1937: Skovgaard Museet

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her besøgte vi bl.a. Skovgaard Museet.

Jeg har allerede nævnt domkirken, og der er en direkte forbindelse over til Skovgaard Museet . Stiftet i 1937 og flyttet ind i den nuværende bygning, det gamle rådhus, i 1981, så er der her et museum, der nærmest kun eksisterer for at huse diverse udstillinger, der har med Joakim Skovgaard at gøre, deriblandt hans skitser til vægmalerierne i domkirken.

Da vi var der, så var der også en særudstilling om Niels Larsen Stevns, en ven og kollega.

Og så alt det andet, bl.a. skabt af andre medlemmer af familien.

#ThisWeeksFiddler, 20250919

This week the #puzzle is: Can Your Team Self-Organize? #permutations #LongestIncreasingSubsequence

In a recent team building exercise at work, a group of people (including myself) was asked to quantify themselves in various ways. For example: “What outdoor temperature do you prefer?” No one reveals their answer at first. Instead, each person places a card with their name on an unmarked line, one at a time. In this example, folks who prefer higher temperatures would place their names farther right; folks who prefer lower temperatures would place their names farther left. However, the line is unmarked and doesn’t have any units.
Once all the names are placed on the line, their values are revealed. For example, a group of six might have generated the following numbers, in order from left to right on the line: 60, 67, 65, 74, 70, 80.
The team’s score is the length of the “longest increasing subsequence.” In other words, it’s the maximum number of elements in the list you can keep such that they form an increasing subsequence. In the example above, you can remove the 67 and the 74 to get the following increasing subsequence with four numbers: 60, 65, 70, 80. There are a few other ways to get an increasing subsequence of length four, but there’s no way to get a sequence of length five or more, so the team’s score is four.
Suppose a total of four people are participating in this team building exercise. They all write down different numbers, and then independently place their names at random positions on the line.
On average, what do you expect the team’s score to be?

And for extra credit:

Instead of four people, now suppose there are 10 people participating in the team building exercise. As before, they all write down different numbers, and then independently place their names at random positions on the line.
On average, what do you expect the team’s score to be?

Can Your Team Self-Organize?

Highlight to reveal (possibly incorrect) solution:

Spreadsheet Program Image

And for extra credit:

Theorem

1935: Palads Hotel

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her boede vi på Palads Hotel.

Palads Hotel er svært at komme udenom. Etableret i 1935 på en enkelt adresse breder det sig i dag i flere nabobygninger også, og vi skulle (fra værelse 150) krydse gågaden for at komme til morgenmad. Det var dog også lidt en udfordring på første dag. Bookingen snakkede om Centrum 24-7. Kortet snakkede om Best Western. Og da vi så stod der, så sagde baldakinen Palads. Det var sådan set rigtigt alt sammen, men en kende forvirrende.

Badeværelset havde 5 brusere! Og sauna! Selve værelset havde et trin, der desværre lå et mørkt sted, når man lige var kommet ind, så det var muligt at falde. Men der var god plads, lækkert.

Apropos morgenmad! (Ja, et par af billederne er rystede. Men du ved jo godt, hvordan 2 slags juice ser ud, ikke?)

Og så spillede døren en lille melodi.

Notes, 372 Pages, Ready Player One (book 1)

I am listening to the podcast 372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back. In episode 1-8 they discuss Ready Player One.

372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back

Real or fanfic

The spreadsheet ! If you’ve seen it before: Now it has more formulas!

These next numbers can’t quite be trusted, as I haven’t got all the numbers. But the calculations are in place.

Summary of important advice

Consistency, continuity.

  • An apocalyptic society with astounding delivery service.
  • Genius takes forever to solve easy puzzle. Genius is stupid.
  • Claiming to have done a task, that would take an impossibly long time.
  • Anachronisms.
  • The reason for Daito’s name.
  • Suddenly changing style and using big words.
  • Basing a book on quotes and references and then berating a guy for stealing a design.
  • Going outside is overrated / reality is real.
  • Halliday is a hero but also a monster?

