Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/07 Subject: Re: U.C.E.: Introducing RIP-2 multimedia graphics for the Internet! On New Years Eve, Telegrafix sent an ad to the cellular-automata mailing list/newsgroup, for which they "apologized" on Tuesday, 2 Jan. Last Thursday, Pat Clawson copied the apology to news.admin.net-abuse.misc: > We have received complaints that members of this mailing list > received unsolicited mail from TeleGrafix Communications over the > holiday weekend. > Please accept our apologies for any inconvienience this may have > caused you. Clearly, there has been an error here. It is not our > company's policy to spam academic mailing lists. > How this occurred is unknown to us. We can only speculate it was > due to incorrect e-mail information from a customer inquiry or > customer reponse card that was entered into our database.... etc. But yesterday, they sent another copy of the original ad (slightly edited), this time to the cube-lovers mailing list, a list that has everything to do with Rubik's cube and nothing to do with whatever product they are flogging. It seems their "policy" is to send e-mail spam at anything that moves, and feign remorse later. I advise you to ignore any further disingenuous "apologies" from these nuisance-mongers, and of course to refrain from doing anything to advance their business. Dan Hoey posted to news.admin.net-abuse.misc. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil e-mailed to clawson, ca@think, cube-lovers-request. --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/09 Subject: Re: Help wanted for 25 piece cube brett.no...@trw.com (Brett Noble) omits attribution in quoting ud...@guff.ultranet.com (Tim Udall) writing on 100605....@compuserve.com (David Seager)'s question about a puzzle. Brett fails to understand the picture because Tim's drawing is mangled. Perhaps he tried to draw it with a proportional font. But it seems Tim's drawing is supposed to be of a solid "y" pentomino: five cubes assembled flat in the following pattern: _ |_|_ |_|_| |_| |_| I don't know how to assemble 25 of these into a 5x5x5 cube, or even whether it can be done. I also don't know if this is the problem David had in mind. Dan Hoey e-mailed and (I hope) posted. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/19 Subject: Re: Doh. Monty hall problem... pl436...@brownvm.brown.edu (Jamie Dreier) strikes again: > It becomes a matter for game theory when Monty is also trying to > maximize some advantage of his, so that in order to make judgements > about what he is likely to have done you need to model another > rational agent. Since the usual way the problem is presented > does not have Monty trying to maximize his advantage, but instead > either (a) fails to stipulate enough about him to make the problem > determinate, or (b) stipulates that he chooses always to reveal > a door without the big prize (and if he has a choice, he selects > between them at random), the problem is not a problem of game > theory. When last month Jamie lectured us on what classical game theory is, he demonstrated his abysmal ignorance of the subject. So I'm not surprised that his description of its range of applicability displays a similar lack of understanding and accuracy. In case anyone wonders, Jamie is referring in case (a) to the problem in which it is not stipulated that Monty always offers the contestant an opportunity to change from the initial choice, or under what circumstances he offers such an opportunity. In that problem there is only one strategy that can guarantee winning at least 1/3 of the time, and it also happens to guarantee winning at most 1/3 of the time. That strategy can be found with elementary game-theoretic analysis, so of course this is a problem to which game theory applies. We need not assume Monty is "trying to maximize his advantage"--in fact we may be completely ignorant of his strategy and motivation. Jamie wrote before on how he can't see any use in guaranteeing a lower bound on success rate, and I will not attempt to convince him. I will only say that I consider the guaranteed minima that game theory can supply to be a useful decision criterion when a fixed expectation is not calculable. I think you may understand why if you study the subject. Note: The last time this came up, several readers failed to grasp how it might matter whether Monty always offers the contestant an opportunity to switch, given that Monty made the offer in the case at hand. This has been explained any number of times on this newsgroup, so I won't include it here, but if anyone new doesn't see the point, drop me a message by e-mail. Perhaps the people who are collecting the explanations of why it pays to switch in case (b) should also collect these explanations of why it pays not to switch in case (a). Dan Hoey posted and e-mailed Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/20 Subject: Tailored web ad spam (From: skipperj@mail.utexas.edu) I've only looked at about a dozen of these, but there seem to be over a hundred. No crossposting, different subject on each one, generally with a line pretending to refer to the group it's in. But each one is just an ad for the same web page. Despammers, please cancel. Postmaster, please prevent recurrence. ================================================================ Sample message ================================================================ From: skipp...@mail.utexas.edu Newsgroups: talk.bizarre Subject: Bizarre Web Site Date: 19 Jan 1996 05:01:28 GMT Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas one of the weirdest sites i have found http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~skipperj/index.htm ================================================================ List of example message-IDs with group and subject field. ================================================================ <4dmg2b$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.abuse.transcendence Web Site For Transcendental Recovering <4dna8q$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.adoption would anyone adopt HIM? (web site) <4dmkp5$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.beer Beer lovers site! <4dn9s3$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.brother-jed Web Site come and listen to a story.. <4dmm2i$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.consciousness.mysticism BIG bang Web Site <4dmoh0$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.evil Ill-eagle Web Site <4dmp6m$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.food Recipes On The Web <4dmoon$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.freemasonry Illumanti Online Web Page <4dna52$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.geek my web site <4dmpaj$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.genealogy Find out if you are related? Web Site <4dmpm0$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.hemp Mary Jane Web Site <4dn9gr$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.horror Horror Web Site new but gross <4dmpqe$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.illuminati Dark Masonic Influence Web Site <4dn9l7$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.paranormal they say BRYCE haunts the house--New Web Site <4dn9qa$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.rap RAP WEB SITE <4dnarq$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.shenanigans Read The Stories, View The Pictures <4dn9ic$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.stupidity Stupid web site <4dna7h$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> alt.transgendered Man, Woman,Thing??Web Site <4dn9bp$...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> news.misc News Web Page <4dn8j8...@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> talk.bizarre Bizarre Web Site ================================ Dan Hoey posted and e-mailed Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/20 Subject: Re: a puzzle I got for christmas r...@tiac.net (robert a. moeser) writes: > my new challenge is to order the buttons pressed while performing > a minimum solution such that the most number of lights is on at > every step, that is, that the number of lights at each step added > together is a maximum. You might also consider the problem of minimizing the sum of the lights without requiring a minimum-length solution. It would be interesting to see if there is a way of using extra presses to cut down on the total electric bill. Could there be a case where the extra presses include pushing the same button twice? Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/22 Subject: Re: Shortest Electric Cord [ Crosspost to sci.math snipped. Puzzles to rec.puzzles, please. ] dke...@world.std.com (Daniel Keren) writes: > Here's a cute one: Cute the first half-dozen times. [ Lengthy description of a 30x6x6 room, electrical outlet on one 6x6 wall at height 1, appliance on opposite wall at height 5. Connect one to another with a cord along the surfaces. ] > What is the shortest cord necessary to complete the task? > This somewhat resembles problems in navigating robots... It somewhat more closely resembles the "spider and fly" problem in any number of puzzle books. I'm surprised it's not in the rec.puzzles archive; it's been on rec.puzzles several times. jakey...@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Lainahtan) writes: > By "unfolding" the room, I was able to get a hypotenuse of a > triangle 34x8, which is 34.9285 ft. But the shortest solution was requested, not the second shortest. Here's a real puzzle: Find the shortest _integer_ solution that is not parallel to the edges of the room. We only want paths that are straight (on a suitable unfolding of the room). Dan Hoey posted to rec.puzzles Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil and e-mailed. --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/26 Subject: Re: SPOILER to math puzzle 6 dcarr...@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Dana Carroll) writes: : >Two different primes, the product of which is divisble by the sum? : ...The definition of primeness that most people accept only applies : to the positive integers, but in fact the mathematical definition of : primeness applies in any UFD. (Actually, we have irreducibles and : primes, which are not necessarily the same in a UFD, but are : equivalent in a PID). Thus, 3 and -2 satisfy the problem, as well : as 2 and -3. But these are the only ones.... Yes, but 3 and -2 are the same two primes as -3 and 2--they generate the same ideal. So there's only one solution. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.cecil-adams, alt.folklore.urban, rec.arts.books Followup-To: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/26 Subject: Re: Was Lola a Girl or Boy? snopes@netcom.com (snopes) writes: > Jessica Krucek (allro...@ix.netcom.com) wrote: > > Hate to burst you bubble, ladies, aliens, and mutants - but "Lola" > > is the name of the Kinks's song, and "Lolitia" is the name of that > > "famous book by Nabokov" > Thanks for the references. Do you have an ISBN for either one? Snoping again, eh? We all know that the ISBN for _Loalitia_ was confiscated by the FBI for the obvious reasons. And "Lola" is a song, not a book. So instead of an ISBN, it has an ISSN. ObUL: One of the candidates for the DoD standard computer language was code-named "Lolita". Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.cecil-adams, alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/26 Subject: Re: Was Lola a Girl or Boy? r...@msg.ti.com (RR) writes: > th...