This is a non-library post just to say that I am in Boston for the weekend for the MIT Mystery Hunt. Myself and fellow non-traditional librarian J. Baumgart will be working with Codex Ixtlilxochitl, a giant team of brainiacs all over the world using wikis and IM and Google spreadsheets and all sorts of other high and low tech means to solve puzzles and have fun. The first time I really used a wiki was as part of a puzzle hunt team and I think it really helps with all of this social software stuff to see some of it in action — helping you solve problems — to see why people think some of this stuff is so great. In any case, emails and IMs may go unanswered for a little bit, but feel free to cheer us on from home. We’ve got (at least) two librarians on this team, how can we lose?
update: we came in second by about 90 minutes. The winning team, Doctor Awkward, had some of the famous puzzlers from Wordplay on it. This means that next year they get to make the puzzle and we get to play again. From what I can gather, this was the outcome that a good chunk of my team was hoping for anyhow.
i love the redesign – so clean and sharp! good luck puzzle-hunting :)
im sorry i tried to im you, taking up valuble IM-age. good luck!
Wowza! You’re rocking it w/this redesign–ahluveet!
Well…did you win?
Congrats on coming in second in a very well-constructed and competitive Hunt. That’s no mean accomplishment. My husband, stepson, and I are on Dr. Awkward (and that’s how it should be spelled, since it’s intended to be a palindrome). Have you considered joining the National Puzzlers’ League? There are a fair number of librarians in the NPL. See http://www.puzzlers.org for more info.
Oh my gosh, I never even noticed the name was a palindrome! I think I’m going to spend sometime this year boning up on puzzling. I’m still pretty new at all of it but happened to be on a great team. I’d like to be more help next year. Congrats, Sia, on your win! Look forward to seeing you next year.
Yes, I’d love to meet you. To make everything even more confusing, that’s just THIS year’s team name: every year we choose a new palindromic name, so I don’t even know if it’s going to be Dr. Awkward running the Hunt next year! We’re generically known as Palindrome.
I’m not exactly new to puzzling, but I’m certainly one of the weaker solvers on my team. Fortunately, it’s a great team. Sounds like yours is too. For puzzling practice, the npl site is a pretty good place to start.