Aspera Ad Astra Reborn

found on "Squares on a Go board" and quoted here:

"How Many Squares on a Go Board?"

Kami Kaze: How many squares are there on a go board? Go away and think about it and write your answer down before reading on!

20 kyu: 361 of course.

"Wrong" says Kami Kaze.

10 kyu: No silly, that's the number of vertices. There are 18x18 or 324 squares.

"Wrong" says Kami Kaze.

(A pause follows, but frantic calculations occur.)

1 dan: Aha, there are also squares 2x2 and 3x3 and so on, which means that the total is 18x18 + 17x17 and so on making a grand total of 2109!

crowd: Aaaahh very clever!

"But wrong" says Kami Kaze.

3 dan: You've forgotten that they aren't squares, they are rectangles. There are no squares on a go board!

crowd: That's a dirty trick.

"And still wrong" says Kami Kaze.

(Another pause, and many puzzled faces.)

crowd: Well how many squares are there on a go board then?

Kami Kaze: It is perfectly true that the smaller areas are rectangles, and each of these is one twelfth longer than it is wide. Therefore, if we take an area twelve rectangles long and thirteen wide, we have a large square, and this is the only size which works. There are (19-12 ) x (19-13) or 42 such squares. The answer is forty-two.

Douglas Adams: We all knew the answer, it's the question that we didn't know. Thank you Kami Kaze, the whole question of the meaning of Life, The Universe and Everything is simply "How many squares are there on a go board?"

Marvin: I tried to tell them, but you know what humans are like, they have the attention span of a dead gnat. Here I am with a brain the size of a planet, and having worked out all the possible games of go, the meaning of life is to have two eyes except in seki when ......

crowd: Which restaurant shall we eat at tonight?

(The crowd departs leaving Marvin talking to himself.)

Marvin: I can tell you what the strictly correct komi is if you really want to know? Oh never mind me, just carry on. I haven't got any feelings of course .....

Last monday the final episode of the first Season (or "Volume") of Heroes aired in the U.S.

I love this show! It's a very interesting series with many plot twist, and you always wonder what's going to happen next. It also features a weekly Online Novel, a Blog written by "Hiro", one of the main characters, and also an ongoing "online adventure" called "Heroes 360". Try to find it. (Hint, try the Heroes Wiki).

A short description of the show: (from Wikipedia)

"...the story of several people who "thought they were like everyone else... until they woke with incredible abilities" such as telepathy, time travel and flight. These people soon realize they have a role in preventing a catastrophe and saving mankind."

Even if it sounds like something you don't like, give the first few shows a chance, it'll blow you away.

Ya- Ta!

Vor ein paar Tagen entdeckt:

Kilians Podkost

Ein "deutscher Podcast über Japan, das Leben und Arbeiten hier, allerlei kulturelles, sprachliches, köstliches, kötzliches, banales, witziges und außerdem alemannisches."

Kilian kommt wohl aus Grenzach, an der Schweizer Grenze. Das ist nicht wirklich weit von Waldshut weg, wo ich seeehr viel Zeit verbracht habe.

Sein Podcast ist sehr interessant gestaltet und bringt einem die Kultur Japans, die Eigenheiten der Japaner (Und der Deutschen) in sehr witziger und unterhaltsamer Form rüber. Leider ist die letzte Folge schon etwas älter. Schaut auch mal bei seinen Photos und seinem Blog rein: Kilians Photos und sein Blog

@Kilian: Ich warte, auf heissen Kohlen sitzend, auf die nächste Folge!!!!