Half a point for both of you, gentlemen

Subject: Half a point for both of you, gentlemen
Author: Matt Cipher
Posted on: 2016-03-28 18:48:00 UTC

The laptop is used for a lot of things, but not for work; the badge in the centre is merely a souvenir from my previous work.

- Certificates and diplomas are also souvenirs, from my school years.

- I don't drive.

- I do hold a mini-apothecary, yes. You'll find there painkillers, vitamins, cough drops, etc. Yes, I may be slightly paranoid about it.

- Hadric is right about the open world games.

- And about not moving much when I sit in front of the PC.

- I guess I am open-minded, not only about games.

- I am not orderly at all; I should've showed you my bookshelf.

Jump to this post's position in the thread ↴

Deduction Day with Ivy (No. 1) by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-28 00:26:00 UTC Reply

I am a person with many thoughts that stay often stuck somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I often don't act on my ideas, ~~perhaps because they tend to be murderous~~ for one reason or another. However, I received some inspiration from hS's "Wednesday Non-Pluggage," which has ultimately led to this post.

I am an amateur deductionist. ~~Technically, the science of what we all call deduction is actually induction or abduction, but the word "deduction" is more recognisable to the general public.~~ I also enjoy experiments. I have decided to conduct an experiment in deduction.

I've seen that there's other Sherlockians on the Board, and I'm sure most of us have tried to deduce at one point or another. Once a week or so, I'll do a Deduction Day, in which I'll share one or two things I've gathered from observing my peers since the last DD. ~~Sadly, there is no day of the week that starts with 'd.'~~ When my personal deductions are over, I'll share a tip from a deductionist I admire (person may vary). The third and final stage to a Deduction Day includes more than me rambling to you about deductions. Since I'm still a shiny newbie, the early days of phase three include me trying to figure you out. If you wish, send a handwriting sample for me to deduce, because those are fun. A hand or a desk is also lovely, but don't feel pressured to send in anything at all. Also, feel free to talk about your own deductions, because deductions are cool.

Let's begin.

Part One

Some of my favourite deductions that I've ever made involve studying a person's hand. It's surprising how much you can learn just by looking at the way they tap their fingers, or hold something. Both of the deductions that follow were proven to be correct, due to the fact that I asked my subject/victim. It's sort of awkward. ~~It's really awkward.~~

Scenario One

This took place in science class, almost by accident. Across the table from me, a boy was holding his pencil in his left hand. Since I'm a lefty myself, I was a bit happy to see another one of my kind. What he did next, though, was curious: he switched his pencil into his right hand before beginning to write. The first conclusion was that he'd simply held the pencil in his left hand on accident, as people sometimes use their non-dominant hand. We do have two hands. However, my peer appeared to be very comfortable with his left hand, going so far as to tap it on the table with little thought. This is something I could never do with my non-dominant (right) hand, meaning that he'd somehow had a strong left-handed influence in his life. My final deduction was that a family member of his was left handed; it was his brother.

Scenario Two

Making one deduction often helps me set up logical rules in my mind. To make sure that these rules are true, I'll test them out once or twice in the field. As I was a part of my place of education's drama club this winter, there were quite a few people to deduce. I ended up conducting an extensive profile on one of them, due to the contents of his binder, though I'll focus on one. The boy (simply coincidence that both people were male, I just realised that) had his items to the left of his chair, and when he took his binder out of his backpack, he used his left hand. However, when I observed him writing, he used his right hand. I was able to make the same conclusion that I'd used earlier, and once I asked him about it, I was again correct. The left-handed family member was one of his parents.

This does, in fact, work the other way around.

Part Two

I've recently found and been suitably impressed with The Everyday Deductionist, whose tumblr can be accessed by clicking on the link above. (At least, it should be a link.) This is what deductionist is supposed to look like, and I strive for the day I am close to this.

And if you thought that was interesting, here's something that is equal parts awesome and creepy. I thought it was kind of cool.

And, of course, Part Three is up to you! Pictures for me to deduce, tell me your own deductions - anything goes. The game, my friends, is on!

-Vee

Eep! by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-31 15:08:00 UTC Reply

I've been incredibly busy lately, but I promise that I'm looking at all the material (I have about a thousand notes on my phone where I write down all my deductions). I'm really excited to get to all of them, and I promise that I'm still doing this. My schedule has just been absolutely packed, meaning I don't have as much time for the things I want to do.

Next deduction day will be next Thursday! Thanks for putting up with me.

-Vee

One thing you could do... by Huinesoron on 2016-03-31 15:29:00 UTC Reply

... is dedicate part of each Deduction Donnerstag to a single person's pictures. That way you could use all of these, but not have to do them all at once.

