What's the one thing that is better than both ducks and jigsaws? Both things combined :) ravensburger.de/produkte/puzzle/erwachsenenpuzzle/…

@AlanMunn Wow

@CarLaTeX Perfect comma placement even!

@AlanMunn good planning:-)

@AlanMunn Indeed!

@AlanMunn and your next target is:

I don't have time to hang around right now, but it would probably be useful if someone takes a look at the recent package transparent-io and pokes holes in it.

@BrunoLeFloch I don't see how any such package can give security, can't a malicious document always redefine things to avoid the checks? (But I should read the tugboat article I only quickly scanned the doc just now)

@BrunoLeFloch Hi Bruno! Long time no see!

@PauloCereda dinner

@samcarter -- That's a great puzzle, but very difficult to take along when traveling. This option is more convenient, provided one can access the web: jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/fh64alpy/…

@DavidCarlisle oh no

@barbarabeeton oh, cute!

@barbarabeeton ... and the trick to travelling with jigsaw puzzles is to use the additional space inside the box for storage :) (I once couldn't resist buying a jigsaw of David's "The Coronation of Napoleon" in Paris, which was a bit of a problem to transport back because the box alone filled up most of my suitcase -- luckily the bag with the pieces only filled a fraction of the box, so I could fit most of my stuff inside my suitcase by using this space)

@UlrikeFischer Seen just now. Returning from a long trip

^ @DavidCarlisle so that is why you just got a sleected answer on a math question.

@barbarabeeton ooh twitter.com/shouldhaveaduck/status/1559221252446859264

@samcarter -- For quite a few puzzles, I made fabric drawstring bags, and flattened out the boxtops for storage. But my best puzzle story is when Gordon gave me for Christmas the Springbok puzzle "Little Red Riding Hood's Hood". 1,000 pieces (I think), bright enamel red, and circular. Okay, this is a nice challenge. But when I went looking for the edge pieces, they weren't there! He had removed and hidden them! He did give in and let me have them. (And we're still married, >50 years.)

@PauloCereda -- Oh, how delightful!

@barbarabeeton :) nice story! I once got a milk puzzle as birthday gift: solid white and the pieces came in a glass bottle (unfortunately the quality of the pieces was not great, the fit of many pieces was ambiguously, the solid coloured puzzles from the Ravensburger Crypt series are much more fun to do)

@samcarter -- The classic Springbok puzzles are really high quality. The only better ones that I've encountered are from Stave; they're wood, hand cut, and mostly custom. (A real joy!) The video you've linked is mistaken -- maybe she has found only two copies of Red Riding Hood's Hood, but she almost certainly doesn't know about mine. (I've only watched a minute so far; have some TUG 2022 papers to edit. Watching that will be my reward.)

@barbarabeeton Oh, I'm very much looking forward to the proceedings. Last year I found it very helpful to read your interview transcripts with the little extra pieces of information, like the last names of some of the mentioned people.

There exists a (colloquial) expression in German to describe a "troublesome number", a "krumme Zahl". For example if you try to divide seven Euros among three people, the result will be "krumm". But it really depends on the context. Among numbers with only few decimals, a number with more decimals than the others would be considered "krumm", but a number with one decimal would also be considered "krumm" in a context where there are otherwise only integers. Is there an English equivalent for ths?

@barbarabeeton I've never had a Springbok (they aren't easily available here), but I heard they are of similar quality than my beloved Ravensburger's. Real wood puzzles are indeed a completely other level. I have a black cat puzzle from a local manufacturer who sells them at the xmas market. The shapes are completely random which made it a lot of fun to do.

@samcarter -- I'd thought that Springbok had ceased to exist, but the actual story is more complicated. Found this website about their history: springbok-puzzles.com/springbok-puzzles-history-s/1941.htm The trademark is no longer held by the original creators, and I haven't seen any recent ones. As for Ravensburger, the toy store around the corner from our house carries them, and they look luscious.

Oh, our local toy store, Henry Bear's Park, also has wonderful stuffed animals made by Jellycat. All of limited availability. I missed out on a wonderful green corduroy alligator. Very sad.

@barbarabeeton That's a great name for a toy store! :)

@samcarter actually, I think it's quite this. Only that "krumm" means the opposite of round =D

@JasperHabicht My dictionary suggested "odd amount" as translation for "krummer Betrag", but that sounds a bit odd. How would one know that this is not the same odd as in even/odd numbers? I don't think I trust the dictionary with this....

english.stackexchange.com/a/134625 they suggest "sharp number", but they discuss this in a context of rounding, but I don't mean "rounded" (like 1,98 to 2) here. Maybe it is still a somewhat possible translation.

@samcarter Yes, I think that "odd" can mean "not divisible by two" and just "strange" and you can apply both meanings to numbers. So an "odd amount" can also be just a strange amount, not necessarily one that has an odd number. And you are right, it is strange since "odd" has another, more concrete meaning when it comes to numbers.

@samcarter maybe using odd together with quotation marks is the way to go then ... An "odd" amount

@JasperHabicht Personally I'd go with something like non-round, but I'm not a native speaker...

@samcarter I really had to think a long time about what "krumm" essentially means. It is very unspecific and really depends on the context. Your hint to roundness was really good! I'll ask among my colleagues maybe

@JasperHabicht Being so unspecific is what makes it good for negotiations :) If the starting price is 123 Euro and you ask for a "glatten Betrag", the other party has the choice to suggest 120 or 100

@DavidCarlisle My understanding is that the macro names etc are redefined with some kind of installation-specific password. I don't think it can work, but I haven't investigated.

@samcarter It just came to my mind that using "odd" in this context is maybe not that odd: Maybe, in a narrow sense, an odd number denotes a number that cannot be divided by two, but in a broader sense it may denote a number that is not evenly devided by another number. But this is just a guess, and I am also neither a native speaker nor a liguist ... =)

@JasperHabicht no as you said originally, odd can mean "not divisible by two", or it may mean "strange" but it is never used to mean a number not divisible by three

@DavidCarlisle I already thought so. It just came to my mind, since you would say "glatt teilbar" for "evenly divisible", and "glatt" is the opposite of "krumm" in this context. But I probably thought around too many corners ...

^^^^^ cheers from NYC with almost no internet... (what a bliss...)