Author Archive
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
The Puzzle of the Unknown Wires – solution
You are a young tech just hired by Artslet (your friendly Telco) and obviously someone is out to make your life hard! You have just assisted your supervisor to lay 1 Km of special cable containing 100 individual wires. As he was about to head off for a very long lunch, he left you the […]
Comments Off on The Puzzle of the Unknown Wires – solution - Posted in puzzle by Happy
Sunday, June 18th, 2006
The puzzle of the thousand bottles
A horrible disease has broken out in the Kingdom of Faroffia. There is a wonder cure, and you have a 1000 bottles of it which must be distributed today to save the kingdom. Unfortunately, you have just found out that one of the bottles is contaminated with a deadly poison. You have a supply of laboratory […]
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Sunday, June 18th, 2006
When is breaking and entering not stealing?
If someone leaves their stuff on your premises, some interesting things happen from a legal point of view.
Comments Off on When is breaking and entering not stealing? - Posted in Social by Happy
Saturday, February 18th, 2006
Astrology is bunk
Not everyone accepts this view instantly, so it seems I need to explain my position. No, I am not closed-minded. However, I have reached a firm conclusion based on the available evidence: astrology is bunk. I shall stick with that conclusion unless or until someone comes up with far better evidence than any I’ve seen […]
Comments Off on Astrology is bunk - Posted in Philosophy,Science by Happy
Monday, February 13th, 2006
Astrology
Astrology is bunk. Lots of people believe in astrology. Short discussion.
Comments Off on Astrology - Posted in Beliefs,Health by Happy
Sunday, January 15th, 2006
Infinity is not real
Here are 3 statements that I think are true but are not widely understood or accepted. There is no such thing as infinity in the real, physical world. The observable universe is not infinite, and nothing in it is infinite. Infinity is a mathematical abstraction, not a physical reality. Most of maths is incompatible with […]
Comments Off on Infinity is not real - Posted in Science by Happy
Thursday, January 5th, 2006
The world is full of competent people
The wondrous thing is how many competent people there are in the world. Imagine for a moment that you went to the supermarket, and it was deserted. You can take anything you want but there is one little problem. There is a security guard who won't let you out until you pay. And he doesn't […]
Comments Off on The world is full of competent people - Posted in Social by Happy
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Why hire people to do things you could do yourself?
You don't hire people to do things because they do them better.You hire people to do things because then you don't have to do them. They almost invariably don't do them as well, or as quickly, or tidy up afterwards but that absolutely isn't the point. The point is: to choose what you spend your […]
Comments Off on Why hire people to do things you could do yourself? - Posted in Social by Happy
Monday, January 2nd, 2006
Leap seconds and timezones
Here on EAST (+11), 23:59:59 was followed by 24:00:00 (or 00:00:00) but 10:59:59 was followed by 10:59:60 and then 11:00:00. I wonder whether the correct adjustment was made to the TV news, phones, computers, etc, etc, and if so when.BTW GPS time was not affected. It doesn't use UTC.
Comments Off on Leap seconds and timezones - Posted in Science by Happy
Thursday, December 29th, 2005
Spelling
I genuinely don't understand how my spelling thing works. I read text, and words with unexpected spelling just have the wrong "shape" to them — they're too long or fat or bumpy or something and they almost leap off the page at me. I can tell you where in a word the error lies long […]