Brian Uri!

@urizone.net

174 Followers 155 Following

Coder, composer, creator. Once got a piggyback ride from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Farmed in ALX, tabled in LoCo. Forever blogging at https://urizone.net/. Writing puzzlehunts at https://puzzlepeak.net/.

Kindle cover of Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker.
DoorDash tracker map showing an extended route through DC.
A map of northern Virginia showing a DoorDash car appearing in two disparate places at once.
President Trump stands to the side of Spain's winning FIFA team.
Light reflects off the surface of a pot off egg drop soup.
Kindle cover of The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman.
A Photoshopped album cover with the title, "Saturday Night - Sing Along With Mitch". Below the title is a picture of Mitch McConnell's smiling face replacing Mitch Miller's. Additional text: includes special sing along lyrics IRAN (icon of Iran) UKRAINE (icon of Ukraine) NATIONAL SECURITY THE UNFOLDING SITUATION IN MAINE (icon of Graham Platner) A LITTLE BIT OF SENATE HISTORY (icon of the Senate seal) THE NEED TO PASS THE NDAA (icon of a bill) MY VISIT TO THE TR PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY (icon of 3 books) EXTENDED PLAY 20 MINUTES COLUMBIA RECORDS
A text list of puzzlehunt treks at puzzlepeak.net.
Trek #15: A Very Special Birthday Prologue Your puzzling puzzling reputation has broken containment with so many successful treks under your belt. Most recently you have been contacted by an unexpected party, the United States of America, in search of a new slogan to commemorate a very special birthday. Clearly, an exhaustive study of the entirety of American history would take too long (probably longer than it took you to infiltrate that church cult in Trek #12), so you've decided to accelerate the process by ordering and viewing a massive series on DVD. It has just arrived in the mail! "AMERICA by BEN KURNS" the giant spindle reads, with a smaller card declaring that the series was made by Chinese reseller "WAXNOOXYGHUI" as an Amazon.com exclusive. As you pull the DVDs off the spindle and load them into your 250-DVD platter changer, you're disappointed to find that only 8 of the DVDs have any data on them. Still, this should be enough to come up with a clever new slogan and earn a new badge for your puzzling sash.
8 cascading papers on a black desk with titles of puzzlehunt puzzles: Episode 1: Declaration of Independence (From such discrete beginnings rise great empires). Episode 46: Johnny Appleseed Episode 78: Birth of a King Episode 87: Emancipation Proclamation Episode 107: The Brooklyn Bridge Episode 180: The Interstate Highway System Episode 197: The Oil Crisis Episode 250: Series Finale
Top: Partial row from a periodic table of the 1990s, showing elements 110-114 as unknown, unnamed elements. Bottom: Same row from a modern periodic table showing elements 110 - 118 with real names.
A recently stained staircase shows lighter patches where wood filler was used.
A gas receipt shows a total of $50.52. The zero has a dot in the center that makes it seem like an eight.
A man in a striped sweater types on the keyboard of an HP Folio 13 in 2014. The laptop is sitting on a grid with game pieces from an in-progress Dungeons and Dragons adventure.
Two cats stack like patio chairs at the top of a staircase. One is white and grey, while the other is a black and white tuxedo cat.
Cover of Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman.
A massive tree has fallen through a fence in a rainstorm, illuminated by a porch light.
A cat is sprawled on his back with legs going in every direction.
A cartoon sketch of the Sterling Park Shopping Mall sign. Underneath "Est. 1963".
A massive strip mall sign for Sterling Park Shopping Mall (the S is reused). a Big!Lots, CVS/pharmacy, and LaserNation can be seen under the master sign.
Cover of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.
Young Asian in a Boy Scout uniform stands next to a bearded man with a tie resembling holiday gift wrap. Various adults hover in the background.
Screenshot of Winamp v2.7 (x86) - Nov 14 2000 running on a Windows 11 desktop with the original skin. Krafty Kuts is playing. Each song in the playlist is missing the last letter of its artist and title due to ancient Winamp bugs.
Trek #14: Everything Old Is New Again Prologue You awaken in the vestibule of a Tower Records with no recollection of how you got there. The store is a snapshot of another era, having closed abruptly twenty years ago and allowed to gracefully decay along with the strip mall around it. Wan sunlight filters through the locked doors to outline endless rows of CD cases separated by plastic dividers, and the air is thick with a (not unpleasant) scent of undisturbed atrophy. Surely there's a front door key to be found somewhere in this graveyard of forgotten music...
Most Liked Negative Review 1 star Would not buy again There are no birds
EZPass Highway sign, showing the cost to I-66 (3 miles) at $12.10, the cost to I-395 (13 miles) at $36.35, and the cost to I-495 (2 miles) at $16.75.
