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12:05 AM
I'd be a room owner but I'm only on SE semi-regularly (and you'd have to add merrybot as well)
 
I think Bobble and Mith are prob the best choices
John Dvorak as well
 
for mith, our (North, bobble and I) afternoon is like midnight-ish
 
12:23 AM
For what it's worth, I'd be willing to be a room owner. But I'm fine if you choose someone else.
 
@bobble exactly what I was thinking about me being a room owner
 
I can do it. I've been around for almost three years and I'm in chat pretty frequently, I'm just bad with pings if the page is not open, that's all
Isn't this usually a meta election thing?
 
I think
14
Q: Nominate additional Room Owners for The Sphinx's Lair

GentlePurpleRainYour friendly neighbourhood moderators are fairly active in chat in The Sphinx's Lair, but we realize that we can only do so much. We would like to add some new room owners, who will inherit certain privileges to help with moderation of The Sphinx's Lair. A room owner has the following privileges...

 
hm, I'm not as active on the main site
 
me neither >_< I'm not good at the puzzles
 
12:33 AM
I do think Mith should definitely be a room owner though
They used to be mod before they resigned, so they know a few things about moderating ;)
 
1:11 AM
0
Q: Visiting primes on a line

Dmitry KamenetskyRecently I have been playing a great mobile game called Dicast: Rules of Chaos and it has inspired me to make this puzzle. This puzzle proceeds on an infinite number line, where each integer is represented as a cell. You start on the cell marked 0. You have the following ten cards available: One...

 
1:36 AM
0
Q: Does it exist a systematically way to solve a magic square made up with domino pieces?

Chris Steinbeck BellI've found this problem in an older book which goes by the name of Logical aptitude circa 2019. It doesn't list any other markings. The thing is no matter how I attempt to look into it, I'm trapped in circles as I have no idea on how to approach this problem. The problem is as follows: The figur...

 
2:25 AM
0
Q: Can you produce a wolf's template? Part 2

NickHere is the first question. You are given a square piece of paper with no marks on it. With this paper, you have to make a wolf's template. You are given no tools such as a ruler or scissors, and all you can do is fold the paper and make an one hole with nail or hole puncher. You can produce the...

 
2:50 AM
0
Q: Does it exist a way to find the least amount of cuts on a pizza like dish to get the maximum possible slices?

Chris Steinbeck BellI've found this problem in a Logic and Reason book from 2000's which seems to be reprinted or adapted from Martin Gardner's book of recreational puzzles. In the beginning it seemed rather easier but I couldn't find a way to solve it properly and ended up just guessing. But does it exist a way to ...

 
I did it! A unique solution for the bobblie Statue Park which forces my pet deduction . Time to re-re-re-re-check that no alternative solution paths were introduced. I'm so happy!
 
3:15 AM
neat! looking forward to it
 
I'm currently seeing if I can safely remove any clues. Likely answer is "no".
 
3:54 AM
@Deusovi, how do you make your Statue Park grids with shapes on the side? For the puzzle picture.
 
I make them pixel-by-pixel in an image editor (specifically, getpaint.net), and then upscale them.
it's a bit of a pain but I have templates for a lot of grid sizes, and copy-pasting various components helps a lot
 
Sounds hard :) I think I'll try to replicate Stiv's puzzle-style in Sheets instead
 
4:21 AM
Good evening Bobble (if I remember your time zone correctly) :p
 
yep, it's evening
I'm solving my statue park for the nth time to check for uniqueness
 
Always good to check
I'm hella impressed you are this close to finishing it, Statue Parks look really tough to make :D
Hi Anko!
 
According to my Google Sheet, I've been constructing this puzzle on and off for 10 days. The last few nights I've been working solely on it, spending ~2 hours (with a few short breaks when I got stuck) fiddling with the clues back and forth.
 
Damn, that's really impressive.
 
@Sciborg Hello!
 
4:25 AM
Deus is probably going to solve it in like 15 minutes :)
 
@Ankoganit Do you have a preferred nickname by the way? I've just been calling you Anko :p
 
Anko works :)
 
(And/or pronouns?)
 
On the topic of nicknames - I've been calling you 'borg in my head.
 
