Field Notes

About this game.

Every grid is generated in your browser from the date or the page number, by our own program, and the program checks it before you see it: every name is in the grid exactly once, and no rude words turn up among the filler letters. The drawings are ours, drawn in code line by line, with no photographs and no AI generated images.

Each fact is a sentence we wrote from a page we read, and that page is linked next to the fact and listed below. Your progress stays only in this browser. Our pseudonymous statistics (self-hosted Umami) count the page visit and a few events: that a page was started or finished and in how many seconds, and that a hint, the download or the note was used. Nothing else.

This is an early version. If something is missing or in the way, write to support@arling.sk.

Sources.

Every fact in the notebook and the page it comes from. All pages were read on 26 September 2026.

The Solar System

1. The Sun. The Sun holds about 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System. Wikipedia: Sun
2. Mercury. Mercury is the smallest planet and the closest to the Sun; one lap takes about 88 Earth days. Wikipedia: Mercury
3. Venus. Venus is the hottest planet, and it spins the opposite way to most planets, Earth included. Wikipedia: Venus
4. Earth. Earth is the only world known to harbour life, and its ocean covers about 71% of the crust. Wikipedia: Earth
5. The Moon. The Moon always turns the same side to Earth, from an average distance of about 384,400 km. Wikipedia: Moon
6. Mars. Mars looks red because its surface is rich in iron oxide. Wikipedia: Mars
7. Jupiter. Jupiter has nearly 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets put together. Wikipedia: Jupiter
8. Saturn. Saturn is the only planet less dense than water, and its rings are mostly water ice. Wikipedia: Saturn
9. Uranus. Uranus was the first planet found with the help of a telescope, by William Herschel in 1781. Wikipedia: Uranus
10. Neptune. Neptune has the strongest winds of any planet, up to about 2,100 km/h. Wikipedia: Neptune

Trees of the Forest

1. Oak. An oak's fruit is a nut called an acorn, which sits in a little cup. Wikipedia: Oak
2. Birch. Birch bark often peels in thin papery plates; it was used for canoes and for ancient books in India. Wikipedia: Birch
3. Beech. Young beeches and clipped beech hedges often keep their dead leaves all winter, until spring. Wikipedia: Fagus sylvatica
4. Pine. A pine in California known as Methuselah is around 4,800 years old. Wikipedia: Pine
5. Willow. Almost all willows take root readily, even from broken branches lying on the ground. Wikipedia: Willow
6. Maple. Maple seeds come in winged pairs, shaped to spin as they fall and ride the wind. Wikipedia: Maple
7. Sweet chestnut. Sweet chestnuts grow three to seven at a time inside a spiny case. Wikipedia: Castanea sativa
8. Ash. Ash wood is tough and hard to split, the classic wood for tool handles and hurling sticks. Wikipedia: Fraxinus excelsior
9. Yew. Every part of the yew is poisonous except the red flesh around the seed. Wikipedia: Taxus baccata
10. Holly. Only female holly trees bear berries, and they need a male tree nearby. Wikipedia: Ilex aquifolium

Birds of Europe

1. Robin. Both male and female robins sing all year round, even in winter. Wikipedia: European robin
2. Wren. Weight for weight, the tiny wren sings ten times louder than a cockerel. Wikipedia: Eurasian wren
3. Magpie. Magpies can recognise themselves in a mirror, something only a few species are known to do. Wikipedia: Eurasian magpie
4. Grey heron. A grey heron can stand motionless in the shallows, waiting for a fish to come within reach. Wikipedia: Grey heron
5. Barn swallow. Barn swallows build their cup nests from pellets of mud carried in their beaks. Wikipedia: Barn swallow
6. Kingfisher. A kingfisher dives with its eyes open, shielded by a clear third eyelid. Wikipedia: Common kingfisher
7. Barn owl. A barn owl hears so precisely that it does not need sight to hunt. Wikipedia: Western barn owl
8. White stork. An adult white stork's main sound is the clatter of its bill; its voice is only a faint hiss. Wikipedia: White stork
9. Puffin. A puffin can catch several small fish in one dive, holding the first ones with its tongue. Wikipedia: Atlantic puffin
10. Goldfinch. Goldfinches use their tweezer-like bills to pull seeds out of thistles and teasels. Wikipedia: European goldfinch

