes, so i've been told, or else a new chat room will get started.

And 5) Notice how whenever anything else bubbles up here, this mouth becomes an ear.

Sp3000

6) Can't think of anything interesting to say off the top of my head

humn

7) !

8) (cackling so soundly that the feral cat scampered)

9) Don't get me started!

10) Really, though, my full moon walk reached a new high. A car full of strangers stopped me.

11) I'm not afraid of anyone, so I asked "What the fuck?"

12) Someone opened a door and gave me money to go buy something.

13) "Really? You look old enough."

14) "Please."

15) "Is this a set-up?!?!?!?!?"

16) "If it were, would we show you this?" (Some other contraband.)

17) "Okay, but give me some of that just to make sure."

18) So I did. I don't even know what it was. Something over the counter called something-"wood."

19) Thought that none of these persons wanted to be seen on security camera.

20) Five minutes later, i was walking home and a car pulled up.

21) It was the same one, and someone yelled out "hey you, you met us at the store!"

22) I was ready to run in three different directions.

23) Someone yelled out "thank you!" and drove off.

24) Every moment needs solution. This place is easy by comparison.

... end of story ... this is not an endorsement to be reckless, which only works for those who are here to tell ...

humn

1:32 PM

25) Really, though, for real puzzles, talk with strangers. Don't just walk by them as if they didn't exist.

One stranger told me how to hop a freight train. And told me to never do so.

26) ... see what happens when others stop typing? ...

freight train elizabeth cotten

►

Aric Fowler

27) REturn

humn

1:50 PM

28) Now you're just egging me on. Works (almost) every time.

I was looking for something harder (that isn't a repeat) but, in the spirit of REturn, a softie:

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!

►

A little harder:

Cheap Trick - Dream Police

►

And yet harder (definite repeat):

Pixies "Oh My Golly!"

►

Good morning! (7am here)

Harder yet:

kill the poor dead kennedys (lyrics)

►

Aric Fowler

2:08 PM

it's mid afternoon for me

UK and all that.

humn

On a Sunny Sunday Afternoon is a song by Kinks

@AricFowler , how's the weather today?

The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon

►

(here's, Milpitas CA USA, another scorcher on the way)

Why not hear everyone's/anyone's current time and weather report. Makes the planet feel as small as it really is and also makes us a little more real than we really seem.

7:17 am here and 21C/70F almost-full moon setting, no clouds

Aric Fowler

2:23 PM

Lazing on a sunny afternoooooon!

humn

Kinks!

Aric Fowler

Today is overcast.

Yep, my dad listens to them

humn

He might be cooler than you . . . . . . (that's a taunt)

Aric Fowler

Eh I don't mind

humn

Favrite Kinks song (another repeat here):

The Kinks - I'm In Disgrace

►

Aric Fowler

2:27 PM

I'm not too familiar with them, but I know sunny afternoon.

humn

Put up something else, by anyone, this is a safe audience as long as CCCCs aren't being wrangled.

Aric Fowler

Okay, one sec.

Muse - Butterflies and Hurricanes (Video)

►

humn

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Aric Fowler

Muse, the most british indie rock band.

humn

(commenting while listening) Nice development!

Aric Fowler

2:32 PM

Knights of Cydonia is my favourite song by them.

humn

Link? (This one's still going, i like the hard-soft intervals! Guess them's the Hurricanes-Butterflies intervals.)

Aric Fowler

Muse - Knights Of Cydonia (Video)

►

Probably my favourite song to listen to at high volumes ^

I don't like the music video though :/

humn

Okay (not watching, just listening)! I just turned up the volume. By now the cops won't care if the neighbrs call.

Aric Fowler

Haha nice one

humn

Is this stuff recent? Usually takes decades for great music to get to me. (Too lazy to look it up, would rather ask.)

It's an earful!

Aric Fowler

2:42 PM

It's 2006

humn

Can't wait another 10 or 20 years to find out what's going on now. But will.