(but thanks for asking)
 
4:26 AM
'borg is hilarious
 
@Sciborg I'm fine with he/him or they/them
 
@Ankoganit Awesome :D
I always check, it's important
 
Of course
 
I'm always fine with she/her, though I have my days when they/them or he/him are also okay. Safest to do she/her, though.
 
Genderfluid buddies???
 
4:28 AM
Sorta. Still trying to figure out my gender/sexuality & if I'm aro/ace. So, all the identities are up in the air for me.
 
I thus declare we are queer buddies
 
I can tell you that I'm not straight. That's the only thing I'm sure about.
@Sciborg queer buddies!
 
QUEER BUDDIES
I lowkey wanna change my nickname to 'Borg instead of Mick now
There's probably a Matt Star Trek joke in there somewhere
 
Probably.
 
I honestly can't remember why I chose Sciborg when I made this account a couple years ago, it was just a name I thought was funny
Is there a deep meaning behind Ankoganit?
 
4:33 AM
Not really
It's literally two words for "math" strung together in my native language
 
That's neat though! What's your native language?
 
I chose it when I was 14 (for a different website), and now so many people know me by that name it's hard to change
@Sciborg Bangali
*Bengali
 
I've never met somebody who spoke Bengali actually, that's super cool :)
 
:D
 
:D
 
4:35 AM
I also speak Hindi, fwiw
(and trying to learn Spanish)
 
Are you from India/Bangladesh?
 
India, yes
 
Neat :D
I always thought Bengali had some of the most beautiful script, it's just so pretty
 
I know what I call "survival" Japanese: I can ask for a bathroom, a menu, a trashcan, directions, read & speak prices, and do all the necessary salutations to a formal enough point where people wouldn't be completely "ew, foreigner". I also know the word for "foreigner". And that's about it :)
 
I can tentatively speak Spanish, but my Mexican friend says I speak it like an absolute gringo :p
 
4:38 AM
@Sciborg all scripts stop being pretty once you have to write exams in them :D
 
@Ankoganit Fair point lmao
 
this is true
 
I guess I also know some Japanese words? More accurate to say I speak weeb
 
same
 
I do not know what "weeb" is
 
4:40 AM
"Weeb" is a kinda negatively connotated word for non-Japanese/American people who are super into Japanese culture
Usually people use it as an insult
 
@bobble It's the kind of people who can say "I want to eat your pancreas" in Japanese but can't ask for directions
 
what.
 
what????
 
what??
 
(there's an anime movie called I want to eat your pancreas)
(too niche oops)
 
4:42 AM
we.... we definitely needed that context
 
can confirm @Ankoganit
 
yes i was also unfamiliar
 
I found an unintended deduction that completely messes up my solve path... oops
 
Ooh for those who don't know, guess what genre that movie is?
 
Do I... want to know?
 
4:43 AM
my immediate guess would be horror, but considering you're asking us to guess it's probably a romance or something
 
Yep, romance
 
does it also count as slice of life
 
boooo
 
I can't remember from my Wikipedia knowledge
 
booooo
I do want to get better about learning other languages, English and very shaky Spanish is all I've got going for me. Would be really helpful in my job and/or life to learn some more
 
4:47 AM
I wanna japanese >_<
 
you could try looking through japanese.stackexchange.com
 
When I visited DC with a research group, we went to a Cuban restaurant where the waiters only spoke really rapid-fire Spanish and assumed we did too. I was the only one who could translate for our group, so they would explain something on the menu and I had to repeat "mas lenta... mas lenta..." (slower) and be like "okay yes... it's some kind of chicken... with sauce..."
 
