HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU (macphil)
Subject: Re: riddle I remember reading as a kid
Organization: IUPUI
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 22:24:18 GMT

In article <64901@cup.portal.com>
Eric_J_Rainbolt@cup.portal.com writes:
 
>Here's an easy one.  I remember trying to figure this out when
>I was a kid.  I think it was in HighLight's Magazine.
>There was a villian, a farmer, and his daughter.  The farmer owed
>the villian lots of money, but he couldn't pay his debt.  They were all
>standing in a street loaded with white and black pebbles.  The villian said,
>"I will pick up two pebbles, a white and a black one, put it in my hat, and
>let your daughter choose.  If she pulls a black one, she is mine in payment
>of your debt, if she chosses white, she is free."  The nervous farmer, not
>to mention his daughter, agreed to the contract.  When the villian grabbed
>the stones from the ground, the daughter noticed that he picked up two
>black stones.  She knew if she refused to choose, the villian would win.
>What does she do?
 
and there are at least two solutions.
 
Edward DeBono uses this as an example of hightlighting vertical vs.
horizontal thinking.
 
another good example is the one of two sons fighting over who had the
slower horse (as in "mine is slower than yours")...just as they were
about to come to blows over a method to prove it, a wizened
old man approached them, suggested a simple method and they were
able to resolve their disagreement.  What did he suggest?
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: merlyn@digibd.com (Merlyn LeRoy)
Subject: Re: Blacksmith code
Organization: DigiBoard Incorporated, Eden Prairie, MN
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 15:23:15 GMT


Haven't seen "dumbwaiter" yet.

---
Merlyn LeRoy
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Subject: Re: Intersection of 4 Solid Cylinders = ??? * SPOILER *
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 00:39:00 GMT

Bob_Hearn@qm.claris.com (Bob Hearn) writes...
>> QUESTION:	How many curved faces does the intersection of 
>> all 4 cylinders have?
>
>8.  It's shaped like an octahedron with curved faces.

The construction was helpful, but I disagree with the result. I think each
face of the octohedron is divided in three faces, by lines connecting the
edge centers to the face center. Thus there are 24 faces total, each of
which is a bulging quadralateral.

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu
From: grayt@Software.Mitel.COM (Tom Gray)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: A Function
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:26:02 GMT
Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada.


While driving to work, My mind turned to this function
on the natural numbers:

for n and m both integers > 0 

define

f(n) = m mod n

a) can you describe the general shape of the function?
b) for n<m what is the maximum value of the function?
c) for a given m, how mnay 0's will be produced by the function
d) what sort of number will produce the greatest number of 0's
   relative to its size? For this sort of number describe the
   relationship.
e) what sort of number m will produce the least number of 
   0's from the function
-- 
i.sinature
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: jes@downey.dev.macsch.com (John Schiermeier)
Subject: Re: Riddles
Organization: The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 92 19:53:14 GMT

In article <BtIFE0.9L9@CAM.ORG> emru@CAM.ORG (Emru Townsend) writes:
>In article <1992Aug18.194719.10534@draco.macsch.com> jes@downey.dev.macsch.com (John Schiermeier) writes:
>>>4      T Z in the U S
>>
>>Shouldn't it be 6, or C U S ?  There is Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian.
>
>I think that's "4 Time Zones in the United States".
>
>==========================================================================
>Emru Townsend        Fido: 1:167/133        emru@cam.org        BIX:switch
>Q:  Do you know what the death rate around here is?    A:  One per person.

It is.  My point was that there are 6 time zones in the US, or
4 in the contiguous US (C U S).  I suppose one could also start
counting territories, like Guam, but that's too much.

John
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov)
Subject: Intersection of 4 Solid Cylinders = ???
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 92 21:58:16 GMT

It is well-known (and a problem in many calculus books) to calculate the
volume of the intersection of 3 identical, mutually perpendicular solid cylinders.
It turns out that the shape so formed has 12 curved faces.  (For those familiar
with the term, they are arranged like the faces of a rhombic dodecahedron.)

Now suppose that the 4 major diagonals of a cube are each thickened
to become a solid cylinder of some small radius R.

QUESTION:	How many curved faces does the intersection of 
all 4 cylinders have?

