Brief Mystery
Puzzle box / browser-based game you can play for free right now if you wanted.
Details
You can play it right now! All you need is a computer and ~an hour to play! https://www.aaronspuzzles.com/BriefMystery
The Column
Aaron Gillespie
Husband. Father. Writer. Puzzle maker. Engineer. Purveyor of bad jokes.
- Wrapper Library
- Workbenches
- We Scene a Movie (og)
- We Scene a Movie
- The Vault
- The Data Journal Guide
- Shield
- Semantic Canvas 1.2
- Semantic Canvas
- Self Portrait
- Pixel Art Self Portrait
- Personal Data Warehouse v10.0
- Pandora's Box
- Obsidian-based Project Management System
- My Notes
- Making an Obsidian Bullet Journal
- Languishing Doodle
- Jacked Giraffe
- Index Cards of Advice
- Generalized Health Benchmark Test
- Full-Stack Hobbyist Visuals
- Excalidraw Packing Drawing
- Enabling Technology Doodle
- DIY Dumbbell Rack
- Default Meals Analysis
- Data Journal Machine Learning Jupyter Notebook
- Data Journal 11
- Custom Electronics Animation
- Cookie Jar
- Closed Pair Rhyming Poem
- Christmas Puzzle Webpage
- Brief Mystery
- Backup Island Strategy
- Auto-Properties Plugin
- 6th Second-a-Day Video
- Tools I Use
- Rearchitecting Aaron's Puzzles
- Pantheon of Good Columns
- General Operating Principles
- Data Journal
- Creations Catalog
- About
- #488 - Quality > Quantity
- #487 - MacBook Neo Review
- #486 - Macbook Neo, New Site, and Misc Thoughts
- #485 - Mexico Trip and Grad School Final Push
- #484 - Siri Apologist & Apple Intelligence
- #483 - Full-Stack Hobbyist, Mostly
- #482 - How I Organize My Life (aka AIM 3.1)
- #481 - 2025 → 2026
- #480 - Old Man Opinions and 4 Burners
- #479 - iPhone Air, Pressure Release, and Default Meals Follow-Up
- #478 - Feature: Better Default Meals
- #477 - Delta and Silksong
- #476 - Home Smart
- #475 - Moved. Playdate.
- #474 - Moving Time
- #473 - Balance
- #472 - Tools in the Toolbelt
- #471 - Grad School
- #470 - Big iPads & Beneficial Hobbies
- #469 - EDC & One Bag Travel
- #468 - AIM 3.0
- #467 - 2024 → 2025
- #466 - PSAs & Brief Mystery
- #465 - Journey's End
- #464 - Systems of Systems
- #463 - NEVERMIND
- #462 - Ads and Other News
- #461 - Principles & 4 Other Topics
- #460 - Feature: Bullet Journals
- #459 - Feature: 75 Hard Days
- #458 - Fresh New Look
- #457 - Someday is Today
- #456 - Seven Eight Nine
- #455 - WWDC 2024 & Subscriptions
- #454 - May 2024
- #453 - Basketball and Nerd Stuff
- #452 - Breakfast & Bestselling Non-fictions
- #451 - XoX
- #450 - Nouns
- #449 - The Notes are Back
- #448 - Workout Routine, Routine
- #447 - 2023 → 2024
- #446 - Procreate Dreams & the iPad
- #445 - AI, Tesla, Unicode, MCU, and Energy
- #444 - 10.5 Years Tracked
- #443 - Less, but Better
- #442 - Health is Dynamic, Kids’ Shows, and Irritating Headlines