I discovered the Language Transfer courses a while back
 
yea @bobble and I might self teach too
 
LT courses are pretty good, they try to build up your understanding of a new language from your existing knowledge of English
(and are free)
 
4:51 AM
Duolingo is nice for reinforcing vocab words
 
but the bird is evil
 
Yeah, he killed my family when I forgot to practice three days in a row, but hey the app is good
 
At least now you can beg for mercy in French
 
yesterday, by John Dvorak
it's not evil, just misunderstood and it's your fault you can't understand it
 
I'm still a little shook by the fact that a romance movie called "I Want To Eat Your Pancreas" exists
 
4:57 AM
okay, it's okay, I fiddled with the clues so now the unintended deduction is gone
breathes sigh of relief
now I have to re-do all that double-checking I did earlier
 
@Sciborg Japanese light novels tend to have bizarre titles
"Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?" , "Do you love your mom and her two-hit multi-target attacks?", "My little sister can't possibly be this cute" are some examples
 
I mean, a friend of mine forced me to watch one called "Beyond the Boundary" where a girl could control her own blood and there were like 3 separate main characters with awkward fetishes
Never really understood anime lol
 
I've heard of this one, never watched
 
I... would not recommend
 
Thanks for the heads up
 
5:04 AM
Actual line: "You can't commit suicide because... I like your glasses!!!"
 
...
Sounds... interesting
 
It's weird
My friend was like "this will convince you to love Kyoto Animation" and I was like "....no?..."
 
There's definitely good stuff in anime, but those are hard to spot out of all the weird stuff
Like regular TV then, I guess
 
I mean don't get me wrong there's anime I love and really enjoy, like I genuinely love stuff like Death Note, Black Butler and Psychopass that has strong plots and characters and great art style, but a lot of it is just strange and not my taste I guess.
Just like regular TV pretty much.
 
Yeah, makes sense
 
5:09 AM
If you know any really solid non-weird anime that I should try though, definitely recommend some.
 
not sure about anime, but i'm a huge fan of the manga Liar Game
 
Hmm, how about weird-in-a-good-way animes?
Satoshi Kon movies are very experimental, so weird in that sense
But also genius
Highly recommended Perfect Blue
 
Hmm, I heard Paprika is good
I could give Perfect Blue a try
 
Yep!
Perfect Blue is less surreal than Paprika
 
What is Liar Game about?
The art style looks really cool
 
5:13 AM
Have you heard about BoJack Horseman? One of its episodes are strongly inspired by Perfect Blue
 
Oh god somebody I know is obsessed with Bojack Horseman :p I have yet to watch it with him though
 
(BoJack Horseman is also a solid non-anime recommendation, on that note)
 
He refused to tell me what's so amazing about it but I guess it's really, really good
 
It is!
The second-to-last BoJack episode was 10/10 on IMDb for a long time
 
I'll add that one and Perfect Blue to my Netflix list of rainy day watches :)
 
5:15 AM
Awesome :)
 
The most recent anime I watched was Full Metal Alchemist with partner and that was actually really, really cool, I loved it
 
Ah, I need to start that one
Have heard good things
 
It's so cool. The worldbuilding and the magic system is great
Like this is coming from a non-anime person so consider it a high recommend
 
Nice
 
Was also the first anime that made me cry lol. That darn chimera episode
Don't look it up, you don't want it to be spoiled for you
I also really enjoyed Death Note just because it was so well-written and there were some great punch-you-in-the-heart scenes
 
5:19 AM
Ah yes
I found the second half a little weak, but rest was amazing
 
First half was definitely the strongest, it weakened later on.
 
@Ankoganit TRUEE
 
mick - any bobblie updates? (sorry if I'm asking too often)
 
Also I've watched the first and second seasons but I'm getting lazier to watch the third
 
Don't wanna drop any spoilers in chat, but the interactions between Light and L were just so good
 
5:21 AM
Yep!
 
Literally blew me away on that ending with them, you know the part :p
Like you didn't think it would end like that, but then it did
 
Ikr! Loved it
 
The smirk killed me
Apparently there's a Netflix movie but whenever I mention it everyone's immediately like "mick do not watch it"
 
Oh yeah that one's garbage
 
I've been told it's the Eragon of Netflix movies
 
5:28 AM
I like to think of that as a what-if fanfic: an alternate universe where Light is an idiot
And logic doesn't exist
 
And where the editor passed out repeatedly while editing the camera changes
 
Heh yes
 
I still love quoting "I will take this potato chip... and EAT it" whenever it becomes remotely relevant
 
such as when you want to eat potato chips
 
Yes, that would be an applicable scenario
I'm glad that this chat derailed into an anime recommendation thread
 
5:34 AM
I've thought of more ideas for my nonsense conlang: website.merrybot.repl.co/conlang.html
 
Can there be a dedicated verb in the conlang that means "to eat potato chips aggressively"
 
YES I will add that in right now
there we go
 
you've given me a great blessing
Oh hey we have a friend!
 