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu says... > > I think it is pretty clear that Lola is a transvestite.... > Why does all this remind me of "The Crying Game"? I'm not that > familiar w/ the song, but how far does he go with Lola? I think > past a certain point, he would know whether it was a man or a woman. > Did they only kiss? Did they do more? Why does all this remind me of _M. Butterfly_? According to the news reports, it was adapted from a true case of a man unknowingly having a passionate affair (and years of marriage?) with a female impersonator. Speaking of which [smarm alert! smarm alert!], why does all this remind me of "The Newlywed Game"? Dan "That'd be the Butterfly, Bob" Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.tla, alt.anagrams, alt.quotations Followup-To: alt.anagrams From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/26 Subject: Re: PALINDROMES [ Note: Mark Brader posted the following article to rec.puzzles and [ alt.folklore.urban. I'm passing it along to alt.quotations, [ alt.anagrams, alt.tla and the previous writers in the thread, [ so that my skepticism does not go unchallenged, and in hopes [ that someone will be able to go and verify the work. [ Thanks, Mark! ] > Rob eventually concluded that the works [named earlier in the > thread] were hoaxes. Well, at least one of them exists. According to their library computer (telnet melvyl.ucop.edu), UCLA has a copy of it. Perhaps some reader closer to there than me would like to verify the point. No ISBN or publisher is given, and the catalog entry says "photocopy", which suggests that Levine had to publish it himself and accordingly it won't be widely available. # CAT-> find title dr.awkward # # Your title search is being interpreted as the title word search: # FIND title words DR.AWKWARD # # Search request: FIND title words DR.AWKWARD # Search result: 1 record at all libraries # # Type HELP for other display options. # # 1. Levine, Lawrence. # Dr.Awkward & Olson in Oslo : a palindromic novel / by Lawrence Levine. St. # Augustine, Florida : Lawrence Levine, 1980. # UCLA Clark GV 1493 L66 f # # CAT-> d long # Search request: FIND title words DR.AWKWARD # Search result: 1 record at all libraries # # Type HELP for other display options. # # 1. # Author: Levine, Lawrence. # Title: Dr.Awkward & Olson in Oslo : a palindromic novel / by Lawrence # Levine. St. Augustine, Florida : Lawrence Levine, 1980. # Description: 167, [2] leaves ; 29 cm. # # Notes: Photocopy. # # Subjects: Palindromes. # Literary recreations. # # Call numbers: UCLA Clark GV 1493 L66 f > Since follow-up articles will probably concentrate on the degree to > which the various sources can be believed, I've directed them to > alt.folklore.urban. Remember: if you know something about this, be > sure to tell us not only what you know but where you learned it > from. If anyone has actually _seen_ a palindromic novel, I'll be > most happily surprised. I've put rec.puzzles back in, since the book is apparently genuine. -- Mark Brader, m...@sq.com "Men! Give them enough rope and they'll dig SoftQuad Inc., Toronto their own grave." -- EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY My text in this article is in the public domain. --- Newsgroups: sci.math From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/01/30 Subject: Re: IS THIS AN NP-COMPLETE PROBLEM? [ Apologies if this is a duplicate. My original post does not seem to have been propagated. ] walt...@thing.declab.queensu.ca (Michael Walton) asked: > > Suppose I have a NATURAL NUMBER EQUATION of the form > > a1x1 + a2x2 + .... anxn = C > > where a1,a2,...,an and C are natural number constants > > and x1,...xn are natural number variables. > > Is finding a solution an NP-complete problem? Yes, it is NP-complete. Strictly speaking, the NP-complete problem is "deciding whether a solution exists," but that transforms pretty directly into "finding a solution." The problem is a special case of integer programming. Garey and Johnson (p. 245) cite S. Sahni, "Computationally related problems," in SIAM J Comput. 3, 262-279 [1974]. I know a straightforward transformation from exact cover (like for knapsack); request it by e-mail if you are interested. This also suggests the result that the problem is only weakly NP-complete--there is a dynamic programming solution that runs in O(n C) arithmetic operations. "N.R.Bruin" writes: > certainly not: > xn=1/an * (C-a1x1-...a[n-1]x[n-1]) > Therefore, we need to solve > a1x1+...+a[n-1]x[n-1] = C (mod an) > which is not very hard. Your approach leads to an easy solution over the integers, but a solution in natural numbers was required. Dan posted and e-mailed Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.radio.networks.npr From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/02 Subject: Is Harold Brodkey Josef Brodsky? Last week NPR News reported the death of Josef Brodsky, Nobel Laureate in Literature (1987). They mentioned a New York Times report that he died of an apparent heart attack. Dianne Rehm and the New Yorker both reported the death last week of Harold Brodkey, a poet and novelist. Dianne said he died of complications of AIDS; the New Yorker mentioned him taking AZT. Are these really different people? Or is NPR being disingenuously (and dis-informatively) squeamish about reporting the circumstances of the same man's death? Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/02 Subject: Re: picture/design/engineering puzzle Jonathan Haas (jh...@primenet.com) wrote: : Michael J. Chinni (DOIM|SA) wrote: : >Here's a puzzle a friend of mine posed to me a few years ago. I : >have not yet figured out a solution to it, and my friend won't : >give me a solution (but he says there are many of them). : >I have posed this to the group oracle and they suggested I post it. : [SPOILER follows] but his spoiler is incorrect. I enclose it below (with tab damage repaired) followed by a corrected spoiler. : >+---+ +---+ : >| | | | : >| | | | : >| +---+ | : >| | : >| | : >| +---+ | : >| | | | Here are 2 orthogonal views of the same object. : >| | | | Each of these views is 3 units wide by 5 units high : >| +---+ | (the square in the center is 1x1). : >| | : >| | All lines are solid. : >| +---+ | : >| | | | : >| | | | : >+---+ +---+ What does the other view look like ? : > : >+---+ +---+ /| : >| | | | / | : >| | | | / | : >| +---+ | /- -| : >| | / | : >| | / | : >| +---+ | +---/ | : >| | | | | / | : >| | | | | / | : >| +---+ | |/ | : >| | / | : >| | / | : >| +---+ | /| | : >| | | | / | : >| | | | / | | : >+---+ +---+ /---------------+ : > : Lines internal to the triangle are dashed; all others are : solid. : The object is a triangular block, with square notches cut out of : the centers of the edges, and a square block protruding : from the center of the long edge. Missing from the problem statement is the mention that all the hidden lines are shown as dashed lines--i.e., that there are no hidden lines in the original views. Jonathan's solution is erroneous; the solid he depicts would have top and side views that look like: +-------------------+ | | | | +---+ +---+ +---+ | | | | | | | | | | +---+ +---+ +---+ | | | | +-------------------+ A corrected spoiler follows: _+ _- | _- | _+ | _- : | _- : | +----_+ : | | _- : | |_- : | _+ : | _- : | _- : | _+'''''''''''''''''' | _- | _- | +-----------------------------+ As with Jonathan's solution, this starts with a triangular prism made out of half a 5x5x3 block, with half a 1x1x1 block protruding from the hypotenuse-derived face. But there is also a 1x1 groove cut lengthwise in the other two rectangular faces. ObTrivia: Wasn't this on rec.puzzles before? As I recall, it's out of some mensoid puzzle book or test. ObPuzzle(hard): Prove that this solution is unique (assuming a solid bounded by polygonal faces, all edges shown, no hidden edges in original views). Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/04 Subject: Re: update to picture/design/engineering puzzle (corrected spoiler) Michael J. Chinni (DOIM|SA) (mchi...@cor6.pica.army.mil) asks for an object given two orthogonal views +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ | | | | | | | | | +--+ | | +--+ | | | | | | +--+ | | +--+ | | | | | | | | | | +--+ | | +--+ | | | | | | +--+ | | +--+ | | | | | | | | | +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ specifying that : ... there are no hidden lines not shown (i.e. if : a hidden line is in a view, then it is behind a solid line). Dennis Yelle has noted that an earlier solution I posted was incorrect. I have since found an object with these two views, and it appears after the spoiler alert Third orthogonal view Three-dimensional view +--+--+--+ +--------------+ | / / + +--+ +--+ +--+ | / / / / + +--+ +--+ +--+ | / / + +--------------+ | | +--+ +--+ +--+ | | | | +--+ +--+ +--+ | | +--------------+ It's made out of two pieces of cardboard. A somwhat simpler possibility uses just one piece of cardboard at a 45-degree angle to both original directions of view. The third orthogonal view is a straight line. I doubt there is a way to make such an object without using two-dimensional components. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/06 Subject: Re: update to picture/design/engineering puzzle (corrected spoiler) Night before last I wrote: : Michael J. Chinni (mchi...@cor6.pica.army.mil) asks : for an object given two orthogonal views : +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ : | | | | | | | | : | +--+ | | +--+ | : | | | | : | +--+ | | +--+ | : | | | | | | | | : | +--+ | | +--+ | : | | | | : | +--+ | | +--+ | : | | | | | | | | : +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ : specifying that : : ... there are no hidden lines not shown (i.e. if : : a hidden line is in a view, then it is behind a solid line). I think that I misinterpreted the problem, which was actually to show an object given the coordinated top and front views: +--+ +--+ | | | | | +--+ | | | | +--+ | | | | | | +--+ | | | | +--+ | | | | | +--+ +--+ +--+ +--+ | | | | | +--+ | | | | +--+ | | | | | | +--+ | | | | +--+ | | | | | +--+ +--+ By coordinated, I mean that the left and right sides of the top view correspond to the left and right sides of the front view. With this in mind, I have come up with some answers: The simplest solution is to have a single oblique plane figure: Side view: _+ _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- _- + Projection: .......................... ..'': : ..'' : : ..'' : +----+ +----+ : ..'' : / / / / : ..'' : / / / / : ..'' : / / / / : : :/ +----+ / : : / / : : / / : : / / : : / +----+ / : : / / / / : : / / / / : : / /: / / : : / +----+ / : : / / : : / / : : / /.................... : / +----+ / ..'' : / /' / / ..'' : / / / / ..'' : ..'/ / / / ..'' : ..'' +----+ +----+ ..'' :::.......................'' I suspect this is the expected answer, but it is not the only possibility. If we assume that the object is made of polygons, then the object may consists of the above shape with the addition of six square vertical flanges and a cube. I show it here in a slightly exploded projection, with hidden lines not shown. _-+--_-+ _-+----+..............._-+ _--- / +- |+- / / _--- | _--- / | || / / _--- | _--- / | _-+|/ / _--- | _--- / +----+ / _--- | +- / / +- | | / / | | | / / | | | / _-+--_-+ / | | | / +----+- / / | | | / | | / / | | | / | |/ / | | | / +----+ / | | | / / | | | / / | | | / / | _-+ | / _-+--_-+ / | _--- | / +- |+- / / | _--- | / | || / / | _--- |/ | _-+|/ / | _--- +----+- +----+.................+- There are several possibilities for intermediate shapes, but they are subsets of the above. Note that four more of the small flanges are possible, but they would not be connected with the main object. If curved surfaces are allowed, the object can be made arbitrarily close to the following solid of volume 56: _-+--_-+........................_-+--_-+ _--- _--- | _--- _--- | _--- _--- | _--- _--- | _--- _--- | _--- _--- | _--- _--- _-+--_-+ _--- _--- | +----+- +----+- | +----+- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _-+--_-+ | | | | | | +----+- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _-+--_-+ | | | | | | +----+- _-+ | | | | | | | _--- | | | | | | | | _--- _-+ | | _-+ | | +----+- _--- | | _--- | | _--- | | _--- | | _--- | | _--- | | _--- | | _--- +----+-.........................+----+- Most of the edges must be rounded, and several faces curved slightly obliquely, to avoid forming extra hidden lines in the original drawings. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/09 Subject: Re: Hotel Electrocution lzir...@aol.com (LZirlin) writes: [ of the New Carrollton, Maryland Ramada Inn ] > A young woman got caught in a rainstorm last summer and came into the > Ramada soaking wet. She went up to her room, inserted her magnetic key > card, and due to faulty wiring, completed a circuit and was electrocuted. The story was reported in the Washington Post on Tuesday, 27 June 1995. Since that hotel was the venue of the Disclave science fiction convention from 1984 to 1991, the Washington Science Fiction Association was very interested in the story. One of our members checked with the county police, and got a somewhat more complete story than the newspaper reported. The hotel has exterior doors to the rooms that face into a central courtyard with a swimming pool. I do not know whether the woman had been caught in rain or had been swimming: police reports that she was barefoot suggest the latter. The concrete walkway she was standing on was wet, either from rain or from water leaking from a nearby air conditioning condenser. The air conditioner was improperly grounded, electrifying the wet concrete, but her door's key-card lock was grounded, with the described fatal results. So while your story may be literally correct, it would be best to rephrase it to avoid the incorrect inference that the faulty wiring was in the door lock. Dan posted and e-mailed. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/09 Subject: Re: Request for dental horror stories Phil writes: > Does anybody have any stories/ urban myths or otherwise concerning > dentists and things dental. I would be very grateful. Well, the standard one is that the dentist gasses his patient and has his way with her. Plays on all our fears of helplessness and mistrust. It may have actually happened, but the part about the x-rays of the toothbrush is kind of hard to believe. (The missing kidney is right out.) I was amazed to see on Hill Street Blues where the cops ran a sting operation on just such a dentist. The series also had an oriental restaurant that was caught kidnapping cats, and sewers full of alligators. Seems to me there was a groom who embarasses the unfaithful bride at the altar, too. Sometimes I wondered if their scriptwriters were doing all their research reading Brunvand. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/09 Subject: Re: A toast to Marie Antoinette's Breasts! David S. Pate writes: [Champagne glasses from moulds of Marie Antoinette's breasts] > >... we're talking about the > >shallow champagne glasses, not the fluted kind. Speaking of champagne flutes, didn't they start becoming popular back in the 1960s? When was Madonna born, anyway? Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban, sci.lang, alt.usage.english From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/09 Subject: Re: Get Down to Brass Tacks [was: Re: Burning Houses for Nails] halde...@sas.upenn.edu (Gene N. Haldeman) writes: > her...@american.edu (Herschel Browne) wrote: > >rabu...@patch.tandem.com says... > >>Why brass? Why tacks? > >... Cockney rhyming slang for "facts". > Leonard R. N. Ashley, in his essay "The Cockney's Horn Book: The > Sexual Side of Rhyming Slang" (as read by me in *Opus Maledictorum*, > a compilation of articles from *Maledicta*, edited by Reinhold Aman, > ISBN 1-56924-836-2) certainly claims so.... Also Julian Franklyn, _A Dictionary of Rhyming Slang_ [Routledge, 1991]. ``Of 19 C. origin, it had become naturalized in America by 1903, and many people believe it to have been imported here from America.'' Partridge (or his posthumous editor Beale) thinks so too. I think it's a choice between r.s. and orig.unk.--the carpet-tackers are just spouting folklore. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/11 Subject: Re: John Brunner's Game of Fencing Matthew Burke writes: > The game (not to be confused with the sport) > is played on a grid of lines. Players take turns picking > vertices and trying to enclose space with triangles. > For a more accurate description, see > The description leaves at least one fundamental ambiguity. After mentioning that triangles formed by one player may not include points claimed by the opponent, Brunner writes: : A coordinate claimed by the opponent which lies on a horizontal or : vertical line between apices of a proposed triangle shall be deemed : included and renders the triangle invalid. A coordinate claimed by the : opponent which lies on a true diagonal (45 degrees) between apices of : a proposed triangle shall be deemed excluded. This does not mention points that are on an oblique line not at a slope of plus or minus one. A . . . . B . . X . . . . . . . C . Is point X included or excluded from triangle ABC? Or does he mean to require all triangles to have edges parallel to the eight compass points? Note that the definition of inclusion defines the scoring of the triangles, as well as their validity. : [ Lots of stuff about being allowed to use a special-purpose device : to compute the score from a triangle and about score-keeping ] I take it this is your ellipsis, not Brunner's. Is there anything there that clarifies the oblique-line problem? My copy of _Shockwave Rider_ is not immediately accessible. Dan posted and e-mailed Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: talk.bizarre From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/14 Subject: VD H Beauties blush to pink Among cyan nenuphars. Hon, you ache my teeth. D "why do they insist on uncle joe being buried with his kidneys" H Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: sci.math From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/23 Subject: Re: Verifying whether or not a number is an ALGEBRAIC INTEGER Aashish Goela (ago...@mustang.uwo.ca) wrote: : I'm just interested in finding some other methods on how to create a : polynomial so that a given number is an algebraic integer. Well, of course you can't if the number is not an algebraic integer. The minimum-degree monic polynomial of an algebraic number over the rationals is unique [``(Prove!)''--Herstein] so once you have it you just see whether its coefficients are integers. If you don't know whether your polynomial is of minimum degree, try factoring it. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.fandom, rec.games.abstract Followup-To: rec.games.abstract From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/29 Subject: John Brunner's game "Fencing" I seem to be having some trouble getting this message propagated; apologies if you see it more than once. The rules of John Brunner's board game "Fencing" (not to be confused with the swordplay sport of the same name) are published in his novel _Shockwave Rider_. In this game, players claim coordinates from a rectangular array (under a complicated protocol) and form triangles with the coordinates they have claimed. After mentioning that triangles formed by one player may not include coordinates claimed by the opponent, Brunner writes: A coordinate claimed by the opponent which lies on a horizontal or vertical line between apices of a proposed triangle shall be deemed included and renders the triangle invalid. A coordinate claimed by the opponent which lies on a true diagonal (45 degrees) between apices of a proposed triangle shall be deemed excluded. There is a major omission here, in that he does not mention points that are on an oblique line not at a 45-degree angle, such as: A . . . . . B . . . . X . . . . C . . . . Is coordinate X included or excluded from triangle ABC? (Note that the definition of inclusion affects the scoring of the triangles, as well as their validity.) Initially, I suspected that Brunner might have meant to require all triangles to have edges parallel to the eight compass points. But on page 122 he mentions a game in which "a single slender triangle running almost the full width of the field" was formed. If all angles were a multiple of 45 degrees, then there would be only one shape of triangle: an isosceles right triangle. That shape is not particularly slender, and it would be meaningless to describe such triangles by their slenderness or fatness anyway--the only distinction between triangles would be size and orientation. So my question to the SF readers and fans is: did anyone ever play Fencing with John Brunner, or talk or correspond with him about it in enough detail to resolve this problem? Followups to this article are directed to rec.games.abstract, which covers this sort of game; if you want to share your other reminiscences about Brunner, please edit the newsgroup line. Thanks. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.usage.english From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/02/29 Subject: Re: The weirdest Greengrocers' Apostrophe a...@cats.ucsc.edu (George T Amis) writes: > ". . . people suffering from AID'S . . ." A few days ago on alt.radio.networks.npr someone offered "kudo's" for one of the reporters. I guess he knew it wasn't really a plural.... Dan How many kudoi in a kudzu? Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/03 Subject: Re: Dave Sim challenges Friend of Lulu rsha...@delphi.com (Rick Sharer) writes: > Enough about definitions. Bottom line: FoL made a public statement > decrying censorship while some of its individual members posted things that > would lead me to believe they have the potential to censor were they so > empowered. You keep saying they did. But I've read this whole thread and I haven't seen ANY of these "individual members" posting ANY "things" that suggest ANYTHING of the sort. I've seen several members (and non-members supporting the organization) who post things stating the exact opposite. I think you're making it all up. So put up or shut up. Who are these "members" you've seen post and what are these "things" that suggest censorship. Quote the posts, for a change, so I can tell what you're talking about. No more "I have a list of fifty-eight card-carrying would-be censors employed by the Friends of Lulu." I'm sorry, Senator, that's just not enough. You know, it sounds more and more like you've swallowed Sims's insinuations whole. And we all know he's just trying to see if he can pee far enough to get at his ex-wife. What's your role in this game? Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles, alt.usage.english Followup-To: alt.usage.english From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/08 Subject: Solubility (was Re: FreeCell) t...@dvorak.amd.com (Tom Maciukenas) writes: > Carl Witthoft wrote: > >... Imagine my surprise on finding that "insoluble" has as an > >alternate definition "not solvable." 'Specially as "insolubility" > >does not have such an alternate. How come? What's wrong with soluble as "admitting of solution" in senses of both "solving" and "dissolving"? Omitting the latter, soluble as "capable of being untied or loosed" is cited in OED as 1613 T. Adams "If Balaams Asse hath but an audible voyce and a soluble Purse" and 1847 Tennyson "More soluble is this knot, By gentleness than war" and as "capable of being solved or explained" in c 1705 Bp. Berkeley "In physiques I have a vast view of things soluble hereby" and later. I will freely grant all senses of soluble as "not constipated" and "laxative" as archaic. Solubility meant (botanically) the "capability of easy separation into parts" as well as (generally) the "capability of being solved or explained" in several 19th c. OED glosses. I see no reason to drop either word in any sense now. > That's just another example of our language being corrupted by > misuse that's so widespread it becomes common usage. Shall I speak of examples of our language being corrupted by ignorance of vocabulary and history? Are you trying to tell Tennyson and Berkeley how they misuse the English language? Any follow-up messages are directed to alt.usage.english, where such questions are germane. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.MIkl --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/13 Subject: Re: Airhose Up the Butt Story? j...@cpcug.org (John Varela) writes: > Pat Germain writes of: > >... the infamous "airhose up the butt" legend. Surely, others > >have heard this. Whenever two or more people are near an air > >compressor, one person squirts air at the others rear end.... I understand that when more than one housecleaner works in the same room, one will inevitably goose the other with a vacuum cleaner, after which the airplane lavatory story (RTFFAQ) is exchanged. Occasionally this is followed by the Hoover Dustette story (GO,RI). > There was a thread on this very thing a few months ago. It was > shown that indeed it is a dangerous thing to do and ruptured colons > do occur as a result. I paid a proctologist $250 to inflate my rectum a couple of years ago, so he could look around. The answer: raspberry seeds look a lot like tiny blood clots, even afterwards. The moral: Flush quick and don't look back. But I would definitely not advise trying this at home, kids. ObUL: A custodian who was vacuuming a machine shop and a mechanic armed with an airhose engaged in baric warfare. A blow-up suck-out fight ensued requiring that an ambulance be called. The EMT's laughed so hard they fell into a lathe. Dan "what is the strangest place you've swept up?" Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/20 Subject: Heavy Weather comments & questions Well, I'll say I quite enjoyed the television show, my compliments to the director, uh, whose name I didn't catch. I notice people who wanted the Empress fatter, but be thankful at least she was a black Berkshire! _Plum Lines_ has the story of how she was almost played by a pig of another color and breed. And it got me to reread the book (at last). Yes, the tattoo is there, but that bit of holding practice scrimmages to test Pirbright's nobbler-catching ability seems a bit sillier than the Master. Oh well, I expect theatrical types to engage in some physical humour. Getting tackled in the mud does give a more vivid motivation for Hugo Carmody's departure than the book. The scene where Monty, having studied the _E. Britt._ on pigs, comes up with some small talk about another breed (stirring Emsworth to defend the Empress, of course) and mentioning the unfortunate word "carcass" was new, and brilliant. Of course Lord E. going off muttering "carcass, carcass" stirs up the perennial debate: potty, or dim? dim, or potty? I always thought he played exactly the poor child of nature whom the Fates humor. But there are suggestions it's just an act, designed to give his sisters the pip. As when they were "driving him half mad with some nonsense about his nephew Ronald's money." "However for some time he had been adopting the statesmanlike policy of saying `Eh?' `Yes?' `Oh, ah?' and `God bless my soul' at fairly regular intervals, and this had given him leisure to devote his mind to the things that really mattered." [p.217 in Penguin] But to an impartial observer the question is undecidable--either he's solid dim or a consummate actor. Are people objecting that he never winks into the wings? Where's your sense of ambiguity! Nothing wrong with a castle-shaped sty. If you tell your castle architect to build you a sty, and you encourage him throughout and impress him with its importance, I'm not surprised if you get crenellations. But I must object to the roof leaking! They built better. Of course they did it to motivate the Empress's move--the original had her moved so as to be closer to Pirbright's cottage (and thus easier to guard) which makes more sense, but is in conflict with the previously mentioned mud-play. I loved the steam-tractor they used for transport. I learned some vocabulary from the story. Galahad's `You needn't be coy, Beach. This meeting is tiled. No reporters present' [112] is in reference to the Freemasons' habit of stationing a fellow called a tiler (or tyler) with a sword at the door to keep out busybodies. When Pilbeam takes exception to being told he has "as much enterprise as a slug" (`Much less,' said Lady Julia. `I've seen some quite nippy slugs.') Lady Julia soothes his indignation by telling him they were calling him a slug `in a purely Pickwickian sense.' [182] Apparently this is in reference to some innocuous insults in the _Pickwick Papers_. I'll have to remember that the next time I hand someone a particularly juicy _mot_. It's adding insult to insult if they can't take offense, what? I'll grant I was a bit stunned when Monty describes Lady Julia as `The jovial hunting type. Lady Di. Bluff goodwill, the jolly smile for everyone, and slabs of soup at Christmas time for the deserving villagers.' [55] I mean, do they speak of all huntresses as "Lady Di"? I thought they invented the form for the current Diana-formerly-known- as-Princess. There is one bit that has me a bit mystified, when Monty is describing Julia to Sue [still 55]: `Haven't you met her yet?' `No. She's been over in Biarritz.' `But is returning?' `I suppose so.' `'Myes. Post-haste, I should imagine. 'Myes!' `For goodness sake, don't say ``'Myes''. You're making my flesh creep. Is she such a terror?' What does it mean these "'Myes"es, eh? My best guess is some cross-talk in Jekyll and Hyde where the good doctor does the Oedipus guilt-trip, but that's just a guess--does anyone know? All in all, _Heavy Weather_'s my dish, and I thought the television did it about as much justice as you can get without the Master to stage it. And it's got my favorite injunction against the evils of teetotal, the hedgehog poisoning story [44]. Got to go now, getting thirsty. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles, alt.radio.networks.npr Followup-To: alt.radio.networks.npr From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/21 Subject: NPR Sunday Puzzle for 17 March The Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle this week was exceptionally good: : Start with a grid of 5x5 unit squares, which may be considered to : be made up of 60 unit line segments. What is the smallest number : of segments that can be removed so that no square of any size : remains? Since I live in NPR's home town, I can't listen to the puzzle on the radio, but a friend sent me an e-mail copy. It's too late to send your answers to puz...@NPR.org, but you may want to try your hand at solving the puzzle between now and the answer broadcast on 24 March. I've found some solutions with proof of minimality (hint: gur nafjre vf abg svsgrra), after which I wrote a program that generated all the solutions. I plan to post that to rec.puzzles next week. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/21 Subject: Re: Heavy Weather comments & questions jz...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Joann Zimmerman) writes: > > : What does it mean these "'Myes"es, eh? > Umm, actually they are short for "mmmm, yes" or "ummm, yes," .... For which I am most obliged. Please accept my effusive thanks for this clarification. pars...@aol.com (Parsing) writes: > >I mean, do they speak of all huntresses as "Lady Di"? > >I thought they invented the form for the current Diana-formerly-known- > >as-Princess. > My Dear Mr. Hoey, > I am shocked at your suggestion that the only possible Lady Diana is > either a goddess of the hunt or a rather poorly disciplined princess of > the late 20th century. > The fact is that Lady Diana is a sister to Lord Emsworth and Gally and > .... Oh, ah. What I meant to suggest is that I don't recall ever hearing the last-mentioned Diana's name contracted as "Lady Di". Do you really think Monty refers to her when he describes Lady Julia as `The jovial hunting type. Lady Di.'? I would expect him to use simile rather than metaphor to avoid confusion between the two contemporary persons. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/26 Subject: Re: "Dodgem" . . . any info? d...@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) writes: > I now have a complete table of 5x5 Dodgem positions (i.e., for each > legal position with X to move, either X wins, or O wins, or it is a > draw). There aren't any surprises: 5x5 Dodgem, like 4x4 Dodgem, is > still a draw. In fact, even the terrible move 1. b1-a1 is enough to > draw the 5x5 game. (It loses on a 4x4 board.) Wow, great work. Of course, it would be more startling to see a board in which the second player can still draw after 1. (not b1-a1), a2-a1. It seems to me that the reason the game gets so drawish is that many sheepdogs can gang up on one sheep, forcing a draw even if the rest of the flock gets away. Does this work even if the flock has a larger field to run on? Suppose we call N-of-M Dodgem the game played on an N x N board with M pieces on each side. So regular Dodgem is 2-of-3 and you've looked at 3-of-4 and 4-of-5. What about 3-of-5? 3-of-6? A surer way of making the game drawless is to forbid repeated positions. Thus the rule "you lose if you prevent your opponent from moving" is extended to "... to a position not encountered before." I imagine this might have a chilling effect--perhaps we might find the first player losing on some boards. But it also makes the game much harder to analyze exhaustively. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/26 Subject: Re: NPR puzzle for 3-24-96 Richard Renner writes: > NPR Weekend Edition puzzle with Liane Hansen and Will Shortz, > 3-24-96. Results of the previous puzzle (17 March 1996) were: > The puzzle for this week takes a five-by-five square matrix. > That is, it is composed of twenty-five one-by-one squares in > a big five-by-five square. It has sixty (60) individual line > segments. What is the minimum number of line segments that when > removed, prevent the formation of any square of any size? The > answer is 14. Will did not explain the answer, but he offered > to send it to anyone submitting a self-addressed postage-paid > envelope. Submissions of 13 are wrong for missing the one big > five-by-five square. Liane reported 60 answers. I do not see any sense in the comment that "submissions of 13 are wrong for missing the one big five-by-five square." I believe I have a complete solution, and it implies that there is no way to prevent the formation of all squares except the outer border by removing only 13 segments. Of course, it is easy to remove 13 segments and leave several squares, but why should we distinguish the border in such a case? We can just as well remove 13 segments and leave several squares not including the outer border (ObPuzzle: how few squares?). Spoiler follows: _______ |_| |___| | At least 14 segments must be removed. Here is an | |_| | |_| example of a 14-segment solution. |_| |_| | | | |_| |_|_| It is easy to verify by hand that 14 segments |_|___|___| were removed and that no square remains. To show this is the fewest possible, I first show that at least 13 segments must be removed. Consider the 25 1x1 squares together with the single 5x5 square forming the outside border. Each of these 26 squares must be broken, and each segment belongs to exactly two of these squares. Therefore at least 13 segments must be removed. By the above argument, if exactly 13 segments are removed, then the 26 squares must be grouped in 13 pairs, each pair sharing a removed seg- ment. Thus there will be 12 pairs of 1x1 squares that form dominoes, and one 1x1 square opening onto the border. If we ignore the opening on the 1x1 square, we can view this as a tiling of a 5x5 square with 12 dominoes and one monomino, subject to the constraints that: 1. The monomino abuts the outside border of the 5x5 square, and 2. The tile edges must not form any square, unless that square includes a segment on which the monomino abuts the border. I now show that no such tiling is possible. Let us consider the possible ways that the tiles covering a corner of the 5x5 and its two neighbors might appear in a tiling by dominoes and one monomino: . . Case A . Case B . Case C :_ Case D . Case E :___ :_ :_ | | :___ | | | | |___ | |_ |_|___ |___|_ |_|_|... |_|___|... |_|_|... |_|___|... |_|___|... Case A is impossible because it forms a 2x2 square. Because there is only one monomino, three of the corners must be case B. These three case B's will cover the center square of three of the four sides of the 5x5, so the fourth corner cannot be case D. Nor can it be case C, by the classical checkerboard-tiling argument--the remainder of the _________ 5x5 square could not be tiled with dominoes. b |___|___| | b Therefore the fourth corner must be case E, | | |_| and the border of the square looks like the |_| _| | figure at left. It has an illegal 4x4 square, | |___| |_| though. This contradiction establishes that b |_|___|_|_| e at least 14 segments must be removed. I wrote a computer program to generate all the 14-segment solutions. There are 720 solutions if we distinguish patterns that differ only in their orientation on the paper. If we consider all rotations and reflections of a pattern to be the same, there are 91 solutions, shown below. The first twelve drawings follow an abbreviated format. A unit square marked with an asterisk should have three of its four segments added; a corner unit square marked with a period should have one of its two border segments added. When this is done in all possible ways, each of these drawings yields several patterns (the number of patterns listed below the drawing). The other 16 drawings stand for one pattern each. _________ _________ _________ _________ _______ . ______ |___|_ | | | |___|___| |___|___| | | |___|___| | |___| |_ |___| |_| | | |_ * _| |_| | _| | | |_____|_| | | |___| | |_| | |_| | | | |_| |_| |_| * ___| | | * |_| |_|___|___| * _| | |_| | |_| | |_| |_| | |_| | | |_|___| | |_ * |_| | |___|_ | | |___|_| | | | | |_|_| | | |_|_| | | |_|___| |_| |___|_| |_| . |___ * _| . |___|_|_| * _|___|_| |_|___|_* 16 16 8 8 7 4 _________ _________ _________ _______ . _________ _______ . | |___|___| | |___|___| | |_ |___| |___|___|_ | |___|___| | |___| |_ |_| | _| | |_| |___| | |_| |_| | | | |___|___| |_| |___| | |_| | |_| | | |_ * |_| | |_| | |_| | |_| | |_| |_| |_____| | |_| | |_| | | |_| |_| |_|___| | | | | |_| | | |_| |_|_| | | |_|___| | |_| | |_| | |_|_| | | | |___| |_|_| * _| |_|_| . |_|___|_| |_|___| |_| . |_|_| |_| |___|_|_|_| 4 4 2 2 2 2 _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ | |___|___| | |___|___| | |___|___| | |___|___| |___| |___| |___|___| | |_| |___| | |_| |___| | |_| |_____| |_| |___| | | | |_| |_ | |_____|_| | | | | |_| | |_| | |_| | |_|___| | _|_| | |_| |_| | |_| | |_|___|___| |_|_|_| | | |___|_| | | |_|___| | | | _|_| | | | |_|_| | | | _|___| | |___| |_|_| |___| |_|_| |___| |_|_| |_|___|_|_| |_|___|_|_| |_|___| |_| _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ |___|___| | | |___|___| | |___|___| |___|___| | |___| |___| | |___|___| | |___| |_| |_| | |_ | |_| | | | | | |___| |_| | | |_| | | |_| |___| | |_| | |_| | | | |_| |_| | | |_| |_| |_| | |_| | |_| | | |_| |___| | |_| | |_| | | | |_|_| |_| | |_|_| |_| | _|_| | | | | |_|_|_| | | |___|_| | |_| |_|_|_| |___|_| |_| |___|_| |_| |___|_|_|_| |_|___| |_| |_|___| |_| _________ _________ _________ _________ |___| |___| | |___|___| |___|___| | |___|___| | | |___| | | |_|_____| | | |_____|_| | |_____|_| |_| |___|_| |___|___|_| |_|___|___| |_|___|___| | |_|___| | | |_____| | | |_____| | | | |___| | |_|___| |_| |_|___| |_| |_|___| |_| |_|___| |_| If there were a 13-segment pseudo-solution that failed only because of the outer border, then removing one border segment from that solution would yield a correct 14-segment solution, which should be shown above. Then it would be possible to add one border segment to one of the above solutions to form the 13-segment pseudo-solution. But examination shows that adding a border segment to any of the above solutions will form (at least) a 1x1 square. Therefore, no such pseudo-solution exists (unless my program has a flaw). Can anyone see a sensible interpretation of the comment about erroneous 13-segment solutions? ObPuzzle: Dan Asimov asks how many segments must be removed to leave no square on a 25-square-unit torus. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/03/28 Subject: Re: Programs that output themselves (Ooops--ignore the previous buggy version if you see it) Wang TianXing writes: > For the 'portability', here's a 330-character one: > program s;const p='program s;const p=';a='a';aa=''';';aaa='a=''';aaaa > ='''';aaaaa='begin write(p,aaaa,p,aa,aaa,a,aa,a,aaa,aaaa,aa,aa,a,a, > aaa,aaa,aaaa,aa,a,a,a,aaa,aaaa,aaaa,aa,a,a,a,a,aaa,aaaaa,aa,aaaaa) > end.';begin write(p,aaaa,p,aa,aaa,a,aa,a,aaa,aaaa,aa,aa,a,a,aaa,aaa, > aaaa,aa,a,a,a,aaa,aaaa,aaaa,aa,a,a,a,a,aaa,aaaaa,aa,aaaaa)end. Don't Pascal programs have to have end-of-lines? I seem to recall the compiler ignoring everything past column 72. I've found a program that's just fits in that margin. program s;const bbb='program s;const bbb';a='a';b='b';bb=');writeln('; aa='''';ab='=''';ba=''';'; aaa='begin writeln(bbb,ab,bbb,ba,a,ab,a,ba,b,ab,b,ba,b,b,ab,bb,ba'; aba='a,a,ab,aa,aa,ba,a,b,ab,ab,aa,ba,b,a,ab,aa,ba,ba'; abb='a,a,a,ab,aaa,ba);writeln(a,b,a,ab,aba,ba);writeln(a,b,b,ab,abb,ba'; baa='b,a,a,ab,baa,ba);writeln(b,a,b,ab,bab,ba);writeln(aaa,bb'; bab='aba,bb);writeln(abb);writeln(bb,baa);writeln(bb,bab)end.'; begin writeln(bbb,ab,bbb,ba,a,ab,a,ba,b,ab,b,ba,b,b,ab,bb,ba);writeln( a,a,ab,aa,aa,ba,a,b,ab,ab,aa,ba,b,a,ab,aa,ba,ba);writeln( a,a,a,ab,aaa,ba);writeln(a,b,a,ab,aba,ba);writeln(a,b,b,ab,abb,ba );writeln(b,a,a,ab,baa,ba);writeln(b,a,b,ab,bab,ba);writeln(aaa,bb );writeln(aba,bb);writeln(abb);writeln(bb,baa);writeln(bb,bab)end. If you have a Pascal compiler, be sure to tell me whether it works! Dan Hoey 1U23R11R'''1U23R11R''' Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil No interest in null programs. --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/02 Subject: Re: Is this gibberish? David Lee writes: > While reading "A Slice of Life" the second story in Meet Mr Mulliner > I cam across the following passage concerning Wilfred our hero. > "Wilfred kissed her fondly, and laughed a defiant laugh. > 'Jer mong feesh der selar' he said lightly" It's French: Je m'en fiche de cela. [Definitely a grave accent over the a in cela; perhaps a circumflex over the i in fiche.] It means "I don't give a hoot about that." Literally I think it's "I don't bother myself with that," but it might be something ruder. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil Does anyone remember how to spell "sciatica"? --- Newsgroups: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/03 Subject: Re: REPOST - the 0-1 necklace puzzle. math...@math.canterbury.ac.nz (Bill Taylor) writes: > ... This is a re-post from about 2 months ago, by someone or other.... I didn't see it. Any guesses about where? > A cyclic sequence (or NECKLACE) of 0's and 1's can be transformed as follows: > 1) A zero may be deleted and the two adjacent figures change parity; > 2) A zero may be inserted between any two figures, which then change parity. > e.g. 111000 --> 11010 --> 0100 --> 00010 --> etc. > ^ ^ ^^ > Every necklace can thus be reduced to a 2-figure one:- either 00 or 01 or 11. > (1) Prove the final result is invariant to the sequence of operations. > (2) Characterize (with proof) the 3 types of necklace, in simpler terms. Spoiler: If there are an odd number of ones, the result is 01. Otherwise partition the zeroes into (possibly empty) subsequences separated by the ones. Paint these subsequences alternately red and blue. If the number of red zeroes is congruent (modulo 3) to the number of blue zeroes, the result is 11; otherwise the result is 00. Proof: The result of the above characterization is not altered by necklace symmetries or any of the possible transformations ...000... <-> ...11..., ...001... <-> ...10..., or ...101... <-> ...00.... Every necklace can be transformed to a two-figure necklace, and there is only one possible two-figure necklace that agrees with the characterization. The proof is completed by observing that the characterization gives the correct answer for two-figure necklaces. QED. ObProblem: Consider the rewriting systems that reversibly transform each three-figure subsequence to a two-figure subsequence. Which ones induce a partition of the necklaces into three orbits of positive density? Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: sci.math From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/03 Subject: Re: Tricky triangle puzzle. tray...@server.uwindsor.ca writes: > Fresh of the press, a completely new puzzle never before seen.... It's a first-cousin to the central hexagon problem I answered here about four years ago. My solution of this variant looks even more familiar to me; I strongly suspect I've seen it in a puzzle book. The puzzle (paraphrased): Trisect each side of a triangle, and draw a segment from each vertex to one of the trisectors of the opposite side (in a rotation-invariant way). Find the area of the central triangle as a fraction of the original. > Cool answer will be posted below; But he posted only a number, not a proof. That's an awfully lukewarm sort of cool. Spoiler follows: In the following diagram, .C ./: .'/ : .' / : .' \/Z : .' /\ : .' / \ : .' / \ : B.'_____Y/______\__: \``... /\ X/\ : \ ``... / \ : \ / \``... \: W\/______\/___``.:A Triangle AXB is half of parallelogram AXBW, and so twice as large as triangle XYZ. ABC is composed of three AXBs and XYZ, so is seven times XYZ. Obpuzzle: Draw a segments from each vertex to a point at a fraction F of the opposite side. What is the ratio of areas as a function of F? Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/03 Subject: Re: Is this gibberish? Last night I wrote: > David Lee writes: > > While reading "A Slice of Life"... > > "Wilfred kissed her fondly, and laughed a defiant laugh. > > 'Jer mong feesh der selar' he said lightly" I was close, but I should really check references before answering questions about French. "Je m'en fiche de cela" (grave over the a) is given in _Cassel's_ as "I laugh at that." My guess from the other meanings of _ficher_ is that it is more literally rendered as "I stuff myself with that." > Does anyone remember how to spell "sciatica"? In _The Luck of the Bodkins_, Penguin page 12: `Comme ca, m'sieur.. Like zis, boy. Wit' a ess, wit' a say, wit' a ee, wit' a arr, wit' a tay, wit' a ee, wit' a ku, wit' a uh, wit' a ay. V'la! Sciatique.' Upon which Monty, who was in no mood for this sort of thing, had very properly motioned him away with a gesture and gone off to get a second opinion. Dan `Er, garcon, esker-vous avez un spot de l'encre et Hoey@AIC.NRL.Mil une piece de papier--note-papier, vous savez....' --- Newsgroups: sci.math From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/04 Subject: Re: 0^0 oli...@oak.math.ucla.edu (Mike Oliver) writes: > d...@koobera.math.uic.edu (D. J. Bernstein) writes: > >To create a notation that requires a distinction between the integer 0 > >and the real number 0 is to deliberately dodge the standard interface > >between those entities and the rest of mathematics. Your readership will > >rapidly wither and die. > Oh, nonsense. The rest of mathematics (specifically set theory, the > most important part :-) already makes a distinction between the integer > 0 and the real 0.0 . The integer 0 is coded by the empty set; the real > 0.0, however you code it, contains information saying, for example, > that it is greater than -7/35725 and less than 3/28943. "Oh, nonsense" yourself. I won't make conjectures about your future readership, but it is historically, traditionally, colloquially, and for most mathematicians technically the case that N, Z, Q, and R are subsets of Z, Q, R, and C, respectively. Not "isomorphic to subsets", real true subsets. Set theoretic foundations can handle this perfectly well, thank you. Retentivists construct a set of proto-reals out of cuts or sequence-classes, then generate the real reals by embedding. The impatient instruct the interested reader to figure out how to do it to ensure the desired subset relation. You are welcome to all the isomorphic copies of the rationals and reals you want, but the originals are bound together. Any foundational theory that doesn't ensure this is a foundation for something other than the true mathematics--an isomorphic copy, perhaps. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/04 Subject: EMP: Please cancel (SBIR conference:maryh@foresnt.com (Mary Hilts)) --text follows this line-- 49 messages in 49 groups. The ones in sci.math.research and bionet.sci-resources have moderator approval. How amazing that they managed to miss "sci.misc", their evident target. "But nobody reads that, it's full of badly-targeted messages". ================================================================ <31617F86.4...@foresnt.com> bionet.general <31617FC6.6...@foresnt.com> bionet.info-theory <31617DA8.6...@foresnt.com> bionet.sci-resources <31618C81.1...@foresnt.com> sci.bio.ecology <31618D18.3...@foresnt.com> sci.bio.technology <31618D76.1...@foresnt.com> sci.chem <31618DF2....@foresnt.com> sci.cognitive <31618E34.2...@foresnt.com> sci.cryonics <31618EF8.1...@foresnt.com> sci.econ <31618F58.1...@foresnt.com> sci.edu <3161913B.7...@foresnt.com> sci.energy <31619164.6...@foresnt.com> sci.energy.hydrogen <316191D4....@foresnt.com> sci.engr <31619227.7...@foresnt.com> sci.engr.biomed <31619263....@foresnt.com> sci.engr.chem <3162BFC7.4...@foresnt.com> sci.engr.control <3162C073.6...@foresnt.com> sci.engr.manufacturing <3162C14E.1...@foresnt.com> sci.engr.mech <3162C188.5...@foresnt.com> sci.engr.semiconductors <3162C1D6....@foresnt.com> sci.environment <3162C21B.7...@foresnt.com> sci.fractals <3162C266.2...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.eos <3162C285.4...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.fluids <3162C2C2.2...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.geology <3162C2ED....@foresnt.com> sci.geo.hydrology <3162C328.1...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.meteorology <3162C344.3...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.oceanography <3162C38B.2...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.rivers+lakes <3162C3A3.5...@foresnt.com> sci.geo.satellite-nav <3162C3ED.2...@foresnt.com> sci.image.processing <3162C40A.2...@foresnt.com> sci.lang <3162C44D.7...@foresnt.com> sci.lang.japan <3162C6EF.7...@foresnt.com> sci.materials <3162C70B.5...@foresnt.com> sci.math <3162C74D.6...@foresnt.com> sci.math.research <3162CB64.4...@foresnt.com> sci.med.cardiology <3162CC40.1...@foresnt.com> sci.med.immunology <3162CD90....@foresnt.com> sci.med.laboratory <3162D502....@foresnt.com> sci.nonlinear <3162D538.2...@foresnt.com> sci.op-research <3162D7CB.3...@foresnt.com> sci.physics <3162D826.2...@foresnt.com> sci.physics.computational.fluid-dynamics <3162D85B.7...@foresnt.com> sci.physics.electromag <3162D900.7...@foresnt.com> sci.polymers <3162D97A.5...@foresnt.com> sci.research <3162E0FE....@foresnt.com> sci.space.policy <3162E186.6...@foresnt.com> sci.stat.consult <3162E1C1.4...@foresnt.com> sci.stat.edu <3162E245....