--Daz

P.S.  I must confess that this differs from many of the puzzles posted 
here in that I, the poster, do not know the answer.
From: PANDERSON@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Son of Four of a Kind
Date: 28 Aug 92 15:10:11 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico


  It's been brought to my attention that I did not state the problem 
presented in "Four of a Kind."

  The problem is "Why do you always end up with four of a kind? 

Sorry. I'll be more careful next time.

Peter Anderson
panderson@oavax.csuchico.edu
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: warren@apple.com (Chris Warren)
Subject: Why isn't the FAQ available via FTP?
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: Taligent.com
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 04:57:56 GMT

Sorry about the somewhat flameoid title.  No flames intended
towards the maintainer of the FAQ.

I have seen many references to the FAQ and I have even tried
to use the mailserver.  I don't find it very easy to use.
I would like to obtain most if not the entire FAQ,  however
my machine does not easily read mag tape.

Has anyone throught of creating an FTP site for the FAQ.
I have a hard time imagining that the FAQ is bigger than
a couple of megabytes.  This is much smaller than many of
the big PC and Mac software archives.

I would be interested in helping to find a site if this would
be useful.

Cheers
--Chris
From: wayne@ultra.com (Wayne Hathaway)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Audible Puzzles or Nonsense Questions was  Re: Slaughter of the Innocents
Keywords: puzzle Bible New Testament
Date: 31 Aug 92 19:37:42 GMT
Reply-To: wayne@ultra.com (Wayne Hathaway)
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies

Along this line of being snookered into parsing a word incorrectly, I
ran into a "real life" one the other day, while reading a newspaper
article about recording artists Huey Lewis and The News.  The article
referred to them as follows:

        blah blah blah-blah-blah, blah blah blah the multipla-
        tinum group blah blah blah-blah-blah.

Starting on "multiplication" [sic] or something, it took quite a while
to backtrack to "multi-platinum"!

    Wayne Hathaway               domain: wayne@Ultra.COM
    Ultra Network Technologies     uucp: ...!ames!ultra!wayne
    101 Daggett Drive             phone: 408-922-0100 x132
    San Jose, CA 95134              FAX: 408-433-9287
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: mgtaylor@eos.ncsu.edu (Mary Molly G Taylor)
Subject: The Bug Wedding
Organization: NCSU Project Eos
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 13:55:09 GMT

Each answer is some type of insect:

_THE BUG WEDDING_

1.  Who was the bride?
2.  Who gave the bride away?
3.  What relation was the maid of honor?
4.  Who were the bridesmaids?
5.  Who made the decorations?
6.  Who played the music?
7.  Who danced at the wedding hop?
8.  Who performed the wedding ceremony?
9.  Who built the Bride & Groom's house?
10.  Who baked the wedding cake?
11.  Who lit the candle?
12.  Who kept the bride and groom awake?

I'll post the answers next Friday.

Hi ho.

MaryMolly

MaryMolly

Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: IQTI400@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU (macphil)
Subject: Re: 4 color atlas
Organization: IUPUI
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 21:39:19 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.181038.27830@athena.cs.uga.edu>
DEANRE@bscf.uga.edu (ROBIN DEAN) writes:
 
>
>     While I am fairly sure that this question has been posted I am
>a relatively new netter so I have not seen it and have been curious
>as to answer since 8th grade when I first saw it.  Any information would
>be greatly appreciated.
>
>     QUESTION:::
>
>    Has it ever been proved that with only 4 colors any planar map
>can be colored in such a way so that no two countries that touch
>will have the same color?
 
Yes.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Re: 30 questions
Date: 25 Aug 92 16:27:35 MDT
Organization: University of Utah, CompSci Dept

>The bartender explained to the man that normally he would be shot for
>posting such problems without reading the FAQ, but in this case he'd
>be allowed to live if he promised never to do it again.

But the bartender admits that the FAQ is nearly impossible to use- it
should be accessible as large lump sums- or altogether at once like
most FAQ's are!  In fact, the FAQ doesn't even appear in the newsgroup
ever- and there are no periodic reminders as to how to even obtain
any information.  In short, complaining about "not reading the FAQ"
is relevant in most news groups, but not here.


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: Re: Penny in a bottle
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 01:46:19 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <2406@tymix.Tymnet.COM> filfeit@rael.Tymnet.COM writes:
>You have a wine bottle with a penny inside and it is closed with a cork.
>
>How can you get the penny without removing the cork (or breaking the bottle)?

