Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀
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lahosken.bsky.social
Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀
@lahosken.bsky.social
270 followers 180 following 68 posts
Coding, encoding, and decoding in San Francisco USA. Mostly on https://hachyderm.io/ but I check Bsky a few times a day. He/him

https://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/self/contact/

User №246748
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lahosken.bsky.social
A list of some of my popular posts from 2025, in case you want to relive those halcyon days: lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/01/...
tall sailing ship named Gloria storefront window painted to advertise: AI integrated PoS system art-deco(?) style building with a sign on the corner that says Mart SF (but was blank for a while and said Twitter for a while before that) Screen shot of a web app. There's a big green square that has dice scattered across it. Down below are some buttons,some of which have die-face titles; others just have black dots. It's very mysterious
January 5, 2026 at 2:51 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
A couple of weeks back, I once again spent an afternoon helping to playtest the MaPP Challenge '26, a puzzle hunt aimed at math-enthusiastic high school students. When university math outreach nerds run hunt at various cities, hopefully thin… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/01/...
January 1, 2026 at 3:11 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
I updated the Phraser word- and phrase-lists, handy for solving/designing word puzzles. Why? Because `labubu` and `kpop demon hunters` are things, but the six-month-old list didn't know about them.

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/01/...
I have once again updated the Phraser phrase list and word list. These are big text files that list out some common phrases, along with a hazily-computed score number for each phrase; high-score phrases might be good candidates for puzzle answers; low-score phrases are so-so candidates. If you're a computer programmer and you want to write a little program to find the solution to a word puzzle, these files might come in handy if your logic is too gnarly for nutrimatic.
lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us
January 1, 2026 at 3:00 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Stencil artist Eclair Bandersnatch knows it pays to increase your word power. Consider phthalates: if these chemicals are good for softening PVC plastic, maybe they can also soften your bones? We can learn through experimentation by eating microplastics. #SanFrancisco Cole near Haight
sidewalk stencil graffito on metal, maybe an underground utility thingy cover? there are some human and animal figures and some text. The text: What re phthalates? Phthalates are in all synthetic flavors and fragrance. Each one teach one. Phthalates DPB DEP DEHP ''Fragrance `'parfum sidewalk stencil graffiti. Lots of human and animal figures. The humans tend to wear makeup: lipstick, mascara. there are some inverse-drawings, in which the figure is the absence of paint, a technique well-suited to stencils
January 1, 2026 at 2:51 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning …lately all of those numbers have been rather low…

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2025/12/...
I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning to decide whether to go inside a hardware store to shop …
I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning to decide whether to go inside a hardware store to shop …
lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us
December 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Season's greetings from the Stanyan Street firehouse! #SanFrancisco
a firehouse decked out with various inflatable characters (Santa, snowmen, penguins, Spider-Man, dinosaur, dog) and a giant skeleton various inflatable characters (Santa (non-skeletal), snowmen, penguins, dinosaur, dog) lean out of windows or stand at the edge of the roof Giant skeleton in a giant red Santa suit hails the viewer night-time view of the giant Santa skeleton. Also a logo consisting of a firefighter-style Maltese cross with a Grateful Dead logo in its center is projected onto the side of a building
December 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
A new/old item in my feed reader: After a too-long hiatus, Puzzalot is back! puzzalot.org I'm still catching up, but so far I've read some new-to-me info about puzzlehunts from past decades: details on some puzzles from the Los Angeles Midnight-Madness-inspiring games, the first Bay Area Night Game.
December 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Some things I saw on my exercise walk yesterday morning.
I got excited when I saw some paint marks on the road in front of my apartment building: Were we about to get speed bumps? Folks not used to the ne… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2025/12/...
residential street on a hill. There are some rectangles painted on the street, suggesting that something about as wide as the street and about the length of a car is going in statue of a sea serpent rises from a pond, surrounded by several half-submerged bright yellow Adirondack chairs sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on one of the fish sidewalk chalk art. a human-ish figure floats above us, flanked by giant goldfish. the goldfish exude bubbles. the figure wields a handgun that emits bubbles, an air gun?
December 14, 2025 at 5:18 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
This sci-fantasy novel was a fun read. It faked me out a few times. E.g. for a while, I was pretty sure the title referred to the nursery rhyme about a cow jumping over the moon, but I was pretty far off. Als… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2025/12/...
cover art for "Moonbound," a novel by Robin Sloan. a rocket-looking thing falls from a sunset-looking sky towards a green hill topped by a castle whence a river flows. it looks kinda like the rocket is leaving a smoke plume behind, but when you pay more attention, you realize the black "smoke" is really a black night sky showing through the sunsetty-sky somehow?
December 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Back in the news. Based on this graffito, I'd say also back in our thoughts.
graffito on a fence, partly obscured by a parking meter. the fence is kind of mold-y (lichen-y? mildew-y? whatever it is that grows on outdoor surfaces in damp San Francisco) and weeds grow at its base; the green graffiti paint kinda matches the green of the plant life. The graffito's text: Deny. Defend. Depose.
December 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.
December 8, 2025 at 2:20 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Somebody solved the St Louis #Octothorpean #puzzle‽

www.octothorpean.org has many puzzles. Most can be solved on your couch; but some use details at some places. To solve one, you need to see a place in St Louis, USA. For years, that puzzle has lurked, unsolved. Until just over a day ago.
# Octothorpean #
www.octothorpean.org
November 30, 2025 at 6:13 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
I saw some sidewalk chalk art walking in #SanFrancisco yesterday morning.