Be exciting. Have stakes.

  • Don’t interrupt the action with a flashforward.
  • Don’t interrupt the big climax to tell us what happened seconds before.
  • Don’t let the climax be an easy puzzle.
  • Infinite ammo.
  • No, action in a computer isn’t action.

Flow. Chekhov’s gun.

  • Suddenly having a long talk about atheism.
  • Masturbation screed.
  • Deus ex machina.

Originality.

  • Using clichés.
  • Being boring.
  • Drop Cops.
  • Inventing new, bad ways to describe things.

Realism. Being human.

  • The Sorentos walk: Walking for minutes without responding to a statement.
  • 100s have died, nobody’s looking for survivors, jokes are told.
  • Stereotypical Japanese.
  • A ticking clock, nobody’s paying attention to it.
  • There’s life, death and a fortune, and then a prize is chosen based on feelings.
  • All big companies are evil?
  • Art3mis changes her mind in seconds.
  • Hinting at growth, that didn’t actually occur.

Variety.

  • Repeating information too much.
  • Repetition of phrases.
    • Cheshire smile.
    • Classic.

Details: not too many, not too few.

  • Being weirdly specific, for no purpose, and not making sense. (Toothpaste.)
  • Doing “it was like (vague example)”.
  • Retelling Blade Runner.

Use words and phrases correctly.

  • Using a “new” word that exists already with a very different definition.
  • Seem to.
  • I can only describe this as…
  • Cheshire smile.
  • Classic.
  • Common technical language.
  • A silent cheer.
  • Geek film.

Ep. 1, intro + ch. 1-3

Advice

  • ❎ Describing A by saying it’s like B. A variety of 80s dance moves.
  • ❎ Cliche
  • ❎ Repetitiveness
  • ❎ Using a word already having a meaning. Gunter.
  • ❎ Inconsistency. This post apocalyptic society functions really well.

Oops.

  • Missing that Aech is pronounced “h”. Cleared up in ep. 2.
  • Mispronouncing JK Rowling.

Ep. 2, ch. 4-8

Advice.

  • ❎ Inconsistency. Taking forever to solve an easy puzzle.
  • ❎ Inconsistency. Claiming to have done The List, but not having enough time to do so. (Quote below.)
  • ❎ Bad extrapolation, progress going backwards.
  • ❎ Including too many details.
  • ❎ Boring.
  • ❎ Clumsy.
  • ❎ Using “seem to” when it obviously is.
  • ❎ Repetitiveness. Cheshire smile. Every time.

Important quote:

“I watched every episode of The Greatest American Hero, Airwolf, the A-Team, Knight Rider, Misfits of Science, and The Muppet Show. What about The Simpsons, you ask? I knew more about Springfield than I knew about my own city. Star Trek? Oh, I did my homework. TOS, TNG, DS9. Even Voyager and Enterprise. I watched them all in chronological order. The movies, too. Phasers locked on target…I learned the name of every last goddamn Gobot and Transformer. Land of the Lost. Thundarr the Barbarian, He-Man, Schoolhouse Rock! G.I. Joe – I knew them all. Because knowing is half the battle!”

Ep. 3, ch. 9-13

Advice.

  • ❎ Anachronisms.
  • ❎ Interrupting the exciting bits with a flashforward.
  • ❎ The climax is easily solving a puzzle.
  • ❎ Is that how we define classic?
  • ❎ Weirdly specific, doesn’t make sense. (Toothpaste.)
  • ❎ The author stepping in: I can only describe this as…

Running gags.

  • Goods and services. (The actual quote is goods and people.)
  • Rig. Inflatable cow suit. A hell of a rig.
  • Classic. (As in: Cline likes it.)

Source

Oops.