- #441 - System Architecture Revisited
- #440 - Life, Projects, and Water Bottles
- #439 - Feature: The Cloud
- #438 - Ideal Consumer Tech
- #437 - Apple’s WWDC23 & Painful Lessons
- #436 - Zelda and Yard Work
- #435 - Missed Deadline
- #434 - The Perfect Day
- #433 - Home Gym Recommendations
- #432 - How to Create
- #431 - Growth Requires Discomfort
- #430 - Feature: Whiteboarding App Anxiety
- #429 - Tech Ecosystems Early 2023
- #428 - More Wood, Fewer Arrows
- #427 - 2022 → 2023
- #426 - Total Body Implosion
- #425 - Get in to Win
- #424 - Puzzles for Hire
- #423 - Feature: Solved Problems & Unsolved Problems
- #422 - Notion for Everything
- #421 - That's Why They're Called 'Work'benches
- #420 - Voice Assistant Showdown
- #419 - Love Letter to r/Place
- #418 - 10 Years + 168 Hours
- #417 - My New Favorite Tools
- #416 - Silliness and Site Updates
- #415 - 2021 → 2022
- #414 - Subsystems Crash
- #413 - Take a Month (or Two)
- #412 - Creative Projects
- #411 - Local Directory Assistance
- #410 - Start Again
- #409 - Launchpad McQuack
- #408 - Ambiguities and Long Term Thinking
- #407 - iPads are Sweet
- #406 - Ankylosing Spondylitis & Personal Data Warehouses
- #405 - Marvel, Routine, Poetry, Data
- #404 - Column Title Not Found
- #403 - A La Carte
- #402 - Index Cards of Advice
- #401 - AIM Revisited
- #400 - 20x20
- #399 - Apple Watch & iPad Event
- #398 - The Tools I Use
- #397 - Bunch of Unrelated Things
- #396 - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Finale
- #395 - Data Journal Project History
- #394 - iOS is Android
- #393 - Optimization vs Enjoyment
- #392 - Site Updates & Tech Platform Analysis
- #391 - Seven Years Tracked
- #390 - My Notes
- #389 - Quarantine
- #388 - Manifest of Projects, Areas, and Goals
- #387 - I'M AN ADUUULT
- #386 - Data Journal Pivot
- #385 - System Architecture
- #384 - 2020 is the Future
- #383 - Mailing List
- #382 - November 2019 (aka '6 month retrospective')
- #381 - Atomic Habits Review
- #380 - Quick Simple List of Good Habits I Suck At
- #379 - Generalized Health Benchmark Test
- #378 - Apple Ecosystem
- #377 - 30 Day Challenges
- #376 - New Column!
- #375 - Feature: Philosophies (a.k.a. "what happens when you read too much")
- #374 - Feature: Google Lament
- #373 - Simplicity & Embracing "Good Enough"
- #372 - Gillespie Summer Vacation 2019
- #371 - AIM Immediate Followup
- #370 - Feature: Aaron Information Management (AIM)
- #369 - Marvel + Tech + Whole30 Data = Standard Column Content
- #368 - Feature: Whole30 Review
- #367 - Short Book Review: Broken Angels
- #366 - Feature: Google Takeout
- #365 - The One That SHOULD Have Been about Date and Time, but is about Counting
- #364 - The Engineering Binder (Working Title)
- #363 - Time & Date
- #362 - Things I like. Things I don't.
