“Every one of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.“   — Princess Diana

(Such a sweet, kind soul.  Such a shame.) —   YUR

by Katie Bowell, Curator of Cultural Interpretation

This year’s National Game and Puzzle Week is November 22-28. While celebrating, why not try your hand at some historic games like Tiddly Winks, Pick Up Sticks, Dominos and Marbles. Or, if a science spin is more your style, try out a 3-D Mirascope, Jacob’s Ladder, Newton’s Cradle, a Gyroscope and some Space Origami. While the celebration is technically only one week long, these games are fun all year, make great holiday presents (is it too soon to mention the holidays? I figure once Macy’s does it’s fair game), and are all available in the Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center gift shop! I’m off to practice my Rubik’s Cube.

Visual Description:  An Economics class, taught by a monotoned Hungarian nationalist, with Johnny Carson mannerisms.

VENAK  =  KNAVE,  FOOLI  =  FOLIO,  VELENE  =  ELEVEN,  TEARRY  =  ARTERY   —   Giving us:  VFOEERR

Clue/Question:  The student was sure there was nothing longer than this.

Answer:  FOREVER

(Believe me, I know where this kid is coming from!) —   YUR

Here is a very simple problem which appeared with my first year calculus students. Consider the function

Its domain is . But now, we may take the exponent down, using the rules of the logarithm…

and now, the domain is … What happens??? Try to explain it: (a) without complex numbers, (b) with them…

Just in time for the day after Thanksgiving, here’s some trivia related to tonight’s activities. I spent the evening at my friend Ravi’s house by invitation, and it was about as wonderful a time as you can imagine. To the questions!

1. When Ravi’s mom went to bed at 9:30 and warned us against drinking the full bottle of scotch we had, we told her that would never happen. Was she:

a) 20% right
b) 40% right
c) 60% right
d) 80% right
e) 100% right

2. Said scotch was 18 years old and from an island off the coast of Scotland. Its signature flavor was:

a) cherry
b) oak
c) smoke
d) sweat
e) seal

3. We watched the Bulls/Jazz game on TV, and after a detailed exposition, I compared a basketball player to Billy Zane. He is:

a) Mehmet Okur
b) Andrei Kirilenko
c) Brad Miller
d) Luol Deng
e) Paul Millsap

Answers to be submitted in the comments. Hope you had a good turkey day.

Puzzle of the Week

A couple of week’s back we were returning home from a b’day party in our humble Nissan Pulsar. The car was stationary, we were all seated and Drithi was holding a helium-filled balloon, which was resting up against the car’s ceiling somewhere near its middle. As per habit, I hit the accelerator and the car accelerated forward, throwing us back towards our seats. The question is – what happened to the helium filled balloon – did it remain stationary, move back or go forward ?

Last Week’s Answer 

Q. Siddharth was in a small town and decided to get a haircut. The town had two barbers, each with his own shop. He glanced into one shop and saw that it was extremely untidy. The barber’s clothes were dirty, he needed a shave and his hair was badly cut. On the other hand, the other shop was very tidy. The barber was spotlessly clean, his hair was neatly trimmed and he looked like a cheerful chap. However, Siddharth went to the messy and dirty place to get his haircut. Why?

A. As there are only two barbers in town, and assuming no one travels for a haircut or cuts their own hair, Siddharth concluded that the neat trim the ’slick barber’ had was the work of the ‘grunge barber’ and vice versa.

Vikram, Rishi, Siddharth and Hemant got the answer right this time around. Makes me wonder if haircuts have something to do with getting an MBA degree !!!

I ran out of tiles and room on the board, or I would have added GAMES such as Scrabble – particularly since it gave me a way to creatively express some of what I am thankful for.

I was going to make it a crossword puzzle, and give descriptions for each word, telling why I am thankful for each. But I know some of you are not aficionados of word puzzles the way I am. Plus that would have taken a lot more time, and I still have to cook corn casserole and green bean casserole and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes.

Most of these are self-explanatory, but I will add notes on a few of the words. Speaking of words, I was going to write WORDS, since I have so much fun with words, but I had no more S tiles. Then I realized it could mean the Word of God, so I was happy to leave it in the singular.

WIT can refer both to intelligence and to humor; I am more gifted in the former than the latter, but I greatly appreciate others whose humor enriches my life. (Note that WIT is linked to LAUGHTER.)

I am thankful both for the FREEDOM I have as an American, and the FREEDOM I have in Christ.

I am thankful for the opportunity to communicate with GOD through PRAYER. And for the PRAYERs said by other people in my behalf.

