"Half of this ... is ninety percent mental."

Friday 30 May 2008

Vom Beobachten des Beobachters der Beobachter

Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Der Auftrag

a book that I can only recommand ... So weit an den Rand des Abgrundes aber hat sich keiner gewagt wie er ... [Klara Obermüller - Die Weltwoche]

Saturday 24 May 2008

the secret of ... Magic Ball - Magische Zauberkugel


there was [one upon a time] a Internet page www.messe-ideen.de/upload/magische-zauberkugel.swf.
Don't look 4 it, it dissapeared [some call it - it was deleted].
What did it do?

Imagine any two-digit number.
Add then 2 figures and subtract
the result from the original number.
Search then the symbol fitting to the result
in the table and you concentrate upon this.
Click then the crystal ball. .....
and it will show you the symbol .....

Example:
your number: 32 >> 3+2 = 5 >> 32 - 5 = 27
the symbol is a kind of "M" with a tail.

Than a new table is presented. You repeat it
and again [an other] the corresponding symbol
is appearing on the blue ball!

You can repeat it again, and again ... and it
will never fail.

and HOW IS IT DONE?
there is NO magic program behind it ... only a simple program and some math.

let's start lifting the secret: we stop on a screen and choose not one number,
but 11, 12, 13, 14, ... , 98, 99 [all of them]. It does not matter what we choose, as following the instructions we will find out a couple of numbers. For each one there is the same symbol in the table. The symbol that will be generated in the blue ball.
Next screen will have an other symbol [just 2 confuse the russians ;-)] in all this same positions and the magic blue ball will show this time this symbol.


In german it was telling [see the pic]:

Denken Sie sich eine beliebige zweistellige Zahl.
Zählen Sie dann die 2 Ziffern zusammen und ziehen Sie
das Ergebnis von der ursprünglichen Zahl ab.
Suchen Sie dann das zum Ergebnis passende Symbol
in der Tabelle und konzentrieren Sie sich auf dieses.
Klicken Sie dann die Kristallkugel an.
Das Symbol wird in der Kugel erscheinen!

Beispiel:
Ihre Zahl: 32 >> 3+2 = 5 >> 32 - 5 = 27

Dann wird ein neuer Bildschirm präsentiert. Sie wiederholen es
und wieder das entsprechende Symbol [diesmal ein anderes]
erscheint auf dem blauen Ball!

Sie können es wieder, und wieder ... versuchen und es
wird nie versagen.

und WIE WIRD ES GETAN?
es gibt KEIN magisches Programm dahinter ... nur ein einfache Programm und ein bischen Mathematik.

wollen wir anfangen, das Geheimnis zu lüften: wir halten einen Schirm an und wählen nicht eine Zahl, sondern 11, 12, 13, 14..., 98, 99 [alle Zahlen]. Es ist nicht von Bedeutung, was wir wählen, als im Anschluss an die Instruktionen werden wir finden
dass in der Tabelle ein und das selbe Symbol erscheint. Dieses Symbol wird auf dem blauen "magischen" Ball erscheinen.
Folgender Schirm wird ein anderes Symbol [um die Russen zu verwirren ;-)] in all dem zuvor ermitteleten Positionen haben und der magische blaue Ball dieses Mal dieses neue Symbol anzeigen.

Thursday 22 May 2008

Lifting the ... illusion of David Copperfield.


In a moment you will enter a magical world ...
In just a moment...
... You will witness something really strange
You will witness ...
An amazing illusion...
Although this is a common program, you will see that...
I can, through the monitor, see your mind.
You can see 6 different cards.
Think on one.
Just think on it.
Do not touch it
Do not click on it.
I will find the card on your mind

Now look straigth into my eyes and think on your card...
I do not know you,
I could not see the card you have chosen…
...but I know exactly the card that is on your mind...
¡Look!
¡¡Your card is gone!!


¿Surprised?
If you take a close look at the initial cards and at the final cards ... you will find the explanation that is based on lack of human memory ... nothing more ... ;-)

Wednesday 21 May 2008

problem solving - thinking out of the box - 4 3's


It's not impossible, you just need to think outside the box a little.
Here goes:

How is it possible to plant four trees so that the distance between any two given trees is the same for any pair of trees. That is, if the distance between tree A and B was three feet, the distance between B and C, C and D, D and B, etc. would all be three feet.

email me ... 2 get the solution/help

Tuesday 20 May 2008

Problem resolution - mission impossible


Getting to marry my son ...



Father: "I want you to marry a girl of my choice"

Son: "I will choose my own bride!!!"

Father: "But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter.."

Son: "Well, in that case...ok"



Next the father approaches Bill Gates.

Father: "I have a husband for your daughter...."

Bill Gates: "But my daughter is too young to marry!!!!!"

Father: "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."

