| Day in the Cloud -- Virgin America Flight 921 |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|10:34 am] |
Okay, since I suspect no one is going to be blogging too much on what was going on up in the front of VX 921, I might as well start here.
Warning: The following blog report assumes a heck of a lot of context. You might want to read other reports first regarding the Day in the Cloud competition to establish that context.
( About my DitC experience... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|11:16 am] |
You know how sometimes you get the dream that you're back in high school again and have to do some stupid tasks set by the teacher?
Yesterday I dreamed that I was back in some math class where the teacher said he wanted us to learn about trade and bartering. He then proceeded to hand out a bunch of fake money to everybody. I got something like 20 bills each of $1, $20, and $100. He then said that we can start trading.
About a third of the students in the class got up and got really into this and started offering and making deals. The rest were presumably thinking the same thing as me, which is that "wow, this is the stupidest game ever." I mean, what sort of deal could you make that would make any sense? "Here, I'll give you 19 one-dollar bills for that $20?" Was this just a matter of the winner being the one who could make the most trades with the stupid students in the class?
In between ignoring silly deal offers I was getting, I was comparing the fake laser-printed money to the real money I had and contemplating the possibility of trading real money for fake money as a way to perhaps win this game, when at that point the instructor passed out another handout.
The handout said that actually each bill was printed in three subtly-different shades of green. At the end of the exercise, the dark green bills in the denomination you had the most of would be worth 60% more, the middle green bills in the denomination you had the middle amount of would be worth 50% more, and the light green bills in the denomination you had the least of would be worth 40% more.
I was astonished. So apparently the teacher wasn't giving out a stupid activity after all.
It was about then that I woke up. |
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| Just a Small Sudoku |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|12:06 pm] |
Who needs the complexity of 9 numbers? Fill in each cell with a number from 1 to 6 so that no number appears more than once in any of the rows, columns, and 2x2 boxes.
Puzzle 3 in the "too hard to be published" series.
This one is small enough to be quite tractable to trial-and-error... but if you can find a logical path to the solution, consider yourself good. |
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| Latin Hexagon |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|05:02 pm] |
Fill in the cells with numbers from 1 to 6. No number may appear more than once in any row. The rows are indicated by the red, black, and grey lines.
The second puzzle in the "Too hard to be published" series :-)
I eventually did find a logical path to the solution, but it took a long time. |
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| Insanely Obscure Watchmen Trivia |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|01:16 am] |
Just in time for the movie, these are all questions regarding the graphic novel "Watchmen". Anyone with a copy of the graphic novel can figure out the answers, but I don't expect anyone except the most dedicated Watchmen fan to get any of these right from memory with better than random chance accuracy. Nevertheless, I hope you find the questions interesting.
- The first time motion lines are used in the comic are:
A. When the Comedian's door is getting kicked open (in flashback)
B. When the Comedian is being thrown out the window
C. When Rorschach uses the grappling hook to enter the Comedian's apartment
D. When Rorschach throws the Comedian's button onto Dan Dreiberg's table
- Rorschach has an inkblot pattern that indicates "surprise." In which one of these cases does he NOT show that pattern?
A. When Rorschach discovers the Comedian's hidden closet.
B. When Rorschach realizes that Jacobi is dead.
C. When Rorschach realizes that Gerald Grice's dogs are chewing on human bones.
D. When Rorschach is told that Ozymandias did it "35 minutes ago."
- Can you put these newspaper headlines in the proper chronological order? (The parenthetical text represents letters that are not on panel and therefore inferred.)
