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Devac  ·  142 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: July 3, 2024

Let's make one thing clear: when it comes to puzzles, you have to take them as at best a rough estimate of the ability... of puzzle solving. In chess, I routinely beat people with puzzle ranks in the grandmaster range -- and the cockier they are about it, the wider my smile -- because it's one thing to solve a problem and another to get to those positions by skill. In that regard, it's like training for a marathon exclusively on an elliptical: even if you develop endurance, you'll probably die of blisters and fresh air overdose around 10k. But damn, does it bring me joy to see some numbers improve. I even won a couple games.

From what I understood so far, the (opening) theory is muuuch less rigorous than chess, but leagues ahead of Go's "to win, you have to green-fish blue-fish, red-fish two-fish" bullshit. So much more my speed! Dunno. Maybe I have some bizarre learning disability, but it's clear that the more the game is front-loaded with rules and lingo, the less likely I am to enjoy it. And no, it's not 'Western bias'; I despise Bridge/Whist - possibly the West-est, most English game - for the same reason.

All 16 potato plants produced berries. Because I planted six different types, maybe some of them are (viable) crossbreeds? No idea, but it'll be cool to see if they grow next year. I'm also planning on leaving some potatoes behind on purpose, to see if they can self-perpetuate in an enclosure I made for less dog-resistant plants.

Because there are many unused fields nearby, two months ago I decided to help the wider butterfly population by dumping a couple cupfuls of radish seeds over the area. If it doesn't sound like much - radish seeds are about a third of the size of poppy seeds and grow best when a couple inches apart, so they've been tossed widely and sparingly. Doesn't seem like anyone but bugs noticed, though it looks like most seedpods I inspected were already eaten from the inside by caterpillars and the like. Dunno if those will have a chance to continue, but that's also something to see next year.