The mazes presented below are here simply for your enjoyment. They range from easier (kid-oriented) to more complex as you scroll down. Links have been provided for additional mazes to print out for you and your families/kids enjoyment. There are also links provided that allow you to create your own FREE mazes by using a MAZE GENERATOR. Enjoy! – Good Luck!

Here is a link to a website that is kid-friendly for printable mazes that allows you printout existing templates similar to the one above. Another child-friendly site is linked here to print out mazes for younger children to enjoy similar to the one below.

Here is a link to a FREE maze generator to create your own mazes to print out similar to the one above.

Create your very own mazes that you can print out and play at The Maze Generator

Here is another link for additional mazes – some more complex than others.

Nerang First National has $100 Bunnings Voucher to give away. To be in with a chance you must be a Gold Coast resident and answer the following three Brain Teasers correctly. For every correct answer you will have one chance in the draw.

We will draw the Voucher on Monday the 1st of December, 2009

Brainteaser 1

The Pope has it but he does not use it.
Your father has it but your mother uses it.
Nuns do not need it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big one,
Michael J. Fox’s is quite small.

What is it?

Brainteaser 2

The cost of making only the maker knows,
Valueless if bought, but sometimes traded.
A poor man may give one as easily as a king.
When one is broken pain and deceit are assured.

What am I?

Brainteaser 3

I am a rock group that has 4 members, all of whom are dead, one of which was assassinated.

What am I?

*** Submit your answers here ***

I found this channel on youtube-a little too late- and it’s been the best help with Calculus that I’ve seen on the  net. The speaker uses MS Paint to break down many abstract topics that many math teachers go over too quickly. Since its a video, I can pause and rewind instead of asking a question in class and feeling like a dumbass.

Not only does he teach Calculus but also:

Precalculus |  Trigonometry |  Algebra |  Finance |  Pre-algebraArithmetic |  Geometry |  Physics |  SAT Preparation |  ProbabilityLinear Algebra |  Differential Equations |  Credit Crisis |  Banking and Money |  Paulson Bailout |  California Standards Test: Algebra IICalifornia Standards Test: Algebra I |  California Standards Test: Geometry |  Venture Capital and Capital Markets |  Statistics |  Geithner Plan |  Current Economics |  Brain Teasers |  Valuation and Investing | Chemistry |  Biology |   |   |   |

Here is the Khan Academy on the Financial Crisis: (As seen on CNN)

Here’s Another One on Value Investing:

Here’s on on Calculus: (Implicit Differentiation)

Like pretty much every software engineer, Google is probably my dream job. One of my good friends works at Google, and he loves it. The Googleplex (in London) was amazing when he took me around it. Let’s admit it – there’s something about the wacky creativity, the changing of the Google logo for Sesame St. etc combined with the cutting edge technology (Wave? Google Voice?) that catches our attention.

So I was interested to see this list of interview questions in the Guardian. My first thought – arrgh I have no idea how to answer these. But with the help of Google itself, maybe I can have a go. At the end of it, a lot of them that seemed intimidating just rely on estimating and justifying your reasoning. That’s not so hard, but I still don’t get the one about the pirates…

Why are manhole covers round?

I had some idea about this one – round covers can’t fall through the hole itself, and don’t need to be rotated to be put back (important when they’re heavy, which obviously they need to be because cars drive on them). Wikipedia has a whole host of other answers though! See here.

You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

This question is nuts. The real kicker is (I think) that it’s hard to conceptualize how small you are. From money.cnn, these responses

1. Use the measurement marks to climb out
2. Try to unscrew the glass
3. Risk riding out the air current

How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

number of hours spent cleaning = (estimate of number of buildings x estimate of number of windows per building) / estimate of number of windows per hour

what you should charge = number of hours spent cleaning x hourly rate

Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

A database is like a super-organized folder of “records” and each “record” is standardized in terms of what information is where, so that it’s really easy to find what we’re looking for. So for people, we might organize records by name, and in each record we’d want information like their first name, middle name, last name, birthday, etc. We can even link to other records, for example by having a place in the record for a list of their friends.

In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?

Assume a 50/50 chance of having a boy or a girl.