Here's another whose tempo is similar but sound is slightly different:

Genesis The Return Of The Giant Hogweed

►

Aric Fowler

They've been in the studios for a while now, recording their next album, so hopefully it'll come out soon.

humn

More power to them!

Aric Fowler

Ooh I like this.

humn

The beginning is the best part.

Aric Fowler

2:46 PM

Agreed

One sec gotta do something

[Is now AFK]

humn

happens all the time

... Rambling in the meanwhile, were I to drive again, Knights of Cydonia would go on the player. I have a collection of pell-mell songs that make/made traffic seem to go slow motion.

Aric Fowler

I don't have a driving playlist

Then again I haven't really been driving long, or very much.

humn

Any hills and winding roads? That's what we have here. An adventure each and every time.

Aric Fowler

not really, no

Ok I should go, but I'll be around

humn

Thought you left and came back! I'll ramble anyway.

Thank you for playing along, @Aric Fowler! Until next time.

Ankoganit

2:54 PM

I think @MOehm has a CC due?

humn

(Does this font make your due look like a clue?)

Ankoganit

Oh heh

That's an interesting observation

humn

I rallied to get the fonts here and on the main site cleaned up, to no avail. Now i just heckle.

M Oehm

@Ankoganit Oh, I hadn't posting one, because I was waiting for conformation. But I think it's safe to say it's correct, so here goes:

CCCC: "Hearts of gold", not a wee component of loathing (4)

Sp3000

6 hours ago, by Sp3000

Yup (I was hoping it'd be gettable even without Pokemon knowledge)

That was supposed to be the confirmation :P

M Oehm

3:02 PM

I'm sorry, my brain is a bit mushy today. I somehow thought that Rubio set that one, even if the message ping helpfully shows your name. Hmmm.

humn

3:16 PM

@MOehm (Random thought, no need to reply:) "Hearts of gold" made me want to elemental, as in Au(s) or even electron shells, but now I suspect that it's warmly poetic.

M Oehm

Now that I see it, Heart of Gold is a missed opportunity for a Hitchhihker reference.

(But the clue says "hearts of gold", of course.)

humn

@MOehm , what you said is a true treat to those of us less familiar with the storyline. Thank you. (A more direct link to non-wikipedia not included.)

Sphinx

4:42 PM

0

Q: What Is A Headered Word™?

In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles. If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Headered Word™. Use the examples below to find the rule. $$ % set Title text. (spaces around the text ARE important; do not re...

pattern english word-property

ffao

6:47 PM

You've done two heart of gold clues, I'm sure the next one can be an H2G2 reference

M Oehm

Yes, why not make a Heart of Gold series? But I think the enumeration will give solutions such as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Infinite Improbability Drive away quickly.

Sid

7:17 PM

So many clues having hearts of gold. Wonder when people will start having the same

thecoder16

7:59 PM

always reminds me of the song

Sid

8:13 PM

Is this friendship day thing worldwide phenomenon or is it just local?

ffao

8:52 PM

Not sure I know of such a thing as a friendship day

If it exists here I've never celebrated it

Sid

9:24 PM

@ffao Well neither did I, till today.

When my phone got flooded by messages on Friendship Day..

boboquack

Haven't heard about it here either

ffao

evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.

Sid

Heh, it was amusing that people I hadn't heard of in months were suddenly messaging me.. :-P

Rubio

10:38 PM

7

Q: Who can really solve the Rubik's cube?

I am wondering who is able to solve Rubik's cube just by thinking without knowing the rules behind it. As far as I know the inventor Ernő Rubik was professor of architecture and he intended to help students to learn 3D imagination. However from my point of view it is really ridiculous and probabl...

rubiks-cube

^ ... is certainly "too broad", and yet has garnered some really excellent, detailed answers that I think are exactly what the questioner wanted, though perhaps not what they asked for

Anyone want to take a stab at a salvaging edit?

Alconja

Yeah. I was torn on that one. I voted to close based on the question, but then saw some of the answers :\

Rubio

10:55 PM

yeah - I didn't vote, but only because the answers stayed my hand

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