A. AFGHANISTAN FIGHTING SPREADS
B. ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA
C. CONGRESS APPROVES LUNAR SILOS
D. COPS SAY "LET THEM DO IT"
E. DR. MANHATTAN "AN IMPERIALIST WEAPON" SAY RUSSIANS
F. EASTERN EUROPE: TANKS MASS AS CONFLICT ESCALATES
G. FRENCH WITHDRAW MILITARY COMMITMENT FROM NATO
H. HERO RET(IRES)
I. HOW SICK IS DICK?
J. INDUSTRIALIST IN MURDER BID
K. KEENE ACT PASSED: VIGILANTES ILLEGAL
L. NIXON PROMIS(ES) MAXIMUM FORCE
M. NUCLEAR DOOMSDAY CLOCK STANDS AT FIVE TO TWELVE WARN EXPERTS
N. NY SURVIVORS REVEAL (NI)GHTMARE UNDER HYPNO(SIS)
O. OUR COUNTRY'S PROTECTOR SMEARED BY THE KREMLIN
P. PRESIDEN(T) SHOT-FEAR(ED) CRITICAL
Q. REDS CROSS PAKISTAN BORDER
R. RR TO RUN IN 88?
S. (S)CIENTISTS MAKE FIRST ARTIFICIAL WONER ELEMENT: PLUTONIUM
T. (SIN)G SING (E)RUPTS: CAP(TUR)ED VIGILANTE S(PA)RKS RIOT: FI(VE D)EAD
U. SOVIETS WILL NOT TOLERATE US ADVENTURISM IN AFGHANISTAN
V. STICK WITH DICK IN 84
W. TANKS MASS I(N) EASTERN EURO(PE)
X. VIETN(AM) 51st STA(TE)
Y. WAR?
Z. WOMAN KILLE(D) WHILE NEIGHB(ORS) LOOK ON
- Dr. Manhattan's pubis is visible:
A. When he is looking at the ruins of "The Bestiary".
B. When he completely reforms for the first time after the accident.
C. When he talks with Laurie on Mars, before the snowglobe flashback.
D. When he talks with Laurie on Mars, when she realizes who her father is.
E. Right before Veidt subtracts his intrinsic field.
F. After he sees Dan and Laurie cuddling together.
G. Nowhere outside of A-F.
H. All of the above.
I. None of the above.
J. Only some of the above.
- Match these exclamations of surprise at Dr. Manhattan's appearance with the people who uttered them.
A. AAAAA!
B. AAAAAA
C. WAAGH!
D. EEEEIIIIGHH!
E. Dan
F. Gila Flats man seeing Jon's disembodied nervous system
G. Laurie
H. Man painting "Danger: Quarantine Area" on his apartment
- True or False: When Rorschach entered Ozymandias' office to warn him about the possible "mask killer," he broke Ozymandias' window with the grappling hook.
- Adrian Veidt's large wall of monitors is first seen in:
A. Chapter I.
B. Chapter III.
C. Chapter V.
D. Chapter VIII.
E. Chapter X.
F. Chapter XI.
- There is a feature on Mars named after the Gordian Knot, which Alexander of Macedonia "solved" by cutting in half (as told by Ozymandias), and which the lock company that fixes Dan Dreiberg's front door (broken twice by Rorschach) is named after. That covers three of the main characters. True or False: Dr. Manhattan mentions a reference to the Gordian Knot at some point in the book, to Laurie.
- True or False: Laurie Juspeczyk's reflection can be seen in every odd-numbered chapter.
- There is a small continuity error with the time zone clocks to the left of Veidt's wall of screens; one clock is labeled with two different city names in two different frames. Which two cities?
A. Delhi and Sydney
B. New York and Moscow
C. Paris and Moscow
D. Tokyo and Los Angeles
- Which city from the previous list is not actually a wall clock seen in any of the panels?
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 23rd, 2009|10:25 am] |
I had a strange dream last night.
One of the interesting features of the dream is that I was setting up a website that does collaborative construction of concordances for comics. The alliteration wasn't part of the dream.
See, a lot of comics aren't easily searchable, because the text in the comics are part of the artwork and not text that search engines can find. So, it would be cool if someone did the work of typing all the text in. But that's a lot of work to expect the comic book author to necessarily do. |
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| John Landis Fonts |
[Jan. 30th, 2009|05:09 pm] |
Well, I thought that the credits to Ghostbusters and Michael Jackson's Thriller used the same typeface, but it turns out I was wrong.
Ghostbusters uses Korinna.
Thriller uses Goudy Catalogue. |
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| Perceived Player Interaction and Perceived Randomness in Games |
[Dec. 23rd, 2008|03:34 pm] |
(This entry is extracted from an e-mail I made to a mailing list.)
There's been some discussion regarding randomness in (board) games
as well as player interaction in games. Generally, there are games
where some players think are too random while others feel aren't
random enough, and some games that have a good amount of player
interaction for some but others complain that the game is
"multiplayer solitaire."