50% of families will have a boy the first time, and stop right away.

50% will have a girl, of this 50%, half (so 25% of the total) will have a boy the second time, and stop. And so on.

So if there are N families, there will be N boys.

For girls, there will be the sum of (N/2) + (N/4) + (N/8) + … – the theoretical maximum of this is N. So it will be a little under 1:1.

Counter intuitive, huh? More detailed answer here.

If you look at a clock and the time is 3.15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands? (The answer is not zero!)

360 = number of degrees in the whole clock

12 = the number of hours

4 = the number of 15 minutes in each hour

360/(12*4) = 7.5 degrees

How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

This is an approximation question, requiring various assumptions. First, how many piano tuners are there in the population in the US? Say A per B (this will be thousands) of people. Then consider the population of the US (P) to come up with a number in the US. Then, given that people in less developed countries probably don’t have as many pianos, what proportion of the world’s piano tuners likely exist in the US? Say 1/D.

Estimate: A x (P/B) x D

Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for 17 minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time. Each of the campers walks at a different speed. One can cross the bridge in one minute, another in two, the third in five, and the slow poke takes 10 to cross. How do the campers make it across in 17 minutes?

Key points: they have to cross the bridge in 2’s and someone has to keep going back with the flashlight. So first idea is to have them go across and use the fastest person to go back

Time = 0: 1 min and 10min go across together

Time = 10: 1 min goes back

Time = 11: 1 min and 5 min go over

Time = 16: 1 min goes back

Time = 17: flash light is out, 1 min and 2 min are stranded.

Hmm… must be smarter. Perhaps if we just say that the flashlight must be on the bridge whilst they are moving?

Time = 0: 1 min and 5 min set off (5 min has flash light)

Time = 1: 1 min makes it across, 2 min sets off

Time = 3: 2 min arrives

(note to stay close to the light, this can happen any time up to time = 5 – the point is that 1 min and 2 min cross whilst 5 min is crossing)

Time = 5: 5 min arrives, 1 min goes back with flashlight

Time = 6: 1 min arrives back, leaves with 10 min

Time = 16: 1 min and 10 min arrive.

Feel like this is cheating, so I looked up here. If you have the two slowest people cross together, then the 2nd slowest is never a limiting factor. So I can refine my first idea:

Time = 0: 1 min and 2 min go over

Time = 2: Arrive, 2 min goes back

Time = 4: 5 min and 10 min leave together

Time = 14: 5 min and 10 min arrive, 1 min goes back

Time = 15: 1 min arrives, departs with 2 min

Time = 17: Everyone is across, flashlight runs out.

I’ve heard this question before, I feel stupid for not getting it sooner now!! I guess it’s supposed to make you think about whether the fastest solution (1 min) is always the best to use – in this case, not, because it means sending over the two slow guys separately.

How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

This can be oversimplifies by treating the balls as cubes and estimating how many fit width-wise (W), height-wise (H) and depth-wise (D) and saying total = W x H x D.

This is less than will actually fit though, because of them actually being spherical so it would be possible to arrange the balls to take better advantage of that space.

You’re the captain of a pirate ship, and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive?

Egalitarian views get in the way here, and I just want to split it up equally…

Then I think about findings in Stumbling on Happiness (Amazon) and think that as long as the other pirates believe I deserve it (I’ve “won” it) they’ll be OK with me having it.

This thinking is really clouded by the thought that it would be horrible to be killed by a bunch of pirates, though.

The Times has an answer, but I’m not sure it’s optimal…

MTBI can do a lot of damage, in terms of shredding your existing skills and long-accustomed habits. It can really undermine your thinking and judgment, so that you never even realize you need to do things differently than you did before. And it requires that you force your brain (and sometimes body) to push harder and harder, even when every indication around (and inside) you is saying, “Let up… let up…”

This can be very confounding. I encounter — all the time — people who are keen on “taking it easy” and doing things “with ease and grace”. They think this is a sign of superior evolution. They think this is a sign of superior character, as though it means they are more “plugged in with the Universe”. They don’t want to have to expend the effort to get things done. They want Spirit/YHWH/God/Creator to do it for them. They don’t want to take a chance and extend themselves, because they are convinced that a Higher Power is more capable than they, and they believe they should just “get out of the way” and let that Higher Power take charge of their lives.