Push the cork in.


-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
From: moon@mozart.llnl.gov (Steven Moon)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Penny in a bottle
Date: 27 Aug 92 18:21:41 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

In article <2406@tymix.Tymnet.COM>, filfeit@rael.Tymnet.COM (Fil Feit) writes:
|> You have a wine bottle with a penny inside and it is closed with a cork.
|> 
|> How can you get the penny without removing the cork (or breaking the bottle)?
|> 
|> --f2

I want to know how you got the penny inside the wine bottle, or is it just inside
the house and already outside the wine bottle.  But, lets say the penny was bottled
inside the wine bottle and it is our job to get it out.  We don't want to break the bottle so lets just get a glass cutter and cut a penny sized hole in the side and take 
out the penny.  If we can't damage the bottle in any way.  I suggest we just wait for 
the penny to tunnel (quantum mechanical effect) out of the bottle.  This should take 
a little bit of time, but given enough wine we sould not care.

.Steve
From: tycchow@riesz.mit.edu (Timothy Y. Chow)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Scrabble score 1669
Date: 26 Aug 92 19:53:50 GMT
Organization: None.  This saves me from writing a disclaimer.


Sorry, this isn't a new record.

>From: geoffrey@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Geoffrey Brandenburg)
>Message-ID: <1990Apr27.045924.12444@calgary.uucp>
>Date: 27 Apr 90 04:59:24 GMT
>References: <7436@pitt.UUCP>
>
>According to the May 1986 issue of GAMES, the highest known score achievable
>in one turn is 1,962 points.  The word is BENZOXYCAMPHORS formed across the
>three triple-word scores on the bottom of the board.  Apparently it was 
>discovered by Darryl Francis, Ron Jerome, and Jeff Grant.
>
>As for other Scrabble trivia, the highest-scoring first move based on the
>Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is 120 points, with the words JUKEBOX,
>QUIZZED, SQUEEZE, or ZYMURGY.  If Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Dictionary
>is used then ZYXOMMA, worth 130 points, can be formed.
>
>The highest-scoring game, based on Webster's Second and Third and on the
>Oxford English Dictionary, was devised by Ron Jerome and Ralph Beaman and
>totalled 4,142 points for the two players.  The highest-scoring words in
>the game were BENZOXYCAMPHORS, VELVETEEN, and JACKPUDDINGHOOD.
>
>Now look that up in your Funk & Wagnall's!
>
>Sean Brandenburg 
-- 
Tim Chow     tycchow@math.mit.edu
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs
30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh
only 1 1/2 tons.                               ---Popular Mechanics, March 1949
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: mgtaylor@eos.ncsu.edu (Mary Molly G Taylor)
Subject: Spoiler to the Bug Wedding
Organization: NCSU Project Eos
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:11:15 GMT

Fun change of pace for rec.puzzles (boy I get tired of sequences!)

Thanks for the reply!  Since I'm going out of town to-morrow, here are the
answers:

_THE BUG WEDDING_

1.  Who was the bride?
Black Widow
June Bug
2.  Who gave the bride away?
Daddy Longlegs
3.  What relation was the maid of honor?
Ant
4.  Who were the bridesmaids?
Ladybugs
5.  Who made the decorations?
LaceWing
Spiders
6.  Who played the music?
Humbug (couldn't resist) 
Beetles
7.  Who danced at the wedding hop?
Grasshopper 
8.  Who performed the wedding ceremony?
Praying Mantis
9.  Who built the Bride & Groom's house?
Carpenter ant
10.  Who baked the wedding cake?
Only one I couldn't get
Katy did
11.  Who lit the candle?
Firefly
12.  Who kept the bride and groom awake?
Bedbug

And my addition:

13. Who picked the month for the wedding?
Junebug

-chris quinn
quinn@eecf.stanford.edu

Good work!!!!

MaryMolly
mgtaylor@eos.ncsu.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: pedersen@seas.smu.edu (Ted Pedersen)
Subject: Re: Chinook-Tinsley results as of Saturday
Organization: SMU School Of Engineering and Applied Science
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 21:19:48 GMT


Now I understand why Apple Computer products are all so ridiculously 
overpriced and underpowered...at least one loyal employee seems to be spending
too much time grousing about checkers rather than putting out 
quality products at competitive prices...

