I was at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend. One of my favorite things was a collection of simple handmade puzzles sitting on a table under an umbrella, away from the action. A Russian woman named Tatiana Ginzburg told me that the puzzles were part of some kind of mind enlightenment group she started. When I got back home I looked her up and found her website, Global Enlightenment.
I picked up the puzzle shown in the photo here. It's two nails, bent in such a way that the nails are linked. I spent about 15 minutes trying to disentangle them. I bought it for $10 and as I was walking away from the table, accidentally separated them. It took 15 minutes of trial and error to get them linked again. I spent the rest of Maker Faire fiddling with them. Every hour or so I was able to get them apart, but I didn't know how I did it. Last night when I got back home, I stayed up late and finally figured it out. I can get them unlinked in a few seconds. I still haven't figured out how to easily get them back together. I'll work on it tonight. I love this thing.
I don't know where you can buy this exact kind of nail puzzle. This one looks similar, though.
The Knight’s tour is a traditional chess problem where a lone knight is placed on a chess board and must visit each square only once. You can play this perfectly simple free implementation created by u/psrwo on Reddit. The source code is at github. The knight is randomly placed at the outset. I can’t visit […]
The Red Bull Rubik’s Cube World Cup was held November 17 in Moscow. Competitors squared off in four events: 3×3 Speed Cubing – solving the Rubik’s Cube as fast as possible; Fastest Hand – a challenge that solves the Rubik’s Cube with only one hand; Re-Scramble – pits competitors trying to replicate a computer generated […]
This is an anti-fascist puzzle made in occupied Netherlands circa 1940. Can you find the 5th pig? (Hint: Al Jaffee would have no problem finding it.) Solution [via r/interestingasfuck]
Boxed wines have come a long way since their admittedly subpar debut, and it’s now possible to grab a box of wine that delivers a surprising amount of flavor and body for a price that won’t break the bank. This Boxxle Premium Wine Dispenser makes it even easier to enjoy your favorite bag-in-box wine by […]
If you’re interested in either beginning or furthering a career in graphic design, you need to have a thorough understanding of Adobe’s famed editing and illustration tools, and these bundles will get you to where you need to be for a fraction of what you’d pay for an in-class education. 1. The Essential Adobe Photoshop […]
Laptops are great when it comes to getting work done on the move, but sometimes you need a better and more responsive keyboard in order to get your work done away from your desktop. Here are six top-rated Bluetooth keyboards that will help you power through your tasks both at the office or while you’re […]