Musical Instruments

1. Violin. Violin bow hair traditionally comes from the tail of a grey male horse. Wikipedia: Violin
2. Guitar. A guitar typically has six or twelve strings; the English word comes from the Spanish guitarra. Wikipedia: Guitar
3. Harp. Harps date back at least to 3000 BCE, and the harp has been a symbol of Ireland for centuries. Wikipedia: Harp
4. Piano. A modern piano has 88 keys; pressing one makes a felt-coated hammer strike the strings. Wikipedia: Piano
5. Trumpet. Some of the earliest trumpets are the bronze and silver ones found in Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt. Wikipedia: Trumpet
6. Flute. A flute made from a vulture wing bone, found in a cave in Germany, is at least 35,000 years old. Wikipedia: Flute
7. Drum. Drums made with alligator skins, from between 5500 and 2350 BC, have been found in China. Wikipedia: Drum
8. Accordion. Squeezing or pulling the bellows sends air across strips of brass or steel called reeds. Wikipedia: Accordion
9. Xylophone. Xylophone comes from the Greek words for wood and sound; its wooden bars are struck with mallets. Wikipedia: Xylophone
10. Saxophone. Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone in 1846; it is usually made of brass but uses a reed. Wikipedia: Saxophone

Ocean Life

1. Blue whale. The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever existed, up to about 30 m long. Wikipedia: Blue whale
2. Bottlenose dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins address one another by copying each other's signature whistle. Wikipedia: Common bottlenose dolphin
3. Shark. A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, and its teeth are constantly replaced throughout life. Wikipedia: Shark
4. Octopus. An octopus has three hearts and bluish blood, and two thirds of its neurons are in its arms. Wikipedia: Octopus
5. Sea turtle. Sea turtles cannot pull their heads into their shells; females nest on the beach where they hatched. Wikipedia: Sea turtle
6. Jellyfish. Most jellyfish have no central nervous system; the group has existed for at least 500 million years. Wikipedia: Jellyfish
7. Starfish. Most starfish have five arms, and some species can regrow an arm they have lost. Wikipedia: Starfish
8. Seahorse. A female seahorse lays up to 1,500 eggs in the male's pouch, and he gives birth to the young. Wikipedia: Seahorse
9. Crab. Many crabs can run swiftly sideways, though others walk forwards. Wikipedia: Crab
10. Walrus. A walrus uses its tusks to keep holes open in the ice and to climb out of the water onto it. Wikipedia: Walrus

Great Inventions

1. Wheel. A wooden wheel and axle found in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia is over 5,000 years old. Wikipedia: Wheel
2. Telescope. The oldest record of a telescope is a patent Hans Lipperhey submitted in the Netherlands in 1608. Wikipedia: Telescope
3. Telephone. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell got the first US patent for a device that clearly reproduced a human voice. Wikipedia: Telephone
4. Microscope. Compound microscopes appeared around 1620; in 1676 van Leeuwenhoek reported micro-organisms. Wikipedia: Microscope
5. Camera. In the early days of photography, a single exposure often lasted several minutes. Wikipedia: Camera
6. Bicycle. The Rover, made in Coventry in 1885, is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. Wikipedia: Bicycle
7. Light bulb. A light bulb glows because its filament is heated; less than 5% of the energy becomes visible light. Wikipedia: Incandescent light bulb
8. Gramophone. Emile Berliner coined the name gramophone for players of flat discs with a spiral groove. Wikipedia: Phonograph
9. Hot air balloon. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight took place in Paris on 21 November 1783. Wikipedia: Hot air balloon
10. Pendulum clock. Christiaan Huygens invented the pendulum clock in 1656, making clocks accurate to 15 seconds a day. Wikipedia: Pendulum clock