- #361 - In which Aaron Complains about Routine
- #360 - Tech Ecosystem Mixing & "Okay Google"
- #359 - Retrospective
- #358 - More iOS vs Android Thoughts
- #356 - Feature: Personal History of Phones & the iPhone
- #355 - Representative Cross Section of the Column
- #354 - King Dad & Fallible Google
- #353 - Lyrics to No Song + Hollow Knight
- #352 - Make Stuff
- #351 - Self Help (Yourself)
- #350 - Fatherhood
- #349 - Sixth Second-A-Day
- #348 - Last Post Pre-Baby
- #347 - Thirty
- #346 - Marvel in Media & Upcoming Dad Transition
- #345 - Feature: Timbuk2 Never Check Expandable Backpack Extensive/Exhaustive Review
- #344 that never was - Feature: Analysis of Human Attractiveness (Spoilers: I'm Ugly)
- #343 - The Parable of the Rowing Machine
- #342 - Time, Energy, Money (mostly time)
- #341 - Aaron Explains Income Tax
- #340 - Definition Vs Usage
- #339 - Five Years Tracked
- #338 - Avengers: Infinity War (No spoilers)
- #337 - Apple iCosystem
- #336 - Memes & Pictures and Previews
- #335 - Straight from My Notes - also Jessica Jones Season 2
- #334 - Bitcoin is weird, Android Coding Update, and Black Panther
- #333 - Just Press 3 for a While
- #332 - Complaining About Stuff No Reasonable Person Should Complain About
- #331 - No Zero Days, Escape Rooms, Podcast Count
- #330 - Christmas 2017, Resolutions for 2018
- #329 - Avengers: Infinity War Trailer & The End of the MCU
- #328 - Feature: The MCU, Revisited
- #327 - You Lack Discipline
- #326 - Not a Good One
- #325 - Loops
- #324 - Annoying to Read #2
- #323 - Remembered Stuff I Forgot
- #322 - Fixing Sports, Definitions, Pictures
- #321 - Stocks, GoPro, Nintendo Switch
- #320 - My 28th Year
- #319 - Limited Choices
- #318 - A Series of Disassociated Thoughts
- #317 - Internal Dialog, but Written Down
- #316 - Good Mood Rant
- #315 - Systems, High-Concept, Paper Weight, Podcasts
- #314 - 1592653589793238462643383279502884...
- #313 - A Great Time
- #312 - Undifferentiated Spondyloarthropathy
- #311 - Melissa's Favorite Number / I Write About Existential Bologna
- #310 - Different Layout, Plus Iron Fist Kinda Sucked, also /r/place
- #309 - Intent: Android
- #308 - A Brief Selection from My Irish Notebook
- #307 - MCU Lows, CostCo Challenge
- #306 - COMEBACK CITY
- #305 - Sketch Comedy
- #304 - 2017 is a Prime Number
- #303 - Checking in on the 2016 Resolutions
- #302 - The Bones of a Column
- #301 - A Lot on My Mind
- #300 - Short & Sweet
- #299 - Homegym + Andromeda + Luke Cage
- #298 - Same Old, Same Old, Different New
- #297 - Building Stuff/Aaron's Desk
- #296 - More Eclectic Thoughts than Last Time
- #295 - I'M AN ADUUUULT
- #294 - My 27th Year
- #293 - One Big Chicken
- #292 - On the Code Again... Just Can't Wait to be on the Code Again
- #291 - Crackers Update, Clarity, ChromeOS & Android, and Unsexy Solutions
- #290 - Post Vacation Life
- #289 - Another Set of Brief Selections from My Moleskine
- #288 - Everything is Awesome
- #287 - Re: LAX (don't do it)
- #286 - Meet Me in St. Louis
- #285 - Batman Vs Superman Vs the Trailers
- #284 - General Life Update
- #283 - MCU Disappointment & an Appreciation for History
- #282 - Monitor & Videogames
- #281 - New Monitor's Resolutions
- #280 - Good Routine ⇾ Good Life
- #279 - A, L, B, U..... QUERQUE!
- #278 - One Thousand Days
- #277 - Year = Year + 1
- #276 - THINGS ARE STILL GOOD
- #275 - THINGS ARE GOOD
- #274 - Vacation: Full Stop.