 
This is amazing
 
5:38 AM
thanks
 
I am forever grateful
 
any other ideas?
 
I used all my terrible ideas on PSE Boss Rush, I need to recharge that power before I can use it again
 
I think the potato chip verb will have to be the shortest one for Reasons
 
Oh god I just realized it's 1:30 AM, I have to get stuff done lol
Whoopsie
 
5:40 AM
correction: 1:40 am
 
Look, numbers are hard when I'm tired
I forgot the whole reason I'm awake right now is to work on a feature report, but I got distracted by chat :p
Curse you matt
 
I- cries
 
I'm supposed to be making a document and presentation dangit
 
then just hit ctrl w on this chat
it will exit the page
 
But I can't ;-;
I don't want to do adulting stuff todayyyy
 
5:44 AM
why not?
then don't do adulting stuff today, just sit back and watch cutthroat kitchen
 
I have to present this at work at 11:00 so I kinda have to make something... but like, I don't want to :p
 
I am out of totally not helpful advice
 
Work is not enjoyable by definition, so...
 
indeed
 
It's usually enjoyable but I drew the short straw of having to present our sprint results this month
ffs
 
5:47 AM
while you're still here
any bobblie updates
?
 
Will send a picture when I'm not dead inside I promise :p
Have you had a good week? school-wise and/or life-wise?
 
yes and yes, I think
you?
 
All good here :)
Just gotta do my Puzzling buddy wellness check
 
nice :)
haha
 
I still do love the idea of doing a Puzzling Among Us sometime if enough of us hop on Discord, lol. Was playing yesterday with my buds
 
5:57 AM
I'm not really an among us guy so
 
That's okay, no worries. It's become my default quarantine game :p
 
my default quarantine game has become .. I don't really have one
 
Gotta beat the 'rona by killing your friends
 
ooh dang
 
We used to have dedicated chat rooms for quite a few games
Spyfall, contact, codenames
Those are frozen now I guess
 
6:09 AM
@PrinceNorthLæraðr not gonna be around often enough for the foreseeable future
 
@Sciborg You have monthlong sprints? That's long.
 
@Ankoganit we play Codenames and Contact on the PPCG gaming Discord server at times
...and Among Us
 
Ooh, didn't know about this
 
Danke
 
6:36 AM
@msh210 We have three-week sprints at the moment. My team cycles who has to give the presentations since we all hate it, it landed on me this time :p
And ooh, what's the PPCG gaming Discord? I didn't know that was a thing
We should start up a gaming Discord for Puzzling, if enough people would be around to game occasionally
 
29 mins ago, by msh210
@Ankoganit https://discord.gg/Pj8GjaX
 
not sure Puzzling's active enough to have a discord server
 
@Sciborg I mean... the PPCG folks used to all come over to Puzzling to play, so now it's our turn to head over to their home base to play
it makes sense to pool together; more people that way
 
(that too, they're happy to welcome people - i'm not particularly active there (actually, not sure i've joined any games?) but they were nice when i came in)
 
i'm shy with new people but I'll hop in sometime and say hi :p
 
6:45 AM
At this point, PPCG must be an acronym for People from Puzzling & Code Golf
 
(I have every channel muted except for Codenames, Contact, and Among Us. You don't need to see every message ;))
 
(true!)
 
I don't know why but joining new Discord servers always terrifies me, lmao. I'll gather the courage eventually I promise
 
fair enough, same here
 
although admittedly it would be hilarious if we ever played voice chat among us and you're expecting me to sound manly and then my RuPaul-sounding ass starts talking
 
Sid
6:58 AM
@PrinceNorthLæraðr thanks for helping out. Also thanks @Sciborg and @bobble . I will come back to rant in about 12 hours time if it doesn't work, hehe.
 
Hey Sid :)
Bluetooth struggles are ongoing?
 
Sid
I haven't used my laptop yet this morning. Will check in evening and see how it goes.
 