  • Ogden/Odgen

Real or fanfic, 5:15

  • Mike guessing
  • Real. ❎ Fanfic. ❎
  • Conor guessing.
  • Real. ✔️ Fanfic. ✔️ Real. ❎

Ep. 4, Ch. 14-18

Advice

  • ❎ The Sorentos walk. Walking for minutes without responding to a statement.
  • 🤔 Doing the big villain scene and not comparing it to a movie, for once.
  • ❎ Getting common technical language wrong.
  • ❎ Unrealistic. Practically no reaction to 100s of deaths, no attempt to look for survivors. And jokes?
  • ❎ Connection. Talking atheism suddenly.
  • ❎ Culture. Japanese pictured as stereotypes. Lazy.
  • ❎ There’s a ticking clock, but nobody pays attention to it.
  • ❎ Explaining some stuff too much, other stuff too little.

Running gags

  • Pulling a Pendergast.
  • Avoiding lag. (Which wasn’t an issue before.)
  • Wade’s father hit a liquor store. (Not actually liquor.)

Oops.

  • Acsii text?
  • Thinking Oasis is only for the few and only for play?

Real or fanfic, 7:48

  • Mike guessing
  • Fanfic ✔️ Fanfic ❎ Fanfic ✔️

Ep. 5, ch. 19-24

Advice

  • ❎ Masturbation screed. No. Graphic. Unnecessary.
  • 🤔 Hard to tell ignorance from jokes.
  • ❎ Deus ex machina. No.

Running gags

  • The stink tower. A smell interface.
  • A pain interface.
  • A suit with discreet openings.
  • Wade is dumb.
  • Stolen honor. Comparing oneself to a genius. Favorably.

Oops.

  • Not knowing the phrase fade in.
  • The episode is not 6 hours long.

Real or fanfic, 30:30

  • Mike guessing
  • Fanfic ✔️ Real ✔️ Real ❎
  • Conor guessing
  • Real ✔️ Fanfic ✔️ Real ❎

Ep. 6, ch. 25-30

Advice

  • ❎ No: Mourning and grinning at the same time.
  • ✔️ Continuity. (The reason for Daito’s name.)
  • ❎ Retelling Blade Runner to readers who know it.
  • ✔️ Stakes. As opposed to giving the hero infinite ammo.
  • ❎ Life and death and a fortune. And then choosing a prize based on feelings.
  • ❎ Calling a group the Drop Cops. Easy. Quick to write. Not good.
  • ❎ Suddenly using big words.

Running gags

  • Clinean: Giving the same information several times quickly.
  • Clinean: Mentioning a problem, but it’s not important.
  • Dystopian society works really well.
  • A prosthetic testicle.
  • Classic.
  • Pulling a Pendergast.

Oops.

  • Saying next assignment is through ch. 26.

Real or fanfic, 7:13

  • Mike guessing.
  • Fanfic ✔️ Fanfic ❎
  • Conor guessing
  • Real ❎ Fanfic ❎ Fanfic ✔️

Ep. 7, ch. 31-33

Advice

  • ❎ Claiming to have spent more time than is available.
  • ❎ Can’t tell intentional or unintentional jokes apart.
  • ❎ Big companies are just evil?
  • ❎ Saving the cat at the end of the book?
  • ❎ Artemis changes feeling/opinion in seconds.

Running gags

  • Dystopian society functioning well.
  • No stakes.
  • No lag.
  • Cheshire grin.

Oops.