- #273 - 30 Day Challenges are Challenging
- #272 - Android TV Experiment
- #271 - 2045
- #270 - #HYPE
- #269 - Consumer Tech Prediction - A Hypothetical Day in the Life
- #268 - I Forgot to Name
- #267 - Writing Stuff, 30 Day Challenge Stuff, 2008
- #266 - Simple Writing About My Big Week & Phone
- #265 - Marvel Cinematic Universe, Life Tracking, and Tech Stuff ...Basically, "a Column"
- #264 - Maths: Dimensional Analysis
- #263 - Winfield, Work Trip, Site Updates, Marvel Sound Effect Video
- #262 - Tablets, Movies, a Case for No-Name Actors
- #261 - 30 Day Challenge, Kitty Clicker, New "Google", New Android (Wear and Otherwise)
- #260 - New Look & Phone Tree Rant
- #259 - Follow-up to My Previous Post
- #258 - Feature: Notetaking Platform Anxiety
- #257 - Four Great Days
- #256 - Tech News
- #255 - He's a Twit
- #254 - My 26th Year
- #253 - The Video Everyone's Waiting For
- #252 - Short One with a Video and Some Other Stuff
- #251 - 10 Things You Won't Believe I Accomplished While Melissa was Out!:
- #250 - Life Tracker Refactor
- #249 - Feature: Flightplan is the Worst Movie Ever
- #248 - Column Without Typing Anything Fancy
- #247 - I'm Annoying
- #246 - What I've been Doing, First World Problems, & USB-C
- #245 - Not Your Usual Column
- #244 - Google I/O 2015 Recap & 30 Day Challenge
- #242 - Feature: The Life Tracker
- #241 - Colorado Vacation
- #240 - Not in My Experience
- #239 - 1 Down... Many to Go
- #238 - Print "#238"
- #237 - Social Networks, Fitness
- #236 - Chromebit, Bruno Melissa, April 30 Day Challenge, and some Dominion
- #235 - New Place
- #234 - February 30 Day Challenge & the Next Few Months
- #233 - Time is Dumb & Phones are Dumb
- #232 - Mostly Updates to Projects
- #231 - Notes from the Previous Two Weeks
- #230 - Failio & The Perfect Bag
- #229 - Why Doesn't Everybody...
- #228 - Windows 7 Ate 9
- #227 - Feature: A La Carte Television
- #226 - Build It Yourself
- #225 - The Hobbit: The Column of The Review of The Movie
- #224 - Disney, Android Wear, and LoTR/MCU Actors
- #223 - This is Going to Be Difficult to Read
- #222 - Two Two Two
- #221 - According to the Rules
- #220 - Reminder: Two Part Movies are Cheap
- #219 - Brief Selections from My Moleskine
- #218 - $1500
- #217 - Short Google Fit Rant
- #216 - Writing about 6 Months without Writing ONLY about 6 Months
- #215 - Lawrence Library, October 30 Day Challenge, Halloween
- #214 - Marvel Event, Avengers News, Google Fit, What a Day
- #212 - New Car, Superhero Movie Release History Analysis, Review of the Weekend, and the Longest Column Title Ever
- #211 - New Stuff: Impressed/Not Impressed
- #210 - Just a Theory
- #209 - Life: The Guide
- #208 - To Whom It May Concern
- #207 - What's Next
- #206 - First Watch Update
- #205 - Life Tracked
- #204 - Winfield
- #203 - Moto 360
- #202 - Apple's iPhone 6 and Watch Announcements
- #201 - Feature: Thought Experiments
- #200 - Column #200 Extravaganza (a.k.a. "Tiny Celebration")
- #199 - Feature: Tech Setup
- #198 - Thirty Day Challenge, Action Packer, Marvel Supermegaultracut
- #197 - September and "Less Projects"
- #196 - Seriously Just a Big List of Fantasy Football Team Names
- #195 - Social Networking & Blog Naming Conventions
- #194 - Tireless Writing
- #193 - He's Coding
- #192 - Feature: Dominion
- #191 - Fruition
- #190 - My 25th Year
- #189 - The Month of Many Challenges
- #188 - Feature: .txt files (also the fitness baseline results)
- #187 - LightWORKS
- #186 - Fitness Baseline
- #185 - Editor Rant
- #184 - Writing for Writing's Sake
- #183 - Lonesome George
- #182 - 30 Day Challenges are Not Dead
- #181 - More on My Computer Reset + Portal
- #180 - Google I/O 2014 & Computer Reset
- #179 - Feature: Transportation
- #178 - Linux & "the Cloud"
- #177 - A Column about Nothing (the Way It's Supposed to Be)
- #176 - Feature: Gone Pro (or Insane)
- #175 - List of Projects
- #174 - The Walled Garden of Eden
- #173 - MCU Revisit & Other Superhero Universes
- #172 - The Ring
- #171 - The Greatest Week of My Life
- #170 - The Greatest Day of My Life
- #169 - Wedding Talk
- #168 - The Wedding at the End of the Tunnel
- #167 - Feature: Password Security
- #166 - Attack Mode
- #165 - Multimedia Solution
- #164 - 30 Day Challenges, Other Goals, and One Year Ago
- #163 - The Buzz Heard Around the World
- #162 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Spoilers)
- #161 - Writing Wrapup
- #160 - Feature: Constrained Writing
- #159 - Future Tech & Android Wear
- #158 - Lists.