Report back, I am curious if we can figure this out. I've never encountered a problem like this before
 
Sid
Last night it was like 2AM and I was kinda tired(and so a bit cranky. Sorry about that). So I just turned it off and slept.
 
No worries, it's 3AM where I am so... I don't have the best sleeping habits either lol
Good luck with fixing it!
 
Sid
7:00 AM
Also kinda helps that I have this week off from classes. So I have a week to figure this out, hehe.
 
Nice
 
7:16 AM
(just a reminder for the next c4 composer (i believe it's gareth?). in any case, no rush)
 
1
Q: What do I want?

00xxqhxx00I will give you some clues to figure out what I want. Quick facts: The updated SI unit of $10^3$ kilogrammes is a ton. A wrist is made up of eight total bones. A literature "On The Of Species" by Charles Darwin is on evolutionary biology The law $F_s=kx$ is found by someone. Learnt Vocabulary T...

 
 
1 hour later…
8:42 AM
Oh, and one more thing, @Mithical -- I didn't like that the last puzzle used nothing new, just repeated techniques from the other puzzles. But all in all, it was enjoyable.
@Ankoganit np
@Sciborg do it in limericks
 
9:07 AM
@msh210 it's supposed to be like a "summary" thing
...could you spot the clues I designed? :P
 
@Mithical no, I don't know you well enough, or your other family members at all, to know which you'd have designed as opposed to someone else
 
9:26 AM
0
Q: Riley Reddit - Music Edition

lomerA redditor named u/stanley_tweed posted this request to identify a certain song. I happen to know the song, so I decided it would be nice to make a Riley Riddle out of it. According to his post: the song is an action-y upbeat orchestral instrumental from a musical (I'd say this statement is r/t...

 
9:50 AM
0
Q: Chess Bloodshed

JKHAThis puzzle is the idea of Dmitry Kamenetsky in a comment of my puzzle Devouring Nobility. Find, with the minimum number of moves, a legal game where all pieces are captured except the two kings.

 
 
2 hours later…
11:54 AM
3
Q: Just a Normal Word

TroyDI am a word you see every day, I rhyme with conspicuous, I am an adjective, I actually sound a bit like the word biscuit, Just a bit. I love eating pizza, Or you can call someone who does that, Me.

 
12:18 PM
1
Q: Rune Ciphertext (Presumably multi-enciphered )

William MartensHere is a cryptogram: Note: this is not, very very hard. But still, it is not very very easy, I would want to say with a few clues it's more easy than hard: Clues: It can be simple substitution. It is not enciphered only 1 time. It can be made into a mechanical device, with rotors and rings. Thi...

1
Q: Chain Puzzle: Tabletop Games #03 - Down and out in London

StivThis is the third Chain Puzzle in the Tabletop Games series, in which all puzzles are themed around board games, card games, tile games, and the like. The answer to this puzzle is a thematic word or phrase. The solver whose answer is awarded the green checkmark has first refusal on the opportunit...

 
 
2 hours later…
2:25 PM
and suddenly it's 37 degrees outside instead of in the 60s last week ... cries in winter
 
Winter? 37 is super ho-- oh. Fahrenheit.
still above zero freezing though
 
by like 5 degrees
also, the US will measure with anything but metric ...
 
Google says it's 2.77777778 degrees Celsius
 
@matt 37 degrees? Where are you?
 
Uses Fahrenheit. Must be USA.
 
2:28 PM
Nevada, I kid you not
 
I thought Nevada was hot?
 
It is! most of the time
 
It's nice and sunny actually super windy in SoCal, where I'm at.
 
yeah it's been windy here too
like ridiculously windy
 
2:29 PM
Sammmee
 
I can literally hear it through my windows
 
I thought my house was gonna blow down. Who let out the Big Bad Wolf?
 
probably Deus with his Mod Hammer :P
 
Is the sky still red?
 
uh nope
 
2:31 PM
that's not everywhere, just near the fires
 
The sky is on fiyahhhhh
 
wait, that's CO, not CA. Sorry.
 