Bill Gates: "Ah, in that case...ok"



Finally the father goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Father: "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."

President: "But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!"

Father: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."

President: "Ah, in that case...ok"

Monday 19 May 2008

Solving a problem - Spitalul de nebuni


In timpul unei vizite la un spital de nebuni,
un vizitator il intreaba pe Director ce criterii
se folosesc ca sa stabileasca daca un pacient
trebuie internat sau nu.

"Ei bine', spune Directorul,
"umplem o cada de baie, apoi ii oferim pacientului
o linguritza de ceai, o ceasca si o galeata si ii
cerem sa goleasca cada"

"Aha, intzeleg" spune vizitatorul,
"O persoana normala va folosi galeata pentru ca e
mai mare decat ceasca sau linguritza"

"Nu" spune Directorul.
"O persoana normala ar scoate dopul!
Doritzi un pat langa geam sau langa usa ?"

Sunday 18 May 2008

Out of the Fire, into the Cold


I saw him running like mad in the night. I looked around - no one was following him, so I asked him:

- What are you running from?

- I just escaped the great fire.

- What fire?

- Haven’t you heard? The fire that burned down the Great Library.

- Gosh! I did not know... So, how did you get out?

- When the flames reached the first chapter of Green and Yellow, Black and Snow, I jumped off the pages, then off the shelf and left the burning library running for my life.

- Excuse my ignorance, but what book is Green and Yellow, Black and Snow? And - pardon my boldness - what is your name?

- My name is Tontinto, and Green and Yellow, Black and Snow is the book where I was born and where I lived until today. It’s a rather new book, maybe this is why you did not hear about it.

And he started crying so hard that I began shedding huge tears, too. After a while, I asked him:

- Tontinto, were there many survivors?

- Oh, lots and lots, it looked like rush hour. Practically everybody got out, you know, they were running around, there was panic, but I saw all the clowns, I saw Winnie the Pooh, and Alice, and Dorothy, I saw Hänsel and Gretel holding hands while running, and Cinderella, and Snow White, a bunch of witches, and the Wizard. Plus a lot of others I don’t know well: Hamlet, and Phaedra, and Aeneas, Jonah, Odette, Marcel the Sensitive - all running (well, not all, an old guy, Oedipus, was limping and jumping) and calling each other’s names. There were too many to remember them all.

- And the dragons, the dinosaurs, the flying horses...?

- Yup, all of them are safe. I think that they are roaming around now in the cold. I feel so bad for them. Some of them rode on elephants, some on dinosaurs; the flying carpets and horses were booked solid, you can imagine. On a large carpet I saw Simbad, the Little Mermaid, Alladin, the forty thieves, Don Quixote, and the seven dwarfs flying away.

- So no one was left behind, Tontinto, right?


- Not quite, there were the salamanders and a funny bird called Phoenix, I think. A few of us tried to go back and save them, but there was a group of women who were holding hands and were singing all the time who did not let us pass. Funes, a great guy with whom I made friends, remembered that they were called the chorus, and said that you should not mess with them. But, anyway, the salamanders and the bird were dancing and playing in the fire, and as they seemed to enjoy themselves there, we left. And you know what? I think that a dragon set the library on fire, but I cannot be too sure.

- Wow, what a story! I said. And where are all of them now?

- They all got lost, like me. And they have no place to return to - the books are gone, my book is gone. I have no home....

And he started crying again, it broke my heart. Tontinto needs a home so badly... but what can I do? I am not a good storyteller, I gave him shelter in this story for a few minutes, but he needs a good story to live in. Is there anyone around who wants to write a story and be a foster writer for poor Tontinto? He is round like a ball and green like a frog, has two eyes on the same side of his head - the other is the dark side of Tontinto. He is a very nice chap, speaks a little French, and used to be a funny jester in his book.

Please help! Anyone?



Ilinca, Andrei & Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu

"... am recitit povestea, mi-am amintit de ziua in care am scris-o, acum vreo opt ani, sarind din asternuturi spre cana de cafea, printre pijamalele lor cu girafe si pinguini; copiii sint acum mari, adica nu mai sint copii in casa - ar trebui sa fac ceva. iar rick wakeman-ul de pe blogul tau nu e mai putin nostalgic."

Saturday 17 May 2008

Logarithmic Spirals - galaxy M101 and Typhoon Rammasun


Image Credit: M101 - NASA, ESA, CFHT, NOAO; Typhoon Rammasun - MODIS, NASA

Vatican - spiral staires

Barcelona - spiral staires


credit to Sylvia & Edgar

Wednesday 14 May 2008

a puzzle a day - (1/n)*sinx = 6

(1/n)*sinx = 6

All you have to do is prove this statement is true [and send me the solution]

p.s. in les than 6 sec, if possible!

I was here ...

How did you land to this place?