Emily Dickinson's Puzzle Poems

Emily Dickinson's poetry is characterized by its highly compressed, idiosyncratic use of language to convey intense emotions. But she also wrote a series of light "riddle" poems in which the subject is never directly stated, leaving the reader to determine what the poem is about. They aren't difficult as riddles (except maybe for #1489), but they're important because of their use of language.

Here is the first, with the other three after the jump. I'll leave off the solutions for now in case readers want to solve them.

#291
It sifts from Leaden Sieves --
It powders all the Wood.
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road --

It makes an Even Face
Of Mountain, and of Plain --
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East again --

It reaches to the Fence --
It wraps it Rail by Rail
Till it is lost in Fleeces --
It deals Celestial Vail

To Stump, and Stack -- and Stem --
A Summer's empty Room --
Acres of Joints, where Harvests were,
Recordless, but for them--

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts
As Ankles of a Queen --
Then stills its Artisans -- like Ghosts --
Denying they have been --

Lego Carcassonne

I've written about Lego Catan in the past, but someone has now taken it to the next level by working on a complex version Lego Carcasssonne. Designer Cal Henderson isn't actually making the whole thing, mind you, since a full set based on this design would cost around $2000 to create, but he's showing how it could be done.

A new computer mockup of Lego Catan was making the rounds of the interwebs last week. It looks great, but it hasn't been built.

More Squirrels Playing Cards

9 out of 10 squirrels prefer cribbage. It's just a fact.

You can keep your "Dogs Playing Poker" paintings. I have something much better: taxidermy squirrels playing cards. I posted one with the site update earlier today, but I thought I'd roll out the rest of them here.

I'm not sure where they all come from. In my journeys around the internet I just save any weird gaming photos I happen to stumble upon. Some of them (such as the one at the top) are the work of Walter Potter, Victorian taxidermy's mad genius. And some are just the work of people with too damn much time on their hands.

Interesting fact: every tableaux includes a smoking squirrel. And most of them also have at least one kibitzer. See if you can find the tableaux where it appears as though one squirrel has bet his own tail. That's just hardcore.

from the National Museum of Play

Peaceable Kingdom: Stoat (?), Fox, Rabbit, and Cat. (The fox is cheating.)

"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."

Site Changes (Plus Squirrels)

I've been fiddling with the site for the past week or so, with a new header and some added boxes & such.

For those of you who find this kind of post boring, here's a picture of squirrels playing cards.

For the rest of you, here's the rundown:

• Game Blog Feeds. This display the top posts from gaming blogs that I think are worth a regular visit, like Dice Hate Me or Purple Pawn. You'll find Seize Your Turn's weekly linkapalooza there, as well as other regular updates.
• Other Links. I'm not planning to create an encyclopedic set of links to gaming resources, but these are places I think are worthwhile.
• My Twitter Feed. I'm still not all that great with the Twitter thing, but I'm getting used to it. It's best just to Follow me on Twitter, but I've also included a feed update in the sidebar.
• Gaming Twitter Feed. This one is for my gaming Twitter list, and includes Twits that I follow. If you'd like to be a Twit, send me a message.
• Donation Button. Yes, I've become shameless enough to start requesting donations. It's all nice and secure via Paypal, and helps keep me from standing on the grassy median holding a cardboard sign that says "Will Game For Food." The recession has bit deep into our household, so anything helps.
• Facebook Button. Do you like me? Do you really like me? Then hit the brand new Facebook button on the sidebar.

iPad 2

You knew it was coming. Here's the news from today's Apple press event:

The iPad 2 will ship March 11 in the US.

It's lighter and 33% thinner.

It has a new dual-core processor that runs twice as fast as the old one, and a new graphics processor that's 9-times as fast.

It also finally has cameras front and back, a nifty flexible magnetic cover, and HDMI video output. They're calling it a complete redesign.

The prices will all remain the same: $500 to $850.

There will certainly be more information available as the day goes on.

Scrabble Ascendant

According to the New York Times, the proliferation of word games on Facebook and mobile platforms is driving a new renaissance for Scrabble-style gaming. The prime movers are Words With Friends (now owned by the demonstrably evil Zynga) and various adaptations of Scrabble itself.

More interesting is the information that digital sales are driving conventional sales, with 4 million Scrabble sets sold in 2010 alone. According to Hasbro, this represents a 100% increase over a five-year period. And, yes, it's because of apps.

h/t: Erik Arneson

A Closer Look: French Tarot: Trumps 7 & 8

Many people are familiar with the standard Tarot suits (the "Major Arcana") used for "divination" purposes, but they're less aware that Tarot cards were created for playing trick-taking games and have a rich and diverse design history. These images are part of an ongoing series highlighting the art of a single deck used in France, which contains scenes of rural and domestic life in the 19th century.

Click to enlarge

Trump No. 7 (Detail)

Click to enlarge

Trump No. 8 (Detail)

U.S. Representative Rush Holt (NJ) Defeats Watson

Apparently IBM's Jeopardy-playing computer can indeed be defeated, and by a congressman no less.

Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey, former Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, was a Jeopardy winner 35 years ago when the show was in its initial run. Watson was pitted against several congressmen in promotional match in a Washington hotel, but Holt, who holds a PhD in Physics, was the only winner. The exhibition was a chance for IBM to promote potential government applications of their technology, and for politicians to promote the value of science education.

Holt was my Representative when I lived in his district. No, I didn't vote for him, but he always seemed like a decent guy, and we used to live in the same town. He's also the answer the Jeopardy question: "Who is the only Quaker currently serving in Congress?" (Quick: Which U.S. Presidents were Quakers?)

I promise this is my last Watson post. Until the next one.

Be a Mathlete: World Math(s) Day

March 1st is World Maths Day according to The International Committee for Proclaiming Days for Things.

Actually, this one is proclaimed and run by an Australian e-learning company, but it seems to have caught on and the competition raises money for schools (which is good) and UNICEF (meh). You can tell it's not American because they call it "maths" rather than "math."

(Why do the Brits say "maths"? Because  the word is a contraction of "mathematics," which is a plural. Thus, technically, the contraction should also be plural. That may appear to make perfect sense, but since we won the Battle of Yorktown and they didn't, we're right.)

Anyway, back to World Math Day. Over 5 million kids from 218 countries are taking part in a 60-second math challenge by logging in to worldmathsday.com and answering a series of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. That makes it the biggest multiplayer session of the day.