@foresnt.com> sci.techniques.microscopy ================================================================ From: Mary Hilts Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: SBIR Conference Date: Wed, 03 Apr 1996 11:55:55 -0800 Organization: Foresight Science & Technology Science & Technology Newsgroups, We (Foresight Science & Technology) are under contract with the NSF and DoD to assist them in finding candidates for SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) funding. This task is awkward in this particular forum (newsgroups) in that it is not research exchange, yet it is not advertisement either. What I believe it could be categorized as is "information exchange"; The federal government has R&D money available, your readers may be eligible, we are informing them of the availability of this funding. The NSF, DoD, U.S. Small Business Administration and seven other federal agencies are sponsoring a conference where small business representatives will have an opportunity to meet with federal agents and representatives from large companies interested in funding R&D. My posting announces this conference. If you have questions please e-mail me, I appreciate your communication, otherwise please post the following press release. Sincerely, Mary Hilts ma...@foresnt.com Foresight Science & Technology **************************************************************** **************** PRESS RELEASE: National Conference To Provide Access to Largest Source of Early-Stage Technology Financing in U.S. The federal government funds nearly $1 billion each year in early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. These programs fund R&D projects that serve a government need and often have commercial applications, providing: · up to $850,000 in pre-prototype R&D funding directly to small technology companies (or to individual entrepreneurs who form a company); and · up to $850,000 in pre-prototype R&D funding to small companies working cooperatively with researchers at universities and other research institutions. Small companies retain the patent rights to any inventions they develop. Funding is awarded competitively, but the process is streamlined and user-friendly. To facilitate participation in these programs, the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and seven other federal agencies are sponsoring a National SBIR Conference at the Dallas Airport Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas, April 29 through May 1, 1996. At the conference, small businesses and others will be able to meet individually with federal SBIR and STTR program managers and representatives from some of the nations largest companies seeking partnerships with small companies. The conference will feature seminars conducted by national experts on topics ranging from starting and financing a small technology company to SBIR/STTR proposal preparation and federal procurement procedures. The Honorable Philip Lader, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, will be the keynote speaker. For information: · Call the Conference Hotline at:(407)791-0720 · Write to: NSBIR Conference Registration Office, c/o Foresight Science & Technology, P.O. Box 210065, West Palm Beach, FL 33421-0065 · Log-on to the NSBIR Conference World Wide Web pages at www.seeport.com · E-mail the Conference Listserver at l...@seeport.com (On the first line of your message, type JOIN SBIR.) · E-mail our conference registration specialist, te...@seeport.com · Faxback the conference brochure & registration form by dialing:(407)791-0098 ================================================================ Dan Hoey Posted and e-mailed. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract From: hoey@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/04 Subject: Re: 2 player "mental" game ru...@vesuvius.math.niu.edu (Dave Rusin) writes: >KOSMATOS Odisseas wrote: >>Has anyone thought up (or know about) a two-player competition game >>that is played entirely in the player's minds? >You need something in which the options at round t depend only on the >results from round t-1 (maybe a couple of previous rounds). Or round t-1 could include the previous rounds! Have you ever played "Truly, Madly, Deeply?" Not that it's terribly abstract. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: sci.math.research From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/08 Subject: Re: Barrier Height for Graphs kuperberg-g...@MATH.YALE.EDU (Greg Kuperberg) writes: > mo...@santafe.edu (Cris Moore) writes: > >Suppose I have a graph G, where all the nodes start out with values of 0. > >I want to flip the nodes one-by-one to 1. However, at each time, > >the graph has an energy equal to the number of edges connecting a 0 to a 1. > >Minimized over all sequences of flips S, I want to know the maximum > >energy the sequence has to go through. I will call this quantity the > >"barrier height" of G, or BH(G); it's like the energy barrier of a > >ferromagnetic system with topology G. > ... > >I believe I can show finding BH(G) is deterministic polynomial time, > >since it suffices to always flip whichever node increases the barrier > >the least. > Life certainly isn't that simple, because there may be more than > one vertex with that property.... Even if we are good at breaking ties, Chris's greedy algorithm is doomed. o-. ,-o |\ `-. ,-' /| | o---o---o---o---o | |/ ,-' `-. \| o-' `-o The only initial choice that starts with energy 2 is the center. But if we start with the center, an energy of 5 is unavoidable (because when either K4 is half-flipped, it will be responsible for an energy of 4, and starting with the center implies an extra unit toward the other K4). Flipping from left to right keeps the BH down to 4. BH is NP-Complete, equivalent to Garey and Johnson's [GT44] MINIMUM CUT LINEAR ARRANGEMENT INSTANCE: Graph G=(V,E), positive integer K. QUESTION: Is there a one-to-one function f:V->{1,2,...,|V|} such that for all i, 1 < i < |V|, |{{u,v} in E : f(u) <= i < f(v)}| <= K ? Reference: [Stockmeyer, 1974b], [Gavril,1977a]. Transformation from SIMPLE MAX CUT. The function f in MCLA is the schedule for flipping nodes in BH. Dan Hoey Posted and submitted to sci.math.research. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: sci.math, rec.puzzles Followup-To: rec.puzzles From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/09 Subject: Re: Geometry problem. nain...@sequent.com (Malahal Rao Naineni) writes: > There are 2n+3 points in the plane, no three of them are collinear > and no four of them are co-circular. > Prove that there exists a circle which will have exactly n points > inside the circle, and of course n points outside the circle and > the rest (3) on the circle. 1. It's not nice to pose exercises from your homework disguised as puzzles. 2. Try proving the stronger result that there are at least (2n+3)(n+1)/3 such circles. 3. Is that bound achievable? Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/09 Subject: Re: Longest palindrome, NOT! criggie@omega.co.nz (Craig Box) writes: > bruce@omega.co.nz wrote: (importing some garbage from a thread that is crossposted to a dozen other newsgroups.) > >>>> What is the LONGEST KNOWN PALINDROME?? > Well hows this for a palindrome, Mr. Dash? >:) > * A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac, a liar, a > hoop, ..., a tsar, a wall, a car, ..., a tsar, a wall, a car, ..., > a nod, an eta, a lag, ... a leer, a an eta, [sic] a lag, ..., a > wad, an alias, an ox, ..., a wad, an alias, an ox, ..., a catnip, > a pooh, a rail, a calamus, a dairyman, a bater, a canal - Panama! Well, Mr. Craig Box, I call that a palindrome that I wrote, of which you have duplicated parts (incompetently, so that it is no longer a palindrome), and then published without any indication of its true authorship. I discovered this palindrome in 1984 with the aid of a computer program I wrote. I have no objection to my palindrome being given out as long as proper credit is given. Publishing it without my name is an act of craven dishonesty which I hope you will eschew in future. (And skip the emoticrap, too, do you think you're on rec.humus?) In response to he...@math.utexas.edu (Martin Heinz)'s quibble, I'll note that in the original, the only repeated words are the indefinite articles. Thus this creation is not equivalent to producing longer and longer versions of "A man, a plan, a cat, a cat, a cat, a cat, a cat, a canal--Panama". I do think that even constrained to non- repetition, it may not be too difficult to make a palindrome ten or twenty times as long, but I do not wish such a nuisance upon Usenet. By the way, I have heard of a much longer palindrome entitled "Dr.Awkward & Olson in Oslo : a palindromic novel" by Lawrence Levine. It is listed in the UCLA library under the call numbers "UCLA Clark GV 1493 L66 f". If you have access to that work, I would greatly appreciate hearing of whether it really is a single large palindrome, and approximately how many words long it is. There are also rumors of a very long palindrome by Edward Benbow of Bewdley, Hereford ("Pot no part. Ask Sam.... masks a trap on top") and another named _Satire, Veritas_ (Sir, I stray.... Art, sir, is Satire: Veritas), but these appear to be hoaxes. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/10 Subject: Re: Wrong leg amputated Ken Kinser writes: [ stuff cut off ] > > : : ... askig the patient before they put them under what was > > : : supposed to be done to them. Oh, yeah, I wanna be castrated, is that the word? > > : : They also started to write it on the wrist band that is used > > : : for identification so that the Dr could check and see for > > : : himself (or herself) The way I heard it they also tattoo the good leg "NOT THIS LEG IDIOT" in huge fluorescent orange letters. > I heard the patient sued but his case was thrown out of court. Yeah, legally he didn't have a ... Sorry, I can't say it. > Today, patients are double and triple checked. They must confirm > verbally the procedure they will be undergoing. Their ID and SSN get > checked etc. Roger, go at throttle up. > It is true that today, the hospital must be negligent if the wrong > leg gets amputated. Sure. Now pull the other one. Dan "Leg end in his own time" Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/04/16 Subject: Junk E-mail from "Jason Diong" jason1118@terracom.net I got this unsolicited advertisement today, and from the looks of it I'd guess I'm not the only one. It ought to be against the terms of service of wherever it comes from. Is the AOL address real, or just a misdirection? Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil ================================================================ Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 07:10:27 -0500 To: Jason1...@aol.com From: "Jason C. Diong" Subject: Business Opportunity Greetings' everyone: Recently I looked with great skepticism, at a business opportunity that they virtually change my life and the lives of many others involved. Although it sounded too good to be true, they impressed me with not only the powerful profit plan but with the phenomenal product that this company has to offer. If you would like to generate an income of $10,000 or more within the next several weeks. Your responses will be well-taken via E-mail. If you prefer, you may call my toll-free number that is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-732-2863 Ext. 8754. This is some two minutes recording which will explain about what we are doing. If you like what you hear, please leave a message and I will definitely call you call. Thank you for you time and interest. I am looking forward to the pleasure of meeting you shortly, Sincerely, Jason C. Diong ================================================================ --- Date: Thu, 18 Apr 96 13:05:49 EDT From: hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil To: spears@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil Subject: Math Question > Recently I came across the phrase: "a sequence of linearly > independent real numbers". > I know about linearly independent vectors and functions, but > this makes no sense to me. Do you know a definition for this? The reals are a vector space over the rationals, using real addition and multiplication for both scalar and vector operations. (Or pick any other subfield). That's what it means. For example, sqrt(2) and sqrt(3) are linearly independent over the rationals, because if p sqrt(2) + q sqrt(3) = 0 with p,q rational, then p=q=0. If you look at the reals over the reals, the dimension is 1. So then you can have only one independent real (any nonzero real will do; 0 is not linearly independent even by itself!). Dan --- Date: Fri, 03 May 96 12:13:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Hoey To: Cube Lovers Subject: Re: TripleCross by Binary Arts Dale Newfield writes about the Binary Arts puzzle TripleCross. In case anyone in cube-lovers hasn't seen it, it's a nice mechanical puzzle involving the permutation of 18 pieces. Stripped of the mechanical parts, it has 18 sliding pieces in an array shaped like: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pieces 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, and 18 are distinguishably marked. Pieces 3, 4, and 5 are marked identically. The remaining nine pieces are unmarked. Pieces are permuted by a plunger-like action. One kind of plunge is to move pieces 3-16 left or right one unit. The other is to move the second and third columns (4,5,11,12,17,18) up one unit while simultaneously moving the fifth and sixth columns (1,2,7,8,14,15) down one unit. At the end of any process, we it is traditional to restore both plungers to their original position. Calling the horizontal plunger positions Left, Center, and Right and the vertical plunger positions Up and Down, we may reduce any process to a sequence of ULDC and URDC and their inverses LUCD and RUCD. Cycle forms for the first two are ULDC = (1,7,14,15,16,9,2)(4,5,6,13,18,17,11) and URDC = (1,2,8,15,14,13,6)(3,10,17,18,12,5,4). Since these are both even permutations, it's clear the group must be a subgroup of A18. GAP confirms that all 18!