Idle thoughts in the life of an IT Professional that's married with children.

My Profile


Map of Countries I've Visited


Other blogs that I write:

The Wine Spot

WhineSpot (co-hosted)


Other Blogs that I read:

My Life (by Karen)

Carrie's Blog

A Nichol's Worth (Patti)

Points to Ponder

My Life in Paradise
(Curt's Blog)

poopee shmoopee's blog

BostonBlueEyes (Colin's blog)

LQ's Blog, Moo Alex

Simon of Space

Mark's Regular Life

Trucker Bob's Blog



My Current Weather




My favorite saying:

Shared pain is lessened Shared joy is multiplied

 
More snow, cold weather, and Payday!

Yep, we got about 2-3 inches of snow last night, and it's going to be well below zero tonight.
The good news is, it's Payday..!

A few nights ago, my wife and daughter were looking through a Kraft cooking magazine, and found this wonderful recipe, and made it It's OUTSTANDING, and very simple to make. Give it a try!

30 days till Costa Rica!

Now, on to the Genius Quiz answer! (Way to go Curt!)
You should switch. If contestants switch every time, one of
two things happens:
(a) With probability 2/3, the contestant picks a wrong door. Monty Hall shows the prize behind the other wrong door, and the contestant switches to the door hiding the car.
(b) With probability 1/3, the contestant picks the right door, Monty Hall reveals either the donkey or the bananas, and the contestant switches to the other "zonk" prize.

So, with probability 2/3, the "switch" strategy will elicit the car.

This is one of the most famous (and widely-debated) probability problems of the past ten years. For more information, and a simulation to show that the above solution is truly correct, check out the following website:

Click here to go to website

And now, Quiz Question #2:

The Two Guards, Part Two: Stranger Than Truth (from Discover magazine, January, 1991)
You have undoubtedly heard of those mysterious islands where half the inhabitants always tell the truth and the other half always lie. Nobody seems to have actually visited one of these islands, but everyone knows of someone who has, someone who found himself at the fork in a road with a strange islander (who could be either a truth teller or a liar) and who was able to ask only one question to find the right path.
That's simple. So is the case where the islanders don't speak English and you have to interpret their response. It's even possible to find the right road if half of them are zombies or psycho killers and you are armed with one silly question.
I once found myself on an island that made those places look like "Romper Room." Picture, if you will, the Isle of Row, a one-acre forsaken swatch of desert in the middle of the Sea of Troubles. Despite its diminutive size, Row has no less than four kinds of people, all outwardly indistinguishable from one another. There are the members of the First Family, who always tell the truth, and the Pretenders, who never do. There are the Eccentrics, who may or may not tell the truth, depending on whim. Finally there are the Wimps, who are incapable of speaking unless they have heard one of the other kinds of people speak, and then they obsequiously chime in.
One day, as luck would have it, I found myself at the only crossroads on the island, facing four possible routes. Three Rowians stood by, milling about, and I had only two questions to ask in order to reach, as directly as possible, the fabled 100-foot Tower of Schmooze, the island's premier, albeit only, tourist attraction. What did I do?
Yours in pursuit of truth, Dr. Crypton.

and now, the news not fit to print:

This one's for Karen:
New Star Wars movie to be darker, more sinister. As evidenced by new "Darth Tater" product tie-in

Here's one for you Aaron!
Microsoft's antispyware tool removes Internet Explorer

Quality of airplane drinking water worsens. This report brought to you by the People Who Don't Understand the Concept of the Beverage Cart

Red October submarine, like Alec Baldwin's acting career, being turned into scrap

Another one Karen might be intersted in.. *snicker*
There are strange things done in the midnight sun: Icelandic women own most vibrators per capita

One of the FUNNIEST ones as of late:
Man auctions his left nut on eBay to buy a tractor

And one for Carrie:
It's so cold in Ottawa that the buildings there are making cracking sounds and residents are reporting it as gunfire

And that's all for today... have a good one and stay warm!

posted by Dave at Thursday, January 20, 2005