The collected works of Oskar45 - Page 6

Whatever guide books tell you about a city or country - it's never the real thing.

Try again.

^

While I never did it the TransSib myself, I'd once a lady-friend who did - she was totally enthusiastic about it all the time [although she had started already in St. Petersburg].

Regarding long distance travels, another item high up on my places-to-see-before-I-die list is traversing the Pan-American. However, crazy as I'm, I'd like to do it by bicycle - it can be done for sure, some have done it. Of course, it probably would take me at least 18 months or so - no problem, I do have the time [and the money]. And it ends in Ushuaia - while I've been there before, I really would like to visit it again...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alois_Podhajsky

Nobuyuki Yoshigahara [he died in 2004, aged 68] was one of the greatest puzzle inventors the world has ever known. Among his 200+ mechanical puzzles was a series of pieces designed for the Glass Puzzle Collection from Toyo Glass Company. While I do have the "Glass Puzzle Answer Book" [published by Ishi Press in 2011 - in Japanese and English], I would be interested to know whether these puzzles are still available in Japan and how difficult it would be to obtain them nowadays.

BTW, one of his puzzles [among the most popular of all time] is "Rush Hour". I don't know whether it's available under Android - but if you have an iPad/iPhone, get the full version. It costs less than €2.50 and gets you 2500(!) challenges...

I think you are a bit too optimistic

Rush Hour [and Sokoban] are sliding-block puzzles. More than 45+ years ago, Martin Gardner wrote about such puzzles: "These puzzles are very much in want of a theory. Short of trial and error, no one knows how to determine if a given state is obtainable from another given state, and if it is obtainable, no one knows how to find the minimum chain of moves for achieving the desired state."

Well, even today there is no such theory - and there is a perfectly good reason for this: sliding-block puzzles have been shown to be PSPACE-complete. In particular, 10 years ago it was proved that Rush Hour is PSPACE-complete [that Sokoban is PSPACE-complete was shown in 1998].

HOWEVER, the above concerns only the generalized problems. It might indeed be possible to do better with smaller puzzles. The version I play on my iPad/iPhone [ThinkFun/BinaryArts] has a 6x6 board, the blocks are all 1x2 or 1x3 and each block constraint direction is the same as its lengthwise orientation [either horizontally or vertically]. The crucial block to be moved out of the grid [a red car] is always placed on the third row from top [actually, for the general case, even if the blocks are all just 1x2, Rush Hour is still PSPACE-complete]. The curious thing is that whenever I solve one particular puzzle, I'm always told whether or not I'd done so with *minimal* possible moves. This implies to me these guys indeed have an optimal algorithm at hand - I haven't yet figured it out, though...

So, peruse heuristics...

Very dangerous idea!!! I really would like to know whether there was once a GOD who had created all that current mess just for his fun...If so, I just say, "fuck yourself"...

No, no, no pal, you're staying too low.

*Why* did a GOD create us so that we can manage (again) to create all this mess (again) just by ourselves (again)? It's a mystery to me

*Kosher* panem, I presume! Actually, while certainly OT, if I'd have the chance to go back in time I'd for sure want to land in Old Rome - circenses, orgies and all the other aberrations practised then attract me quite some

Back to topic.

I'd like to climb Kilimanjaro...

Just hire Reinhold Messner and you will be ok

I for myself just stick to the Kilimanjaro - after a week or so of acclimatisation, it's not that terribly hard to get to the top...I only hope it's still snow-capped by then, though!

OT addendum to ^^^...

Actually, judging from Apicius's "De re coquinaria" them Old Romans had more to offer than just panem. Check Liber VII/Polyteles for some mouth-watering dishes

Addendum to ^...

As I'd pointed out before, Rush Hour [and Sokoban as well] is PSPACE-complete. Vexed, on the other hand, is not only NP-hard but also in NP itself - so it's NP-complete. If you find a polynomial time algorithm for it, you will get very famous indeed - you'd not only crush SAT but also *every* other problem in NP as well

Out of curiosity, on which body?

Sad as well. BTW, as a homage we just had his "Pange Lingua Variations" on the radio.

Actually, there was life before SGI. I still have running an IBM PS-half [ahem, an IBM /2]. Of course, it'd need a little bit of oiling to catch up with the top SGI boxes, but it is still reliable

While I do have quite a few of his recordings, I, unfortunately, heard him only once live [June 1, 1975 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, together with Alla Rakha, tabla]. Nada bramha.

Your posted pictures are certainly fine. However, I'd be more interested in the individual shots you used for stitching...

Now for something amusing: imagine you'd a hard drinking evening [maybe, with a bottle of Hendrick's, or Highland Park Thor, or Organic Premium Vodka {which received the IWSC 2012 trophy - made in Austria, of course!!!}]You just want to go to bed but as there's no lady around to be held tight, you turn to music lulling you in nicely. Which one would you choose? My favourite is Jon Mark, "The standing Stones of Callanish". What about you?

Could you possibly post one or two shots? As a substitute, your avatar's chics in the shower would do as well

Taken. I'd not have been allowed either. Ah, sigh...

