"We've been practicing for about a year"

Allie and are have been married for over a month now. I surprised her on our one month anniversary. She wasn't expecting anything, so the roses and card wowed her. I think she even felt just a little guilty for not getting me anything. ::evil grin:: I also have a small surprise in store for her birthday that will likely get another wow from her.

I'm glad we moved in together last year. The stress of living together for the first time coupled with the marriage would've been a lot of deal with at once. This allowed us to take it a little easier for the wedding, though it was still pretty stressful.

Married life isn't treating us any different than before because of this, though. I mean, we've been practicing for about a year now. It's just good to have the ceremony behind us. A few people have asked about then we will start popping kids out, but for the most part we just hear "How is married life treating you?"

Squeezing Rubber Chickens

Ok, seriously, who would by these for their pets? (recommend listening with the volumn turned up for best experience)

What to do with Bond's "Record Breaker" 756 ball?

I'm voting to have it branded. Please join me!

US Company Blackwater kicked out of Iraq

Blackwater contractor kicked out of Iraq after killing 8 civilians .. 72% of Iraqis want the US out.. With no success.. So now they are kicking out the contractors.

Forgetful

I know I'm going to forget something. I just wish I could know what I'm going to forget before I forget it.

Making triangles with Six toothpicks

"Use six toothpicks to make four identical triangles."

This is a problem that was given to my pre-algebra math class in Jr. High School. The problem was straight out of an old math book.  It was presented to us by a substitute teacher whose strategy was to offer free time at the end of class if we accomplished certain tasks. The math book listed only one solution to this problem. It stated that the only way to form these triangles was to build them into a tetrahedron (a 3D object). In other words, this old text book presented this problem in order to get kids to think in terms beyond the 2D dimensional realm of a flat piece of paper. 

No one in the class figured out the 3D solution. When the teacher presented the 3D solution, he declared that this was the only solution possible. Several people in the class protested by saying that other solutions had to exist. So, he gave us a double or nothing wager. If someone could figure out a 2D solution to the problem by the next day, he would double the amount of free time he offered.

I worked the problem for a couple of hours that night, not because I wanted the free time, but because it really bugged me. I drew many sketches of possible methods, but none produced four identical triangles while the toothpick ends touched. Then it hit me. Nothing in the problem stated that the toothpicks couldn’t overlap. (Nor did the problem suggest that the triangles had to be equilateral.) I drew up my solution: two toothpicks formed an X, and then the other four toothpicks formed a square around that X with overlapping tips. Easy. I read over the problem several times to make sure my solution was in compliance.

The next day, I left my sketched solution on the teacher’s desk and sat down. A minute or two after class started, the teacher discovered my solution on his desk. He was surprised. He showed our class the solution on the chalkboard. Everyone was happy. Our class won our free time. I didn’t really care. I got my rush the night before by solving the problem.

The next day, a deskmate of mine in another class mentioned the incident. She had the same substitute teacher at a different time in the day, who challenged her class with the same problem. So, the teacher presented my solution to her class as well, using my name. She told me that people in her class were upset with her because she sat next to me in another class and didn’t get the solution from me.

Now note, if you look for this problem these days, there are many different versions online. The problem is stated much more specifically, so as to limit the possible answers. These days, this same problem is worded something like this,

“Using six toothpicks, make four identical equilateral triangles and nothing else. (In other words you can’t make six equilateral triangles, or four triangles and a diamond, etc.)”. (backup link)

Of course, being this specific, the only answer is a tetrahedron. Another similar problem I found allows for several 2D solutions (backup link), but of course it also requires equilateral triangles. However, the solutions are similar to my solution to the old problem. 

Now, I’m not saying I was the first person to figure out this solution.  However, I did figure it out on my own in one night; in the days before the Internet. Looking over the Internet these days, I can’t even find this problem improperly stated. Maybe the writers of that old math book just didn’t do their research, tried to dumb down the problem too much, or just didn’t catch the wording error? I can’t imagine that this problem was improperly stated for hundreds of years before it found its way onto my desk.