unreality

1. Consider a 5x3 rectangle- it is 5 unit squares wide and 3 unit squares tall, thus made up of 15 little squares. If you shade the outside squares, the border squares, 12 squares are shaded, with 3 in the middle left unshaded. Can you make rectangle with its border squares shaded so that the number of shaded squares equals the number of squares in the center? If so, how many rectangles (including squares) like that can you make? What are the dimensions of those rectangles? 2. A guy was having a paper written in English translated into French. He got the assistance of a French translator named Jacques. At the bottom of the paper was the following: (written in French of course) "Much thanks to my friend Jacques for translating the above paper into French." and then: "More thanks to my friend Jacques for translating the above sentence into French." and then: "More thanks to my friend Jacques for translating the above sentence into French." At first glance, this would have to continue forever, for proper thanks to be due. But it doesn't need too... it can (and does) end right there. Why?

very true which is why I think some theists that blindly follow like sheep should spend some serious, unbiased, genuine thought time about their religion, and if the current religion still stands, then it's probably good enough for them ;D Which is sad. People deserve the ability to learn things for themselves, know what I mean? I dont want to see rebellious spirit against atheism just because the communists were atheists and passed it down, forcing it upon people. Openness and thinking are our greatest tools, not our opposable thumbs or supposed "souls that are better than animals" (one of the big things I dislike about religion, how humans are set apart from animals according to most religions. That's called arrogance of the human race, lol)

Well I did figure out this: (attached) But I dont know if that helps

I got extremely frustrated trying to solve this problem, lol. I looked at the various answers, and none of them make any sense. Can anyone explain the solution in very very very simple words, please?

Working on it now

Satan = 19+1+20+1+14=55 Devil = 4+5+22+9+12=52 Lucifer = 12+21+3+9+6+5+18=74 ??? maybe you mean multiplication? Satan = 5320 Devil = 47520 Lucifer = 3674160 obviously not. So I'm confused. What name are you using for the devil? Also that system makes no sense. Two people's names could add up to the same number... anyway, I dont see how this is relevant to the debate, though it is interesting

Yeah I was just like "17m from one corner, 13m from the other, means the diagonal is 30m, wow this is an easy problem!" before I actually thought enough to see that it didn't have to be right on the diagonal hehe. I'd rather not look at the pictures or the answers, I'll figure it out myself ;D (if i can, that is. hehe)

Sharpie: I am trusting what you are saying about some of the contradictions being wrong since you obviously know a lot more about the Bible than me and I did not make that list of contradictions- but you only falsified a few of the contradictions. That's a huge list that can't be ignored, know what I mean? And you didn't combat the rest of what I said about the Bible... so are you selectively hearing or something? You cant "pwn" what I said until you tackle my entire reply to bocinki's 'bible proof', not just one little section of which I know the least about (which is why I provided the website) are you serious? Are you saying photosynthesis is evidence of God? And about the atoms thing, I believe you are misinformed about that, though I wont go into detail- Martini knows the most about the big bang stuff, though I will say that even if that isnt true (i am a big bang skeptic as well) the entire point of science is to hypothesize and come up with new theories and correct old theories etc etc. There is no one theory agreed upon by all scientists ever. That's the beauty of it. So if you have a problem with 'two atoms flying around' (even though if they exist forever the probability is actually very high of it happening- 100% if they exist forever, a little less than that depending on speed, sizes, lifetimes, etc, though I'm not gonna debate this since I know so little about the Big Bang stuff, Martini can tell ya though). Anyway, about the photosynthesis, your notions are ridiculous. Just because you're ignorant and haven't opened a Biology textbook to learn how photosynthesis actually works, doesn't mean God runs the show. Sorry. Is any of this relevant? All this shows is that the Bible says you get rewarded for your faith in God. We already know that the Bible says that. That doesn't make the Bible any more than a mythology book or God any more real than Santa Claus. (if Santa Claus exists, if you can prove that to me, I will look deeper for God) How is a biblical account of Jesus being lifted onto the cross make it true? We don't even know if Jesus existed, though last time I checked they're pretty sure, though most accounts give him as a non-magical person. Just a religious movement leader. Though I'm not entirely sure if it was that or if he didn't exist at all. Anyway, the Bible may have seeds of truth in various aspects. There may have been a flood in the Middle East that caused some deaths in that time- there have been thousands in almost every region of the world. Floods were devastating to many earlier civilizations, that's why religions viewed floods as "divine wrath". There was never a flood that covered the entire world. Ever. Anyway what I'm getting back to is that the Bible may have seeds of truth- Jesus was probably real and probably got crucified by the Romans. Probably, most likely, etc. That doesn't prove that most of the rest of the Bible is true, or that its message is true. Think of a historical fiction book of Holocaust survivors. The actual names and people aren't true, but the background story is. That's semi-relevant to what I was just saying, so don't correlate the two examples literally. But you get my point- much in the Bible has been proved false, as much or more as what has been speculated as true. So don't give evidence from WITHIN the Bible as evidence that the Bible was completely accurate and that God exists, etc, etc. edit: martini got a post in before I did. Oh well. I will read his post now

So is the Quran, the Torah, etc. And Greek Mythology. And plenty of other non-religious books that predate the Bible. Just cuz something is old doesn't make it true. Again, something being old and popular doesn't make it automatically true. And if we're talking about the oldest religion, check this out. And this I found even more helpful. It talks about the Aborigines and Egyptians and Chinese. Both links I posted are short and easily read. Wrong. Yes, the Bible has been torn apart by many- and they suceeded. Many things in the Bible contradict themselves too. I strongly recommend that everyone involved in the debate checks this out. The list is huge! Fifth: *cough* nostradamus. If you have any specific cases you believe are truly holy, please post them instead of alluding to it but not giving any actual proof Sixth: No it doesnt. See above link about contradictions. But you're right about being written by many different people. This doesnt make it true- it would probably be more accurate though if many many biblical accounts that would've gone into the Bible were thrown out in the council led by Constatine. So the Bible is very exclusive, only letting in accounts that make it seem like the Ultimate Holy Book Ever. Seventh: we're not disputing that. Religion is good for sense of community and morals and stuff. Nobody is debating that. But I hardly ever go to church (christmas and easter with my family are the exceptions) and I still have morals and wahtnot. So this isnt a part of the debate, really. There are many books and philosophies, some of them religious, some of them not religious, that can help you live your life better.

