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| Saturday, December 30, 2000 |
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EUROPE is abuzz with rumours that Nostradamus has the power to foretell the future. There are also reports that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, one of the wisest men in England, is visiting him. He is better known as Lewis Carroll, the creator of Alice in the Wonderland. This gentleman is fascinated by anagrams, riddles and all sorts of mathematical puzzles. In the basement of a dark and cold house, Nostradamus and Carroll sit across a table. On the table is a crystal globe and Nostradamus is looking into it. "What do you see?" says the English gentleman. "An old queen?" "What is she doing?" "She is imprisoned in the top room of a very high tower along with her son and daughter." "Go on." "Outside their window is a pulley with a rope around it and a basket fastened to each end of the rope of equal weight. They have found a weight in the room and now they are planning to escape. It will be dangerous for any of them to come down if they weigh 15 pounds more than the content of the other basket. The one basket coming down will of course draw the other basket up. The queen weighs 195 pounds, daughter 105, son 90, and the weight is of 75 pounds. How will they all escape?" "Easily." "Impossible, how?" "Consider: a) The weight is sent down; the empty basket comes up. b) The son goes down; the weight comes up. c) The weight is taken out; the daughter goes down and the son up. d) The son gets out; the weight goes down; the empty basket goes up. e) The queen goes down; the daughter and weight come up; daughter gets out. f) The weight goes down; empty basket up. g) The son goes down; weight comes up. h) The daughter removes weight and goes down; son comes up. i) Son sends down weight, empty basket comes up. j) The son goes down; weight comes up. k) Son gets out; the weight falls to the ground." "Impressive professor." "What else do you see" "Jack and Jill." "What are they doing?" "Going up the hill to fetch a pail of water. From 3 am to 9 am, they spend their time walking along a level road, up the hill, and back home. Their pace on the level road is 4 miles an hour, 3 miles an hour uphill, and 6 miles an hour downhill." "Find the distance walked and the time when they will reach the top of the hill." "I can’t, I am a fortune teller, not a mathematician, you tell me." "They take a quarter of a hour to travel a mile on level road — one third of an hour in going uphill, and one sixth going downhill. Therefore, to go up and return down the same mile, whether on the level road or on the hillside, they take half an hour. In six hours, they will go 12 miles up and 12 miles back. If the 12 miles up is nearly all level road, they will take a little over 3 hours to travel. If nearly all of it is uphill, they will take a little under 4 hours to cross it. Hence, three-and-a-half hours must be within half-an-hour of the time taken in reaching the peak. Therefore, because they began at 3, they got to the top within half-an-hour of half-past-six." "Professor, I was going to the North Pole and on the way I met nine men dressed as Santa Claus, each of whom had nine reindeers, each of whom had nine cats on their back, each of whom had nine birds in their bag. How many were going to the North Pole, tell me quickly." "I give up, you tell me." "Just one, that is I. The rest of them were coming from the North Pole when I met them." (Based on original
puzzles by Lewis Carroll) |
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We are playing those mind games together Pushing the barriers, planting seeds Playing the mind guerrilla Chanting the mantra, peace on Earth We all been playing those mind games forever Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil Doing the mind guerrilla Some call it magic, the search for the grail Love is the answer and you know that for sure Love is a flower and you got to let it, you got to let it grow So keep on playing those ming games together Faith in the future, outta the now You just can’t beat on those mind guerrillas Absolute elsewhere in the stones of your mind Yeah we’re playing those mind games forever Projecting our image in space and in time Yes is the answer and you know that for sure Yes is surrender, you got to let it, you got to let it go So keep on playing those ming games together Doing the ritual dance in the sun Millions of mind guerillas Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel Keep on playing those mind games forever Raising the spirit of
peace and love |
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