(One thing that would be very entertaining, I think, is for you to be given anonymous desk+hand photos and try to deduce who they're from. Might need you to hang around the Board long enough to know everyone, though...!)

hS

That's a good idea. by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-31 16:15:00 UTC Reply

If I don't post the deductions in this thread, they'll certainly be in the next Deduction Donnerstag.

I purposely used my newbie status to begin this, as it's always easier to deduce people with a "clean slate," although as time goes on, I'd definitely be interested in anonymous pictures. So many ideas! :D

-Vee

Here's something for you. by Bramandin on 2016-03-29 16:20:00 UTC Reply

Yesterday, I was putting together Nanoblocks. The table was crowded so I had to put the tray with the blocks on my left and the instructions on my right. I was using my left hand to manipulate the blocks about half of the time.
You want stuff to deduce from? (56k warning!) by Desdendelle on 2016-03-29 14:58:00 UTC Reply

Left hand.

Right hand.

Desk.

Handwriting sample #1.

Handwriting sample #2.

Deduce away — I am curious as to what you will come up with.

My detective socks are on. by Larfen J. Stocke, esq on 2016-03-30 10:15:00 UTC Reply

From this collection of pictures, I can deduce that the suspect:
- Uses keyboards.
- Which are black
- With white lettering

- Uses a laptop
- Which is also black
- Which has a keyboard
- Which is black
- Which uses white lettering

- Has a five fingered hand
- Which is used to operate keyboards
- Which are black
- With white lettering
- Which are connected to a laptop (also black)
- Which has a keyboard
- Which is black
- Which has white lettering

- Has a keyboard with white lettering
- The keyboard is black

- Has a black keyboard
- With white lettering
- That he puts his five-fingered hand on

We can conclude that Desdendelle:
- Uses keyboards.
- Which are black
- With white lettering

- Uses a laptop
- Which is also black
- Which has a keyboard
- Which is black
- Which uses white lettering

- Has a five fingered hand
- Which is used to operate keyboards
- Which are black
- With white lettering
- Which are connected to a laptop (also black)
- Which has a keyboard
- Which is black
- Which has white lettering

- Has a keyboard with white lettering
- The keyboard is black

- Has a black keyboard
- With white lettering
- That he puts his five-fingered hand on

I don't want to make any wild jumps in logic, but I think that Des might use a laptop.
Colour of keyboard and lettering shall go unconfirmed, for now.
Some thoughts. by Neshomeh on 2016-03-29 19:07:00 UTC Reply

I don't know as much about you as I do about Ix and hS, so I'll have a go. {= )

That red mark on your left hand is interesting. The image resolution isn't too good, but the edges don't appear to be distinct. I'm gonna say that's a burn, and since coming into contact with a hot object would leave a well-defined mark, I'm going to say further that it was caused by a hot liquid. Tea-making injury, perhaps?

In general, your hands don't bear any obvious scars, they're not tanned, and the nails are long and clean. You don't get outside much, and you don't do anything that requires much of your hands indoors, either. Otherwise your nails wouldn't be so neat, or else you'd keep them short. Study and office work, all the time. The redness of your fingers and lack of prominent veins suggests you're cold. You have air conditioning, probably. Israel isn't exactly known for being frigid.

The desk looks like a student's desk, though it's not a dorm configuration I'm familiar with. It's fixed to the wall and the floor is tile (I can see it in the first hand picture). It could go either way, but I think this is probably your desk at home, not at school; definitely not at work.

You live at your desk. You've got everything you could possibly want within reach, even if you don't use it very often. Whatever you're currently working on migrates to the top/front of the pile; everything else drifts to the bottom/back. Suggests a mind that keeps track of things and doesn't need external organization to stay focused. You probably know exactly what and where everything is in those piles.

The scissors puzzle me. They're for precision work, like snipping thread or personal grooming. I don't see anything that suggests you sew, so I'm leaning toward the latter. Maybe you use them on your nails, though the length and smoothness of them suggests you haven't cut them recently. I don't see a mirror, either, which you'd want if the scissors were for facial hair. Yet the scissors are right there, so you did use them, and whatever might go with them, quite recently. Maybe the roll of toilet paper is a clue, in which case I'd think you were grooming your facial hair and might have needed to blot a small cut or two, but maybe not. The paper roll might go with the empty plate. Need More Data.

Speaking of that plate, though, you like sushi, don't you? It could be something more akin to tapas, I guess, but those regular dots on the plate look a whole lot like a line of sushi roll pieces to me, with the odd dark dot of soy or maybe unagi sauce. Possibly homemade, though I'm not sure you did it yourself; if you did, it's not something you do regularly. People who work with food keep their nails short. No chopsticks, but if you rolled it with your own hands, there's no reason not to eat it with your hands. Plus, there's a bottle of what might be hand sanitizer there, and the aforementioned paper roll. You keep your hands clean enough to eat with, and also not to leave much obvious smut on your keyboard.