  • n/a

Real or fanfic, 5:26

  • Mike guessing.
  • Real ❎ Fanfic ❎
  • Conor guessing
  • Fanfic ✔️ Real ❎ Real ✔️

Ep. 8, ch. 34-end

Advice

  • ❎ Being oddly specific. (About the robot.) The details don’t matter, and aren’t consistent.
  • ❎ Repetition of information and actual phrases.
  • ❎ Being excited by action in a computer game.
  • ❎ Commenting on lack of imagination.
  • ❎ Describing action Wade didn’t see, clumsily.
  • ❎ Describing something as being like a movie. Coming up with an original way to describe something, badly.
  • ❎ A silent cheer?
  • ❎ Interrupting the big climax to say what happened just before. He died, but first the head detached.
  • ❎ The hero is a genius and stupid.
  • ❎ Holy Grail is a geek film?
  • ❎ Watts didn’t really learn anything during this story.
  • ✔️ Continuity. The winner is now isolated?
  • ❎ Reality is real, but going outside is overrated?
  • 🤔 Halliday is a monster?
  • ❎ Hinting at motivation and growth, but not showing it.

Running gags

  • No lag.
  • Art3mis might actually be Chuck.

Oops.

  • Not recognising Wade could have discovered the right way to address the robot (shouting) beforehand.
  • Not recognising Wade’s pregame ritual.
  • Not recognising that an event Wade planned and probably heard about from witnesses later could be described in detail.

Real or fanfic, 4:50

  • Conor guessing.
  • “Fanfic ❎”

A recording of an alternate ending is mentioned?

1876: Viborg Domkirke

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her besøgte vi bl.a. Domkirken.

Viborg Domkirke er en lidt pudsig størrelse. På den ene side opførte man kirke fra 1104 , men der har muligvis ligget en tidligere. På den anden side blev denne til sidst revet ned stort set 100 % (det bedst bevarede er nok kælderen/krypten), og en ny blev indviet i 1876. Man forsøgte at ramme noget af den stil, den gamle havde haft, og man genbrugte nogle kvadre, men det er svært at komme udenom, at det er en ny kirke.

Da kirken skulle udsmykkes, så valgte man også at ramme en gammel stil, i hvert fald noget af vejen. Det resulterede i nogle interessante 2d-malerier. Efter sigende det største kunstværk en dansker (med samt hans assistenter) har stået for. Der er en virkelig grundig bog, som efter hjemkomsten blev slugt. Mums.

Vi havde gjort tingene i den rigtige rækkefølge. Et par dage før studerede vi nogle skitser til nogen af kunsten. Det var ligesom at samle appetit.

Vi gjorde os umage, så vi kunne få rundvisningen med. Den viste sig dog mest at være en sidde-ned-og-lytte.

Det sidste billede nedenfor er fra Erik d. 5. Klippings sidste hvilested. Eller i hvert fald hvilestedet for en håndfuld af hans knogler …

1850: Viborg Miniby

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her besøgte vi bl.a. Viborg Miniby.

Viborg Miniby er et forsøg på at vise byen, som den så ud i 1850. Den er i forholdet 1:10, og den bliver bygget med rigtige små mursten osv. Men først skulle vi finde stedet. Vi er ved at være tæt på.

Værkstedet er åbent, så man kan se processen.

Jeg prøvede på at få overblik over byen på forhånd, og har også arbejdet på sagen senere. Jeg kan ikke få heeelt styr på det, men næsten. Og det er jo nogle gange også godt nok. Lad os starte med, hvordan en for sagen vigtig del af Viborg ser ud i dag. (Fejl kan forekomme.)

Minibyen er rigtig meget baseret på Sct. Mogens Gade, den del der i dag hedder nr. 1 til 54. Minibyen er ikke helt magen til billedet ovenfor, som jeg selv har strikket sammen. Dels er kortet ovenfor baseret på forholdene i dag, 2025, dels mangler der huse i minibyen (bl.a. domkirken, som den så ud dengang), dels tager minibyen også lidt fra sidegaderne med. Men sådan i det store og hele, ikk?

Og lad os så kigge på nogle huse! Når jeg kalder et af dem Skovgaard Museet, så er der tale om det nuværende navn; i sin tid var det et rådhus.

Og et par skilte.

1313: Borgvold

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her besøgte vi bl.a. Borgvold.