That may be fine for them, but that mindset drives me nuts. First of all, it absolves them of any responsibility for their actions. If things mess up, they can say it was “God’s will” or part of a “higher plan”. If things get really messed up, they can say they just need to be more “in tune with Spirit”.  I have a bunch of friends who are convinced that they are “channels” for Divine Inspiration, and that’s how they should live… just floating along on a tide of holy impulse. And their lives are a shambles. Objectively speaking, they are constantly marinating in a brine of their individual dramas and traumas. It’s just one thing after another, and all the while, they keep expecting Spirit/YHWH/God/Creator to fix all the messes they’ve helped create.

It’s very frustrating to watch this willful disregard of basic cause and effect, but I suppose everybody’s got their stuff.

Now, it’s one thing, if these people (some of whom are very dear to me) are content to live their lives that way, but when they expect me to do the same — and they judge me as being less “evolved” if I do things differently — it’s a little too much to take, sometimes. I don’t do well with living my life from a distance. I don’t do well with telling myself that I’m just floating along on the divine breeze, waiting for some wonderful opportunity to arise to save me from my own creations. I need to be involved in my own life. I need to be invested. I need to put some effort into my life. I need the exertion. It’s good for my spirit. It’s good for my morale. And it bolsters my self-esteem, as well.

Anyway, even if I wanted to just float along, I couldn’t. I’d sink like a rock. I’m not being hard on myself — this is my observation from years of experience. I can’t just ramble about, taking things as they come. I need structure and discipline to keep on track, to keep out of trouble, to keep my head on straight. I can’t just be open to inspiration and follow whatever impulse comes to mind. My mind is full of countless impulses, every hour of every day, and if I followed each and every one, I’d be so far out in left field, I’d never find my way back. I have had sufficient damage done to the fragile connections in my cerebral matter, that the routes that neural information takes have been permanently re-routed into the darkest woods and jungles of my brain. All those injuries over the years didn’t just wash out a few bridges — they blew them up. And they slashed and burned the jungle all around, and dug huge trenches across the neural byways I “should” be able to access.

As my diagnostic neuropsych says, “I am not neurologically intact.”

So that kind of disqualifies me for just winging it in my life. I tried for years to “go with the flow”, and I ended up flit-flitting about like a dried oak leaf on the wild October wind. I got nowhere. I can’t live like that, and I know it for sure, now that I’m intentionally trying to get myself in some kind of order. My brain is different. It has been formed differently than others. It has been formed differently than it was supposed to.

I can’t change that. But I can change how I do things. I can change how I think about things. I can change by facing up to basic facts. As in:

• My thinking process is not a fluid one, anymore. In fact, I’m not sure it ever was — for real, that is. I’ve consistently found that when I’ve been the most certain about things, was the time when I needed most to double-check.

• If I don’t extend myself to get where I’m going, I can end up sidelining myself with one minor failure after another. One by one, the screw-ups add up, and I end up just giving up, out of exhaustion and/or ex-/implosion… and I can end up even farther behind than when I started.

• It’s like nothing internal is working the way it’s supposed to, and the standard-issue ways of thinking and doing just don’t seem to hold up.

• My brain is different from other folks. It just is. It doesn’t have to be a BAD thing. It just is.

On bad days, it’s pretty easy for me to get down on myself. I feel broken and damaged and useless, some days — usually when I’m overtired and haven’t been taking care of myself. But on good days, I can see past all that wretchedness and just get on with it.

Part of my getting on with it is thinking about how we MTBI survivors can compensate for our difficulties… how we create and use tools to get ourselves back on track — and stay there. There are lots of people who have this kind of injury, and some of them/us figure out what tools work best for us, and we make a point of using them. These exterior tools act as supports (or substitutes) for our weakened internal systems. We use planners and notebooks and stickie notes. We use self-assessment forms and how-to books and motivational materials. We use prayer and reflection ane meditation and journaling. We use exercise and brain games. We use crossword puzzles and little daily challenges we come up with by ourselves.