There's an accumulation of dust and gunk between the keys and where your hands rub against it (unless it's just shadow + low image quality), but that'll happen with regular use anyway. It's probably a few years old. You don't spring for new technology as long as the old things still work. Considering the Board's demographic, you probably couldn't afford to even if you wanted to.

I also note that, like me, you own a camera, but didn't bother using it to take these pictures. Too difficult to operate with one hand, right? And higher image quality means harder to actually get that image quality if your hands won't stay still.

... And that's what stands out to me. How'd I do?

~Neshomeh

Aright, since Ivy isn't looking... by Desdendelle on 2016-03-31 13:39:00 UTC Reply

I'll say what's wrong and what's not.
-IIRC the mark on my left hand is from a hot pan. Definitely not tea-related (or liquid-related in general).
-I work in a cafe's kitchen, but that's a recent thing. I don't do anything more taxing than cutting tomatoes, though.
-My hands were cold at the time because temperature was at the low tens Celsius. We don't have air conditioning here, and in fact I had a radiator working when I took that photo.
-The desk is indeed my desk at home.
-The stuff about organisation and the desk is spot-on.
-The small, grey scissors are for nails. I also fix my own clothes (especially when it's something small like a button), so I do cut thread with them once in a blue moon. The large scissors with black handles are actually my brother's.
-The tissue paper is there because it's spring and I have allergies.
-The plate is indeed for sushi. However, I didn't eat sushi from it; I ate pizza. The red specks are pizza seasoning.
-Hand sanitiser is for when the water in the tap is absolutely freezing.
-My computer is about four years old and refurbished at that. While it's true that I don't spring for new technology, I can theoretically afford a new computer (service grant from the army); I'd rather spend the money on something else, though.
-The camera has no batteries. It used to be my brother's before he bought a serious professional camera. It's actually more comfortable to use than my phone's camera, especially since the phone uses a godsdamned touchscreen; Taking the photos of my right hand was a pain in the arse.

Bonus round (the other post):
-As mentioned, this is my desk at home.
-It's fixed to the wall because it's a custom-made desk (and takes less space).
-the TAU notebook is more than four years old; I got it when I was considering studying there via the Academic Reserve. I'm currently not studying anything (I dropped law a few months ago because raisins).
-Carpet is, as you said, a pain to maintain, and also catches dust and other allergens.
-On Grammatology isn't a textbook, at least not in the usual sense. I took it from my mum's library because both she and a good friend spew fire and brimestone at it; I want to see what all the hassle is about.
-Most of the books on my desk are indeed fiction. Exceptions are The Letters/Ars Poetica by Horatius (near ASoIaF), the aforementioned On Grammatology, and The Plague by Camus.

So, yeah. Some things are spot on, some are wildly off the mark.

Haha, interesting! by Neshomeh on 2016-03-31 16:46:00 UTC Reply

I guess the next step for me is to figure out what I did right and what I did wrong. Clearly I didn't know it got that cold over there, for one thing; ignorance will always trip a person up.

I think a lot of what when on in my head went something like "that reminds me of me; what would cause that if it were me?", which obviously has its flaws. Payed off with the desk, 'cause "order from chaos" is how I work myself, but led me wildly astray elsewhere. (Pizza on a sushi plate? Never would've guessed that!) In short, too many assumptions. If I wanted to make a hobby of this, I'd have to learn not to do that.

One question: what's the big book on the edge of the desk, behind the laptop? I can't quite make it out, except I think the subtitle says "One Hundred [something] From Ten [something]"?

~Neshomeh

The big book... by Desdendelle on 2016-03-31 17:51:00 UTC Reply

Isn't actually a book. The subtitle reads "one hundred covers from ten decades"; it's a collection of postcards featuring the New Yorker's covers. IIRC an aunt — dad's sister — brought this back from the States? I think.

W-ell... by Desdendelle on 2016-03-29 19:27:00 UTC Reply

Some things you've hit spot-on, some things you didn't land in the same post code, and some things are mixed. I want to see what other people (primarily Ivy-M-Blue) think before saying which are which, though.
I am going to say that I was practically purring when I read your post, so :D

I would like to revise one statement. by Neshomeh on 2016-03-29 20:15:00 UTC Reply

The bed frame visible in the pen-holding photo looks like dorm furniture to me, and it's really close to the desk, so you probably are at school rather than at home. There are points for and against, though.

For school:

- Furniture set looks dorm-y, and close placement suggests very limited and/or shared space.
- Not many people actually fix their own furniture in place, but institutions do.
- The Tel Aviv University notebook.
- Obvious textbook on the desk.
- Tile flooring is easier to maintain than carpet, and would make sense in a hot place.
- You may need to supply your own toilet paper. I hear that's a thing some places.