So the next time you see an overpriced Mac (sort of a redundancy there)
- ask yourself how much of that price is going to subsidize employee
playtime at Apple...

Too much is the answer! Get to work! 

Ted Pedersen
From: ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: opening(endgame)databases
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 92 14:17:32 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

>    can include into my program? Gnuchess is public domain and  has
>    an opening database, so I think it must be usable, if I know the

Gnuchess is *NOT* public domain.  Public domain means the following:

	The author(s) have given up *ALL* rights.  Anyone can do anything
	they want with the work -- modify it, sell it, refuse to sell it,
	make changes and keep them secret, etc.

The GNU stuff is copyrighted, and distributed under a license that allows
you to do some of the above, but not all.

--Tim Smith
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: mannk@fshvmfk1.VNET.IBM.COM (Ken Mann)
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 09:26:14 EDT
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Marshall
Reply-To: mannk@fshvmfk1.VNET.IBM.COM
Organization: IBM
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: Usenet 3.0

I've read previous posts that say the Marshall is sound for black.
What is the current version that is *now* sound?

 Shalom!  |  INTERNET: mannk@fshvmfk1.vnet.ibm.com            Christ
   Ken    |  VNET:     FSHVMFK1(MANNK)                          is
          |  IBMnet:   mannk@saskatchewan.fishkill.ibm.com    risen!
-----------------------------------------------------------
               You can only coast downhill!
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: haefner@IASTATE.EDU (Ralph I Haefner)
Subject: Re: fischer match coverage
Reply-To: haefner@IASTATE.EDU (Ralph I Haefner)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 17:54:06 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.142007.5963@osf.org>, ron@osf.org (Ron Birnbaum) writes:
> ------------
> 
> In article <1992Aug31.104702.10607@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>, ed@cbnewsl.cb.att.com
(edward.m.hummel) writes:
> |> Telechess has an advertisement in the August issue of
> |> Inside Chess.
> |> 
> |> Phone number: 1-900-988-0078
> |> The info line: Ext 664, "round by round updates on all the action"
> |> The game line: Ext 565, "Don't miss a single move"
> |> 
> |> Average call two minutes.  $2.00 per minute.  Touch tone phone.
> |> Under 18 requires parental consent.
> 
>   Doesn't this violate the U.S./U.N. trade embargo against Yugoslavia? After
> all, they are making money on an event taking place in the restricted area.
As
> I understood it - NO money can be exchanged based on anything in the
restricted
> area. Anyway, on principal I am personally boycotting this match, as I
dis-approve
> of anything in violation of the embargo. This match is illegal according to
> U.S. officials, so I won't support or follow it. I urge all to avoid posting
> any information about it, and to ingore all information that does get posted
> on this perfidious match.

Liar!
Yeah, like I really believe that, you will go through your life never finding
out who wins this match, and you will never play over the games.  Right.
Anyway, get off your moral high-horse, at least till they have a group
rec.games.chess.whines.constantly.about.what.a.nasty.guy.bobby.is.
And to everyone else, PLEASE post anything you find out.  Some of us like
knowledge over ignorance.



> 
> -Ron
> 
> PS - OF course, if they move to Belgrade or anywhere else outside of
Yugoslavia,
>      then there's no problem!
> 
> |> 
> |> ------------
> |> 
> |> I'm not in any way associated with Telechess.

Ralph
Xref: sparky rec.games.chess:6768 rec.games.go:1791 rec.games.board:8456 rec.games.programmer:3715
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess,rec.games.go,rec.games.board,rec.games.programmer
Subject: Re: Strategic games, computational cost & implications (was Re: rec.games.strategic)
From: chisnall@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (The Technicolour Throw-up)
Date: 4 Sep 92 00:12:36 +1200
Distribution: world
Organization: Computer Science,University of Canterbury,New Zealand

From article <1992Aug23.022521.17271@mits.mdata.fi>, by karttu@mits.mdata.fi (Antti Karttunen):
> Questions I have wondered:
> 
> 1) What is the most complex (human invented) game 'computationally'?
> Go???

Another possibility that I just remembered is the "save-go" game that someone
described in the go group last year.  I have a deep seated suspicion that its
too complicated for humans to play.  Its possible to come with versions of
intermediate complexity - in fact one can create an infinite hierarchy with
ordinary Go being in the 0th position and save-go in the infinitieth
position. All the intervening ones (position 1, 2, 3 etc) would all be more
complicated than ordinary Go.  I don't immediately see why one couldn't have
save-chess, save-shogi etc. 