Some of us — and I’m one such person — use our lives as our rehab. Not all of us can afford rehab (in terms of time or money), and not all of us can even get access to it (seeing as our injuries tend to be subtle and the folks who actually know what to do about them are few and far between). But we have one thing we can use to learn and live and learn some more — life. The school of hard knocks.

I use everything I encounter to further my recovery. I have to. I don’t want to be homeless. I don’t want to be stuck in underemployment. I don’t want to fade away to nothing. And that’s what could easily happen, if I let up. My friends who are into “ease and grace” don’t get this. But then, they’re embroiled in their own dramas, so they don’t really see what’s going on with me. Even my therapist encourages me to “take it easy” a lot more than I’m comfortable doing. (They’ve only known me for about seven months, so they don’t have a full appreciation of all the crap I have to deal with, so I’ll cut them a break.)

It stands to reason that others can’t tell what difficulties I have. After all, I’ve made it my personal mission to not let my injuries A) show to others, B) impact my ability to function in the present, and C) hold me back from my dreams. I may be unrealistic, and I may be just dreaming, but I’m going to hold to that, no matter what. I can’t let this stop me. None of it – the series of falls, the car accidents, the sports concussions, the attack… None of it is going to stop me, if I have anything to say about it. I just have to keep at it, till I find a way to work through/past/around my issues.

And to do that, I use tools. I keep notes. I write in my journal. I blog. I have even been able to read with comprehension for extended periods, lately, which was beyond my reach for a number of years. I keep lists of things I need to do. I come up with ways of jogging my memory. I play games that improve my thinking. I focus on doing good work, and doing well at the good work I’m involved in. I bring a tremendous amount of mindfulness to the things I care about, and I’m constantly looking for ways to improve. To someone with less restlessness and less nervous energy, it would be an exhausting prospect to life this way. But I have a seemingly endless stream of energy that emanates from a simmering sense of panic, and a constantly restless mind, so  I have to do something with it.

Some might recommend medication to take the edge off. But that, dear reader, would probably land me in hot water. Without my edge, I fade away to a blob of ineffectual whatever-ness.

I build myself tools. I use spreadsheets to track my progress. I downloaded the (free and incredibly helpful) Getting Things Done Wiki and installed it on my laptop to track my projects and make sure I don’t forget what I’m supposed to be working on. I have even built myself a little daily activity tracking tool that I use to see if any of my issues are getting in my way. It not only lets me track my issues, but it also helps me learn the database technologies I need to know for my professional work.

I am constantly thinking about where I’m at, what I’m doing, why I’m doing it. I am rarely at rest, and when I am, it is for the express purpose of regaining my strength so I can go back at my issues with all my might and deal directly with them. I am at times not the most organized with my self-rehab, but I’m making progress. And I track what I’m doing, to make sure I’m not getting too far afield. And I check in with my neuropsychs on a weekly basis.

I also use external props to keep me in line. I build exercise and nutrition into my daily routine, so I have no choice but do do them — if I break my routine, I’m lost. The anxiety level is just too high. I commit myself to meetings that require me to be in a certain place at a certain time, so I have to keep on schedule. I work a 9-5 job that forces me to be on-time and deliver what I promise. I surround myself with people who have very high standards, and I hold myself to them. As I go about my daily activities, I do it with the orientation of recovery. Rehabilitation. Life is full of rehab opportunities, if you take the time — and make the point — to notice.

In many ways, my external tool-making and structure-seeking is like being a hermit crab finding and using shells cast off by other creatures for their survival. I don’t have the kind of inner resources I’d like to keep myself on track, and I don’t have the innate ability/desire to adhere to the kinds of standards I know are essential for regular adult functioning. I’ve been trying, since I was a little kid, to be the kind of person I want to be, and it’s rarely turned out well when I was running on my own steam.

So, I put myself in external situations and engage in the kinds of activities that require me to stay on track and adhere to the kinds of standards I aspire to. I seek out the company of people who are where I want to be — or are on the same track that I want to be on. And I “make like them” — I do my utmost to match them, their behaviors, their activities. And it works. I do a damned good impression of the person I want to be — even when deep down inside, I’m having a hell of a time adhering to my own standards.