I think the issue is mostly a matter of *perception*; i.e., perceived
randomness and perceived player interaction. I feel that they are
orthogonal traits, although both can be plotted on an axis as to how
sensitive players perceive them. The interaction axis goes
something like:
Direct -> Denial -> Blunt -> Leech
Direct: I do action X, which does something to your "things."
Denial: I do action X, which doesn't do anything to your things, but
makes you unable to do action Y.
Blunt: I do action X, which doesn't do anything to your things, and
doesn't stop you from doing action Y, but now when you do action
Y, I get a big benefit, so you would rather not do action Y if
you have a choice.
Leech: I do action X, which doesn't do anything to your things, and
doesn't stop you from doing action Y, but now when you do action
Y, I get a small benefit, so you end up doing action Y anyway, but
you don't like it as much as you did before.
For each player, there tends to be some point on the scale for
which anything to the right is not considered player interaction.
For example, a player thinks that "Direct" and "Denial" are
interesting forms of conflict, but give them a game that has only
"Blunt" and "Leech" (RFTG for example), and they'll complain that
there's no interaction. It's not that they don't see the interaction
when you point it out to them, it's that they aren't satisfied by it.
Randomness has a similar scales that goes something like:
Outcome -> Income -> Player Chaos
Outcome: I do action X. Some random event detemines the
outcome of my action.
Income: Some random event determines something in the game.
I choose my action after seeing what the results of the event is.
Player Chaos: No external randomizing device is involved, but
the unpredictability of player choices combined with the game
design mean that it becomes difficult to predict what the game
will look like a few turns in advance.
For example, there are players who feel that Puerto Rico and
Caylus aren't "random enough" -- these are players who expect
their randomness in the form of Outcome and Income, and
don't percieve Player Chaos as a legitimate form of randomness. |
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| Three Trivia Questions |
[Nov. 26th, 2008|03:00 am] |
Here are three trivia questions. I hope you find them interesting.
1. Which famous singer is known in China as "The Cat King", a combination of
two nicknames given to him by the mass media in 1955?
2. What do these people have in common?
- Author of many alternate history novels
- Number 39 (in House)
- Oscar-winning director who has starred in five sequels -- and is not Clint Eastwood (who starred in eight sequels, maybe nine)
- Researcher made infamous by his treatment of the Silver Spring monkeys
- Spider-Man's editor
- Woman who acquired earrings but lost her headwear when she became 100 years old
3. What does this table represent?
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| "The French Connection" and "Black Magic Woman" |
[Nov. 17th, 2008|02:57 am] |
It's a somewhat obscure bit of trivia that William Friedkin edited the car chase scene in "The French Connection" to the Santana cover of "Black Magic Woman."
However, it doesn't quite work because the full car chase scene is about 10 minutes long, while Santana's recording is only about five minutes (on the album -- the single version is three minutes). There is an 8-minute version of the song, but it wasn't really available at the time the movie was made, so I'm doubtful that Friedkin had access to that version. So, it becomes a bit of a guess as to where the song actually matches up with the chase scene, and if the editing is really an exact match or really more a thematic timing thing.
After experimenting with different timings and offsets, I've decided that the best fit is probably to synchronize the end of the song with the train crash. You can see my efforts here:
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| What does a slash mean in an abbreviation? |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|04:12 pm] |
Research done inspired by a discussion on gale.
It turns out that it's pretty hard to find a list of abbreviations with slashes in them, so since I did some work I thought I'd post it to my blog.
24/7 = 24 hours at 7 days a week
A/B = acid/base
A/G = air-to-ground
ADHD-PH/I = Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Primarily Hyperactive/Impulsive
B/E = bill of exchange
B/L = bill of lading
B/U = backup
CSMA/CD = carrier sense multiple access with collision detection
D/P = documents against payment
I/O = input/output
L/C = letter of credit
P/E = price-to-earnings
TCP/IP = Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
a/c = antecubital; account; Air Conditioning
a/k/a = also known as
b/c = because
b/w = backed with; black-and-white
m/o = months old
n/a = not available; not applicable
o/b/o = on behalf of; or best offer
s/n = sin numero (without number)
sa/vol = surface area to volume
w/ = with
w/c = wheelchair; week commencing
w/i = within
w/o = without
w/off = write-off
w/r = with respect to
y/o = years old
In general, it seems like the slash stands for three possible things:
1. A preposition.
2. Concatenation, as in, the original phrase was either hyphenated or a joined compound (such as "wheelchair") and not separate words.