Quite appropriate for the season: just came across "Radio Santa Claus", full of lovely music to get you into the right spirit. Am not telling you anything more about that station, though - have fun to find it yourself

LOL.

Until then, enjoy Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man"

Lame. I know a lady aged 75 who is more sexier than any bunch of them cheer-leaders.

No, sorry. I do have some shots, of course. But neko wouldn't allow me to post them at all. After all, kids might read this forum as well...

Back to topic.

I recently installed the TuneIn app on my iPad1, and now I've access to 50000+ stations. And for less than €1.00 (!) I can even record programs. My current favorite is "Irish Pub Radio".

Just want to have the money people had spent for years for all kinds of nonsense in anticipation of the Final Day - e.g., for "End-of-the-World Champagne" [probably tastes terribly - I rather stick to Krug or Dom Perignon ]

But - don't worry: some other demented esoterics will come up with new prophesies and there is a good chance we can look happily forward to another prognostic apocalypse soon...

In the meantime - pack away your survival kit and enjoy a prosperous 2013 [and a merry X-mas]

Do you count yourself as one of the five billion too many or one of the two billion remaining?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wqo9IVCWV5E/S ... -21-09.jpg

Not quite correct. The Mayans certainly did *not* create a calendar that works until *2012*. Firstly, 2012 in all of the surviving Mayan inscriptions is only hinted at once, on the El Tortuguero Monument 6 - but due to the damage of surrounding glyphs, its meaning is hardly clear. Secondly, Mayans just had a bunch of interlocking time cycles [as we do] and one of theirs happened to end now [the 13th bak'tun] before beginning the next one. Big deal. [We started Winter yesterday]. Thirdly, in fact, no-one can be sure of any precise starting date of their calendar either. We currently simply rely on the GMT correlation - but did the Mayans have no calendar related ideas of the years before 3114 BC?

BTW, in APL the niladic system function [or system variable, depending on the implementation] *) Quad-TS ever since returned a rank-1 array of shape 6 or 7 [depending on the implementation], including the *full* specification of the current year. So, there were never any problems with the switch from 1999 to 2000 at all [notwithstanding stupid programming, of course]...

*) The major difference between a niladic system function and a system variable is that the former can't be localized.

Ah, an Encounter of the Third Kind

Quite fitting for the Season, I just had the opportunity to watch a live recording of "Die Fledermaus" [Covent Garden 12/31/1990]. My god - what a dry and humourless spectacle. Poor Brits! Without the special guests - Dame Joan Sutherland [her final appearance on the stage of CG], Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti - it would certainly rank very high on any list of the most boring performances ever.

Actually - what would you consider the most beautiful music there is? For me it's lying on my lady's bosom and listing to her heart beats...

Nevertheless, a bit OT- when and where did you last watch cheetahs in natura hunting?

Had no idea that there are still cheetahs living in the wild in China While I enjoy them on a regular basis in the Mara, maybe I should one of these days visit mysterious China

Back to topic.

Anyone enjoys Steve Reich or Philip Glass [his latest opera, about Walt Disney, just had its world premiere in Madrid]?

PS: Ah, so you could have been there instead of the tommy, with opened stomach - but since you were at a ktv camp, your encounters were probably only miaowing along merrily anyway. Seems I wasn't too much OT after all Besides, cheetahs [in contrast to lions] are usually solitary - especially females, unless they have cubs -, and it is rather rare to find more than three males - normally brothers - gathering together anyway. As a matter of fact, in my last 10 years in the Mara, I'd seen only twice three cheetahs hunting together - and, in both cases, they were the same brothers [affectionally nicknamed "fugglies" locally]. Next time you meet a group of cheetahs again - don't look into their eyes, don't turn your back to them and don't run...just tell them to shut off their purr-boxes, sing with them and you will be - just like Barfuss - adopted into their clan [although you might not be fast enough]

Anyhow, cheetahs are my favourite cats and not only because in one particular respect they are unique [no, I don't mean their speed]...

Thanks. Well, as I'd pointed out in other threads before [e.g., "Mother and Son dancing"] the secret to get such shots is - be patient and be lucky, as they are impossible to plan for and no photographic equipment would help you any [actually, before the above shot I was fortunate enough to watch the whole hunt - from stalking to kill -, and it was breath-taking, believe me!] Should you ever have the opportunity, by all means make it the Mara - it's paradise [but don't be disappointed if you don't see anything spectacular in just one or two weeks - nature does tick differently. I myself had to wait quite a few years before I got an acceptable photograph of a serval cat].

Have no idea about the US - but if you over there ever have the chance to watch the BBC Big Cat Diary series by no means miss it - awesome [a few years ago I'd the fortune to meet Jonathan & Angela Scott when they were filming in the Mara].

Since no-one ever asked me for prints, I'm not in a position to sell [although I'd love to do so]. But for 2010 I'd made a calendar in which the above shot was July...

PS: what makes cheetahs unique - they are the only cats without re-tractable claws...

"Dead can dance" - on their re-union world tour, they'll be giving a concert in June over here. While I've a couple of their CDs from the '80s/90s, I just lost sight of them in the meantime. Do you think they're still worthwhile nowadays?

Goetz quotes were sourly missed. Welcome back