PIZZA seems a bit out of place with the other, more profound things I am thankful for. But I wanted to use every tile, and I do appreciate pizza – both for it being a delicious one-dish meal (if it has lots of toppings including vegetables), and because when I am tired it is so easy to prepare dinner when I have a pizza or two in the freezer. (In case you have noticed that there appear to be two Z tiles, while Scrabble only has one – I used a blank tile, and digitally copied the Z to the blank tile.)

The final “word” in the puzzle, OXO, represents hugs and kisses. The kisses are for family members, but to all friends and family, I extend a warm hug and wishes for a blessed Thanksgiving.

“Blessed are those who give without remembering.  And blessed are those who take without forgetting.“   — Bernard Melzer (sic)

(Mistakes happen!  Happy Thanksgiving!) —   YUR

Visual Description:  A Be-bop Thanksgiving feast!

NAPOR  =  APRON,  ONSIE  =  NOISE,  VESSUR  =  VERSUS,  SPUGMY  =  GYPSUM —   Giving us:  AONIESSYSM

Clue/Question:  What the jazz group enjoyed at the Thanksgiving dinner.

Answer:  A “YAM” SESSION

In The Hidden Oasis, Egyptologist Flin Brodie teaches Advanced Hieroglyphs, Theory and Practice in Field Archaeology and Ancient Egyptian Literature at The American University in Egypt.

But in which Egyptian city does The American University reside?

If you think you know, send your answer and name to b.willis@transworld-publishers.co.uk before Thursday 3rd December for your chance to win a copy of the book.

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

As duas cordas

Você tem 2 cordas, elas não tem necessariamente o mesmo comprimento, e um número ilimitado de fósforos.
Se você colocar fogo numa ponta de qualquer uma das cordas, vai levar exatamente 1 hora para o fogo chegar a outra ponta da corda. Entretanto o fogo não vai se mover com velocidade constante, pode ser mais rápido em alguns pontos e mais lento em outros. A velocidade do fogo é independente do sentido que ele anda na corda.
Como você poderia medir 45 minutos com essas cordas?

Lembrem-se por favor de não colocar a resposta nos comentários … mas podem perguntar, discutir, compartilhar experiências, dúvidas e se desejam confirmar a resposta que obtiveram, podem escrever diretamente para meu e-mail ou esperar que em aproximadamente 15 dias eu vou publica-la.

. ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ .

Las dos cuerdas

Usted tiene 2 cuerdas, que no necesariamente tienen la misma longitud, y un número ilimitado de fósforos.
Si prendes fuego en un extremo de cualquiera de las cuerdas, va tardar exactamente 1 hora para el fuego alcanzar el otro extremo de la cuerda. Sin embargo el fuego no se mueve con velocidad constante, puede ser más rápido en algunos lugares y más lento en otras. La velocidad del fuego es independiente de la dirección en que camina por la cuerda.
Como podrías medir 45 minutos con esas cuerdas?

Les recuerdo que por favor no pongan la respuesta en los comentarios … pero si pueden preguntar, comentar, compartir experiencias, inquietudes y si desean corroborar la respuesta que obtuvieron, me pueden escribir directamente a mi e-mail o esperar que en aproximadamente 15 días la voy a publicar.

I know where you can get awesome holiday gifts for the person who has everything or your favorite little one…visit glenncartersculpture.com. 

Glenn is a master wood artist.  In fact, he made all the animal stools that sit at the bars in the Rainforest Cafes!  Now Glenn is making custom personalized photo puzzles that make awesome gifts.  Just send him your favorite photo and he’ll turn it into a great puzzle.  You can email the photo to him (size 8.5 x 11, 300 resolution, jpg format).

There are two different puzzle piece sizes–kid puzzles have larger pieces to accomodate little hands, while adult puzzles are more intricate.  The cost is $38 which includes shipping.

And, of course, I am happy to take your family or individual portraits!

You can reach Glenn at 541.787.7871 or email your order/questions to zooman.glenn@gmail.com.

Happy Holidays!

“There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.“   — Josh Billings

(This guy had to have influenced both Will Rogers and Mark Twain.  If only he had made it to the 20th Century!  I’m pretty sure he’d come up more often, and in more places, than just in the cryptoquote.) —   YUR

Visual Description:  Lights out . . . for the electrician-in-training.

DILAY  =  DAILY,  YUNTI  =  UNITY,  TRAUME  =  MATURE,  SMIFLY  =  FLIMSY   —   Giving us:  DIUTUREFM

Clue/Question:  What the apprentice faced when he botched the lighting job.