For home:

- You could have taken the notebook home with you.
- The textbook is the only one I can identify, and since it's a language book and you're a PPCer, it's as likely to be for personal edification as for required reading.
- The other books I can identify look like fiction. (Is that A Song of Ice and Fire behind the laptop?)
- It just doesn't give the impression of being a place where school work happens. Hard to pin down.
- It's hard to imagine using plates in a dorm. I know people who did, but if I'm right about what was on the plate, it's much too finicky a preparation for a dorm. ('Course, you could have transferred food to the plate from somewhere else, or I could be just plain wrong.)

So... eh. Like I said, it could go either way as far as I can tell, but the bed does push me more toward "dorm."

Nice taste in music, by the way. {= )

~Neshomeh

Still not telling... by Desdendelle on 2016-03-29 21:10:00 UTC Reply

But yes, that is indeed ASoIaF behind my laptop. You can blame Voyd for that. Not sure what the music comment is referring to, but the disc visible is Lúnasa's Redwood, of which I am rather fond (though, admittedly, my favourite Irish band is Dervish).

Addendum. by Desdendelle on 2016-03-29 17:45:00 UTC Reply

Holding a pen.

This looks like heaps of fun. by Huinesoron on 2016-03-29 09:23:00 UTC Reply

Since I'll be prodding desk photos later, I figured it would be only fair to share mine.

Split up into three pieces for space, and with apologies for the camera quality. (The black bar is a... no, actually, you can go ahead and deduce that too.)

Left

Centre

Right

Fire away. ^_^

hS
Hands and desk writing space by Iximaz on 2016-03-29 05:07:00 UTC Reply

Left hand.

Right hand.

My desk, which is never used because... well, take a look for yourself.

My actual writing space.

You did a good job with the handwriting sample so I'm interested to see what you do with these.
Handwriting: Now with more fire by Phobos on 2016-03-29 04:31:00 UTC Reply

Seriously, this the opening to a horror story and involves burning alive (It's a nightmare, honest). You've been warned.

Anyone who is still here, see what you can make of my handwriting.

-Phobos

Hm. I wonder... by Iximaz on 2016-03-29 04:44:00 UTC Reply

You, Nesh, and I have similar handwriting styles in that they're not very stylized. They're more designed for speed, with little flair. The focus is more on the content of the piece rather than its presentation, if that makes sense.

So I wonder how many other Boarders have a similar style, since this is such a writing-focused community.

Okay, I'm game. by Neshomeh on 2016-03-29 04:12:00 UTC Reply

I took some cell phone pictures of my handwriting and my "desk," which isn't really a desk. You'll see.

Here's the handwriting sample. Be warned, though, it's from a future mission. It's not exactly spoilers, but still, don't look if you don't want to see it in this very, very rough state. (And in case anyone is wondering, no, I don't usually hand-write my missions. This is a special case.)

And here's my desk, from left to right: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

No hand pictures, at least not right now. The lighting is crappy, so they wouldn't be very good.

~Neshomeh

And when you're done with those... by Neshomeh on 2016-03-29 17:24:00 UTC Reply

I took some pictures of my hands, now that there's some almost-decent light to be had. No cheating and looking at these before you're done with my handwriting, though!

Left hand: Back Palm

Right hand: Back Palm

Holding pen: Above Side

~Neshomeh

Okay, Sleuths, next challenge. by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-28 16:24:00 UTC Reply

On the tumblr Ivy linked, I saw the author analyzing the rooms/working spaces that people have sent to them, just for him to tell something about the sender. So I thought to myself... Okay, let's skip the right hand/left hand beginner's course and go straight to this:

What can you tell?

What's that butterfly sticker for? by Larfen J. Stocke, esq on 2016-03-29 06:21:00 UTC Reply

I could probably analyse something. I mean, that clock and desk are pretty cheap-looking, and I'm completely certain that you're around Uni from all those awards and posters and whatnot, but, honestly, I just want to know the story behind the butterfly.
I promise that I'm not a stalker. by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-29 03:53:00 UTC Reply

I just deduced the room, and it told me quite a bit. This made me feel quite smart, and despite the fact that it took forever, I'm proud of the results. They are as follows:

-Right handed
-non-English writing; with some help from Google I was able to see that it was Polish.
-GMT+ 2 Time Zone, which fits. This I was able to confirm by finding the time you'd taken the picture with the image of the PPC Board open on one of your computers.
-Electrical sockets confirm that you are, in fact, somewhere in Europe.
-Student, judging by the ID badge on the wall. Diploma tells me that you're a Uni student.
-You enjoy crime shows/detective stuff as a genre.
-Pictures on the wall show that you may have siblings, though this is unclear. The tinfoil butterfly, as well as the vaguely female shapes in the photo, imply that this person/people is/are female.
-I believe you have a car, since you have what appear to be car keys. This also implies that you're not in a larger city, where transportation such as taxis and the Tube would be available.
-I'd say your phone is Samsung, judging by the fact that both your computers are of that brand.
-You enjoy video games.
-There is most likely a television somewhere in your room or flat, considering the amount of DVDs and things on your shelves.
-You have a game of Tarot cards, by the placement of them on your shelf, you aren't superstitious.
-You like to listen to music.
-Do you take some sort of medication? I'm unsure.
-You wear glasses! (Me too.)
-I also happened to find your real name hidden in this photo, which I will not reveal because this is the Internet.