--
Just my two rubber ningis worth.
Name: Michael Chisnall  (chisnall@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz)
I'm not a .signature virus and nor do I play one on tv.
From: pals@ipact.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: What's the current assessment of the Marshall Attack?
Date: 30 Aug 92 19:57:41 CDT
Organization: IPACT, Valparaiso IN

In article <1992Aug29.090730.104@ipact.com>,  I wrote:
> 
> A friend/occasional teacher of mine who is a senior master told me the
> other day that current opinion is that the Marshall is fully sound for
> Black, and that is one reason you are seeing more of 2.Bc4, 3.Bc4, 3.d4,
> etc. lately.

Hmmm.  While thumbing through the current (September) _Chess Life_ over the
weekend, I found this quote from GM Joel Benjamin: "The scuttlebutt among
GMs these days is that White can't beat the Marshall.  That's one reason
we've been seeing so many Worall Attacks, Scotches, Four Knights, etc."

It could be my friend said it independently, or he read Joel's comment
before his comment to me.  At any rate, there you have it.

-- 
Randy Pals                |pals@ipact.com
IPACT, Inc.               |
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: nolan@helios.unl.edu (Michael Nolan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: Mailing list
Date: 28 Aug 92 22:08:59 GMT
Reply-To: nolan@helios.unl.edu
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln

capsa@igc.apc.org (CAPSA) writes:

>Is there a rec.games.chess mailing list?  If so, how does one get on?  Was
>Dave Phillips posting sufficient?  Is this posting sufficient?

Yes, there *is* a rec.games.chess mailing list.  

The list has been under repair for several months, but should be resurfacing 
in another week or so, at which time I will post the revised subscription
instructions.  (I'm working on an 'automatic' subscription processor
rather than doing it manually.  The final format of the requests will depend
on whether I can fix my mail handling software's tendency to mangle addresses.)

A few comments:

1.  The list is nothing more than an echo of the postings to rec.games.chess,
    so if you have access to r.g.c you won't gain anything by joining the list.

2.  The list will be in 'digest' format, processed twice per day.  There may be
    more than one issue per cycle, because I am enforcing a 40K maximum size
    on each issue.  If you have a mail reader that handles RFC1153-compliant 
    digests, it will split the digests back into separate articles.
    (I don't have one, unfortunately.)

3.  The posting address (chessnews@tssi.com) still works for posting
    to rec.games.chess.  (This is mainly for those of you who don't have 
    Usenet access, but then, how are you reading this?)
---
Michael Nolan
nolan@helios.unl.edu, nolan@tssi.com, mike.nolan@genie.geis.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: benwood@milton.u.washington.edu (Ben Henwood)
Subject: Fischer Spits! 
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 17:45:04 GMT


According to UPI via Clari News Services today, Fischer had received
an order from the US Treasury Dept. prohibiting the match.  In his first
press converence in 20 years, Fischer pulled the order out of his 
brief case and spit on it.

Other interesting tidbits:  he refers to himself as world champion;
he said he intends to reside in the US after the match; and he said he
is unlike any other chess player in the world, refusing to use teams
of experts and computers like the 3 Ks, whom he referred to as the 
lowest dogs around.

Great stuff!

So far, I haven't seen any mention of "the girl" who is there with 
Fischer.  The Seattle Times reporter her yesterday, 31 Aug, as a
19-year-old Hungarian Chess prodigy (they had her name, but I didn't
bring in the article).  I heard that Inside Chess had some information
on her, too.

Ben Henwood

Applied Physics Laboratory / University of Washington

benwood@u.washington.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: ekw@world.std.com (Elliott C Winslow)
Subject: Fischer wins game 1
Keywords: Fischer Spassky Sveti Stefan
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 20:39:22 GMT

Fischer won the first game of the match against Spassky, in 49 moves.

This was via AP.

Moves follow.


--Elliott
  Elliott Winslow IM
  ekw@world.std.com
  Assistant Editor
  Chess Life USCF
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
From: ykyeung@cayley.uwaterloo.ca (Michael)
Subject: chess database
Keywords: best function
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 23:48:36 GMT

	Which chess databse considered to be the best ?
	i would like to order one ?