The gap between who I want to be/what I want to do with my life, and how I actually am and what I actually accomplish is, at times, a vast chasm. I have so many weak spots that feel utterly intractable — and I need to do something about them. So, I use the outside world to provide the impetus and stimulation I require to be the person I know I can be, and to accomplish the things I long to do. I use the supports I can get, and I use whatever tools I have on hand. I fashion the world around me in a way that supports my vision of who I can be and what I can accomplish in my life. and I just keep going, layering on more and more experiential “shellack” that supports my hopes and dreams and vision.

Dear reader, if you only knew how different my fondest hopes and most brightly burning dreams have been from my actual reality throughout the course of my 4 decades-plus on this earth, you would weep for days, maybe weeks. But this is not the time to cry. Not when I have within my reach the means by which to put myself on the track I long for. Not when I have the resolve to take my life to the next level. Not when I have — at long last — the information I need to understand my limitations and my cognitive-behavioral makeup. Not when I have the drive and desire to live life to the fullest, to love and grow and learn and … and …

But enough — the day is waiting, and I have things I must get done.

Peace, out

BB

Which one is not like the others?

If you need a little break from your online activities, try the following brain teasers. See how many of these can you figure out in your head. For the most part, these are questions of logic. The last four are especially challenging. Some of these may be great for winning bets from your slightly intoxicated buds at the local bar, club, pub, tavern or at least the next round of drinks.

Question #1 -

A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms — The first is full of raging fires — The second is full of assassins with loaded guns — And the third is full of lions that haven’t eaten in 3 years. — Now, which room is safest for him?

Question #2 -

A woman shoots her husband — Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes — Finally, she hangs him — But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner –  How can this be?

Question #3 –

A magician was boasting one day at how long he could hold his breath under water — His record was 6 minutes — A kid that was listening said, “that’s nothing, I can stay under water for 10 minutes using no type of equipment or air pockets!” — The magician told the kid if he could do that, he’d give him $10,000 — The kid did it and won the money – Can you figure out how?

Question #4 –

There are two plastic jugs filled with water — How could you put all of this water into a barrel, without using the jugs or any dividers, and still tell which water came from which jug?

Question #5 –

What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

Question #6 –

Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

Question #7 –

This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it! In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching!

Question #8 -

You are participating in a race — You overtake the second person — What position are you in?

Question #9 –

If you overtake the last person, then you are…?

Question #10 -

(in your head!) —- Take 1000 and add 40 to it — Now add another 1000 — Now add 30 — Add another 1000 — Now add 20 — Now add another 1000 — Now add 10 — What is the total?

Question #11 –

Mary’s father has five daughters — 1. Nana – 2. Nene – 3. Nini – 4. Nono — What is the name of the fifth daughter?

Now how many could you answer?

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ANSWERS:

Answer #1 -

The third — Lions that haven’t eaten in three years are usually dead.

Answer #2 –

The woman was a photographer — She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and hung it up to dry.

Answer #3 –

The kid filled a glass of water and held it over his head for 10 minutes.

Answer #4 –

Color and Freeze them first — Then take them out of the jugs and put the ice in the barrel — You will then be able to tell which water came from which jug.

Answer #5 –

The answer is Charcoal — In Homer Simpson’s words….. “hmmmm… Barbecue”

Answer #6 –

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Answer #7 –

The letter “E” – which is the most common letter in the English language, does not appear once in the long paragraph

Answer #8 –

If you answer that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! — If you overtake the second person and you take his place — then you are second!

Answer #9 –

If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again — Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person?!

Answer #10 –

Did you get 5000? — The correct answer is actually 4100 — Don’t believe it? — Verify it with your calculator!

Answer #11 –

Did you come up with Nunu? — Nope! — That’s not it — You fell for the pattern — The fifth daughter is Mary — Carefully read the question again.

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This week: Explorers

Our brainteaser this week is about famous explorers. Need help?  Try Credo Reference .

