delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
Delphi (they/them) ([personal profile] delphi) wrote2025-12-11 02:23 pm
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Intermittently Here

Just a heads-up that my laptop's motherboard is on its very last legs, and so I might not be online reliably over the next couple of weeks until my new machine gets here. I'm still hoping to keep up with folks, but if there's a bigger lag than usual, this (and my unwillingness/inability to do internet things on my phone) is why.
pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
pauraque ([personal profile] pauraque) wrote2025-12-08 11:52 am

Clues By Sam (2025)

Life is hectic, so let's do a quick one!

phone screenshot shows a 4x5 grid of people represented by emojis, labeled with names and professions, stating logic clues such as row 3 is the only row with exactly 3 innocents

Clues By Sam is a logic game where you have to deduce who is a criminal and who is innocent in a grid of 20 people. Everyone tells the truth (i.e. criminals don't lie) and people's professions aren't hints (i.e. "sleuths" and "cops" can be innocents or criminals). Random guessing is not allowed; the game will only let you convict or exonerate someone if the clues you've uncovered give enough information to be certain.

I am not super great at this kind of formal logic puzzle, but I'm trying to get better, and I think this is a good one for people who are learning. The daily puzzles get harder throughout the week (Monday is the easiest) and if you're stuck you can get hints that highlight which clues you should focus on. There are options for better colorblind visibility but I'm not sure if the game is compatible with screenreaders or not.

The game is free to play in your browser, but there are also two puzzle packs you can buy. If you sign up for the dev's email newsletter, there are also some free extra puzzles in there. Thanks to [personal profile] sineala for the recommendation!
pauraque: drawing of a wolf reading a book with a coffee cup (customer service wolf)
pauraque ([personal profile] pauraque) wrote2025-12-03 03:12 pm

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, ed. Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman (2018) [part 4]

This is the fourth and final part of my book club notes on A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. [Part one, part two, [part three.]

I missed this meeting because I was totally exhausted and doubted my ability to form words. I did read the stories, though!


"Daughter of the Sun" by Shevta Thakrar

This love story had a lot going on and I didn't understand it well enough to summarize it. )


"The Crimson Cloak" by Cindy Pon

A dawn goddess falls in love with a human. )


"Eyes Like Candlelight" by Julie Kagawa

A kitsune falls in love with a human. )


"Carp, Calculus, and the Leap of Faith" by Ellen Oh

[Note: This story is included only in the paperback edition, not the hardcover or the ebook.]

A girl whose mom is pressuring her to become a doctor gets support from her dad. )


the end

There were some really cool stories in here and I'm glad we read them. Not everything was to my taste, but the quality of writing was high. It was great to explore folklore outside of Western traditions and see the connections and contrasts.

The group will continue with As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, which is a title that might be relevant to the interests of a few of you here! It's a brand new collection that just came out this year and I'm really looking forward to it.
pauraque: bird flying (Default)
pauraque ([personal profile] pauraque) wrote2025-11-30 03:14 pm

pictures for November

Last month I finally got off my ass and put up bird feeders in the yard. Moving is a process, okay?

small bird with a green back, gray wings and tail, yellow belly, white face, and black cap perches on a vertical tube feeder full of mixed seed and nuts

Black-capped Chickadee. Despite being our most common backyard bird, they are kind of my favorite. (Don't tell the others.) I love the color palette of their plumage. They can't open seeds with just their beaks, so they will often take one and fly away to bang it open using a tree branch. Sometimes they are clever/lazy and bang them open against the feeder perches.

more birds [8 photos] )

not birds [4 photos] )