That's all I was able to deduce, although I will send more if I'm able to think of others. How'd I do?

-Vee

Let's see... by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-29 09:33:00 UTC Reply
- Check
  - Check
  - Check
  - Check
  - Check, but not because of those: The ID is a souvenir from my summer job; the diplomas are from until middle school.
  - Check
  - Check, but not really; I do have a sister, but the people in the photo are my old buddies from middle school. The butterfly was made by my mum, to simply cover a hole in the wall.
  - Beeep, wrong on this one. These are my house keys and my town is small.
  - Beep, it's Sony.
  - Check
  - Check, although those aren't DVDs; everything you see in the photo are games.
  - Meh, I guess check. I like supernatural things, but not to the point of being a true believer
  - Check
  - Nah, those are just some helpers: vitamins, painkillers, etc.
  - Check
  - Meh, it's no secret: My name's Maciej Budny, like probably couple dozens in Poland.
  
  Not bad :3

Cool, thanks! by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-29 12:39:00 UTC Reply

I enjoyed deducing the picture; thank you for the results. I was unsure if you were alright with me putting your name on the Board, so I didn't, just for paranoia's sake. I'm happy with those, and thanks again!

-Vee

Original link works fine for me... by Storme Hawk on 2016-03-28 18:17:00 UTC Reply

but I know Tinypic can have some problems.

Anyway, onto the photo itself. Not looking at anything other than the photo, your love of Harry Potter is apparent, the posters for the first two movie posters makes that apparent. Bottom left is the poster for Assassin's Creed Unity, but obviously not the English poster like the one's for Harry Potter, interesting but nothing massive (that being said something looks off about the bottom Harry Potter poster, can't say what though). You have two computers (or rather a laptop and a computer) which suggests to me you need your laptop for work, and it's work not education due to the little card in the centre of the screen (OK you could be in University, but a couple of the certificates suggest to me otherwise). You don't appear to drive, or if you do you keep your car keys away from your house keys, (key ring looks like it doesn't hold a car key on it). On a slightly separate note I'd say you're right handed from the scissors on your shelf. Also you either used to, or you may need to take some form of medication (or you're super organized for when you are ill) there are too many boxes in the little shelf bit of you desk otherwise.

Now your shelf, it was the first thing that attracted my attention (I'm a massive gamer), and I can clearly see some games on there, you're a fan of the Sims series, you've got Sims 3 and two of its expansions on the shelf, nearby some other big titles like Black Ops, Watch Dogs and Saints Row IV. As the Assassins Creed poster suggests, you're a fan of that series as well, with all of the games up to Black Flag taking up a centre spot on your shelf. Saying that, and noting Mirror's Edge, I'd say you like parkour, or at least the idea of it. You're not like some gamers who prefer one type of game and you've probably been playing games for a while, I can't remember when the Sam & Max came out but it wasn't recently and its hard to get a physical copy of some of the older games now.

A quick trip to Google suggests you're Polish, and as a final thing whatever is in the left leg of your desk you want to keep private.

That's what I see anyway.

Storme Hawk

Half a point for both of you, gentlemen by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-28 18:48:00 UTC Reply
- The laptop is used for a lot of things, but not for work; the badge in the centre is merely a souvenir from my previous work.
  
  - Certificates and diplomas are also souvenirs, from my school years.
  
  - I don't drive.
  
  - I do hold a mini-apothecary, yes. You'll find there painkillers, vitamins, cough drops, etc. Yes, I may be slightly paranoid about it.
  
  - Hadric is right about the open world games.
  
  - And about not moving much when I sit in front of the PC.
  
  - I guess I am open-minded, not only about games.
  
  - I am not orderly at all; I should've showed you my bookshelf.
I think that's not only parkour... by Hardric on 2016-03-28 18:32:00 UTC Reply

But thhe idea of an open world with the ability to do as you wish, especially if it means going against the rules (I also spotted Bully.)

Once you're before your computer you don't like moving too much (the bottle of water with the glass, and the spoon suggest this, unless they're needed for the medicaments nearby.)

You're also open-minded enough for trying things which are not your usual fix, even if you stumble upon them with a magazine (interrogation is valid deduction technic.)

You also seems to be rather orderly, judging by the way this desk is organized.

Posting backup link by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-28 16:34:00 UTC Reply

How about now?

