The Sphinx's Lair

matt

00:09

(random xkcd i found):

^ click for large-ness

Bubbler

First thrown off by Mordor, then a cat

matt

hm

maybe we should actually try this ... give me any image of a world map

bobble

you ask, I provide

probably not detailed enough, though

matt

(just the image url, please, imgur is blocked)

bobble

google.com/…

that has the year on it

well, I'm too lazy to look for more

:)

matt

00:17

well let's just see if i end up with 1795

constantinople -> canada -> (inconclusive)

if yes: 1805 or earlier
if no: check for united states

yeah this map ... doesn't work very well

but since you are "too lazy to look for more" i shall provide my own map

... or not
failed experiment

Bubbler

> Did you make it yourself? - Yes

bobble

what does that refer to?

Prince North Læraðr

Objection, your honor: vague and ambiguous as to what "it" is

bobble

*comma after "Objection"

matt

@PrinceNorthLæraðr a map - i was testing this xkcd

bobble

00:54

'borg!

Sciborg

Hello again :D

bobble

I am currently (in between homework) drawing myself with a bobblie on my head. Would you like to see when done?

Sciborg

Yes!

I cannot draw people at all or I'd do one of myself to match.

Prince North Læraðr

Ooooh Bobble with a Bobblie on their head

A crown is wearing another crown- what is this crown-ception?

bobble

It's a terrible drawing :)

Prince North Læraðr

00:58

I'm sure it's great

Sciborg

See, you say that and then it will be adorable

bobble

I am attempting to draw my SHIELD shirt onto me

Sciborg

Please do :D

Mine would just be me wrapped in a blanket cocoon with fuzzy pink socks because of how goddamn cold it is in here, lol. The bobblie would have to wear earmuffs.

bobble

also: bobblie update?

Sciborg

Oh yeah, my plush friend!

So I tried sewing little fabric balls onto the crown points, because in your avatar the bobblie has little balls on the end of the points.

But I didn't like how it turned out, so I ended up taking them off and decided to keep it the way it was :)

So the most recent picture is basically the final version, because it's cuddly and I like it.

bobble

01:04

it is SQUISH, right?

Sciborg

It is super squish.

I slightly understuffed it so it would be fun to hug

Prince North Læraðr

Wait I wanna see!

bobble

show it being squished!

Sciborg

lmaoo is this gonna be my Big Reveal?

Prince North Læraðr

Lol

@bobble I need some help real quick with physics

I'll be in my room if you're free

Sciborg

01:16

okay, here is my chilly blanket Michigan self with bobblie friend

Prince North Læraðr

Oooh la la

Deusovi

ooh neat!

Sciborg

i am very cold

Prince North Læraðr

Actually Deusovi, can you help me with physics if you're available?

Deusovi

sure, not busy at the moment

Prince North Læraðr

01:19

Okay, I'm in my room

Sciborg

I look forward to the drawing of the bobblie ~~sucking your puzzle juice~~ sitting on your head, bobble :p

Prince North Læraðr

Wait, how does it suck the juice if Bobble is the one that's getting the puzzle juice?

That's like... plugging an outline into itself

Sciborg

Ooh, true. They are the leader of the hive mind, I forgot

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg (Bobble's a they today)

Sciborg

my bad

I haven't caught up on chat history :)

Has someone solved the Pokemon puzzle yet?

bobble

01:28

3

Sciborg

Awwwww :D

bobble

I didn't choose great colors for myself :)

Prince North Læraðr

Hehehehe

Sciborg

Adorable

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg Nope. I've updated it again

bobble

01:28

But yes, I have shoulder-length black hair

Prince North Læraðr

Called it

Sciborg

Dangit, my money was on brown :p

Prince North Læraðr

Well, they did say they have relatives in China, so I assumed they were Asian.

athin

hello and good (morning/day/afternoon/night) everyone ><

Sciborg

Well hello there! :D

Deusovi

01:36

hey athin!

Prince North Læraðr

@athin Ey, long time no see!

bobble

hi!

Sciborg

We're just doodling and taking selfies

athin

so actually I need some tester for my upcoming puzzle haha, anyone wants to volunteer? ><

and yes long time no see haha, im very busy lately, especially for past several weeks

bobble

what kind of puzzle?

I can help for grid-deductions

athin

01:37

it's an entry for wall-connect.......