Mountains of the World

1. Mount Everest. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first documented climb of Everest, in 1953. Wikipedia: Mount Everest
2. Matterhorn. The Matterhorn has four faces, each turned roughly north, south, east or west. Wikipedia: Matterhorn
3. Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, is an active volcano that last erupted in 1707 and 1708. Wikipedia: Mount Fuji
4. Mount Etna. Mount Etna in Sicily is one of the world's most active volcanoes, in an almost constant state of activity. Wikipedia: Mount Etna
5. Mount Elbrus. Elbrus, the highest mountain in Russia and Europe, is a dormant volcano with two summits. Wikipedia: Mount Elbrus
6. Denali. Denali, the highest peak in North America, takes its name from a Koyukon word for high or tall. Wikipedia: Denali
7. Aconcagua. Aconcagua, in the Andes of Argentina, is the highest mountain outside Asia, about 6,967 m high. Wikipedia: Aconcagua
8. Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece and, in Greek myth, the home of the gods. Wikipedia: Mount Olympus
9. Uluru. Uluru, a sandstone rock in central Australia, seems to change colour and glows red at dawn and sunset. Wikipedia: Uluru
10. Mount Vesuvius. The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Wikipedia: Mount Vesuvius

Garden Vegetables

1. Carrot. In the 10th century carrots were purple; the orange carrot was created later by Dutch growers. Wikipedia: Carrot
2. Potato. Potatoes were domesticated 7,000 to 10,000 years ago; today there are over 5,000 varieties. Wikipedia: Potato
3. Tomato. The fruit of the tomato plant is an edible berry, yet it is eaten as a vegetable. Wikipedia: Tomato
4. Onion. A freshly cut onion releases a volatile liquid that stings the eyes and brings tears. Wikipedia: Onion
5. Pea. Gregor Mendel's observations of pea pods led to the principles of Mendelian genetics. Wikipedia: Pea
6. Cabbage. Cabbage is closely related to broccoli and cauliflower; the heaviest one weighed 62.71 kg. Wikipedia: Cabbage
7. Pumpkin. The heaviest pumpkin on record, set in October 2023, weighed 1,246.9 kg. Wikipedia: Pumpkin
8. Beetroot. Betanin, the red colour of beetroot, is used to colour tomato paste, sauces, desserts and jams. Wikipedia: Beetroot
9. Broccoli. The name broccoli comes from Italian for the flowering crest of a cabbage; we eat its flower head. Wikipedia: Broccoli
10. Aubergine. The word eggplant was first used for white aubergines, which look very much like hen's eggs. Wikipedia: Eggplant

Minerals and Gems

1. Quartz. An ideal quartz crystal is a six-sided prism with a pyramid-like point at each end. Wikipedia: Quartz
2. Diamond. Diamond is a form of carbon, like graphite; most natural diamonds are 1 to 3.5 billion years old. Wikipedia: Diamond
3. Ruby. A ruby is red corundum, coloured by chromium; its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Wikipedia: Ruby
4. Emerald. Emerald is green beryl; the mossy flaws inside it are called jardin, French for garden. Wikipedia: Emerald
5. Sapphire. Blue is the best-known colour, but sapphires also occur in yellow, green, purple, pink and more. Wikipedia: Sapphire
6. Amethyst. Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz; its Greek name means not intoxicated. Wikipedia: Amethyst
7. Pyrite. Pyrite is known as fool's gold; its Greek name means a stone which strikes fire. Wikipedia: Pyrite
8. Malachite. Malachite, a green copper mineral, was used as a pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800. Wikipedia: Malachite
9. Turquoise. The word turquoise comes from the Old French for Turkish; ancient Egyptians mined it in Sinai. Wikipedia: Turquoise
10. Opal. Opal holds water, 3% to 21% of its weight, and most precious opal comes from Australia. Wikipedia: Opal