Does work here. by Hardric on 2016-03-28 16:43:00 UTC Reply

(Little question. Are you of the people thinking that anything past Heroes III is unspeakable heresy that should be burned down to the ground?)

Nah, not really. by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-28 16:50:00 UTC Reply

It was simply one of the games added to a magazine. Oops... well, that's only a minor hint.

Don't know if I'm the only one... by Hardric on 2016-03-28 16:30:00 UTC Reply

But there is a 503 error with the link.

That is reeeaaally cool. by doctorlit on 2016-03-28 04:33:00 UTC Reply

As you said, I'll sometimes try to figure things about people watching them or listening to them. As awesome as it would be to have Holmes's abilities of observation, I doubt I'll ever get very good—but I'm a little in awe that you're pursuing it.

So, I have a . . . potential deduction, if you want to try. I have some minor injuries on my hand—nothing gory or actively bleeding or anything, but I'll understand if you don't want to look at the pictures and ignore this post. I'll link them below.

So, what caused the following three injuries? And what else can you determine from these shots (if anything)? Let me know if you need a hint or two later. The following three pictures are left hand, right hand, right hand. Minor warning for minor injuries.

—doctorlit hopes he isn't being squicky or weird with this at all . . .

This was fun! by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-29 03:43:00 UTC Reply

No, it was not creepy or weird in the slightest. I had a blast. They were also really hard, which now makes me curious as to what did cause those injuries. My abductions are below:

Hand Deductions

#1 Was this from a sharp tool, such as scissors? The shape of the indent made me immediately think of scissors. Gardener? Possibly a tool from the garden, my other guess would be a cooking tool. Your hands look rather weathered and callused, making me infer that you may work with them often (hence the gardener conclusion). It's definitely an older wound, though, and most likely had scabbed at one point.

#2 This one appears to be a burn. The signs of the "tightened" skin, and red areas are the most clear out of all of them. However, that would be an odd place to burn your hand, which casts doubts onto the conclusion. (It would, however, support the idea that #1 was from a cooking tool - I'm still unsure.) It also appears that you have a habit of picking at your wounds.

#3 Totally stumped me. I will, on occasion, get marks like those on my own thumb, and I still have no idea what caused them. However, the placement makes me think that the injury is maybe a paper cut, or even caused by another nail scraping against that area. Apart from that, though, I have no idea.

Other Abductions Include: You are right handed, due to the fact that people tend to injure their dominant hand more often simply because they use it more. Is your computer old? The keyboard is rather reminiscent of a Dell that I used to own. Also, crumbs suggest that you may have had a snack at the computer. Are you a student?

Conclusion: These were a lot of fun, but stay safe! Thank you for the lovely material to work with. :)

-Vee

Replies to all! by doctorlit on 2016-03-29 15:12:00 UTC Reply

1: Ivy was the only one to correctly guess this was caused by a cooking utensil, specifically a knife. Every morning, one or two zookeepers go in three hours early to boil eggs and chop up everyone's fruits and vegetables for that day's feedings. I get my turn at food prep every other Saturday. Since there's a lot to do, it's very much a time limit to get as much as possible done before everyone else starts to arrive, not to mention getting our own routines started. I . . . guess I didn't balance speed with caution very well that morning? (I don't remember what I was cutting at the time. Had to get back to work, so I just wrapped a paper towel around it with a rubber band and went back to chopping.) It didn't come out very well in the picture, but the biggest clue is that the nail itself is also cut in line with the damage to my finger. It was actually only about eight days old when I posted that photo; I think it just looks like a scab because all that loose skin had dried out and died.

#3 (because #2 is the most dramatic so I'm saving it for last): Phobos was the only one who picked up on the skin damage around my nails. While I used to be a nail biter/picker, that damage, as well as the thumb injury, were caused by steel wool. My supervising zookeeper and I were just put in charge of a set of new building exhibits, and after switching out the previous day's food bowls for new food, we have to wash the dishes. We also use them to clean out the water bowls. After a few months, we both started getting nasty, painful cuts on our fingertips. The thumb one was the freshest and most obvious at the time of the picture. (We're still rather confused about this, as we've both been using steel wool for years; I guess we just do it a lot more now?) We switched the steel wool out for plastic scrubbers this week, which will hopefully solve the problem. Fun fact: I actually seem to have developed an immunity to paper cuts, as I haven't gotten one in over a decade. But maybe I've just gotten really dexterous at handling paper?

#2: You all had interesting guesses for this one, and some of you who already knew I worked at a zoo brought up animal bites, but I see no one specifically connected this one to an attack. Storme Hawk caught the bridge of skin between the two actual injuries; that is because you are actually looking at a pair of teeth marks! You guys ever hear of tayras before? Our female is a little hell-raiser. I thought I could get a towel around her upper body to move her safely into the outdoor section of their exhibit so I could hose out the inside portion, but Pandora snaked her head under her armpit and got me through the towel. Oh, yes, that bite is through two layers of towel; good thing it was there, or it would have been much worse than just skinning two circles of skin off my hand . . . that, and the fact that Pandora is an older individual with worn-down teeth . . .

