2003.05.08
So BoingBoing.net recently posted a reference to an old Straight Dope column about the unanswered (at least in the book) Alice in Wonderland riddle,
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
(My favorite answer, though I didn't get 'til the answer came to me about 30 seconds after I had admitted defeat, is Aldous Huxley's "Because there is a B in both and an N in neither.") In the ensuing conversation, some pointed a reference to some interesting party games based on similar principles...including "Plenty Questions", credited to Ranjit, a bit to my happy surprise. The games were a column in a now defunct web column Word & Stuff; I think it might be worth reading through the archive.
Icons of the Moment
 | --How To Care For Your Floppy Disks, from the Beagle Bros. Online Museum. Beagle Brothers were a very funky little software company, noted for their catalogs' retro stylings, alas mostly for Apple II (I was an Atari 800XL and C=64 guy). |
Essay of the Moment
Paul Graham continues to write beautiful essays of intense meaning to the modern geek. Slashdot just linked to the latest, Hackers and Painters, identifying the activity of the latter being most similar to that of the former, as opposed to engineering, mathematics, or architecture. Interesting comparing that to the book "Masters of Doom" I'm really into now, about the guys behind the true breakthrough games.
Dialog of the Moment
Mr. Wensing:What do you want on the pizza?He clarified that Mr. Wensing is head of the math department at good old Euclid High School.
Larry: Hmm... I want chicken if they have it.
Mr Wensing: Oh, okay, I'll go order it now.. I'll see if they have chicken, and if not I'll get the pepperoni.
Ross: So basically, you're going to get pepperoni, and then just tell Larry you asked and that they don't have chicken?
Mr. Wensing: There you go... now you're beginning to understand the key to marriage.