A puzzling business card

I’m going to a few conferences this summer, just for fun, not for work, representing myself. In social situations, I’ve always had “calling cards” or personal-life “business” cards with some basic internet contact info. Does anyone remember the Moo.com mini-cards that were popular back when LiveJournal was a big thing? I’ve been using some variation on … Continue reading A puzzling business card

Developing For Alexa

I got a new Amazon Alexa a few weeks ago. [Full disclosure: I work for a company that’s owned by Amazon Web Services.] I find the technology a fun novelty, but I’m not sure it’s mature enough to be promoted to a central part of my home life beyond a music player and todo-list maker. That … Continue reading Developing For Alexa

Puzzled Pint Portland heat map

In response to the previous post (Puzzled Pint surveys and metrics), someone had suggested building a heat map. I built a fairly primitive one with Google Earth and a short Ruby script. The radius of each circle is proportional to the number of attendees. The height is random-ish and only varies to help distinguish overlapping circles. … Continue reading Puzzled Pint Portland heat map

Dissecting puzzle design: Dem Bones

Warning, Spoilers Ahead Notice: This blog post is a peek behind the curtain to reveal the design of and thought process behind a Puzzled Pint puzzle.  It contains spoilers about said puzzle. If you were at the October 2012 Puzzled Pint (“Dogtober”) and saw the puzzle, then you’re good to go. If you have not … Continue reading Dissecting puzzle design: Dem Bones