Yeah. CA fires are mostly over, I think
 
@PrinceNorthLæraðr ahhh
 
That's good news
 
2:32 PM
@bobble It was red where I was when the CA fires were really bad
 
oof
 
North must've been like ... confused screaming
 
bad air is bad for the local trees
 
But then again, that's when there was 1) The lightning fire complex, 2) Lake fire, 3) Napa Fire, and 4,5,6,7,8,9,10 some odd fires ALL AT ONCE
@bobble Oh I was terrified
 
CaN TrEeS Be tErRiFiEd?
 
2:36 PM
@matt I know they can scream in pain
 
@matt When fires are approaching you, yes
 
Interestingly enough though, tomato plants at least are more upset about getting thirsty than losing limbs.
 
@JohnDvorak But what if there's no one to hear it?
 
@Ankoganit the surrounding plants still can
 
@JohnDvorak tomato plants don't like when they get infested with grubs
 
2:37 PM
Ah, of course
 
(as my family learned)
 
also true
 
By the way, matt, did you think of a Star Trek joke around me calling Sciborg "'borg"?
 
I did not ... unfortunately
 
@JohnDvorak "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Well the other trees can hear, so yes
 
2:42 PM
Quantum mechanics says yes. Below the level of human hearing doesn't mean the information no longer exists.
 
This is a Puzzling (tm) conversation
 
Yes. Sponsored by The Sphinx's Lair
 
with offshoots to biology
 
Sign up now to gawk in amazement at the CCCCs!
 
ah yes ... gawk
 
2:46 PM
Which by the way @GarethMcCaughan have you posted the new C4?
 
What I should be doing: putting the finishing touches on a college app due in less than a week. What I am doing: obsessively re-solving my statue park to check for uniqueness & unintended solution paths.
 
Put the statue park in your college app!
 
As a matter of fact, one of the mini-essays is about how I like to create & solve puzzles
 
Ooh, nice
 
@bobble perfection (no, seriously) :)
 
2:51 PM
It has 180-degree rotational symmetry for the clue pattern ... except for one pair of clues, which have diagonal symmetry. Do you think that's okay?
 
i believe those two are the same thing so yes
 
they're not, but okay
 
r- hm
since like a 180deg rotation about the origin is afaik equivalent to a reflection about the origin
 
Okay, quick update: The sky is red and there is a fire nearby
 
aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 
2:54 PM
screaming
 
quick, get your CO2 mask!
 
i just have a covid mask
 
@PrinceNorthLæraðr Nope, sorry, being slow.
 
@bobble Oh damn this is like REALLY close to our city
*my
 
hm
wonder what Mick's up to
 
3:03 PM
they usually pop in later in the day
 
Okay, so the fire is literally more or less 10 miles away from my house/city
 
ahhhhhhhh
 
double yikes
 
Thankfully, the fire is just in the wild area mountain-y region thing
 
3:05 PM
ah yes
> wild area mountain-y region thing
 
I know just where that is
right past the meadow-y lake thingy
 
how descriptive!
/s
 
Okay, well how do I describe it without giving so much of my location away?
 
a good question
 
shrug got nothing there for you, kid
 
3:06 PM
I have no clue how to describe this geographically
 
I have the completely useless skill of reading topographic maps. Is there an application for that here?
 
i doubt that
 
Basically, the fire seems to be trapped as of now bc it looks like it's happening in like a valley or something. The winds here are vicious though, and also super dry, so it can easily spread
 
ahhhhhh more screaming
 
By the way - did you figure out the physics cone problem, North?
 
3:10 PM
@bobble Didn't have time to solve it, but I think I got it
 
okay, good, good
Opinions on how title my statue park: "Bobblie Statue Park", "Statue Park: Attack of the bobblies", or something else?
 
ATTACK OF THE BOBBLIES
 
I like Bobblie Statue Park
 
also, welcome back to another episode of _ Is Bad
but this time it's CPR Is Good
 
3:52 PM
@Mithical שירות קל ובטוח. Guess we won't be seeing much of you for the next...
 
Thanks. I'm still around tomorrow ;) Basic training they said to be prepared for 3-5 weeks without going home. Throughout basic training you only have phone access for 45 minutes a day, but those 45 minutes also include e.g. your shower time. Service itself is 2.5 years, but no idea where I'll be stationed or how busy I'll be.
 
that sounds awful - take care! hope it's not too terrible
 
00:00 - 16:0016:00 - 23:00

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