The menu I created for the dinner my wife and I are hosting tonight. If it seems pretentious that's entirely my fault; my wife's cooking is absolutely superb and certainly doesn't require my meddling, but I insisted on breaking it apart and adding drink pairings so that I could A) mix drinks and B) have a reason to design a menu which are two of my favorite things to do. I can't wait!
Been to all kinds of places;
been to every old foreign land.
Ain't a man alive
shuck and jive
better than Grandad can.All the good times that he had
They were good enough for Grandad
They're good enough for me.
Atavism is the tendency to revert to the way things used to be. Check out my take on the concept.
Picross puzzles (generically, and snoozingly, called “Nonograms”) are easily the most satisfying kind of pencil puzzle there is. This isn't an opinion, it's simple and obvious science†.
They're like a blend between Sudoku and Paint By Numbers but more awesome than either. The numbers describe how many squares have to be colored in a given row or column. The solution techniques are fairly simple and, unless you're playing the hardcore puzzles, require little to no guessing and checking -- something I loathe about your typical Sudoku shenanigan.
The best Picross puzzles are like the under-appreciated Connect The Dots: they unfold slowly, only fully realizing an image when you've finished. This is a nebulous process, though, as you can't guarantee the "rube" (as we call them in Picross construction) will solve the puzzle in a specific order. I can't say my first effort really lives up to this ideal but by golly I tried. The other concern with puzzle creation is that the numbers should only describe a single image, which isn't as simple as it sounds. It's incredibly easy for a puzzle to have multiple solutions and it's only with complex robotic verification systems (in the form of Nintendo's Picross DS) that I could complete this.
Anyway, I hope someone plays this. I doubt anyone will, but I'm damned proud of it.
Download a printable PDF version!
† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
All this junk is copyright David Cole. I reserve all my rights, especially those of passage. Gimme a ring a ding ding at david@radnauseam.com.