1. Who first made his immortal “one small step” on to the Moon in July 1969?

2. Which explorer arrived in Botany Bay in 1770 and claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain?

3. Which explorer of the world’s oceans invented the Aqua-Lung which came to be called a scuba?

4. Name the sherpa who reached the summit of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953.

5. The South Pole was first reached in 1911 by a Norwegian expedition under which explorer?

6. America is named after which Spanish explorer?

7. What name was given by Thor Heyerdahl to the raft built of nine balsawood logs on which, in 1947, he and five

companions travelled the 5000 miles between Peru and the Tuamoto Islands near Tahiti.

8. Which Italian explorer is celebrated on the second Monday in October with Landing Day or Discovery Day?

9. Which explorer wrote the books “Talent for Trouble” (1968), “Hell on Ice” (1978) and “To the Ends of the Earth: Transglobe Expedition 1979-82 (1983)?

10. In 1922, which Norwegian explorer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Russian relief work?

Find the answers here.

Image is “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (c.1510-54) Making his Way Across New Mexico, from ‘The Great American Explorers’, 1905 (oil on canvas)”. Find out more about it on Credo:

A bunch of us were given this brain teaser before a psychiatry quiz today.

This is a mathematical challenge. It’s been said that if you’re an engineer, you should be able to solve it in 3 minutes; an architect in 3 hours; a doctor in 6 hours; an accountant in 3 months and if you’re a lawyer, probably never.

What is the missing number in this logical series?

1, 2, 6, 42, 1806, ____?

This was easy. It’s all about pattern recognition. The whole “if you’re a lawyer” garbage is just that.

Speaking of pattern recognition, there was an absolutely fascinating piece in the NYT about how humans seek patterns – specifically, how exposure to the nonsensical sharpens the human intellect to look for patterns thereafter.

After my success with the above, a student gave me this second brain teaser which I just couldn’t solve. My husband, a lawyer, got it in 5 minutes and it was suddenly so obvious.

With a stroke of one line make this problem correct without altering the equal sign:

5 + 5 + 55 = 600

Answers after the jump.

What is the missing number in this logical series?

1, 2, 6, 42, 1806, 3,263,442

[(Previous # + 1) * Previous number]

This next one works better in handwriting.

With a stroke of one line make this problem correct without altering the equal sign:

5 + 5 + 55 = 600

5 4 5 + 55 = 600

[Draw a line going up from the left tip of the first plus sign.]

The first brain teaser is pure mathematical pattern recognition, while the second demands something more. Perhaps creativity, as you have to be able to imagine that a symbol can become a number. Perhaps flexibility, as the number 4 will look different, be too small. Perhaps playfulness, as you must be willing to work with what you’ve got, in any way you can.

But I’d really like to think that I’m creative, flexible and playful.

So I’ll just say it demands a sharper mind than mine.

Adam, Bob, Clair and Dave are out walking: They come to rickety old wooden bridge. The bridge is weak and only able to carry the weight of two of them at a time. Because they are in a rush and the light is fading they must cross in the minimum time possible and must carry a torch (flashlight,) on each crossing.

They only have one torch and it can’t be thrown. Because of their different fitness levels and some minor injuries they can all cross at different speeds. Adam can cross in 1 minute, Bob in 2 minutes, Clair in 5 minutes and Dave in 10 minutes.

Adam, the brains of the group thinks for a moment and declares that the crossing can be completed in 17 minutes. There is no trick. How is this done?

Question from : – Oliazhagan

Answer is from:- im4ias

Adam – 1
Bob – 2
Clair – 5
Dave – 10

The moves are as follows:

Move Time

(1) & (2) Cross with Torch 2
(1) Returns with Torch 1
(5) & (10) Cross with Torch 10
(2) Returns with Torch 2
(1) & (2) Cross with Torch 2

17 minutes
Alternatively the second move can be (2) returning with the torch, the times are the same.

Sometimes it’s an all-out battle between what your eyes are seeing and what your brain is processing – resulting in confusion of the most frustrating kind! This truly is a brain-teaser!

Try this experiment for yourself and see how far you get before messing up……….

