A ‘new to me’ addictive picture logic puzzle game, Picross.

A buddy at work turned me on to this puzzle game called Picross. I’m playing it on my Nintendo DS, but there is a freebie online version as well at (of course) www.picross.com.

The game is sort of a mishmash of crosswords, and sudoku…sorta, but not really. Wikipedia has an article and define this game as a ‘nonogram’, go take a quick peak here before trying the game to get an idea of what the heck this is.

I’m really digging this game, its simple to learn and kept me hooked for hours last night!

So, to the many (lol) of you checking my blog I ask this, “what logic puzzles do you enjoy?” I’m hoping to maybe get some ideas on other ‘new to me’ games that you’re already enjoying but haven’t shared. :)

This is f***ed up. Florida student tasered?!

I’ve read a few articles, here’s one, about a Florida student being tasered for “Meyer was charged with resisting arrest with violence — a felony — and a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace.“. So, while I agree that he was starting to disturb the peace because of his tirade.. but using the taser on him was overboard, check out the video and you decide.. Search YouTube or just view one here.

1. Kerry ought to make a statement about it and move on, afterall he sounds willing to answer the question.. You can hear him in the background trying to calm the situation, and willing to answer the questions..

2. The police involved with this situation need thier tasers taken away, talk about a total abuse of thier power.. They should have taken him out of the building or something.. it’s disturbing to see when the tasers were actually used, I don’t think the kid was too threatening or violent to them particularly just before and as they tasered him.

3. As for the kid, Meyer, next time he should keep his composure and ask the same questions.. seems his flipping out and going on a tirade wasn’t a good choice. Its been reported that this guy has a website with a bunch of anti-war/bush stuff.. I’m guessing this tirade was just an [extension-of/soon-to-be-addition-to] his site.

wow… wtf?

Revgum.com has been down for like two weeks almost.. it started with (apparently) a database problem and then became a PHP problem on the server. My host hasn’t really been the best at communicating the problem either, that’s a bummer.. anyhow, it’s back up and running.

Tiger Woods is kicking ass this weekend, we’re rooting him on to win the Fed Ex Cup.

Brew #28: ‘Special Blend’ IPA

Yesterday, Wendie and I rode our bikes across town to hang out with some friends for the afternoon. We had a great time visiting, chatting, playing Blongo Ball, a lawn game involving drilled golf balls attached with a string that are thrown at a frame, you try to wrap your golf balls around one of the three arms of the frame to score points.. anyway, interesting and fun game. We all feasted on delicious kabobs, salad, and various beers between two sessions of harvesting hops from the Cascade and Nugget hop plants that Brehk and Lesli had been growing. In the pictures below you’ll see a few gallon sized bags of hops that Brehk sent me home with! In total we must have picked 3 or 4 pounds of hops off those plants, it wasn’t at all difficult but the hop bines leave an itchy rash on the hands and arms… hey, its a small price to pay!

Right around dusk, Wendie and I made our way home.. bicycling is a lot harder than I remember it being!! I was sweating by the time we got home and my ass was a bit sore!
I brewed up a batch today using some of the Nugget, Cascade, and the ’special blend’ hops we harvested yesterday..It made a kick ass IPA, the sample tastes super hoppily great! I’ll dry hop this in the keg with the ’special blend’, should be ready to go in 3 weeks.. mmmm!

Here’s the recipe and a few pics:

‘Special Blend’ IPA
——————-
Brewer: Josh Gum
Style: American IPA
Batch: 5.50 gal, Mashed

Characteristics
—————
Recipe Gravity: 1.053 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 67 IBU
Recipe Color: 10° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.1%

Ingredients
———–
American two-row 9.00 lb, mashed
Crystal 40L 0.50 lb, mashed
German wheat 0.50 lb, mashed
Melanoidin 0.50 lb, mashed

Nugget 1.00 oz, whole, 60 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.50 oz, whole, 30 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.50 oz, whole, 15 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.10 oz, whole, 10 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.10 oz, whole, 8 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.10 oz, whole, 6 minutes
Cascade 0.20 oz, whole, 6 minutes
Cascade/Nugget Blend 0.10 oz, whole, 4 minutes
Cascade 0.10 oz, whole, 4 minutes
Cascade 0.75 oz, whole, 0 minutes

California V Ale yeast 1.00 unit, 1600mL starter

Notes
—–
Recipe Notes:
I used fresh hops harvested yesterday from Brehk and Leslie’s garden. Because the bines of the hops were growing into eachother, we separately harvested a large chunk of a mixture of both the Cascade and Nugget varieties…it was dubbed josh’s special blend.

Batch Notes:
Mashed 60min @ 152F, collected 7ga to boil.. I needed a half gallon more to hit my target volume. Boiled for 60 minutes OG measured 1.050. Except the first two, all hop additions were estimates because I was throwing a han,ful of fresh hops in every minute or two.. the hop measurements on this recipe are estimates.

7/12/08 : 10 months later, I get an earthy/vegetal smell on the aroma, the hop nose dropped out almost entirely..the head is tight white dense that lasts forever. The beer is absolutely crystal clear, yellow orange in color with medium to high carbonation. The mouthfeel is medium to thick and it finishes fairly dry.. The beer has a medium to low bitterness, with lots of pronounced citrus in the flavor which carries through in the aftertaste along with mild slightly harsh bitterness. It certainly is not an IPA anymore, more like an american pale ale.

Next time, I need to dry-hop this for a week to 10 days off of the primary yeast cake in secondary.