- #157 - GoPro Basketball Video
- #156 - Showered and Writing
- #155 - I Thought it was Funny
- #154 - Advantages & Android Wear
- #153 - Man Week
- #152 - Continuing Education
- #151 - Feature: Fonts
- #150 - Meta Cheese
- #149 - Today's Writing Exercise
- #148 - Mission: Impossibly Convenient
- #147 - Toshiba Chromebook
- #146 - New Rotation
- #145 - Feature: Minimalist Thought Experiment
- #144 - 30 Days, 3 Books, Google Storage
- #143 - Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer
- #142 - Products I Like
- #141 - Ad Nauseum
- #140 - From 25.0 to 25.5 Video
- #139 - A Eulogy for Thor
- #138 - The End of the Paleolithic Era
- #137 - Post about Posts
- #136 - Chrome, in All It's Forms
- #135 - Awesome Weekend + Half a Year Tracked + Other Stuff
- #134 - A Menagerie of Goodness
- #133 - 6 Days of Paleo & an Intro to CrossFit
- #132 - 30 Day Challenges, Dominion Box, and the Break
- #131 - Save the Date Video
- #130 - Feature: The Marvel Cinematic Universe
- #129 - 24th Year Swell and Engagement Photo
- #128 - Nexus 5, Android 4.4, Battlefield 4
- #127 - October Project Ended 4 Days Shy
- #126 - Late is Better than Never
- #125 - The Mighty and the Mischievous
- #124 - Mid-October
- #123 - Disc Golf Video (and Column)
- #122 - Make-up Post
- #121 - Future Projects
- #120 - The October Project
- #119 - Google Fiber, Television is terrible, GoPro, Column
- #118 - Tough Mudder (record shortest post yet)
- #117 - Minor Changes
- #116 - Nexus 7 (2013) and Column Aspirations
- #115 - An Internet Video & Picture
- #114 - Test Redesign & The Future of the Column
- #113 - Even shorter post, mostly about GIFs
- #112 - KitKat & Dominion (short post)
- #111 - WVZ7X7 (and more)
- #110 - Media Expansion, Life Tracking Correlations, Security, and Linux
- #109 - Ecosystems Revisited
- #108 - Vehicular History, Dietary Tracking, Smartphone Superpowers, and a Lame Joke
- #107 - New Car Smell
- #106 - Experimental Phase
- #105 - Nothing in Particular
- #104 - Creating Multimedia/XKCD Volume 0
- #103 - 25 Years of Awesome
- #102 - List of Words
- #101 - Tackling the Backlog
- #100 - One Hundred
- #99 - Feature on Tools
- #98 - Further Down the River
- #97 - Feature: Taxonomy of Human Attractiveness
- #96 - Feature: Intelligence
- #95 - Basketball Tournament & Royals Games
- #94 - Feature: Path of Least Resistance
- #93 - Cousin Week
- #92 - One Month Tracked
- #91 - Creativity & JIF GIF Revisited
- #90 - Row Your Boat to the Column
- #89 - Short, Revised Formatting
- #88 - Fishing Trip
- #87 - Google I/O
- #86 - Good Weekend
- #85 - Predictions for Google I/O
- #84 - A Little Bit of History (and New Toys!)
