Four Black Pegs (blogs.req.co.uk/fourblackpegs)

req.co.uk Codex newsletter #71

posted by Breadmower on Sun 24th Feb, 08 at 22:48:32

What's this newsletter all about then?

Welcome to the Codex newsletter, where we bring you up to speed with what's going on at the site and - more importantly - let you know the results of the weekly leaderboard, and what accolades have been awarded to the movers and shakers this week.

Bored of this waffle already? If you're receiving it by email, then you can unsubscribe by going to the blog and clicking "unsubscribe from this blog"...

 

In this issue

  • Yes, I'd already spotted that flaw
  • Leaderboard update
  • Prizegiving
  • Predictions

 

Yes, I'd already spotted that flaw

So, the new "play or grey" concept for the leaderboard seems to work, but - as you may have noticed last week - it does suffer from one minor issue, which is that one player can essentially sacrifice themselves (by only playing one game) so that no-one else gets frozen out. Thanks for the demonstration, Sarah ;-)

Like I say, I had already thought of that, but haven't decided which way to fix it - it may end up being "the bottom 10% get frozen out", or the freezing only happens to people in the top five. Of course, the problem with the 10% idea is that whilst we only have a few players, it doesn't really work out (there'd only be one player frozen out anyway). I'm still pondering it - watch this space.

 

Leaderboard update

When the leaderboard closed for the week, here's how things looked (rank - user - average guesses):

1st - laura - 3.33 (3 games)
2nd - DOM - 3.5 (2 games)
3rd - Bunnery - 4.67 (15 games)
4th - sharon - 4.79 (14 games)
5th - Breadmower - 5.43 (7 games)
6th - bin1 - 5.55 (20 games)
... - Sarah - 6.0 (1 game)
7th - Smonkey - 6.35 (20 games)

Total games played: 92

See the full leaderboard, along with a trend graph for the top five players on the .

 

Prizegiving

This week:

  • The Secret Admirers award (for receiving the most challenges) goes to Sarah, who was challenged 17 times
  • The Open Relay award (for sending the most challenges) goes to Bunnery, who sent 30 challenges
  • The Turing award (for the most solo games played) goes to Smonkey, who played solo 13 times
  • The Enigma award (for sending the hardest codes) is awarded to Toad, whose codes took an average of 11 guesses to break
  • The Plaintext award (for sending the easiest codes) is given to sharon, whose codes took only 4.33 guesses to break on average
  • The Quick Thinking award (for the fastest game) goes to Bunnery, who completed a game in 12 seconds
  • The Deep Thought award (for the slowest game) goes to Bunnery, who took 1 day 15:39:04 to finish one game
  • The Upgrade award (for most improved average) goes to DOM, who decreased their average by 1.53
  • The Downgrade award (for most worsened average) is given to Breadmower, whose average increased by 1.13
  • The Brute Force award (for the highest average) goes to Smonkey, who took an average of 6.35 guesses to break codes
  • The Bletchley award (for top codebreaker) is this week awarded to Laura, whose average number of guesses to break codes was 3.33 over 3 games

 

Well, it wasn't the most exciting week at the top of the leaderboard - DOM decided to play it safe by not risking his average of 3.5 (over two games), seeing as Sarah looked happy to be the frozen player of the week. Still, you never know how the leaderboard will change in the last few hours of the week - Laura managed to steal the Bletchley from him by appearing with an average of 3.33 (over 3 games) in the final two hours of the leaderboard. Nice work, L - you showed them that you should never let your guard down! DOM gets a consolation prize in the form of the Upgrade award - he might not have finished in first place, but he improved the most (by 1.53).

Next up were the "S"s: Sarah won Secret Admirers (received 17 challenges), Sharon won Plaintext (her codes took an average of 4.33 guesses to find), and Smonkey won both Turing (played 17 solo games) and Brute Force (final average of 6.35 over 20 games). Toad doesn't begin with "S", but he managed to win the Enigma award (his codes took an average of 11 guesses to find). Breadmower doesn't begin with an "S" or a "T", though he disimproved the most (by 1.13) and won Downgrade.

So, what else have we got left? Three awards for Bunnery: Open Relay (sent 30 challenges), Quick Thinking (completed a game in 12 seconds) and Deep Thought (took a leisurely 1 day 15:39:04 to finish one game). Yes, I know that the stats page says that she won the Bletchley as well, but I still need to update that for the new scoring.

 

Congratulations to everyone who won an award - they'll now be visible on your personal statistics pages so that the rest of us can marvel at your skills.