Other guesses: Sorry, Iximaz, Ivy got my right-handedness correct. Your logic was sound, though, since the left hand's injury was the only self-inflicted one.

What Storm thought was corrugated card on my desk is really a heat-resistant place mat for eating on. The crumbs Ivy noted are from eating all my at-home meals at my desk. (It's good to live alone!)

The callouses Phobos saw are indeed from lifting things at the zoo, mostly buckets, but less frequently bales of hay by the strings, which are probably the main source of the friction after all these years. I can't make out any scar on my thumb, either in picture or in life, so I'm not sure what you saw there. I also don't remember what caused the milk spot.

And Ivy, my keyboard is indeed from a '98 Dell, but the rest of my system is much newer. I was too cheap to get a new keyboard when the current one is working fine.

—doctorlit has enjoyed this thoroughly, would love to do it again!

You work at a zoo?! by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-30 00:27:00 UTC Reply

That is so darn cool! I'm jealous.

As for the results, I'm rather pleased and surprised with the true answers. Never in a million years would I have guessed that you'd been bitten by a tarya, and they seem like nasty little creatures.

I am thoroughly impressed by the origins of your cuts and scrapes.

-Vee
So close, but so far by Phobos on 2016-03-29 16:26:00 UTC Reply

I saw the connection between the nails and the thumb injury, but misinterpreted the cause.

As to the scar on the thumb, it may not exist. My monitors aren't very good and I'm half-blind, so I may have seen something that wasn't there.

Still, thanks for the opportunity!

-Phobos

Let's take a look. by Phobos on 2016-03-28 15:56:00 UTC Reply

I'll get to the injuries in a moment, I want to talk about other things first. Also, I don't mean any of this to be a judgement on you, if any of it comes off that way.

1) Clean and freshly clipped fingernails. Evident from the clear straight lines (especially evident on your middle finger in picture one). You are clearly not a nail biter, which rules that out as cause for the injuries. However, I see that the skin around the nails bears signs of damage. So, perhaps you pick at the skin. Still, the minor injuries around the other nails doesn't match the larger injury, so I doubt they are related.

2) Discoloration on the fingers and pads of the hand. Because of the cleanliness of the fingernails, I can say that the darkened patches are not dirt, but rather callouses. These are hands that have seen some hard work. Specifically, these are hands used to holding heavy loads by a strap or handle. The direction of the callous (thicker closer to the palm, but resetting after each joint) says the skin was rubbed toward the finger tips. I note that the injury in photo two is in line with the callouses on the other fingers, potentially making it a callous that wore off.

3) There is evidence of previous injury in photos one and three. I note a small, smooth edged scar on the inside of the thumb in photo three. Probably a small cut; likely from something pretty sharp. The current wound is too shallow to be a cut, however, so the scar is likely unrelated. In photo one, there are small abrasions on the sides of your fingers and also a milk spot, which is often caused by injury to the nail, on the ring finger's nail.

Conclusions:

Your hands have it pretty rough. You work in a pretty physical job, which caused the callouses and injury in photo two. You pick the skin around your nails, which likely led to the small injury in photo three. The injury in photo one is the interesting one, for me. It is beyond normal wear and tear. I would suspect that that finger got pinched or caught in something, which ripped the skin away in that larger, almost blister-like area.

So, there you have it. Was I close or was I totally off the mark?

-Phobos Holmes
Let's see... by Storme Hawk on 2016-03-28 13:36:00 UTC Reply

Analyzing the pictures, if those are the only three injuries on your hands I doubt it was self inflicted for three reasons 1) they're the only injuries on your hand, 2) they're placed all wrong for any tool I know of, unless the sharp edge of said tool inflicted the injuries (I'll explain that one later). 3) the injury on the little finger of your right hand, looking at it, it looks like one wound, but on inspection there is a bridge of skin between the two parts of the injury, given the pictures I doubt your hands have had that long to recover making it part of the healing process impossible (for now).

So picking up from 2), I noticed in the edge of the first picture there's some corrugated card with something resting on top of it, my guess would be that, due to the shape of the thing on the corrugated card and the size of the desk your computer stands upon, that you are into modelling of one thing or another, this suggests to me that the injuries are from a craft knife (or something similar) when you were trying to ether cut out or customize some sort of model. I'm fairly certain I've seen similar injuries on a friend who did that sort of thing.

My other guess would be in the vicinity of a rough encounter with some overenthusiastic ducks or swans or geese who thought your hand contained more bread than it did.