/2 positions are reachable. Dale writes: ... I've been doing most of my investigations with respect to a fairly arbitrary subgroup--that of distinguishable positions (On the actual puzzle there are 9 indestinguishable blank tiles, and 3 indestinguishable tiles that each contain one orange dot). In this group there are just under 3 billion possible positions: 18!/(9!*3!).... Right, though this is not actually a group, but a collection of cosets. For instance, you could have two indistinguishable manipulations that would provide distinguishable outcomes when preceded by some other manipulation. Dale writes of his work on a breadth-first search: ... I can encode a position (theoretically ~31.5 bits of information) into a 32 bit unsigned long, along with a 2 bit number representing which direction to go to get to start. There is a more compressed approach that has proven valuable with some of the smaller cubes. The idea is to use the 32-bit number as the index into a large vector of distances. Initialize all the distances to -1, set the distance of SOLVED to zero, and repeatedly scan the whole array checking neighbors of positions of distance D; if their distance is -1 set the distance to D+1. This procedure admits some useful variations. For one thing, you can store D mod 3 in two bits, with a fourth value in place of -1. This reduces the storage to 735 megabytes. Also, instead of relying on your virtual memory system, you can store the vector in a big random-access file (or several files). In both cases, it's probably easiest to use bit-fields of the index to specify which file (if multiple files), which block of the file (choose a useful power of two), which byte in the block, and which part of the byte (if packed). Third, it may be better to generate lists of a few thousand neighbor indices, sort them, and then scan for neighbors, to reduce thrashing. If you implement this, I'd be interested in knowing: Number of positions at each distance, Maximal-distance positions (up to ten or twenty), Number of local maxima at each distance (these show up as positions none of whose neighbors get set), Number of nonstrict local maxima at each distance (i.e. which have neighbors at the same distance). Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: sci.math From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/05/21 Subject: Re: [Q:] P, NP, NP-complete, NP-hard; free licks Rogerio Brito (rbr...@ime.usp.br) wrote: : jmcca...@sun1307.spd.dsccc.com (Mike McCarty) wrote: : > NP can be solved in Polynomial time : > with a Nondeterministic Algorithm : It's good that someone has posted these definitions. But : in order to understand them, one needs to know what is : meant by saying that an algorithm is "Deterministic" or : "Nondeterministic". As I recall reading Knuth, vol. 1, : he says that every algorithm has to be "deterministic" : (that is he says that every algorithm has to present an : output based on some input). While Knuth's definition of a (deterministic, nonrandomized) algorithm has been extended and generalized by many researchers, that is not particularly relevant to the definition of NP. The kind of nondeterministic algorithm that defines NP is a theoretical construct that bears little or no relation to algorithms for real computers. Mike McCarty's definition is so vague on this topic as to be meaningless. In particular, there is a very similar kind of theoretical nondeterministic algorithm that gives you a possibly different class called co-NP, and there is no way to tell from the above which is meant. The particulars of this form of nondeterminism are sufficiently subtle that I do not think it useful to try to explain them here; see Garey and Johnson or some other theoretical text. But please don't pretend to explain what NP is if your explanation does not distinguish it from co-NP. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Date: Sun, 02 Jun 96 00:17:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Hoey To: Cube Lovers Subject: Re: Compact Cube Representation for Shamir and Otherwise I'm not sure this is so interesting to all of cube-lovers; e-mail me if you have opinions pro or con. Jerry writes of the standard S24 x S24 model, which uses 48 bytes per position without packing. He also has a "supplement" representation that uses one facelet from each edge and corner, for 20 bytes. He packs them into 13 bytes on tape. The way I did it the last time I worked on brute force was to pack eight twelve-bit fields: The orientations in two twelve-bit fields (2^11 and 3^7), The edge permutation in four twelve-bit fields, each of three base-12 digits (12^3), and The corner permutation in two twelve-bit fields, each of four base-8 digits (8^4). Unpacking the fields can be done with native arithmetic or table lookup. In the latter case, it is better to use 12*11*10 instead of 12^3 and 8*7*6*5 instead of 8^3. Also, postmultiplying by a fixed permutation can be done with table lookup without unpacking. I used this feature for twelve permutations of particular interest. I am somewhat rusty on the implications of using this representation in conjunction with Shamir's algorithm. I think it provides an ordering of the permutations that enables at least an approximation to the random access you need, then you unpack it and do a better job. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Date: Wed, 05 Jun 96 18:32:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Hoey To: Cube Lovers Subject: Fragile parts in 4^3 On 1 Jun 1996, Wei-Hwa Huang wrote: {Mostly snipped} As another aside, I don't understand the rationale behind the canonical 4x4x4 design. It would seem to me that it's better to have two rings of grooves in each dimension, so that the face pieces could have "fatter" legs and not break off as easily. If the center pieces had one leg each (instead of a 1/4-leg) you would have _one_ groove around each equator (instead of _half_ a groove). Remember, it's important that the inner sphere stay in sync with at least one of the sets of face centers so that after you've finished the turn you will be able to turn in an orthogonal direction. I don't know how that would work with the turns of the face. You might need a switch that looks kind of like the following where two equators meet: I I * * * I * * ============O===============O======== * I * I * I * * I * * I * I * I * O O I * * I * * * I where the legs live at the "O" positions when a turn is not in progress. But this looks dangerous to me; I think there is a lot of potential for derailment. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Date: Wed, 05 Jun 96 18:54:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Hoey To: Cube Lovers Subject: Re: A essay on the NxNxN Cube : counting positions and solving it All the real mechanical 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5 Cubes that I've seen only have cubies on the outside, but if you can put back all N^3 cubies in the one I'm describing then you can certainly do the real ones. (In Dan Hoey's notation, I believe that this means I treat the Cube as the G+C group, where G is generated by the outer slice rotations, and C is the rotations of the entire thing.... Actually, the distinction between G and G+C is that in the latter we draw a distinction between cubes that differ by a whole-cube move as different. When we take account of the internal cubies I call it the "Theoretical Invisible cube", described in my Invisible Revenge article 9 August 1982. A solution method is given in Eidswick, J.A., "Cubelike Puzzles -- What Are They and How Do You Solve Them?", 'American Mathematical Monthly', Vol. 93, #3, March 1986, pp. 157-176. that is pretty much like yours, I think. As for counting the positions, I haven't got around to checking the numbers in "Groups of the larger cubes", 24 Jun 1987. You might want to see how they compare to yours. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Date: Wed, 05 Jun 96 19:27:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Hoey To: Cube Lovers Subject: Re: A essay on the NxNxN Cube : counting positions and solving it Jerry remarks: For example, Martin talked about the corner orbit, the edge orbit, and the face center orbit of the 3x3x3.... David Singmaster, on the other hand, has always talked about the twelve orbits of the constructable group of the 3x3x3, where orbits are defined in terms of twists, flips, and parity.... When a group G has a representation as permutations of a set X, the orbits are the equivalence classes of X induced by x~y if a (x)g=y for some g in G. But these orbits will be different depending on the representation, and in particular depending on X. If we represent the Rubik group as the usual permutations on cubies and facies, the orbits are corners, edges, etc. as Martin uses. I agree this is the usual kind of orbit to talk about. If we represent the Rubik group as permutations on itself (I think it's called the right regular representation) you get one orbit. This is always true of the right regular representation, since for any f, g in G, let h=f'g, and we have (f)h = g, so f~g. But consider the constructible group C, the set of positions you can get by taking the cube apart and putting it back together. We can extend the right regular representation to a representation on C. In this case, there are twelve orbits of mutually accessible positions. This is Singmaster's usage. They are indeed the cosets of C/G, as with any subgroup of a larger group. But the fact that we usually do not consider the group structure of C (as in taking products of reassemblies) militates against calling them cosets, so I can understand why Singmaster might prefer orbits. But we have to remember to disambiguate which kind of orbit we are talking about. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/06/07 Subject: Junk email: worldintsv@sisna.com (Re: Junk email: discover@sisna...) ar...@nntp.best.com (Catherine Hampton) writes: > ... So this time I didn't email a complaint -- > I phoned up Sisna and asked to speak to the administrative contact listed > in Internic's database. (The email address listed for him is no longer > good, by the way.) The receptionist who answered the phone told me that > the account had been closed for repeated net abuse, and apologized for > the inconvenience. 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WHEN BILLED, YOU CAN PAY BY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS: Personal Check, Money Order, Checks-by-Fax(or E-MAIL) VISA, MASTERCARD, or DISCOVER You can also Physically Mail your add to: WORLD INTERNET SERVICES 1341 Jensen St. Pocatello, ID 83201 Any other questions, feel free to Email or call ... read more --- Newsgroups: talk.bizarre From: hoey@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/07/25 Subject: Coffee, Tea, or M At first I thought the radio said ``The reporters were packed in crates filled with fresh water.'' Chunk light. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: talk.bizarre From: hoey@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/08/07 Subject: Dead Mars memorial haiku Ancient frozen stones Hold seeds of little green men. The smiley face winks. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@itd.itd.