- #83 - One Week Tracked
- #82 - Superheroes
- #81 - Back to Normal
- #80 - Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
- #79 - Pros & Cons
- #78 - TL;DR Thailand is Awesome and We're Engaged
- #77 - Pre-Trip Madness
- #76 - Fitness. Life Tracking System. Video.
- #75 - Sleep & Adulthood
- #74 - Simplicity. Dogs. XKCD Part 2
- #73 - Lots
- #72 - One Year Later & Movie Poster Idea
- #71 - Premature Victory Dance
- #70 - Pi Virus
- #69 - Stolen Ideas
- #68 - Social Networks, One Joke and One Bit of News
- #67 - Great, Terrible, Great
- #66 - KU, Scroogled, Snow
- #65 - The Adventures of Aaron
- #64 - All the Labels to Celebrate all the Labels
- #63 - Creativity, Autopilot, Racists
- #62 - No Facebook, Phonetic Alphabet, Pride
- #61 - Movie Mode
- #60 - 184 days, in 4 minutes
- #59 - Blog Update about a Blog Update
- #58 - New Broken Computer & Some Pictures
- #57 - Too Long Makes for Too Long
- #56 - A Three-Post Post
- #55 - Schfifty Five + the Year in Review
- #54 - Morning After Christmas
- #53 - Bullet Points and Gifs
- #52 - The Man with the Golden Phone Number
- #51 - Turn It Up to Eleven
- #50 - Odd Happenings & Pretentiousness
- #49 - Full of Nerd
- #48 - is a Weird Post.
- #47 - A Hit Out on Facebook
- #46 - Early Morning Thoughts
- #45 - Speaking of the Column
- #44 - Master Tech Comparison Column
- #43 - No Nexus 4 Yet & If I had a Free Year
- #42 - Life, The Universe, and Everything
- #41 - Forum Snobs and the Google Kool-Aid
- #40 - Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
- #39 - Tech Cool Down
- #38 - Tech Announcement Week Day (7): Google's Nexus Announcement
- #37 - Tech Announcement Week Day (7): Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8
- #36 - Tech Announcement Week Day 1: Apple & the iPad Mini
- #35 - Google Drive & List 2.0
- #34 - Three Weeks of Work
- #33 - One Week of Work
- #32 - Work in the Morning
- #31 - Kansas City
- #30 - Pre/Post-iPhone 5 and additional reflections
- #29 - The Wait (Irishfest, Tech Factionism)
- #28 - TL;DR: California is Awesome.
- #27 - Google Fiber Space, Friends, and the Top Post on All of Reddit
- #26 - Employment
- #25 - Finished Desk + Melissa's Return
- #24 - Practice
- #23 - A Well-Documented Life
- #22 - It's my party and I'll cry to get attention.
- #21 - My Last Summer's Last Week
- #20 - Metawriting
- #19 - Nexus 7 & Nebraska
- #18 - XKCD, DRM, other letters
- #17 - Amy's Wedding
- #16 - Crackers & Aging
- #15 - Jelly Bean
- #14 - Indiana, probable home of Ricky Bobby
- #13 - and he said "Yes" and it was good.
- #12 - Yes Man, Top 5 Apps
- #11 - Good weekend and notes
- #10 - Quick. Then Redone.
- #9 - Visions of a Googley Future
- #8 - Donnie Darko, EDC fruition
- #7 - Futurama
- #6 - Time.
- #5 - Aaron Gillespie, owner of a B.S. in Electrical Engineering
- #4 - Awesomeness
- #3 - late night homework was bittersweet
- #2 - Officially Blogger
- #1 - Why do this thing again?
- Now