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Hanukkah of Data: Practice your data skills with 8 free data puzzles

199 points2 yearshanukkah.bluebird.sh
nullhole2 years ago

I'm working with some data that has a large number of date formats within a single document - day seconds, week seconds, ISO8601, ticks, some with hardcoded offsets and others with different datums ... it would be quite funny I think to throw in a new column in the Hebrew calendar, just to join the party, so to speak.

js22 years ago

The Hebrew calendar is a marvel of historical engineering and complexity. Both solar and lunar with exceptions to accommodate Shabbat and other holidays, and be consistent with the Torah.

https://stevemorse.org/hebrewcalendar/hebrewcalendar.htm

valianteffort2 years ago

>The Hebrew calendar is a marvel of historical engineering and complexity

I haven't seen glazing this hard at a cinnabun.

nullhole2 years ago

Thanks for the link! Better than the articles I came across before. It has a kind of GEB vibe to it which is nice.

js22 years ago

Discussed on HN last year. The top comment has some other links you might be interested in:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33126676

nullhole2 years ago

That is a very good link. The top comment has direct implications for any software / report generation dealing with tidal (-> lunar) cycles. Perhaps using something non-ISO to store time on the inside could have its benefits.

adityaathalye2 years ago

dwimmer's animated text art elevates everything about Hanukkah of Data! I wrote about how it works, here: https://evalapply.org/posts/animate-text-art-javascript/

saulpw2 years ago

You did a great job on the text animation code, Adi! I've found myself falling into a trance watching the flickering candles.

adityaathalye2 years ago

Aw shucks... thank you :)

And I find myself waiting to catch the various creatures twitch.

bigkahuna19861 year ago

I know it's a week old, but I just finished and had a lot of fun! Thank you! I'm going to attempt the speed run after my toddler goes to sleep.

akprasad2 years ago

The ASCII candle is really charming, especially when lit. Looking forward to exploring this further. Great work!

paddy_m2 years ago

Thanks for putting this together, it's very creative.

Do you mind if I post videos of solving this to my youtube channel (that has absolutely no viewers)

saulpw2 years ago

For sure! Just be sure to include a spoiler warning :)

chronos002 years ago

Hey, Whats your Youtube channel name? I am interested in watching the videos of your Solutions for these Data Puzzles.

lofatdairy1 year ago

This was pretty fun! Sometimes the stories were a bit harder to parse than others, but honestly, that's pretty reflective of what it's like being a technical person communicating with non-technical people.

Hope to see this again next year!

alxjsn2 years ago

I love the story! Excited for the next challenge!

schoen2 years ago

Fun "crossover" observation (ROT13; spoiler for first night)

Gur fheanzr bs gur crefba jub vf gur nafjre gb #1 yvgrenyyl zrnaf 'sve gerr' (nf ersreraprq va n snzbhf Puevfgznf fbat).

shlosky2 years ago

if anyone is stuck, here are the solutions:

https://hanukkah.bluebird.sh/js/5784/solutions.js

hadjian2 years ago

Congrats Saul! Hope it’s ok to solve this during Christmas, because of vacation ;-)

saulpw2 years ago

Thanks! It'll stay up past the end of Hanukkah.

jerpint2 years ago

Solved it all last year, looking forward to finishing this year’a puzzles!

saulpw2 years ago

Well, the puzzles are the same, only the clues and dataset are different. But you might want to do them again anyway, to polish up your scripts--on the last day of Hannukah, we'll be posting a more challenging dataset for you to try to speedrun.

And keep on the lookout for more data puzzles from us in the near future!

chirau2 years ago

Pretty cool. Got the first two. Now I have to wait for the next one...

harshreality2 years ago

The phone number input requires dashes, which are entirely optional in general for communicating telephone numbers (dashes and parens only serve as decoration for readability these days).

littlekey2 years ago

Thanks for this, will give it a try :)

dkce9r854h322 years ago

why can i only do the first 2 puzzles? it says i have to wait 17hrs. is it like a christmas countdown?

NoraCodes2 years ago

chanukah is 8 days. presumably one puzzle will be released each day.

anjakefala2 years ago

Yes, exactly! A new puzzle will be released at 4pm UTC each day.

seshagiric2 years ago

oh cool, can't wait for it.

MandieD2 years ago

Yay, it’s back!

fud1012 years ago

im keen but not sure how to get started

anjakefala2 years ago

Click on the candles to see the puzzle! Start with the 0th candle in the centre. =)

tonetheman2 years ago

[dead]