...... with grid-deductions inside

Sciborg

Sounds right up their alley :p

Deusovi

i'd be interested!

bobble

I'm probably not that good at it - making connections is not my strong suit

athin

(so spoiler: you will get 16 grid-deduction puzzles ahaha XD)

Deusovi

depends on the genres, but i should be able to at least make it through most of them

Sciborg

01:39

You got this Deus :D

athin

so bobble and deus wanna help? ><

or you guys want to solve it instead later haha

Deusovi

sure, i'll give it a look

bobble

I could at least check the grid-deduction solutions, though I probably can't make connections

plus I have homework right now, it would have to wait till later

athin

okie thanks before >< how should i send it to you two?

Deusovi

you should have my email? [email protected]

bobble

01:41

onetimesecret? If there's a link in it I could save it in a note until later

athin

alright, i'll wrap up these things first, will give it to you in several minutes

Deusovi

sounds good!

bobble

01:54

I have to leave now, I can ping you when I get back athin

athin

ok surely bobble!

I just finished wrapping up, so I will send it first to Deus

Sciborg

Good evening/night Bobble :)

Sphinx

1

Q: What's going on with this puzzle?

What is going on with this slitherlink puzzle with clues $2^3$?

athin

@Deusovi I already sent you the puzzle via email, thanks before!

Deusovi

alright, i'll give them a look!

Deusovi

02:33

@athin can you double-check the puzzle in row 2, column 4? I've gotten most of the others, and found what i think are two groups

athin

@Deusovi I double-checked it, seems.. ok?

Deusovi

huh, alright

Avi

02:50

@Sphinx Wow!

Sciborg

That slitherlink is insane.

Ankoganit

Yeah, that one's impressive!

Prince North Læraðr

WOAH

That's sicccckkk

Sciborg

I looked at it like "oh, that's an interesting idea" and then I looked at oAlt's solution and just went WHAT

oAlt

i--

Avi

02:54

It's actually a decent solve too

oAlt

IM NEAR TO HAVING EDIT PRIVILEGES

YEAHH

but dang, that was indeed a cool puzzle

Sciborg

I shot you an upvote to help the cause.

oAlt

hahah

Avi

I'd upvote but if 8 hints were necessary I can't justify that D:

Was definitely a high effort construction, though

Deusovi

ha, that's cute

Avi

02:58

Ooooooh! I really like your answer to the 2's Slitherlink - that one was confusing me too

Deusovi

shouldn't have been too difficult considering the puzzle is pretty dense, and you can place slitherlink clues wherever you want without screwing things up

oAlt

thanks @Avi , though as you may have seen in the comments to it, and as I myself feel, I haven't gotten a better speed in solving yet and I'm trying to increase that.

matt

hey deus, avi, oAlt!

Deusovi

hello!

matt

(and of course Mick :)

oAlt

03:02

ello

Ankoganit

no hello for me :(

Avi

hello anko

goodbye myself

matt

ah sorry ankoganit, hello to you too :)

Ankoganit

@Avi hello avi

Sciborg

Hello :)

Ankoganit

03:03

@matt I was only kidding hehe

and hello

matt

well you were right :p

Deusovi

@athin update: the problem was that i forgot the rules to that genre

Sphinx

0

Q: The Two Envelope Game Show

This is an original riddle I made, heavily inspired by the Two Envelope problem. I have my answer to this problem, but (full disclosure) even I’m not 100% sure I’ve got it right. I post it half because it seems very interesting to me, and half because I want to see if others agree with my reaso...

logical-deduction probability

Sciborg

"This is an original riddle I made... I have my answer to this problem, but (full disclosure) even I’m not 100% sure I’ve got it right." Uh...

Ankoganit

Not uncommon with math-y puzzles, tbh, although 'riddle' is probably the wrong choice of words

Sciborg

03:17

I just worry this is another one of those "OP doesn't know the answer" riddles that just tends to frustrate solvers.

Ankoganit

possibly

Sciborg

Hey, bobble is back :)

bobble

@athin, I'm back!

Ankoganit

Hi @bobble

bobble

weekday schedule is: sign on in morning before school, then school, sign off for lunch, back on for second half of schoolday, then homework & tutoring, then off for dinner, then on for the night

hi Anko!

matt

03:30

hey bobble! :)

bobble

weekends are completely unpredictable, but then that's life

Ankoganit

deep

unpredictable reminds me

@Sciborg did you end up finishing Perfect Blue?

Sciborg

Yes, and it was... uh, weird

Ankoganit

that sounds about right

Sciborg

I was not warned there was a, uh...... particular scene...

bobble

03:33

*an

Ankoganit

@Sciborg oops sorry

Sciborg

That was definitely a "oh God why" moment lol

Ankoganit

it's been a while since I watched it

I remember several such moments

Sciborg

I mean, it was definitely not bad, it was just... oh my

Ankoganit

makes sense

Sciborg

03:34

Definitely one of the strangest movie experiences of my year

bobble

anyone got a quick movie rec to stop my dad from scrolling forever?