Got a suggestion for a new award? Let us know - leave a comment on the blog.

See the full award details on the .

 

Predictions

OK, so now I'm getting confused... Bin1 and Bunnery didn't make predictions for last week, but instead made predictions last week for this week? Is that right?

If so, Bin1 thought that we'd finish with Sharon, Laura, Bunnery and DOM at the top of the board, whilst Bunnery thought that it would be Bin1, Breadmower, Laura and Sarah.

The actual results were Laura, DOM, Bunnery and Sharon, so that means that Bin1 had, ummm, 1 black peg and three white (pretty good!), and Bunnery gets a sole white peg (not so good). That makes it a nice and easy decision this week: Bin1 wins! Come on then, Bin1 - what's the forfeit, and what are your predictions for next week?

 

 

Until next week...

That's it for this newsletter, thanks for reading. Want to make a comment or suggestion? Leave a comment on the blog.

 

Remember, you've got under seven days to make your mark on this week's leaderboard... get to it!

 

Have fun,

Breadmower and the rest of team req.co.uk

Comments for this item [Login to post a comment]
Best result so far?
posted by Bunnery on Tue 26th Feb, 08 at 03:21:21

Well done bin1!!

That is very impressive. Must be the best prediction so far! Please be gentle with the forfeit! Erm... I was only joking when I mentioned novels..{nervous laugh}

Hmmm - this week's predictions, let me think...

I predict that DOM will only play 1 game..

1st: Sarah (put that guitar down for a moment Sarah - and get playing Codex!)

2nd: Sharon

3rd: Bunnery

4th: Breadmower

That's the best I can do. Have to go - I think I have a game due to expire....

 

Untitled comment
posted by bin1 on Tue 26th Feb, 08 at 11:31:21

Thank you, you're too kind.  Shame I not:

Writing Challenge

From:

The story takes place in the afternoon. The story must have a hellhound in it.

The story ends in a small town. The story takes place a century into the future. During the story, a relative shows up. The story must have an item of food appear in the middle.

Characters

From the same site you can select one or more of the characters below:

I require a short story as the foreit.  150 words minimum - so I'm only looking for you to hit the basic story requirements.  I'd recommend writing it as if I was doing it - i.e. put little to no effort in.  An introduction rather than a story.

Sorry, but I couldn't think of anything else - and your nervous laugh suggested a solution.

Predictions

1st Laura

2nd Mr Puzzelwit

3rd Bunnery (same as your prediction)

4th Barb

Signing off 

Regards!

Blimey!
posted by Bunnery on Wed 27th Feb, 08 at 18:18:07

Hmmm - that is a VERY interesting challenge. I think I like it...

I take it that I have until close of play on Saturday?

:-)

Yep
posted by bin1 on Wed 27th Feb, 08 at 18:19:39

Yep...

Admit it, the character below amuses you:

  • This short, dimwitted man has greasy chestnut hair, dark eyes and a very obvious birthmark. He wears a rust-colored leotard and a bandana.

I can picture it now.... [stares off mysteriously into the middle distance]

Yeah!
posted by Bunnery on Wed 27th Feb, 08 at 18:22:21

Kind of puts me in mind of Dr P and his rust coloured jacket.....

Those were the days.

Yeah!
posted by Bunnery on Wed 27th Feb, 08 at 18:22:51

Kind of puts me in mind of Dr P and his rust coloured jacket.....

Those were the days.

Forfeit example... as you always do for me.
posted by bin1 on Thu 28th Feb, 08 at 15:53:51

22nd Century Small Town Hellhound: draft 1

Chapter 1

Derek reached up to the fuse box and flicked the switch.  The switch snapped back and echoed around the room.  Either a bulb had gone or something worse.  He stood there in the descending darkness, head to one side listening and his eyes wide open for the merest detail.  Faint light pierced the thin drapes, making dull-grey oblongs stretch across the cluttered floor.

The dim light revealed half-eaten plates and containers of indistinguishable food; an opened can, toppled by a food encrusted fork, allowing its half-eaten contents to meld into the dark, sticky carpet.

The sight of the clutter made him itch.  As Derek scratched, he was reminded again how uncomfortable the leotard was.  His darker side imagined his slight frame, and how revealing and erotic he felt when he dressed up.  Without a mirror to justify his outfit he felt foolish and out of place.

The house already felt colder. Derek could hear the rain pounding on the windows in the back room; in the front room he could hear the quieter sound of rain bouncing off the pavement outside.