3. A conjunction -- you could say that the slash stands for a slash, or you could say that it stands for a conjunction like "and" or "or".
There are a few exceptions. "y/o" and "m/o" don't have the above reasons; one possibility is that "yo" and "mo" look more like words? But "M.O." is often used as "modus operandi", so that can't be the only reason. The "with" family also has it, perhaps because "with" is per se a preposition. "n/a" and "a/c" (for "air conditioning") seem to defy reason.
Oh, and one more that I left out, because it seemed appropriate to leave to the end:
TL/DNR = too long, did not read |
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| Trying to Understand the Financial Crisis |
[Oct. 18th, 2008|04:00 am] |
I'm trying to understand the current financial crisis, and sometimes it helps to rephrase and write things to help understand them. So, here's a little 6.5-scene play, somewhat metaphorical, about what's going on. No guarantees as to accuracy, and the numbers are made up.
[SCENE I. LEHMAN and AIG are on stage.]
LEHMAN: Hey everybody. I'm a big investment bank who's been around forever.
AIG: Oh, hi Mr. Lehman. Yes, you certainly have been around here a while. I'm a big insurance provider. Want to buy some insurance?
LEHMAN: What kind of insurance?
AIG: It's like life insurance, but for banks. You give me 200 million dollars every year, and if you die, I save your butt with 10 billion dollars.
LEHMAN: Hmm. I don't think I'm anywhere in that sort of danger, but you never know, and your rates sound pretty good. Okay, you got a deal. Here's 200 million dollars.
AIG: Great. Here's to your good health. [aside] Easiest 200 million I ever made.
[Exit LEHMAN. MERRILL LYNCH comes on stage.]
LYNCH: Hey, Mr. Aig. I couldn't help but overhear the deal you made with Mr. Lehman. Can I get in on the same deal?
AIG: Sounds reasonable. So, you give me 200 million, and if you die, I save your butt with 10 billion dollars?
LYNCH: Oh, no no no. I said, the *same* deal. I don't want to buy insurance on *me*, I want to buy it on Mr. Lehman.
AIG: Huh?
LYNCH: I give you 200 million a year, and if Mr. Lehman dies, you give me 10 billion dollars.
AIG: Um. That sounds kinda suspicious.
LYNCH: How so? It's the exact same deal you just made with him. Surely you don't think that he's more likely to die just because I want to buy insurance on him?
AIG: Yeah, but, you might just kill him or something. Then I'd not only be out 10 billion to you, I'd also be out 10 billion to him.
LYNCH: Aw, c'mon, Lynch may be my last name but we're all well-behaved giant investment banks here. I can't move a finger against him without the Man stepping in and you know it. Besides, Mr. Lehman owes me money, it wouldn't be in my best interest to kill him.
AIG: Fine. 400 million a year.
LYNCH: 300 million.
AIG: Deal. Hand it over.
LYNCH: Here you go.
AIG: [aside] Heh, playing hard-to-get really works well.
[End SCENE I.]
[SCENE II. LEHMAN and AIG are on stage.]
LEHMAN: Hey guys, I'm feeling kinda sick.
AIG: Oh no, what happened?
LEHMAN: Some terrorists crashed a plane into my office space.
AIG: Oh jeez. Well, try to get better. I have a lot of money riding on your health (20 billion in fact). In fact, I don't think your insurance policy is paid up yet?
LEHMAN: Oh, sorry about that. Here you go, 200 million dollars.
AIG: Dude, I hate to be harsh but you're looking kinda pale. I'm raising the price to 300 million dollars.
LEHMAN: Okay, okay. It's only fair. Here you go.
AIG: Thanks.
[End SCENE II.]
[SCENE III. MERRILL LYNCH and GOLDMAN SACHS are on stage.]
GOLDMAN: Hey, you hear what happened to Mr. Lehman?
LYNCH: Yeah, it's been a tough year for him.
GOLDMAN: I feel kinda morbid for saying this, but ... I heard Mr. Aig sold you some insurance on Mr. Lehman, and at the time I thought you were just throwing your money away, but now it seems like you might have had the right idea. I'm kinda wishing I was in on that deal.