Sciborg

I was Discording with somebody while I was watching it, and I was like "okay um this is definitely a heavy movie, but they would never... OH MY"

Ankoganit

@bobble what kind of movie?

Prince North Læraðr

AI vs. AI. Two chatbots talking to each other

►

I'm dying this is so funny

bobble

not horror, not R, like family-friendly? we like musicals

and sci-fi and fantasy

Prince North Læraðr

03:36

Musicals!

Sciborg

Greatest Showman is always my family-friendly musical recommendation.

bobble

we have watched that a ~~few~~ 5-ish times, I think

Ankoganit

hm, not exactly my kind of thing

Prince North Læraðr

I have some not very family friendly musical recommendations

Namely, Heathers

AMAZING musical, also messed up af

bobble

okay, he's decided we're watching Angel season 1

Sciborg

03:37

As for family-friendly sci-fi: The Martian, Interstellar (warning: you will cry) and Arrival are my favorite ones from recently.

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Who's he?

bobble

Buffy spinoff

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Sciborg

Buffy!

Prince North Læraðr

No who's he in "he's decided"

Sciborg

God, I miss that show.

Prince North Læraðr

03:38

Nvm

bobble

my dad decided

Prince North Læraðr

Heathers has A M A Z I N G vocal harmony while also using managing to use like 4 sexual slurs in one sentence

It's... both terrible and amazing

Sciborg

Definitely not family-friendly :p

Prince North Læraðr

Yeah. They're words that I can't even say here bc it's just that offensive

Ankoganit

huh, never seen this

looks interesting

Prince North Læraðr

03:40

If anyone is curious here are the lyrics

:P

Sciborg

Oh lord

Ankoganit

woah

I gotta watch this thing

Sciborg

That's your response??

bobble

They did recommend that weird movie you just watched

Sciborg

I mean, fair.

Ankoganit

03:42

I like my entertainment to be have some amount of shock value

Requiem for a Dream is among my all time favorites

Prince North Læraðr

@Ankoganit It's a musical, not a movie, though I think it might've been a movie first?

Ankoganit

@PrinceNorthLæraðr oh, google tells me there's a movie by the same name

Prince North Læraðr

Yeah here is another song. Fabulous harmony. Just amazing. But also terrible lyrics

@Ankoganit Lol I was referencing the musical

Ankoganit

ah

Prince North Læraðr

Idk if the movie actually sings stuff

Yeah, I don't think the movie actually has the songs

Sciborg

03:45

and then I'm over here watching my soft fluffy Studio Ghibli movies

Prince North Læraðr

Candy Store - Heathers: The Musical +LYRICS

►

^ song if anyone wants to listen to it

Ankoganit

hey, I like ghibli too! depends on how I'm feeling, really

loved Spirited Away

Sciborg

That's a really good one.

I'm too soft to watch violent movies :p

Prince North Læraðr

Oh I suck with gore and horror

Sciborg

I used to pass out when I saw blood, I've mostly gotten over it but I still don't like super gory movies or shows

Just not my thing

bobble

03:49

I've always had completely no reaction to any sort of gore or "disgusting" stuff like that

matt

Picard actually has some gore so I have to look away like every time ... lucky you @bobble

Sciborg

My friends always know to say "okay Mick you can't watch this part" when we watch certain movies together lol

I watched Knives Out a couple days ago and thankfully they give you enough warning to look away for that one knife scene.

Ankoganit

oh yes, loved Knives Out

Sciborg

Absolutely fantastic movie, just the one icky part I had to be like "nope"

Ankoganit

fair enough

Sciborg

03:54

Similarly with John Wick 3 Parabellum. Me and partner LOVED that movie in the theater, but he knew to smack a hand over my eyes for the eyeball scene lol.

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg Oh I lovve knives out

Knives Out wasn't that bad

bobble

What I do have a reaction to is any situation where I would be deathly embarrassed

(which my parents very helpfully tell me is stupid and that I have to stop because my friends won't like being told I'm uncomfortable)

Sciborg

@bobble Same, secondhand embarrassment makes me have to leave the room sometimes. It's an overactive empathy thing I guess.

athin

@Deusovi ooops sorry i was away >< ah ok if it's resolved (i may continue with you via email i think)

Deusovi

sure!

athin

03:56

@bobble also sorry i was away haha ><

Sciborg

Knives Out probably wasn't even that bad in terms of the gore part, I just had to look away so I wouldn't know :p

Ankoganit

understandable

athin

@bobble i may give you the puzzle once it's fine with deus' side ^^

Sciborg

The John Wick one was bad though, according to partner.

