New Chessboard Puzzle Hint

I got up this morning, worked out, put away the dishes, cleaned the letterbox, fed the cat, took out the trash, showered, got my lunch ready and now I'm bored.  Well, I guess you could say I was bored before, which is why a lot of that stuff got done in the first place.  

I've really got nothing specific to talk about right now except I that I type this waiting for my kid's school to open this morning after a two-hour-delay.  We had a very slight dusting last night.  The roads are bone dry.  Don't get me started.

So I went through the puzzles on the Secret Puzzle Page this morning and I was shocked to discover that I couldn't remember the encoding mechanism I used when I first posted this one over four years ago:

I eventually recalled it but, wow, I really need to write these down or something.  Here are all the hints in ROT-13 format to prevent spoilers:

Hint 1 (Posted 11/06/10): N pvepyr, ru?
Hint 2 (Posted 01/07/11): Gur svefg yrggre vf 'G'.
Hint 3[Posted 02/05/13]: Guvf fubhyq or rnfl nf pnxr.
Hint 4 (Posted 02/06/15): Rnfl nf cvr, V zrna.

All of the puzzles (and hints and links to the projects associated with the puzzles) can be found in the link in the sidebar on non-mobile devices and at the top of this page on mobile ones.

Think you have an answer?  Post a comment or send me an email.  Good Luck!

Looting the Radio Shack

In case you haven’t heard, many Radio Shacks are closing and the deals they are offering as they liquidate their inventory are incredible.  If you are a hobbyist, a DIYer, or both find out if the one near you is closing soon and check out what they have left in stock.

Most likely, everything having to do with TVs and cabling and is already gone if the stores near you serve the same demographics as the ones near me.  The upside is that you can get ceramic magnets, Arduino boards, robotics kits, solder, solar panels, lights, switches, buzzers, etc, etc, etc for pennies on the dollar.

Here’s my hoard so far:

They are even selling the cabinets and display racks, in case you are in the market. So stock up if you have the interest and the spare space.  Just remember to show a little sensitivity to the checkout personnel as you are having your Hefty Lawn and Leaf bags stuffed with zener diodes and alligator clips and whatever rung up - these guys are probably job hunting, you know.

Be cool and wish them luck.