['Your Majesty']

Thanks Ronald, sorry Ronny.  

What do I call you since I'm neither a tax collector nor some "official"?

Maybe I should just stick to Sir or Mr. Kint-Bruynseels.

What's wrong with a simple 'Your Majesty' as the teachers at my school - back in the 70s - used to address their Crimson King.



I hope all this is insane enough to please Eric and Roger.

Guys, I've asked the man what is the dimensions for pen blanks.  Since he does not want to tell me, can somebody else do so please?

This is what he said to me:
'The amount of wood it takes for a pen is minimal 3/4" x 3/4" x 5"long'.

Eric I thought we all agreed that we were not going to tell him that we talked about him behind his back.

Everybody's Talking

I speak Dutch, so I knew how to say it all along.  But I just call you "That Belgian who's not quite right in the head" whenever me and the other guys talk behind your back.  Which is all the time by the way.

I can't remember me telling you my middle name.

I have actually been wondering how your friends pronounce "Ry"  Is it more like "Ree" or "Rye"

It's exclusively used in writing. I started using this as an abbreviation of 'Ronny' (that's how my friends address me). I'm always very suspicious when people call me Ronald... they're probably tax collectors or other 'officials' I'd rather not meet 

Now for the correct pronunciation of my name:

The 'i' in 'Kint' is pronounced as in 'hint'.

Well, 'Bruyn' is probably the most difficicult part because that uses a diphthong which is unknown (?) in English. Even in modern Dutch the "uy" combination has become obsolete. The 'y' was only an indication of a prolongation of the preceding sound, in this case the 'u' as in 'hunter'. Originaly that was pronounced as 'uu' a bit as in 'Van Buren', but still a bit prolonged. Later it became the diphthong 'ui', pronounced (approxiamately) as 'u' (hunter) followed by 'i' (hint). If you learn to pronounce both these sounds in a quick succession, then you come very close.
Note that this is the same sound as in Nicholas de Bruijn's name as 'y' or 'ij' were used for the same purpose.

Finally the 'seels' part. Here the 'ee' sounds not at all as in 'seals' or 'wheels', but rather like 'sails'.

Now what has this old Lynyrd Skynyrd album to do with puzzles you may wonder...

Well, in fact, nothing at all. But I got an email earlier today from Peter Hajek and I suddenly realised that I'm not sure about how to pronounce his name.

I remember my professor of social psychology who had a very good test to find out whether someone attended his classes or not... I did not, as could read his book much faster than he did (or were his classes just too early in the morning  ). Lucky for me I had been warned and knew how to properly pronounce 'Robert Zajonc' and 'Iv?n B?sz?rm?nyi-Nagy' 

But all this started me wondering how my puzzle friends in the USA and Japan would pronounce my very own name. I see two possibilities for the 'KINT' part, but then I simply can't imagine what a tongue twister the 'BRUYNSEELS' must be to most of you.

Enlighten me! 

Ronald, Stonehenge appeared on Ishino's site this week.  It is on my list to make one for my collection.  I've made so many of your puzzles now I might as well make a complete range to display.  Do you have a list of your designs?

Well I have my 'files' (or should I say 'piles') which are mainly a bunch of papers notebooks, beer mats, CD-ROMs,... without any system, but loaded with mostly unfinished and/or very embryonic puzzle ideas. These are mostly collecting dust and from time to time I pick up one at random to surprise myself...

Often something that was stashed away for whatever obsure reason (couldn't get it right, didn't like after all, but mostly because another idea interfered) makes a nice alternative when I get stuck on an idea.

Maybe I should sort it all out one day, but then I fear it will become pretty useless to me.

hello Roy

my sentence was not against the edition of your Stonehenge puzzle, I myself  felt in the last weeks/months that not so many real new puzzles were offered or edited as in some times of the last year

hope to see you at the IPP
Bernhard

I was not referring to Stonehenge... The only thing 'new' about that one is its name. It's just an old (2005) design that remained unpublished and nameless. Only very recently I noticed what I should have seen long before... It has a second 'monumental' solution that even Ishino's software couldn't find (see picture)

Unfortunately I can't make it to the IPP. The date of the event is such that it will always be difficult for me to attend. This year, things looked good in the beginning but changed for the worse.

But I'll be there in thoughts 

[hides]

everybody hides his newest inventions

Looks like I've been stupid again 

[Montmartre]

Near the Notre Dame is a square full of artists, the Mont Marte (Spelling probably not right)

That will be Montmartre, meaning 'mountain of the martyr'.

I'm also making good progress on a puzzle solver (yes, another one) that will be community oriented.  The goal is to have all puzzle types and analyses be modules that can be written, dropped in, and shared.  Let me know if you're interested in playing with test releases.

I'm a (the?) beta tester (and provider of ideasto become impemented or improved on the ergonomics)of BurrTools by Andreas R?ver and I could give your program a try ass well... However beware, as I do such testing from a designer's viewpoint. That way I'm pretty good in detecting bugs that 'regular' users probably never find.

But why don't you join forces with Andreas? That could result in a program that is twice as good with about half the work. As BurrTools is subject to a complete makeover for the moment, this may well be the time to step in.

I like the way you think.  Only cool what has to be cooled.  That is a "cool" idea.

And in the end it all comes down to the brain... Just thinking of ice cream may do the trick 

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate that.  I had high hopes as well but honestly have run into a wall when it comes to promoting the contest.  I've posted on a few woodworking forums but have received no interest.  I thought the prizes were pretty generous ('specially since the cash is coming out of my pocket!)....I mean, c'mon!  $500 bucks is like 9 gallons or gas or something!

Once the IPP is over, things will no doubt change.

What do you guys use for modeling? I've been playing with Google Sketchup, and it seems to be coming up a little short.

All the pictures I've shown thus far originated in SketchUp (version 5 - pro) and were post edited in Corel PhotoPaint. The attached picture is made the very same way.

I must say that I'm using some really great Ruby plug-ins... But I fear the free version can't use these (?).

Nevertheless, SketchUp is really a fantastic instrument. Not only to share designs, but also for designing itself. 

Here's a quick impression of what such an extended Cassiopeia could look like.