Ankoganit

looking away should be the natural reaction to people dying in horrific ways, Idk what's wrong with me

Sciborg

03:58

I probably get too weird about it, I've been trying to desensitize.

Even shooter games make me uncomfortable sometimes, feels like all I'm doing is just murdering people especially since they've gotten realistic and you can hear death screams and stuff...

bobble

The games I like are more strategy based, usually - Heroes of Might and Magic - or "fun little adventures" - Lego Harry Potter/Marvel, Pokemon Ranger. I have never been interested in a shooter game.

Ankoganit

I'm more into story-heavy puzzle games

Sciborg

Yeah, same, I love adventure games and RPG stuff more. I've only really liked a couple shooters.

Prince North Læraðr

Oh I'm a RPG guy too

I suck at platformers though

Ankoganit

Deus recommended Ghost Trick a while back and that's my all time favorite now

Deusovi

04:03

i will take any chance i get to recommend ghost trick - it's fantastic

Prince North Læraðr

Oh yeah Ghost Trick was really fun

Sciborg

I've never played that one, I will have to try it :D

Prince North Læraðr

I gotta get into Ace Attorney sometime

Ankoganit

I've played only the first Ace Attorney game

story is superb

Prince North Læraðr

I got stuck after like the second or third chapter in Ghost Trick though

Ankoganit

04:04

gameplay gets a bit slow at times

Deusovi

ace attorney is also good - need to replay it sometime

if you like detective-y games, i highly recommend return of the obra dinn

Sciborg

Oh my GOD, Obra Dinn is so good.

It's one of those games that makes you sad you can never experience it again for the first time.

Ankoganit

Ooh, never heard of this one

will check it out

Sciborg

It's great, highly recommend.

I'll see if I can pick up Ghost Trick, looks like it comes on DS

bobble

now we're Arqade chat?

Ankoganit

04:07

Ghost trick also has an iOS version

which I hear has better graphics

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg You can also do what I did and um use an emulator. I am not endorsing anyway of uh doing illegal stuff

Sciborg

@PrinceNorthLæraðr We would never use something like VBA to emulate old DS games, that would be dirty piracy.

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg Right, right. NEVER. You hear that Nintendo?!

Sciborg

I definitely do not have a custom VBA installation for Pokemon Emerald, that would be illegal

bobble

and everyone on the internet lives by-the-book at all times

Prince North Læraðr

04:09

Right. We're not dirty pirates, arrr we?

Ankoganit

absolutely

John Dvorak

better graphics? Being on DS is an art style and Ghost Trick wears it well.

Prince North Læraðr

@JohnDvorak Amen, brother

Ankoganit

@JohnDvorak I haven't personally checked the iOS version

idk

that's what a friend tells me

Sciborg

haha lol we would never be dirty gameboy pirates

never

bobble

04:17

Update: I have not been accepted to reach college between 30 minutes ago and now. No, I haven't been checking too often. Why do you ask?

Sciborg

You would never do something like refreshing your email inbox every 10 seconds

Prince North Læraðr

@bobble Okay buddy

Ankoganit

As a wise man once said, "breathe, bobble"

Sciborg

Hey @00xxqhxx00, we loved your slitherlink!

Ankoganit

ugh typos

00xxqhxx00

04:21

Thanks btw @Sciborg

Sphinx

0

Q: Crossing a river with bonds and beefs

Here is a river crossing puzzle (note that whenever I use the term "colors", I mean the squares): Yellow and Red are on one side of the river, while Pink, Blue, Green and Black are on the other side. There is a singe boat that can hold at most 2 colors on the side where there are four colors. S...

strategy river-crossing

Sciborg

I keep seeing "Professor Panini's Password" on the questions page and it's just making me hungry.

Prince North Læraðr

04:36

lol

bobble

Would anyone be interested in Pentomino Nurikabe? (latest grid-deduction idea I got)

Prince North Læraðr

I'm down for anything you make, though I can't guarantee I'll try to solve it :P

Sciborg

I'm not super familiar with Nurikabes, how would it work?

bobble

shade some cells, unshaded cells form islands of size specified by numbers in the grid (all numbers would be "5"). Islands would form a pentomino set.

Bubbler

Sounds like it could work

bobble

04:44

I'd probably make a toy one first (perhaps a double-tetromino) for practice.

matt

a good idea

oAlt

bobble, by any chance, have you seen user "eyl327" before in puzzling?