Answer:  A “DIM” FUTURE

So, this is the first post that we will dedicate to the question of time-travel in physics. We’ll start easy, but things may get pretty confusing soon, so behold!

Of course, we’re all time traveling, right now. We’re traveling towards the future, at a rate of one second per second. Strange speeds in our time travel appear as early as the Mahabharata, when king Kakudmi visits lord Brahma for some chat and, when he returns, many years have gone by. Yet, travel to the past appears later in stories, and mostly for the pleasure of anachronism. The time machine appears by the end of the XIX century in a short story from a Spanish writer, Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau, el “Anacronópete”, where the theory is exposed that it is the atmosphere causing the flow of time, as can be checked by the conservation of food in hermetic cans… His machine travels to the past much like Superman, flying against the rotation of the Earth.

The first story to deal with the problems of time travel to the past seems to be
Tourmalin’s Time Cheques, by Thomas A. Guthrie, under pseudonym in 1891, which I can’t discuss yet… (it’s in my reading list).

To the best of my knowledge, the first story which shows the problems and paradoxes of time travel to the past in its full glory is By his own bootstraps, by Robert A. Heinlein, in 1941. If you enjoy discussion about these topics, you really should read that short story.

The first and foremost paradox of time-travel is the grandfather murder case. I travel 50 years back in time and kill my grandfather before he meets my grandmother… so I can’t be born, and can’t kill my grandfather. So, if I do A, I force not-A, which forces A… what is the way out? Somehow, something should prevent you from killing your grandfather, so that history remains coherent.

We physicists love to give a name to everything, so we’ve baptized it as the Novikov principle. History should be coherent. Perhaps, after all, I do not have free will, I can’t choose to kill my grandpa… You see, the paradox with people gets somehow out of focus. Let us put it up simply will balls. This way, we call it Polchinski’s paradox:

We have a time-machine which has an input slot, an output slot and one dial. If you put something in the input slot, it will come out of the output slot some time before given by the mark in the dial. OK. Now, we put the dial to “1 second” and throw a ball towards the input slot. The same ball will come out of the output slot 1 second before the original one hits the input slot, OK? Now we can fix the geometry so that the second ball hits the first and puts it out of the way. So the output ball will prevent the input ball from entering the machine and, therefore… where did the second ball come from?

Polchinski's paradox

There are ways to overcome this paradox. Can you think of any?

It's my turn on the time machine!!!!

]]> http://onthe360.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/assassins-creed-2/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:23:39 +0000 michaelmaitland http://onthe360.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/assassins-creed-2/

I have played this game since Friday – i had played the first assassins creed and i thought that it was a very original game. This 2nd game is very similar and just improves on the original game.

The missions are more varied and the gameplay is faster- especially the climbing. The graphics are good and the animation scenes really absorb you into the story.

Another good thing about this game is the way that you can gather more weapons such as swords, daggers, axes etc. Also there are some interesting new items such as smoke grenades which are good for evading enemies.You can assassinate guards in all sorts of ways which means you can be playing this for hours practising the perfect kill.

The game gets a real good balance of being a lone assassin but you can still fight with others and hire people to help you throughout the game. Another new feature is that you can swim.

Overall i think that this is a very good game- its better than the first. Well worth a try if you like games such as prince of Persia, tomb raider or the first assassins creed

Film Rating: 7.5/10

Some sort of cold/flu is just about done working its way through my household, so Thanksgiving should be salvaged, but the blog has suffered.  Anyway, the answers to Friday’s puzzle are below (albeit a couple of days late).  This Friday will either be a little brain teaser or I am just going to take the Holiday off.  Thank you for bearing with me this week and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

1.  Hot shot = Showboat

2.  Detroit Gridiron-er Sacramento Baller = Lion King

3.  Own Alternative = Rent

4.  Long For Old Ho Chi Min City = Miss Saigon

5.  The Tumbler Zoo = The Glass Menagerie

6.  Everythings Rise Up That Finishes a Water Supply = All Well That Ends Well

7.  Coil Sudden Self-Discovery = Spring Awakening

8.  Disbelief = Doubt

9.  Sounds Funny = Noises Off

10.  The Grumpy TV MD of Azure Book Pages = The House of Blue Leaves

11.  A Half Dozen Phd’s of removal = Six Degrees of Separation

12.  Lengthy 24 Hour’s Trip Into Time of Darkness = Long Day’s Journey Into Night

“The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby.“   — Natalie Wood

(What a beautiful little girl and gorgeous woman she was!  One of my all-time favorites!) —   YUR

10/28/09: Johannesburg, South Africa

Today was our first full day of officially being on our own since we arrived in Africa. We have been so spoiled the last several weeks – someone tells us when to wake up, when to eat breakfast, what we’re doing that day, when to go to the bathroom… Since we didn’t think it was healthy to mope around in our dorm room all day, and partly out of pure habit, we didn’t sleep in but got up bright and early to have breakfast. Miraculously, we found a bakery that had delicious croissants and brownies and other yummy goodies and went there for breakfast. (Without Marietjie telling us where to go!)