The All in 1 Agentic AI Bible by Alexander Sterling.
CD binder containing ancient games, including Halo, Serious Sam, Might and Magic VI, Warcraft II, Starcraft, Starcraft: Brood War, and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II.
CD Binder containing Halo, Serious Sam, Might and Magic VI, Warcraft II, Starcraft, Starcraft: Brood War, and Star Wars.
Cover for Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Menu showing a bacon cheeseburger soaking in a skillet of queso.
A trailer at the Reflecting Pool with the words, "Mid-America", on the side.
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Kindle cover of The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Google Sheets' new icon, a rounded rectangular blob with axis lines.
A wood-toned auditorium with a concert band performing in sailor escuela uniforms.
A page titled "LEADERSHIP MESSAGE" with nothing written underneath it.
A family tree drawn on lined paper. Top rows contain single called organisms and dinosaurs. Bottom rows contain people.
Trek #13: West Side Story Prologue The contrast is visceral as you step off the baking parking lot into a dim, freezing warehouse. "There you are!" an oboe-like voice exclaims as your eyes adjust to the murky lighting. The producer steps out of the shadows and shakes your hand. "I'm so glad you were willing to consult with us to help solve our problem. Your ability to scour vast amounts of puzzling data and spot hidden trends has come highly lauded." "You see, we've run out of movie ideas. There's been too many epic scores and too many good versus evil battles. We need to go in a different direction. Bust the genres, shock the audience!" The producer guides you into a room full of ancient DVDs and a popcorn machine that's extra generous on butter flavor. "We need you to watch all of these movies this afternoon and find us the 'next big thing'. Do that and you'll get to see your name in lights! Maybe an executive producer credit?"
Netflix screenshow showing the category, "Women in STEM", containing 3%, Find Me in Paris, Manifest, The OA, and Orphan Black.
A plastic road figure depicts a sad jaundiced boy / turtle hybrid with an open femoral artery and the word "SLOW!" taped to his waist like a modern-day dunce cap.
3. It is 1848. Your jumping off place is Wisconsin. You must decide which month to leave. February September November April
Kindle cover of Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold.
HOT DOG We're all trying to find the guy who did this!
BK Logo with "HOT DOG" in the patty. Text is "We're all trying to find the guy who did this!"
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Mock movie poster for the movie "MAMDANI WHITE FEMALE" starring Zohran Mamdani and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Seattle's new mayor is about to borrow a few things without asking. Their lane. Their car. Their life. Living with a bus rider can be murder.
Kindle cover of The Rill Lord by L.L. Stephens.
Chapter 29 in The Rill Lord by L.L. Stephen's
Cover of The Rill Lord by L.L. Stephens.
Screenshot from Lonely Island's When Will the Bass Drop? DJ Davvincii teases a bass drop.
Trek #12: Be Prepared for Anything Prologue It's the most dangerous and puzzling mission yet. You have been hired to infiltrate a mysterious secret society that's often been spotted lurking ominously in the lee of the local churchyard. Weeks of stakeouts in the rain (thankfully, with a port-a-potty nearby) have rewarded you with several clues and commonalities about the members of this group and you have now managed to become a very junior member without raising alarm. Will you be able to advance in the ranks and uncover the purpose behind this opaque organization?
Original cartoon by Brian Uri! A bearded man stands at a podium in front of a screen showing "scrOTum" and various software graphics. The branding of the slide is "No Stuff Just Fluff" and the man is billed as a Tech Evangelist | Agile Coach | Disruptive Entity. The caption is: "I've conceived a revolutionary new Agile methodology! It works best when you can convince your team to put in massive amounts of overtime."
Two cats snuggling together to form some sort of black, white, and grey triangle.
Screenshot of the Bluesky app UI showing the error message, "You must construct additional pylons."
An open box of 8 wings (that actually ends up being 7). Each wing is small enough to be the finger of a medium-sized basketball star. Banana for scale.
6 stacks of CDs in shrinkwrap.
Two cats, a grey and white one and a tuxedo, snuggle on their 2nd birthday.
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Trek #11: Attacking the Darkness Prologue You awaken in a dark room. Every breath you take is laced with the pungent stench of mildew emanating from the wet dungeon walls. As awareness returns, you recall your quest to delve deep and recover a long-lost treasure, the fabled Eye of the Tiger. It's been days of slaying monsters and overcoming obstacles and now you're out of supplies and patience. As you walk this way and that in search of an exit, only one thing is clear: You still haven't found what you're looking for...