LYNCH: Oh, you can be.
GOLDMAN: How? I talked to Mr. Aig and he said that he wasn't comfortable selling any more insurance on Mr. Lehman.
LYNCH: Yeah, but *I* can sell you insurance.
GOLDMAN: How does that work?
LYNCH: Simple. You pay me 500 million a year. If Mr. Lehman bites it, I give you 11 billion.
GOLDMAN: Wow! That sounds pretty good. But... if he does bite it, where are you going to get the money?
LYNCH: That's easy. If Mr. Lehman dies, Mr. Aig said he would give me 10 billion. So, all I do is add 1 billion of my own money and pay you. Since I'm paying 300 million a year to Mr. Aig, what's going on is that I'm making a profit of 200 million a year (500 million from you, and 300 million to Mr. Aig), and the worst I can lose is 1 billion.
GOLDMAN: Huh. Sounds sweet... for you. I wish I'd thought of that.
LYNCH: Oh, you will, my dear Mr. Sachs. You will.
[End SCENE III.]
[SCENE IV. GOLDMAN SACHS and MORGAN STANLEY are in a conversation.]
GOLDMAN: ... and the worst I can lose is 1 billion.
STANLEY: I don't really care about your deals with other people. Just let me make sure I understand what OUR deal is.
GOLDMAN: Okay.
STANLEY: I pay you 700 million a year...
GOLDMAN: Yep.
STANLEY: ... and if Mr. Lehman is about to die, you pay me 12 billion.
GOLDMAN: Yep, that's it.
STANLEY: Sweet deal. Especially if he's as sick as I am, what with the terrorists. How can I refuse? Lemme get my wallet.
[An CFTC-GUY, wearing a uniform, charges on stage.]
CFTC-GUY: Hold it! I heard there was some shady dealing going on in this neighborhood. And here it is, I'm finding you all doing this morbid dealing regarding Mr. Lehman's possible death.
GOLDMAN: Oh, no, officer, it's all just business and deals here. No actual violence. In fact, Mr. Lehman's death isn't really that relevant much anymore.
CFTC-GUY: Huh?
GOLDMAN: Look, dude's been around forever, he's not going to die just because he lost his office space. We're just swapping credit around based on probabilities.
CFTC-GUY: You say that, but you're playing with fire here. Jeez, people, don't you know someone could get hurt? There was that accident just last year with Mr. LTCM.
STANLEY: Pfft. Mr. LTCM was small potatoes, a bum. We're much older and more responsible.
GOLDMAN: Yeah. Go away and don't bother us. Call your boss and whine if you want.
CFTC-GUY: I think I might just do that. [gets out cell phone] Hey, Mr. O'Neill? I have here some more holier-than-thou investment banks doing shady dealings, can I arrest them? Uh huh. Uh huh. Oh, he's coming over here? Good.
[Enter ALAN GREENSPAN.]
GREENSPAN: Hey boys, what's up?
GOLDMAN: Oh, hey Mr. Greenspan. Morgan and I were just playing around here, doing our own business, when the mean officer here decides he wants to get into our business.
GREENSPAN: I see. Here, let me talk to the nice officer. You boys run along now.
CFTC-GUY: Hey wait, you can't just let them go.
GREENSPAN: Sure I can. Go, boys.
[STANLEY and SACHS exit.]
GREENSPAN: [To CFTC-GUY] Here you are, causing trouble again. You know very well that you don't have jurisdiction here.
CFTC-GUY: It's dangerous, what they're doing.
GREENSPAN: Yes, well, it could be, but you know, it's not like they're immature little S&Ls. They're big boys now, let them have their fun. You keep on trying to interfere with them.
CFTC-GUY: Well, yes, because...
GREENSPAN: And that's why you no longer have jurisdiction. Me and Robert Rubin and Phil Gramm saw to that when we changed the laws. Let them do stuff on their own. They're responsible; they know it's just play. No one's really going to get hurt.
LEHMAN [offstage]: Hey, I think I'm feeling better now.
GREENSPAN: You see? Everything's going to be juuuust fine.
[End SCENE V.]
[SCENE VI. LEHMAN, LYNCH, SACHS, are all on stage, eating steak. AIG and STANLEY are watching.]
LYNCH: Mmm, oh man, this steak is sooo good.