10 in base 2 is 2 10 in base 3 is 3 10 in base 4 is 4 etc (duh, thats the definiton of bases) so 2+3+4+5+6+7+8=35 next number makes it 46 then 56 with the 10 in base 10 Though that's just one solution of many for why a series could be infinitely 10's... it could just be infinitely tens. Know what I mean?

Oh I see, nevermind- he doesnt have to be necessarily on the diagonal between the corners. Woops! lol

Sorry, my answer was incorrect! woops! I used the wrong part of the triangle lol Redo of my answer: the OP said it was a square field. Meaning the 30m diagonal cuts it into two right triangles, with the hypotenuse of 30 m, so each side of both right triangles (in other words, one side of the 4 equal sides of the square), would be 15*sqrt(2) meters. Multiply by 4 to get 60*sqrt(2), which is approx 84.853 meters perimeter

1- you basically said (in your earlier post) that taxi drivers and hairdressers have sharper minds than us quite possibly true, but dont deny what you said, it's not a bad thing, it's just your opinion 2- no I don't, thankyouverymuch... where did you pull that question from? lol 3- so our thinking process is slow...? And you say this when you've had many replies to your topic. We are in the second page already. What you mean is that it is slow as people side with you, because as Ploper and Octopuppy have said, such a "code" isn't real or practical or even possible. I understand you're trying to MAKE it real. But it's not practical nor is it possible. Nobody will constantly follow their own "code"... unless their code is "you can do whatever the hell you want" which is what most people would do. Or what about people making BAD codes? Like "my code is to set fire to thai food places, cuz they're hot" I suggest you think things completely over by yourself before opening them to mass input on the internet, just a suggestion though

No, yours doesn't work, my friend The fastest of each heat might not necessarily be the 5 fastest because the heats are random. Two of the five fastest could have run in the same initial heat. My solution is the best one so far, from what I can tell. Bonanova never did give his answer

Ah I finally got around to this topic i didnt read any posts but brhan's top one, so I didnt check if there were any changes to the riddle that werent edited in, so tell me if there were

Yeah. The hat check problem. I didnt know it was on wikipedia, I saw it elsewhere. It's a good'un of course e is cool and all, especially with e^(theta•i) = cos(theta) + i•sin(theta) equalling the special case e^(pi*i) = -1 even that's not as cool as the golden ratio and its much neglected other root of the quadratic equation that forms it (x^2-x-1=0), which is its negative inverse and also 1-phi, and shares its amazing properties, most of which I figured out on my own, others I had to look up. But the golden ratio is amazing... you think a few cool properties are amazing- but then you soon realize they are just specific cases of its much bigger and more awesome properties, mostly connected to the Fibonacci numbers... yeah lol I love the golden ratio. And the Fibonacci numbers of course, which go hand in hand with phi *exhales long breath* hehe i'm a bit overenthusiasitic about that i have such nerdy pasttimes that nobody knows about lol but yeah.

Same ;D looking at it: integer(n!/e)/n! = permutations where no hat is given back to its previous owner. Doesn't work with 1 or 2 hat-owners, works with 3 or more though. consider it NOT using the integer function (which is there, to simplify it cuz of probability) that would make: (n!/e)/n! which is: n!/(e*n!) which is: 1/e however it's not 1/e every single time with 5 hats or with 10 hats, it varies slightly. Because of the taking-the-integer-only part. So anyway, consider it in pure probability's sake, 1/e chance that nobody gets their hat back. After some searching the internet, I found a section of an article on wikipedia that explains the property. Check this out: Bernoulli trials (read the section on Bernoulli trials) The integer-taking part approximates e's limit to the limit with the slots-machine example

"Toast" isnt a copy-off... I posted "Toast" on Aug 30, 07 the jackets riddle was posted Nov 7, 07... almost 3 months later. Besides I got "Toast" off of something in a book ;D

Ah, okay, sorry where were we, here?

Are you dissing our decision-making skills because not everyone here agrees with you? That's life, my friend

huzzah for 0!!! It's always been one of my most favorite numbers, it's an enigma. It's awesomeness

dont have time to reply to all that. And I didnt really catch your answer. Say that that situation is real... Would you die or kill the other guy? Jeez lol. It's not that hard no shît, cuz they're the same thing

So yeah. I hope that was clear

I would say the two most special numbers ever ever ever ever ever are: 1.6180339887... and: -.6180339887... though you can throw in 0, pi, and e for good measure. And 1, -1, i, and -i and 2

Go back to a bank that you know is still around today and existed in the 1800's, bringing a few hundred dollars with you (a lot for the 1800's). Invest it for the next 150-200 or so years when you travel back to your own time (though make sure to go right before the Great Depression and withdraw, go forward 10 or so years, and reinvest it) Even if the interest rate is small, you will have a HUGE amount waiting for you when you return. And if, for some reason, it's not, due to your meddlings, then no biggie. Try again