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/08/11 Subject: Re: Bingo Rules! (as we might say in Midwestern America) Dick Dammit writes: >Bingo Rules! Ah, yes. Any character who can inspire the Master to write If the muffins which Bingo had had for tea had turned to ashes in his mouth, it was as nothing compared to what happened to the chump chop and fried which he had for dinner. For by that time his numbed brain, throwing off the coma into which it had fallen, really got busy, pointing out to him the various angles of the frightful mess he had let himself into. It stripped the seven veils from the situation, and allowed him to see it in all its stark grimness. as he does in ``Sonny Boy'' (collected in _Eggs, Beans and Crumpets_) must be a bit of all right. Dan Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: comp.simulation From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/10/02 Subject: Re: linear programming "S. M. Sainju" writes: : [...] i am basically : trying to learn and you are trying to be an obstruction. hint : on the net means someone can give me some references or some : clue. [...] But you didn't say it was your homework, and you should have. You did not even mention anything about wanting a hint, rather than a complete solution. The more you complain about people revealing that this is your homework, the more I believe you were trying to hide it, and the less I believe you are trying to learn and the more I believe you are trying to cheat. It doesn't help that you posted the same homework problem to sci.op-research, somp.constraints, comp.theory, sci.math, sci.engr.manufacturing, comp.programming, a.bsu.programming, and comp.constraints. In none of these places did you mention that it was your homework, not even in the posting to sci.math, which you posted after you responded to Professor Borchers's complaint about the posting in comp.theory. It makes me wonder if your simulation question in comp.simulation, or your C++ question in comp.programming, were also homework problems. Given your track record, I think you should state explicitly whether your questions are homework or not when you post them, since many respondents will be more careful to supply only hints to your homework problems, or may feel it unfair to answer them at all. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/10/18 Subject: Re: UCE: Children's disability fund deteri...@aol.com (Deterior8) writes: [ UCE from d...@mail.qi3.com aka danders...@plato.qi3.com ] When I complained to the postmaster I got the impressively clueless John Koyle. He tried to tell me he was legally prevented from stopping the spew because of the AOL case, and that the most he could do is to refuse to renew the abuser's subscription. When I told him that he was spouting nonsense and that it was irresponsible to operate an ISP without effective terms of service, he asked me 1. to send him all the rules for becoming a responsible ISP, 2. not to tell him how to run his life and business, and 3. not to waste his time with a response. So since *I* won't send him any responses, I guess it's up to someone else to drop ten thousand hard-bound copies of the FAQ on his slimy little operation. Meanwhile, is there any useful place at Sprintlink to complain to about "Quantum Interlink Internet Inc"? Or is Sprintlink still in the business of purveying rogue ISPs to the Internet? Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc From: hoey@pooh.tec.army.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/10/18 Subject: Re: Email spam from Infoseek n...@cs.umd.edu (Dana S. Nau) writes: > To the postmaster at Infoseek: > One of your users is sending email spam. I'm attaching a copy of the > offending message. Please take appropriate disciplinary action. I'm > cc'ing this message to news.admin.net-abuse.misc I suspect it is Steve Kirsch, the president of Infoseek. He sent me an unsolicited "free offer" in August, 1994, saying I was recommended by a "current user" who of course could not be identified. He included a smarmy "We hate junk mail too, so if you don't want any more don't send us e-mail" postscript. As far as I am concerned, Infoseek is one of the original rogue sites, responsible for bringing the plague of unsolicited junk mail on all Internet users. If you find anyone who might be willing to act on complaints, please let me know. Dan Hoey Infoseek delenda est. Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@sun13.aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/11/12 Subject: The soul and its tocsin As Anne and I were ruminating on words the other day, she suggested that we look in Poe's "Bells" for a use of the word "tocsin". I don't recall the word there, but I was sure I had seen it elsewhere. Bartlett's familiar tome yielded up no references to Poe, but it seems the poet Blake once mentioned, ``That tocsin of the soul, the dinner-gong.'' "What ho!" says I, "Could it be I've heard that wheeze before?" It sounds like something the Master would have bunged in on one of those interminable country-house weekends (or perhaps one of those c.-h. ws. that passes all too swiftly). So will any of the fans assembled please point me to an occurrence of this phrase in the canon, if it exists? Wishing for a concordance, I remain, Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: alt.fan.wodehouse From: hoey@sun13.aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/11/17 Subject: Tocsin-ology redux Last week I attributed the quotation ``That tocsin of the soul, the dinner-gong.'' [sic] to the poet Blake, and wondered if it appeared in the canon. I must thank Merideth Kelley for having narrowed down the choices to _Meet Mr. Mulliner_, _Very Good, Jeeves!_, and _Summer Lightning_. It was in the last of these, at the beginning of Chapter 14, that we find the Efficient Baxter has sought the silence and solitude of the smoking-room. ``Then from the direction of the hall there came a new sound, faint at first but swelling and swelling to a passionate appeal like woman wailing for her demon lover. It was that tocsin of the soul, that muezzin of the country-house, the dressing-for-dinner-gong.'' I must say that was worth the search. Lest anyone suppose that I would consider Merideth ``muddled'' for having misidentified _Very Good, Jeeves!_ first as _Right Ho, Jeeves_ then as _Thank You, Jeeves_, I must confess that my initial account of the situation suffered from a severe attack of the Woosters. It was in the Oxford book, not Bartlett's, that I found the quotation. And I fear that I attributed it to the poet Blake out of a conviction that it was not the work of the poet Bunyan, neglecting to recall that it was in fact written by the poet Byron. I have always been shaky on the B poets. Finally, I must mention that the verse in question reads ``That all-softening, overpowering knell, The tocsin of the soul--the dinner bell.'' [_Don Juan_, C.5, St.49] where I had written it as `dinner-gong', And got a few additional details wrong. To supplement these corrections, permit me to note my discovery that the word `tocsin' does not appear in the poet Poe's verse, _The Bells_. Most grateful for your assistance in locating the master's use of the phrase, Yet still wishing for a concordance, I remain, Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: comp.theory From: Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/12/05 Subject: Re: Traveling Salesman Problem and Delaunay Graphs dille...@baltic.ics.uci.edu (Michael Dillencourt) writes: > So now, finally, we get to the real point of this post, which is to > describe a 5-point example of a Delaunay triangulation that does not > contain the Euclidean Traveling Salesman Cycle (ETSC) as a subgraph. I'm not sure I understand your construction, but the following is a small 5-point example: ,C (5,2) (4,1) ,'/ ,,,,B / ,,,,---'''' / A---E-----------D (4,0) (0,0) (1,0) The minimum Euclidean circuit is ABCDE, but edge AB does not appear in the Delaunay triangulation (EC does). Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: comp.theory From: Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/12/06 Subject: Re: canonical planarization algorithm? mann...@ochre.newcastle.edu.au (Joseph Manning) writes: > Does anyone know of a linear-time canonical planarization algorithm? ... > I am aware of several existing linear-time planarization algorithms, > but it is unclear whether any of these produce a canonical embedding.... You won't find this under "planarization" because the "canonical" part is an extension of the much harder problem of isomorphism. While graph isomorphism is not (shown to be) NP-hard, no known polynomial algorithm is known. Fortunately, there are good algorithms for isomorphism of planar graphs, from which a canonical vertex ordering can be derived. Given a canonical vertex ordering, an arbitrary deterministic embedding algorithm can be used. I think you will find the time to be O(n log n), rather than linear. While the last paper listed below describes a linear-time isomorphism algorithm (building on ideas developed in the others), it looks as though moving to a canonical ordering requires an extra log n. I am somewhat uncertain of this, however, especially as none of these papers actually treats the canonization problem. These are the papers I know of: Hopcroft,J.E. and Tarjan,R., "A V^2 Algorithm for Determining Isomorphism of Triconnected Planar Graphs", Information Processing Letters 1(1971)32-34. Hopcroft,J.E. and Tarjan,R., "Dividing a Graph into Triconnected Components", SIAM J. Comput, V2, N3(1973), 135-158. Hopcroft,J.E. and Tarjan,R., "Isomorphism of Planar Graphs (working paper)" in _Complexity of Computer Computations_, (R.E. Miller and J.W. Thatcher, eds.), 131-152, Plenum Press, 1972. Hopcroft,J.E. and Tarjan,R., "A V log V Algorithm for Isomorphism of Triconnected Planar Graphs", J. Comput. Syst. Sci, 7(1973), 323-331. Hopcroft,J.E. and Wong,J.K., "Linear Time Algorithm for Isomorphism in Planar Graphs.", Sixth Annual Symposium on Theoretical Computer Science, Seattle, 1974. I would appreciate hearing of any others you find, especially if there has been anything published on finding canonical representatives of planar graphs. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract, rec.puzzles From: hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/12/10 Subject: Re: Toe-Tac-Tic problem? pcis...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek) writes: > I seem to remember something about the 3x3x3 version of tic tac toe being > unsolved if the players play to "lose", i.e. force the other into a row > of 3. Is this the case? If so, we have a remarkably simple game that > could still be a intellectual challange. The first player has an easy win: Play the center, then play opposite the second player. Draw is impossible, and the first player won't make three in a row before the second player does. I don't know the outcome if two-in-a row is considered a "check" that must be blocked, and the object is checkmate. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil --- Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract, rec.puzzles From: Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey) Date: 1996/12/11 Subject: Re: Toe-Tac-Tic problem? pcis...@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek) writes: > I seem to remember something about the 3x3x3 version of tic tac toe > being unsolved if the players play to "lose", i.e. force the other > into a row of 3. Is this the case? If so, we have a remarkably > simple game that could still be a intellectual challange. As I wrote yesterday, : The first player has an easy win: Play the center, then play opposite : the second player. Draw is impossible, and the first player won't : make three in a row before the second player does. Having seen a couple of followups claiming draws, let me reiterate that I am speaking of 3x3x3 three-dimensional tic-tac-toe, where there are 27 different places to move and 49 possible rows of three. I base my claim on a program that enumerated the 8192 different ways of placing two different markers at the ends of each diameter of the cube, and found that each such arrangement creates at least two threes of each color among the 36 non-central rows. If you really think you have a counterexample, please e-mail a copy to Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil to be very sure it gets here. In fact, I haven't found any way of filling the board with black and white markers without making three in a row, even if we drop the requirement that there be 14 of one color and 13 of the other. I'd like to know what the minimum number of threes is. In case my open problem was unclear: I don't know the outcome if two-in-a row is considered a "check" that must be blocked, and the object is to be checkmated. That might be an interesting game on a three-dimensional 3x3x3 board. Dan Hoey Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil ---