Ever since I stumbled across this video of an entertaining bloke solving a sudoku, I have found myself revisiting their channel. Two videos a day of Mark or Simon tackling sudoku’s of variants I never knew existed, talking us through the logic as they solve it in real time. Surprisingly entertaining, and educational. At times, I’m able to solve the puzzle without any help, but more often than not I’ll do what I can, watch the video for a bit to get unblocked, and go on from there. And there are a few times where I don’t even try the puzzle and just watch it like a television show. I was able to complete yesterday‘s with no help at all in less than a half hour which is an accomplishment.
My oldest son also enjoys these puzzles so it’s something for us to touch base on almost daily. I even bought a patreon subscription in his name for his birthday to help support the guys.
Somewhat related – it struck me when I reviewed some of my youtube viewing that there is a wave of ‘positivity’ that I’ve been drawn to. The guys on cracking are so effusive in their praise for the puzzle makers, throwing around compliments like ‘genius’, ‘wonderful’, ‘one of the most beautiful puzzles you’ll ever see’. The guys on Lost in Vegas are equally sincere in their praise and appreciation of performances that are new to them (although at times a bit more honest, but in a good way). Similarly this ‘headbanger’ doing a reaction video to Hamilton. Chef John has been around for years, and likewise has the affect on me, although I’m starting to stray more into the Nat’s What I Reckon (nsfw language) channel (but there’s room for everyone!). Numberphile, fun magicians … so glad that there’s positive content like this that I can turn to.