LEHMAN: You said it. What's in it again?
SACHS: Mortgages. Tasty, huh? Isn't it great that Mr. Greenspan lifted the ban on cow meat before he retired? His replacement, that Bernanke guy, is more of a wimp and will listen to any hippie. Eat up, gentlemen, while you still can.
LEHMAN: Oh, most definitely. More and more available each day, and it's yummy. Hey Mr. Aig, are you sure you don't want a bite?
AIG: No, no thanks. I'm a vegetarian. Insurance deals only.
LEHMAN: How about you, Morgan?
STANLEY: I had a little bit earlier but I'm not that hungry right now.
SACHS: Where's this batch of steak from anyway?
LYNCH: Husband-and-wife team. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
LEHMAN: Wait. Weren't they in the hospital until recently? Sub-prime meat poisoning?
STANLEY: Yeah, but they *deal* in meat. Not a well-balanced meal like we get. Don't worry, they're in intensive care right now, but they'll be fine. I saw them just last week. Mr. Paulson was looking after them.
[LEHMAN coughs suddenly.]
LEHMAN: Hey guys, I don't feel so good.
LYNCH: Huh?
LEHMAN: I think I had too much of that sub-prime stuff.
LYNCH: Oh, I had some of those earlier. It's nothing; just let it pass through your system. You'll feel a bit sick for a bit, but it'll be okay.
LEHMAN: No really, I think I had a particularly bad amount, all at once. [coughs]
STANLEY: I think he's serious.
AIG: Oh crap.
LEHMAN: Could someone call the hospital for me please?
AIG: Oh crap. Oh crap. [takes out his cell phone] Hello, Mr. Bernanke? I think you better come over right now.
[LEHMAN coughs again. Looks to be in pain.]
LYNCH: C'mon, old friend, stay strong.
STANLEY: Let him breathe. Keep awake, Lehman. Mr. Bernanke's on his way.
[LEHMAN collapses.]
AIG: Did he...?
LYNCH: Yes.
STANLEY: Well, you know what that means.
AIG: I don't feel well.
LYNCH: What?
STANLEY [to GOLDMAN]: You owe me 12 billion dollars.
GOLDMAN: Er. I don't have it. Yet. Hold on a bit. Lemme get you 11 billion dollars first, and I'll make up the difference later. [to LYNCH] You owe me 11 billion dollars.
LYNCH: Yeah, well, about that... hold on. [to AIG] You owe me 10 billion dollars.
AIG: I *really* don't feel well.
LYNCH: Now!
AIG: But, but, I don't even eat beef!
LYNCH: Don't care. Gimme the 10 billion dollars. I haven't been paying this protection money for nothing. Besides, I'm already in trouble because I need another 1 billion dollars and I'm not sure where I'm going to get it.
AIG: I don't have it! He wasn't supposed to die!
GOLDMAN: Am I to understand I'm not going to get 11 billion dollars?
STANLEY: *Your* 11 billion dollars? How about *my* 12 billion dollars?
LYNCH [grabbing AIG by the lapels]: I'm getting angry. And desperate. I might have to call in Big Brother Bofa on this. You don't want him involved, trust me.
[Enter BEN BERNANKE]
BERNANKE: Hey, what's all this then?
STANLEY: Lehman just died.
BERNANKE: That's not good.
GOLDMAN: And Merrill is about to lynch Aig.
BERNANKE: That's not good either.
AIG: Mr. Bernanke! Help! It wasn't my fault!
BERNANKE: Okay, I'm a bit late to do anything about Lehman but I can do a bit here. Hey Mr. Aig, have some money.
AIG: Thank you! Thank you! [to LYNCH] Here! Take it, you cad.
LYNCH: Hmph. [takes the money]. See if I ever do business with you again. [to GOLDMAN] Here you go.
GOLDMAN: This is only 10 billion. You owe me 1 billion more.
LYNCH: Well, I don't have it yet.
GOLDMAN: Consider us enemies until I see it. [to STANLEY] Here.
STANLEY: I'm going to assume you don't have the, hm, 2 billion you still owe me.
GOLDMAN: Eh-heh-heh-heh.
STANLEY: I thought so. I never want to see any of you again.
LYNCH: I can't take this any more. I'm going home to my big brother Bofa.