So, they are my guesses, they're probably completely wrong but, hey.
Crocodile attack. by Larfen J. Stocke, esq on 2016-03-28 07:05:00 UTC Reply

Very small crocodiles.
I'll give it a bit of a shot. by Iximaz on 2016-03-28 05:05:00 UTC Reply

WARNING: AMATEUR, SLEEP-DEPRIVED DEDUCTION AHEAD.

Two of the three injuries are on your right hand. This implies to me that (assuming these were accidentally self-inflicted) you're left-handed, since I'm right-handed and I tend to injure my left more, since I clumsily wield the offending tool in my dominant hand.

Of course, this is also working on the assumption these injuries weren't caused by you not yanking your fingers away fast enough from a hungry emu...

I got a book on deduction, but it's hard to get through. (nm) by Silenthunder on 2016-03-28 02:16:00 UTC Reply
Who says you need to use English names? by Matt Cipher on 2016-03-28 00:31:00 UTC Reply

Post this on Thursday and, with a little bit of German magic, call it Deduction Donnerstag! :D

Also, I'm afraid both links redirect me to this exact thread instead somewhere outside.

Ooh, fancy. by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-28 01:39:00 UTC Reply

I quite like that suggestion, especially with the fact that I'm German myself. Thank you!

A shame about the links. Here they are, plain and simple:
http://everydaydeductionist.tumblr.com
http://everydaydeductionist.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-fun-little-computer-trick.html?m=1
Ta-da!

-Vee

Huh, that Tumblr is interesting. by Iximaz on 2016-03-28 02:07:00 UTC Reply

Especially the post about Pi. I did something similar when I memorized Pi to 300 decimal places for a high school contest—broke it up into chunks and learned it to a rhythm. I always hear a beat in my head whenever I'm reciting it even though I don't have it memorized up to 300 decimals anymore (I think I'm up to 50ish).

Right, handwriting? I'll give you a sample from my ideas journal.

Just curious to know what you make of it.

Speaking of Pi.. by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-29 03:39:00 UTC Reply

I memorised 80 or so digits of Pi a couple years ago. I still know about 60, which I memorised to the tune of a song.

Anyway, handwriting deductions are tougher than I thought. Here goes!

-Right handed.
-The writing style, which is rather cramped, speaks of an introvert.
-You are sporadic, with bursts of rapid thinking, and a bit more open than you would like to be.
-The paper tells me that you may enjoy drawing as well. Was this page from the journal where you sketch ideas for costumes and cosplays?
-Green marker also leads to the art conclusion.
-You appeared to be in a hurry while writing this, and some letters overlapped. Was this a sudden inspiration when you had somewhere to be?
-It was written during the daytime.
-This has less to do with the writing itself, but the content of the writing. Do you study science?

That's my take on it; tell me how I did! Many thanks for volunteering your handwriting for my experiment.

-Vee

Huh. by Iximaz on 2016-03-29 04:03:00 UTC Reply

You're actually pretty spot-on about most of these.

-I'm not nearly as social IRL as I am on the Board; I'm very much an introvert.
-I do think in bursts, which is why the Ideas Journal goes everywhere with me in case I get an idea that needs to be written down before I forget.
-I occasionally use other pages for sketching alien or spaceship concepts.
-*shrugs* I just really like the color green; I always write in green ink. Though I use pencils for my sketches.
-I'm always in a hurry while writing. :P My brain is going so fast it's all my hand can do to keep up; I sent in one of the neater pages so you could actually, you know, read it.
-This was written during the day—how did you come to that conclusion, though?
-I don't formally study science but when I find a topic that interests me I'll go pursuing as much knowledge of it as I can. When I found out Venus rained sulfuric acid, I just had to find out more, and that was when the idea hit.

I'm interested to see what other conclusions you draw from other people. :)

Thanks! by Ivy-M-Blue on 2016-03-29 12:29:00 UTC Reply

Most of the deductions were pretty clear, and I was able to draw on my own personality (as my handwriting is a similar style).
The way I came to the conclusion that it was written during the day is that all your words are evenly spaced apart, none of the letters overlap, and the lines are very straight. I know from experience that there's no way (even with a light) my sleep-addled brain could write in a way that doesn't make a seven letter word look like it has three. Also, no words are crossed out.
What really gave it away was the straightness of the lines. At night, on paper without lines, there would be no way anyone could keep their words and lines so straight and parallel.
It was process of elimination from here - if it couldn't be night, it had to be daytime.
Glad you enjoyed it!

-Vee

I have a bit of a trick for that. by Iximaz on 2016-03-29 15:56:00 UTC Reply

I've got a removable sheet of lined paper that goes behind the page I'm writing on so I can keep my writing straight; otherwise it'll go crooked and all over the place. :P

And like I said, I sent one of the neater pages. Most of the others have scribbles and crossings-out everywhere. ^^;

Yikes, 300 decimal places. by DCCCV on 2016-03-28 03:56:00 UTC Reply

That's a lot of numbers.