Stepping down from the chair, he negotiated the discarded food and made his way to the back of the house. 
In the back of the house hummed the Central Control Panel – the CCP.  Its huge bulk, black and imposing dominated the room.  The room seemed to be charged with intense foreboding.  Even without sufficient power to operate normally, the CCP still seemed to watch, governing Derek’s movements.

**bored**

Suddenly, a hellhound crashed through the screen of the CCP.  Derek surprised himself as he had time to appreciate the cascading black splinters glint in the waning light. With animal instinct, Derek reached for the nearest object: a banana.

**thought I'd regained it there... but a banana came to mind**

Despite the smell of wet dog, Derek still caught the sweet, overripe smell of banana as he bent in a crouch to defend himself.  Wary of the sweet smell and the leotard dress man, the hound backed off, its haunches taut, saliva and rain dripped from its dishevelled hide.

They stood for minutes like this.  Occasionally shifting, causing the other to move to retain the balance in the stand off.

The hellhound turns out to be a relative and they laugh.
 
**The end**

Notes: Birthmark missed... but lets pretend they recognised each other through the hellhound seeing the birthmark.  Small town? Pavement, but no sound of traffic or people (it'll do).  Leotard (check), fruit (check), relative (check-ish), afternoon (raining and getting dark ~ check), next century (title and CCU ~ check). 

I'll be at a booksigning this weekend in Leek's Cat Shop.

Cool
posted by Bunnery on Thu 28th Feb, 08 at 21:23:29

I was really getting into that - until the banana incident :-)

Almost done - not sure how long Bread allows these comments to be!

Panic - Chapter One
posted by Bunnery on Thu 28th Feb, 08 at 21:29:58

15/12/2112

Legend has it that in the days when our sun was visible this would be called  “9 in the Afternoon” it is dark anyway – unless you go over to the vertical solarium room – we humans still need our vitamin D after all.

It isn’t my allotted time yet so I am mooching around with my PRD (portable reading device) studying a little ancient history ready for the auto-memory test later.

The campus is huge and the corridors seem endless, relieving us of the need to go outdoors. I found the library in my first week here – but it is not used very often. Most students get by with their personal devices and the Electronic Record of all Published Works.

I like the feel of a book though – there is something indefinable and tactile – knowing that someone has looked at this before you, flicked through the pages, traced the pictures with long gone fingers and sighed at the beauty of the fonts and fading illustrations. Of course all materials have passed through the micro-purification device. Wouldn’t want another incident like the “Return of Vulpine Flu” a few years ago. It was touch and go whether it could be contained, it seemed to rejoice in its virulence once it had been freed into a real warm living breathing populace again after years in a lab. The last known host – a rabid hellhound, bred from DNA found in the frozen wastes of Siberia, was now preserved in the museum. It was behind toughened glass of course. The cause of 3.2 million deaths.

I settled down out of sight of the robot librarian on an old cracked leather sofa, next to the “Consumerism in the Second Millennium” section. I knew he would be here soon - he never let me down, despite not making any plans he always knew when and where….

I reach out and flick through a dog-eared, musty book that contains many photographs. “Jamie Oliver at Home” There is a blue bowl in the centrefold, filled with succulent plump whorls of flesh, shiny with butter and sprinkled with greenery. I can barely make out the text - “garlic mussels in white wine sauce”. I wonder at a population that would dare to consume living organisms from the seas. They must have had a death wish. We stick to sterilised lab-grown protein these days.

I’m shaken out of these musings by a crash. I look up - expecting to see a smiling face, eyes mirroring my own. Instead an angry grimace looms over me, hair everywhere.

“Oh no, Auntie Vi!  How did you get in here?”

She pulls her violet bathrobe tightly around herself, trying to hide the strawberry shaped mark on her huge chest.

“They’ve taken my home - again”

I sighed, put the book down and half-dragged and half-coaxed her out of the library. I went as far as the station before she calmed down. I knew I’d have to go with her, and miss my unspoken assignation, this time….

We alighted at the outskirts, the small town that she had refused to move away from. Most of her neighbours had allowed themselves to be bribed into the metropolis, but she knew as well as I did what they were after.

To be continued....

 

Afternoon - check

Hellhound - check

Ends in a Small town - check

The story takes place a century into the future - check.

A relative shows up - check

An item of food appear in the middle - check

This buxom, angry woman has fuzzy golden hair, grey eyes and a very obvious birthmark. She wears a violet bathrobe - check

Does this suffice?

Yes.
posted by bin1 on Fri 29th Feb, 08 at 19:31:06

Yes.  Although I know Bread decides.

Can't wait for the next chapter - full of visual whorls!