AIG: I'm a vegetarian, forcrissake! I shouldn't even be involved in this.
[Everyone starts arguing at once as the lights dim. End SCENE VI.]
[EPILOGUE - SCENE VII. BEN BERNANKE and HENRY PAULSON are on stage, talking.]
BERNANKE: ... so that's what happened.
PAULSON: Jeez. That's horrible. I'm glad I left Goldman when I did.
BERNANKE: So yeah, it's pretty horrible now. Everybody's in debt to each other, nobody trusts each other. It's sad, the whole street is empty because everyone's hiding in their own little house. And you know what the worst part is?
PAULSON: What?
BERNANKE: They're all starving to death. The only food anywhere is those sub-prime steaks, and they're poisonous. They're not working together to create anything. Nobody's making any food deliveries. In fact, I've heard that they've started eating *each other.* I don't know what to do!
PAULSON: Well, I have some friends that *might* help.
BERNANKE: Anything!
PAULSON: It's a long shot. I'm going to see if those friends are willing to give up some *real* food to buy those poisoned steaks. How much do you think they need?
BERNANKE: About 700 billion.
PAULSON: Wow, that's going to be a tough sell. I might be able to convince my friends that the steaks will lose their poison slowly over the years as they age.
BERNANKE: Just try it. What have you got to lose? No matter what, we can't let this place die out. Otherwise, the poison just spreads.
PAULSON: Yes. We have to do something.
[END.] |
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| Glitches in CNN's software |
[Aug. 28th, 2008|05:43 am] |
I was watching the DNC Convention Roll Call on CNN, and noticed two interesting things:
1. Apparently the numbers on the screen are updated character-by-character as some dude types them in, instead of, say, having him/her press Enter after the total number is in. For example, when Florida cast 136 votes for Obama, here's what showed up:
316 to 317 to 329 to 452. Subtract the 316 that were already there, and you get 0, 1, 13, 136. I wonder what would happen if the person accidentally typed an extra number.
2. During the Hawaii vote, someone accidentally flipped the switch from "Democratic" to "Republican," which not only changed the candidate names, but also reset the "current state" marker back to Alabama. They then had to correct it back. I wonder if someone got in trouble for that mistake.
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| Choosing 4 out of 12 items with 3d8 |
[Jul. 28th, 2008|12:39 am] |
The number of ways to choose 4 items out of a set of 12 items is 495.
The number of results you can get by rolling an eight-sided die 3 times is 512.
Therefore, theoretically, if you're trying to choose 4 out of 12 items, you can roll an eight-sided die three times, and 96.6796875% of the time you won't need to re-roll.
However, it's not particularly obvious how to map 495 of the 512 results onto choices of 4 items. Yes, you could have a massive look-up table with 495 rows, but that's a bit hard to carry around in your pocket.
So, I've come up with the following little "rule"... unfortunately, it's much more complex than I had hoped. Can anyone do better?
Let's call the 12 items you're trying to choose ABCDEFGHIJKL. Split them into two halves,
ABCDEF and GHIJKL. Generally, we're going to have the first roll of the die tell us how
many to choose from each half, with the other rolls telling us which ones.
Now, we'll roll the die three times, let's say the values are X, Y, and Z. Then:
If X == 1, then we're going to choose three items from ABCDEF, and one item from GHI.
If X == 2, then we're going to choose three items from ABCDEF, and one item from JKL.
If X == 3, then we're going to choose three items from GHIJKL, and one item from ABC.
If X == 4, then we're going to choose three items from GHIJKL, and one item from DEF.
If X == 5 through 8, then we'll either choose two items from both halves, or all items from the same half.
For the case of X == 1 through 4, we need to choose 3 out of a group of 6, and 1 out of a group of 3. Let's call the group of six MNOPQR, and the group of three STU.
If Y == 1 through 6, then we'll choose MNO based on the bit representation of Y. To wit:
Y == 1, choose --O.
Y == 2, choose -N-.
Y == 3, choose -NO.
Y == 4, choose M--.
Y == 5, choose M-O.
Y == 6, choose MN-.
After that, we'll have three choices of the group PQR (either 1 or 2 items, based on how many of MNO were chosen), and three choices of the group STU. We'll use the roll Z to put among those 9 choices -- simply put Z in base three, and choose among PQR and STU appropriately (using the mapping 012).