There’s an age-old adage that says “seeing-is-believing” – Well, that may not necessarily be true all of the time….. even if it IS with your OWN eyes. Sometimes your eyes and brain don’t  function together simultaneously as a team… at least at first glance. Presented here for your enjoyment is a nice little collection or gallery, if you will, of many different varieties of  Optical Illusions collected from around the net. Some of these have been around for decades while others are relatively newer. Whether these optical illusions are conveyed through fractals, photographs, architecture, art, or old-fashion pen and ink, they are bound to remind you again and again that “seeing is NOT always believing.”

* Just A Word of CAUTION > Some people are adversely affected to images that are distorted so please be advised – Some of the optical illusions on this post may cause dizziness or possibly epileptic seizures. The latter happens when the brain is unable to grasp the conflicting information received from both of your eyes. If you start feeling dizzy or light-headed when viewing this page, try covering one eye immediately with your hand and either scroll down further or, if necessary, leave the page altogether. Do not close both of your eyes because that can enhance the awkward ill feeling. Most people will NOT be affected by viewing the following images – so sit back – and enjoy – and please pass this page along to your friends.

Some of these you may need to study a bit to figure out … or at least to get the effect.

How many pandas can you discover in this image?

Is DaVinci painting a self-portrait or a man on a burro? - Check out both images carefully

Look carefully here - Do you simply see an older man & woman gazing at each other or can you find a young man serenading 2 young women?

How many faces or creatures can you locate here within Mona Lisa?

How many faces or skulls do you see in this image?

Can you find at least 12 faces in the drawing above? How many can you find?

How many horses can you find here?

Stare at the center blue dot for a bit and you will sense the ferris wheel is rotating clockwise

Can you find both woman? One stunning young woman and one weathered older lady

Question: Where in the Quran is the Elephant, mentioned?

Answer: Surat al-Fil, 1

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ

Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the Companions of the elephant?

Audience consisted of students from all years and disciplines. Hands shot up and answers were fired: right, wrong and a shade bit funny. No matter which category the answers were predominant in, the fun element was clearly visible.

Then began the serious part of the session… The Quiz

Rules and Regulations of “The Quiz”

ü Max. of 3 participants per team

ü 3 points for general questions and 4 points for star-marked ones

ü A final jackpot, a Su-do-ku round.

The quiz started off with a simple logical problem involving lions and deer.
As the quiz proceeded the questions tickled the participant’s grey cells and made sure that a competitive tempo started building.

An excited audience

The questions posed were multi-disciplinary, ranging from Mathematics to Philosophy, Science and technology to Science fictions, Business to Bitsians etc. To answer them one required a general touch in fields pertaining not just to Computer Science but also many other areas.

There were some “Photo-Connect” and “Decoder” problems which required crisp logic to arrive at the solution. The questions framed were really good and intellectually challenging. However, there were some extremely enthusiastic participants who discouraged quizmasters from giving clues to some questions which they planned to give. This clearly reflected that we had an intelligent audience.

The Final Su-do-ku round was a new addition in this event which came as a surprise to the audience and added quiet a twist at the end. A Su-do-ku puzzle was given which amounted to 10 points and a hidden word which has to be found using the clues amounted to 15 points. Many toiled a lot in the jackpot round but it proved too difficult for many of them who attempted it.

Conclusion

Mind Turner completed its 2^nd edition under CSA 2010 banner successfully. We’ve seen an excellent start of events in this academic year encouraged by huge attendance and we look forward for more events of this kind in future. So here is to a wonderful upcoming Mind Turner 3.0

6^th of September, Sunday: The 3^rd session of Turing Talks went underway, the topic being “Puzzles & Brainteasers”. It was conducted by Mayank Mohta, a 4^th yearite and ex-Google Campus Ambassador. It was arranged in room no. 5106, LTC by CSIS.

The talks were basically held with the simple motive of showing puzzle-enthusiasts the proper way to approach a problem as well as have fun while solving it.

The talks began on a light note by Mr. Mohta or rather Mr. Turing telling everyone to venture into the unknown by taking up challenging problems and experience that “Eureka” moment!

He emphasized that it should not be merely for an interview or for the sake of friends that you solve problems but one must take joy in the amount of brain-teasing a problem makes us undergo.