At 20th and Irving, a skateboarding fire-demon-maybe by Kal Zakzouk.

At 4th and Irving, a mermaid by, I'm guessing, two collaborators.

#StreetArt
sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on top of skater. her hat appears to consist of a scarf, a cat(?) head, and a short sword through that cat head sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on top left of the skater. she wields a lollipop overlaid with a faint mouse skull. her arms are perhaps tattooed or are perhaps Frankenstein-ish combinations of things. sidewalk chalk art. a glowing crouching figure rides a skateboard. her shorts have a logo: '451F'. beside her hover eldritch symbols suggesting a transformation from ♡ to ⛧ sidewalk chalk art: an easily-recognizable fish tail connects to a human-ish figure seemingly drawn by someone still new to drawing
November 24, 2025 at 1:13 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
viewing this here bsky thingy via blacksky.community , which IIUC should be pretty similar to plain ol' bsky, but have some useful moderation built-in? Anyhow, let's see if posting works.
screen shot showing blacksky.community, a web app darned similar to bsky. The user is composing this very message, amazing
October 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
October 10–11 2025, I walked, roughly, around #SanFrancisco

The Crosstown Trail people published The Roundabout, a walking guide to streets and trails around the edge of SF. I saw it would take me throu…

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/departures/S...
In the foreground, a bush covered with yellow-white webby stuff, something like dandelion puffs. in the background, the ocean and a big guano-spattered rock in the foreground, walking path by the bay with walkers and joggers. In the background, the Golden Gate Bridge in the foreground: a trail winds through rocky cliffs, dotted with shrubs. Beyond, a blue bay. Beyond that, the marin headlands, mostly brown but dotted with green tall sailing ship named Gloria
October 14, 2025 at 10:46 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
It's spelled "fascists," kid. You got the important parts right, though.
stenciled graffito on yellow crosswalk paint on asphalt. It reads: Facists wont stop until you [picture of crossing guard's handheld stop sign] stop them
August 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
Finally found out what artist makes that sidewalk chalk art at 20th and Irving in #SanFrancisco: Kal Zakzouk. richmondsunsetnews.com/2023/02/07/k... He has a gofundme for legal fees. If you've enjoyed his art and can spare it, maybe toss a few $$ his way. www.gofundme.com/f/keep-kal-s... #StreetArt
sidewalk chalk art. There's a cute anthropomorphic beat wearing headphones with text 'let the beet drop'. There are four monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and wearing headphones and staring at mobile phone oblivious to real world (no evil). There's Chinese text I can't translate, alas. And more. faded sidewalk chalk art. There's a lot going on here. Text in the background: We the sheeple. Text at the bottom: What they hate in you is missing in them. Depicted: A weightlifter lifts a barbell. He's standing on an upside-down wok that has one eye (which is looking up at the weightlifter). The weights on the barbell are peace signs sidewalk chalk art: hexagon filled with a grid of triangles constructed from circular arcs rendered in colored chalk with a gradient heading out from the center. Tucked in the corner: "8647" sidewalk chalk art. pretty surreal. an anthropomorphized egg has climbed a ladder and addresses a few neighbors. text below reads ¿dónde están los huevos?. text above is in Chinese which I can't read, but when I plugged 'where are the eggs?' into Google translate and tried a few dialects, I noticed the Traditional Chinese translation had a few characters in common. The neighbors... Well, there's a lady with a cloud head carrying a turnip. There's a caftan-wearing rainbow-headed figure carrying a chard? kale? leaf. There's a ✳-headed figure carrying a loaf of bread. There's a potato-bodied person covered with human eyes. The potato-eyes thing makes me wonder if I'm overlooking puns in the other figures. Off the the side, mostly out of frame: a snake (Happy New Year!)
August 24, 2025 at 4:27 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2025/04/...

#SanFrancisco
sidewalk chalk art: lady in style of an old-time-y romance comic weeps and wails "World War 3? But I just got the new iPhone" graffiti art on utility box: dark hyperwave frogs sit on a mushroom car in a driveway in the foreground, a hilly residential street. in the background, the Golden Gate Bridge peeks up from behind a hill
April 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
I saw one of these not-exactly cat flyers in #SanFrancisco . Then Brent Sleeper spotted another. I thought there might be a trail of flyers, and there were. They led to Arizmendi Bakery. According to the fellow behind the counter there, the flyers were part of a marriage proposal on Thursday.
what if a cat flyer but for a drawing of a cat?
March 22, 2025 at 12:02 AM
lahosken.bsky.social
oh hey yesterday was National Spaghetti Day, so it's time to see how people reverse-engineered a metapuzzle where none existed www.ericberlin.com/2025/01/04/h... #MITMysteryHunt
Happy National Spaghetti Day! – Eric Berlin
www.ericberlin.com
January 6, 2025 at 12:39 AM
lahosken.bsky.social
This morning was my first San Francisco tornado warning. I was once again thankful to Patrick Blindauer, Rebecca Young, and St Louis puzzlehunt team WisBros for teaching me what to do in a tornado: get under something solid.
December 14, 2024 at 2:34 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
_unpins the browser tab devoted to the Washington Post daily crossword puzzle web page_

So long, old friend. I hope you understand why I had to unsubscribe.
October 25, 2024 at 6:34 PM
lahosken.bsky.social
current San Francisco meme:
image meme: it's like that X-Files 'I Want to Believe' poster, but the UFO has been replaced by part of a screen shot from a weather app that just says '📉 Cooling expected over the next three days'
October 7, 2024 at 11:50 AM