Since that's 8 outcomes to choose among 9 results, one will be leftover, namely, P and S. So let's use those for the case Y == 7:
Y == 7 and Z == 1: --O -QR S--
Y == 7 and Z == 2: -N- -QR S--
Y == 7 and Z == 3: -NO P-- S--
Y == 7 and Z == 4: M-- -QR S--
Y == 7 and Z == 5: M-O P-- S--
Y == 7 and Z == 6: MN- P-- S--
Y == 7 and Z == 7: MNO --- S--
Y == 7 and Z == 8: --- PQR S--
This leaves four cases left, and we'll map them to when Y == 8:
Y == 8 and Z == 1: MNO --- -T-
Y == 8 and Z == 2: MNO --- --U
Y == 8 and Z == 3: --- PQR -T-
Y == 8 and Z == 4: --- PQR --U
In the case where Y == 8 and Z > 4, reroll.
Now, when X is 5 through 8, we'll be choosing two items from each half (or four from the same half). It turns out there are 15 ways of choosing two items from a group of 6 (or four from a group of 6), and conveniently 15 just a little bit less then twice 8. I haven't found a good way to map numbers from 1 to 15 onto the 15 ways, so here's one that's as good as any:
MN---- 1
-NO--- 2
--OP-- 3
---PQ- 4
----QR 5
M--P-- 6
-N--Q- 7
--O--R 8
M-O--- 9
-N-P-- 10
--O-Q- 11
---P-R 12
M---Q- 13
-N---R 14
M----R 15
So, now all we need are two numbers from 1 to 15. That's pretty easy, since we have the rolls Y and Z, which range from 1 to 8. Now use X to distinguish:
If X == 5, take Y and Z exactly.
If X == 6, add 8 to Z.
If X == 7, add 8 to Y.
If X == 8, add 8 to both Y and Z.
Now Y and Z are all in the range 1-16. So:
If both Y and Z are in the range 1-15, use Y to choose two items from ABCDEF and Z to choose two items from GHIJKL.
If Z == 16, then use Y to identify two items from ABCDEF; then choose the other four.
If Y == 16, then use Z to identify two items from GHIJKL; then choose the other four.
Finally, if both Y and Z are 16 (you rolled 8, 8, 8), then reroll. |
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| Lemon Technology Shareholders |
[May. 22nd, 2008|01:54 am] |
What with the recent news of 600 shares of Lemon Technology being granted from Taylor Senior to Kimberly Taylor, I thought I would recap what we know about the stockholders:
Lemon Technology, 10000 shares outstanding
Before the mid-2006 shareholders meeting:
45%: Taylor Senior (inactive)
15%: Clarance Taylor (inactive)
20%: Constance Taylor (5 held for Kimberly Taylor)
8%: Daniel Thompson
10%: Others (aggregate)
After the mid-2006 shareholders meeting:
45%: Taylor Senior (inactive)
15%: Constance Taylor
18%: Daniel Thompson
5%: Brisbane Adams
5%: Kimberly Taylor
10%: Others (aggregate) |
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| A silly little word puzzle |
[Apr. 23rd, 2008|06:44 pm] |
Sometimes I come up with an puzzle idea that is so silly that there's no point in saving it for something better. So, here's a free puzzle for you.
Each one of these defines a word or phrase. All the answers have some property in common. Since some of the definitions are ambiguous, you'll probably need to find that property to know exactly what phrases I'm referring to.
- Wereseals
- Cooked soybeans
- Composer of The Four Seasons
- A company that used to have a logo that included six ducks
- Scientific name for the freshwater dogfish
- It comes between "revelation" and "riven"
- One of two U. S. States whose state flag looks the same when turned upside-down
- A 1960's animated series about an inept secret agent, created by the same man who invented Batman
- A bike with a motor, such as the one depicted in this picture
- Rape, necrophilia, and zoophilia, perhaps
- Czech translation of "Wenceslaus"
- Surname of the creator of the first comic book printed by Image Comics
- The westernmost city in the Peloponnese
- A "nickname" for Jesus Christ
- The size of a ship that is just large enough to travel from Sri Lanka to Taiwan without needing to go south of Malaysia
- Where you might find the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
If you think you've solved it, try adding to the list instead of giving it away. |
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