The session

After that, everyone was subjected to a great variety of puzzles: from the relatively easy ones to the toughest nuts to crack. The subjects of all the puzzles were amusing yet interesting. The bonus attraction being that anyone solving a riddle would get a chocolate!

The hidden motive behind this Turing Talk, as the astute would have deciphered by now, was to encourage people to participate in outside events and bring BITSian populace amongst the most enthusiastic competitors in all technical festivals henceforth. We felt that even if a handful of them get inspired by the idea and let their brain wander we’ve achieved our purpose

Many people, including myself, agreed that working at the prestigious Dartmouth College and being surrounded by the wealth of Hanover would be a better fit for me then rural Silver City and Western New Mexico University were. At Western many of the students were the first in their family to attend college and came from blue-collar homes. This reality was very different from the upper middle-class Chicago suburb of Skokie that I had been fortunate enough to grow up in. Furthermore I had often felt out of place in Silver City, not only because of where I was from, but also how I dressed, spoke and generally conducted myself. I guess we all just figured that when I made the transition to Hanover that the more affluent general student body and traditional college environment would be more similar to what I was accustomed to.

Except for a Christmas tournament in Berkeley where each member of the team flew individually out to California the Dartmouth Men’s Basketball team had a pretty easy travel schedule. Other than getting stuck in traffic during rush hour in New York City on our way to play Columbia and a couple of five or six hour bus rides to Philly and Ithaca are travel was pretty painless. The bus we traveled on was always divided the exact same way with Coach Dunn (and often his wife) sitting in the front seat next to door and to the right of the driver. From there everyone else fell in line as the trainer and S.I.D. (Sports Information Director) sat across the aisle and behind him with our other two Assistant Coaches Shay Berry and Dean Christian flanking them in every other row behind Coach Dunn. The Team Manager Kyle Diamond usually sat behind Dean with me positioned across the aisle and one row behind him.

Situated as we were I always served as the last person (with any authority) between the staff and the players. Between me and the rear of the bus the players filled in the rest of the seats usually starting with the freshman sitting closest to me and unfolding to the back where our star player Alex Barnett would sit in the spacious last row (and believe me he deserved this honor). Most of the players passed the time by sleeping, doing homework, listening to their iPods or watching movies.

On one particular trip early in the year we drove about three hours to play Providence College in Rhode Island. After we had watched a movie there was still some time left to kill before we arrived at the Providence Marriott and settled in for the night. The players decided to occupy this time by giving each other brainteasers. After they had somehow run out of acceptably difficult riddles to stimulate their minds they sent a representative to ask me what games I could suggest they play to pass the remainder of the time.

At Western New Mexico we were members of the R.M.A.C. (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) along with one other school from New Mexico, two from Nebraska and ten from the fine state of Colorado. Since Silver City is located in the southwest corner of New Mexico traveling to games was quite an adventure. The closest conference game we played was six hours away and most one-way road trips lasted between eight and thirteen hours. There was only so much time you could spend sleeping, and laptop batteries only last so long, therefore the players had to come up with creative ways to pass the time.

The game that they played most often was quite simple in its nature but kept them entertained for hours at a time. The basic premise was that one person would start the game by giving the initials of a current NBA player and the rest of them would attempt to guess who the player was. After many long road trips over the course of two seasons I began to participate in there games and found the time exceedingly fun and entertaining. In fact, it was some of the fondest time that I spent with our players as I remember feeling firmly entrenched as a member of the team.

As I looked back at the Dartmouth player inquiring into possible game suggestions I thought back to my time at Western and how much fun we effortlessly had partaking in that “NBA Initials” game. I guess sometimes, even when you feel the most isolated and out of touch with your surroundings there are small inner communities that you can be a part of. Sometimes these are clubs where the members share the same interests, some are based on religious beliefs and yet others come in varieties I can’t even imagine. For me it didn’t matter than when I got back to Silver City my insecurities about how I fit into the larger social picture would reappear. All that mattered was that during the time I spent on the bus with our players driving through the mountains to Alamosa or Grand Junction I felt like I belonged.