Borgvold , der dateres til 1313, er resterne fra en borg + vold, fantastiske 11 m høj. Den måtte vi jo bestige. Bl.a. fordi vi ved andre lejligheder har fundet og besteget resterne af volde . Når man sidder på toppen, så kan man se det karakteristiske dip, altså at det rundt om toppen går nedad. Også selvom det hele er dækket af græs og svært at fotografere. På forhånd satte vi os ind i tingene via den her rigtig gode beskrivelse , der har et kort over stedet og teksten fra stenen. Bemærk i øvrigt, at “paa” (på) naturligvis staves med stum snegl.

1250: Sortebrødre Kirke

I juli var vi på ferie i #Viborg. Her besøgte vi bl.a. Sortebrødre Kirke.

Kirker er tit pæne at kikke på, derfor kom Sortebrødre Kirke (bygget i første halvdel af 1200-tallet ) på listen. Praktisk nok ligger den også tæt på domkirken og andre gode ting.

Efter at have set domkirken, der ivrigt (?) prøver at virke gammel, men ikke helt lykkes med det, var det sjovt at komme over i en kirke, der faktisk er gammel og er nænsomt restaureret.

En interessant ting ved kirken er de såkaldte emblemmalerier. De er ikke enestående, men de er sjældne nok til, at jeg blev optaget af dem. Der er også en bog om dem. Og for sådan en som mig, der har brug for et konkret eksempel for at forstå teknikken: Emblem of the Month .

#ThisWeeksFiddler, 20250912

This week the #puzzle is: Can You Box the Letters? #permutations

In the game of Letter Boxed from The New York Times, you must connect letters together around a square to spell out words. However, from any given letter, the next letter cannot be on the same side of the square.
Consider the following diagram, which consists of eight points (labeled A through H), two on each side of the square. A valid “letter boxed” sequence starts at any of the eight points, and proceeds through all of the other points exactly once. However, adjacent points in the sequence can never be on the same side of the square. The first and last points in the sequence can be on the same side, but do not have to be.
As an illustration, AFBCHEDG is a valid sequence of points. However, AFBCHGED is not a valid sequence, since H and G are adjacent in the sequence and on the same side of the square.
How many distinct valid “letter boxed” sequences are there that include all eight points on the square?

And for extra credit:

Instead of two points on each side of the square (and eight points in total), now there are three points on each side (and twelve points in total), labeled A through L in the diagram below.
How many distinct valid “letter boxed” sequences are there that include all 12 points on the square?

Can You Box the Letters?

Highlight to reveal (possibly incorrect) solution:

Spreadsheet Program

And for extra credit:

#XsPuzzleCorner, 20250907

This week the #puzzle is: Fine, Maybe Tiling Problems Can Be Fun… #tiling

Question row A:

You have an infinite square grid. Each cell in this grid is either red or blue.
Can you create a pattern in which every red cell has exactly:
zero red neighbors,
one red neighbor,
two red neighbors,

eight red neighbors?
Neighbors include any cell that is directly adjacent or corner-adjacent. To avoid admitting degenerate solutions, your pattern must have at least some fraction 0<r≤1 of the total board composed of red cells.

Question row B:

Now we will consider patterns in which every red and every blue cell has exactly the same number—nr and nb, respectively—of same colored neighbors. For example, the image above is not a valid pattern since some of the blue cells have 4 blue neighbors while others have 6.
For which pairs (nr, nb) can we construct valid patterns?

Fine, Maybe Tiling Problems Can Be Fun…

Highlight to reveal (possibly incorrect) solution:

Solutions to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7 and 8 neighbors. (Solution for 0 was already given.)

Question row B:

Program

Some more solutions:

nr \ nb01234567
0imageimageimageimageimageimageimage(image)
1imageimageimageimageimageimage(image)image
2imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage
3imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage
4imageimage(image)(image)imageimageimageimage
5imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage
6(image)image(image)imageimageimageimageimage
7imageimageimageimageimageimageimageimage