Rest assured Mom and Dad - no brownies for breakfast for us

We managed to go to the post office and send a couple of packages of souvenirs home. (All by ourselves! Ok fine, we went with a few other girls from our tour.)

Successfully having sent off our boxes, we take a triumphant photo in front of the post box

We even found a place to eat lunch at the mall by our hostel. (By ourselves!) AND, we went and saw a movie! (By ourselves!) We saw Up, which I had wanted to see before leaving on our trip but just had never gotten around to it. Guess how much it cost to see the movie? 15 rand each. That’s TWO DOLLARS EACH! Granted it didn’t have the armrests that raise up (but a lot of other movie theaters at home don’t either) and it smelled a little bit like smoke (couldn’t figure that one out, we were the only ones in that theater and there were no ashtrays) and there wasn’t any movie trivia at the beginning (luckily I don’t care that much about what movie Jim Carrey first starred in), but it was only TWO DOLLARS! It was wonderful. The movie was pretty good too.

After the movie, we went back to our hostel to relax and immerse ourselves in the bliss that is being all by ourselves (in a dorm room housing 16 other people). Eventually, Carol, Garry and Zoey from our old Zambezi truck arrived, and we showed them around like the seasoned travelers we are.

It’s funny – Kevin and I keep talking about how we’re now really on our own, but ever since we got off Kavango yesterday, we’ve still been surrounded by people we know. Almost every meal we’ve had has been with people from one of our old trucks. Mark and Lindi gave us recommendations for restaurants and things to do. So really, we haven’t been on our own at all.

I guess I’m just a bit nervous about how that’s going to change when we finally really and truly are on our own, but I’m ready too. I mean, with Kevin carrying my bag (and me if needed), how hard could it really be?

_____________________________________________

Puzzles for Postcards

When Tenzig Falls Behind Anagram

Trust Even Moe

_____________________________________________

Pictures of the Day: It’s too late, Kevin. You’re stuck with me.

Visual Description:  An audience appreciating some young actors.

CHACO  =  COACH,  ESTAE  =  TEASE,  TAYFUL  =  FAULTY,  CUDISS  =  DISCUS   —   Giving us:  CAASLTSC

Clue/Question:  When the drama students put on a play, it was a . . .

Answer:  “CLASS” ACT

I have been going through this thing lately where I have been trying to get Bear to not watch so much TV.  So to give her other options I suggested we pull out an old 1000 piece puzzle that my Grandma had given me a while back and tackle it.  I haven’t done a puzzle in, well, forever.  This will state how much of a dork I am, but I forgot how relaxing they could be.  Her and I set it up at the kitchen table, turned up the Christmas music and started it on Saturday evening. By Sunday she was dead bored with it and Dustin and I were addicted. 

We spent most of the day with her under the kitchen table setting up her Barbie wonderland (why is it under the table is so fun) and Dustin and I worked on the puzzle in a silence that was only interrupted by Bear thinking up new ideas for her Christmas list or singing all the wrong words to Rudolph.  You could look in our window and think we were the perfect family.  You wouldn’t have any idea that I was thinking about how much my life was that puzzle.  How I couldn’t get him out of my head.  How my nightmares and dreams have worsened in the past couple of weeks with him. 

You work and you twist the piece, swearing it goes in just that spot, when in reality you are so far off.  There is that satisfaction you get when it slips into place but then you have a new piece to tackle.  A new goal in life. I still don’t have my puzzle piece with him.  Where is it? We finished that puzzle last night and stood back.  Bear came out from under the table with a Barbie head in one hand and the half-dressed body in the other. (Damn knots in Barbie’s hair) She turned her head a little and said Oh, There is one piece missing. There was.  Right in the middle.  Glaring enough at you that you couldn’t call it over and done with.  We looked around but couldn’t find it. 

Damn those last pieces to the puzzle. 

How much fun are puzzles?

Lori truly enjoyed how Oreo played with that puzzle! Sometimes fun happens when least expected.