Sciborg

Sounds fun!

athin

Oh bobble those combinations should be fun!

(also btw are you free to test the puzzle out? XD)

bobble

@oAlt non, but I don't keep track of new users

oAlt

04:45

oh okie

matt

ooh yay french bobble

bobble

@athin yes, though there's not much time before I have to go to sleep. I'd have an hour at most

athin

ah okie, no worry, any kind of help is really appreciated! ><

how should i send it to you?

Sciborg

Isn't "eyl327" DenverCoder1?

bobble

onetimesecret here would probably be best, make everyone else pinky promise to not click

athin

04:47

haha ok then, get ready...

onetimesecret.com/secret/8fo48y7jbkyj1uwqglqbb3y9lqw5cce

pass: forbobble

bobble

I'm going to have to set up some way to view this without my regular google account. Should I just make a Puzzing-specific one?

(link is received and saved, by the way)

matt

if anyone wants to get malindarolled: m.youtube.com/watch?v=ur560pZKRfg (start at 0:50)

athin

@bobble oh wait, can you retry it again?

i wrongly set the permission oops

bobble

I got the picture, will save now

athin

nice

bobble

04:51

... some of them appear to have answers?

athin

:)

oAlt

@Sciborg yeah that was what i was gonna say assuming bobble knew heh

Sciborg

To be fair, I don't keep track of new users either, I just happened to find their Stack profile and Denver is the name they use on Puzzling.

Prince North Læraðr

Ugh. There's a part in the song I'm doing where the lyrics go "And I feel I'll live on forever/ with Satan himself by myside" and feel so uncomfortable singing the latter part

bobble

I usually just skip swear words in songs, hum the note, and move on

Prince North Læraðr

05:07

Right. Except I can't just hum over it because I need to record this

bobble

would you like virtual hugs?

athin

@bobble sorry there is an update on R2C2, you could redownload from the link again ><

Prince North Læraðr

Yes

I always like virtual hugs

bobble

virtual hugs

Sciborg

How about "with Santa himself"?

bobble

05:08

different stresses

Sciborg

Fair point, hmm

"Straighten"?

bobble

I'm just going to modify the image I have - I've been solving directly on it

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg "Santa"

@Sciborg Prob go with Satan, it just feels really awkward

Sciborg

That's fair, I was trying to come up with similar-sounding words you could slip in instead :p

Prince North Læraðr

lol

"With Santa himself by myside"

Alright, Imma bounce

See ya guys!

Sciborg

05:13

Good night :)

When I was really little, my mom had some of those little letter blocks spelling "SANTA", and I unwittingly rearranged them into "SATAN" because it sounded funny and freaked her out into thinking I was a devil child

athin

good night North!

bobble

I used to make up nonsense word songs and swear without knowing

Prince North Læraðr

@Sciborg You know, I'll record me singing it one of these days for you guys, and I'll make sure I sing "Santa by my side" :P

Sciborg

@PrinceNorthLæraðr Please do that, I beg you

Now I want to record a version of one of those Satanic death metal songs, but change all the "Satan"s into "Santa"s and make it a really wholesome Christmas song.

bobble

@athin, grid-deductions I can't identify: R1C1, R1-3 of C2, R2C4 & R4C4

give me names so I can look up the rules?

athin

05:21

@bobble yajilin-(sashigane-pencils-easy_as_abc)-tents-snake in that order

bobble

oh oops that was supposed to be R4C1

athin

it's icebarn

bobble

got it, thanks

what happens in icebarn if you hit an edge while in a barn?

athin

the grid border you mean? its not allowed

Sciborg

05:43

Is Lukas Rotter's pickle puzzle still unsolved?

bobble

yep

Sciborg

hmm

bobble

it's the second highest voted Unanswered (behind the Beale Papers)

Sciborg

The first part of the note is interesting, maybe it's suggesting that you have to use an RGB visible light spectrum but start with green instead of red?

I like Stiv's idea of a one-time pad Vigenere with ASCII instead of Unicode, though.

The "pickle" also makes me think of Python pickling, since I know Lukas is a computer person like me, but I doubt that would be it.

bobble

@athin, I'm signing off now. OTS link: here's my progress. I just started on the pencils

passphrase "forathin"

athin

05:56

ok thanks a lot for the test @bobble ^^

I might publish the puzzle in PSE in several hours tho haha, but I do appreciate your help so far!

Sciborg

Good night!

athin

and good night!

Sciborg

I will head off as well, have some work to do tonight. Have a great night :)

athin

good night to you too sciborg!

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