The Typing Game

Quick! Type "Quick"! Oh,no, not fast enough! But it's alright, you'll get another try.

What I'm talking about is Z-type. Z-type is a game where you have to quickly type a word that is falling towards you. If the word hits you, you will die, and you have to start all over again. If you manage to type it, you still have to contend with another word.
You'd be surprised how difficult it gets, especially in the later levels.

You have three types of words:
Disc shape: Easiest level.
Rocket shape: Medium level.
Unclassified shape: Hard level.

Hope you have fun!

The Green Light

Do you live in Sweden? If you do, then you probably know what I'm talking about. If you don't, don't worry, because I'm going to tell you right now. What I'm blathering about is the Aurora Borealis, and today, there was a specifically brilliant one above Stockholm. Witnesses say that it was" a gigantic display of dancing lights and Technicolor" and that it was an "absolutely awesome display" and that one would have to " lie on the ground to capture it all."
 Though this may sound nice, it's also worrying, because it signals that a particularly large solar flare is coming.Fortunately, NASA says that the ISS is fine. Unfortunately, there might be problems with communications and power grids, and also, all plane flights close to the Poles will be cancelled, because of the lack of communications. They will start back this Friday, because that's when the solar flare will stop.
Hope the flare doesn't cause you inconvenience!

I Love I Love Lucy

My new favorite oldies show is... I Love Lucy! Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are hilarious in this show of a famous bandleader and his rather odd wife. Living in New York City with their friends Fred and Ethel, Ricky and Lucy often get into bad situations, and their plans to stop it always backfire. A good episode is "Home from Europe", in which Lucy, after staying in Nice, France, gets some cheese for her mother, but when Ricky has to get on a plane quickly, and Lucy, due to plane regulations, is unable to bring it... well, I won't spoil it for you.
Hope you enjoy watching it!

Hilarious Volkswagen Commercials

Here's some hilarious commercials from the folks at Volkswagen!

The Rogue's Letter

Har Har Har Har! There's a new puzzle in town! Don't worry, my blog hasn't been taken over by hackers, I've just found a new puzzle! It's called The Rogue's Letter, and it's by Sam Loyd. In the Rogue's Letter, an international group of crooks have committed a great bank robbery. They are supposed to visit a series of 19 American cities, that are encoded in a letter. You, as the police, must decipher it.
This is the letter:
Dear Jim-I won the race. The track was at the Olympic level and hard as cobalt. I more than won, for my position was central-eight before and eight behind. They had all a start from a half to a mile-to them a considerable advantage, but I can win on a run or walk and overtake and meander by-or kill-the best of them. Treading from early day to night the roads we follow.ELLSWORTH.(End of letter.)
I am in the process of solving this puzzle (16 cities so far!) and I am hope that I will solve it soon.
Enjoy!

Coool Toool

Are you a kleptomaniac? Are you a government spy? Or do you just have an odd sense of what is fun?
If you're any one of these, then you have to go to TOOOL. TOOOL is "The Open Organization of Lockpickers", and teaches you how to pick a lock, how pin tumblers work, and much more besides.
Also, they have competitions, lectures, and "Lockpick Villages", where you can listen to mini-lectures and listen to shared lockpicker advice. There is some physics involved, so it's not purely for pleasure.
Hope you have fun!

My New Love for Hitori

I have found a new kind of puzzle called Hitori, which is quite fun.
Here are the rules:

1. The same number may not appear in any row or column more than once.
2. No two shaded squares may be adjacent.
3. The unshaded squares must be connected to each other (excluding diagonal connection).

Click here for some Hitori puzzles.

I Do My Duty; Other Things Trouble Me Not

From Philosophy for Kids, Question #4 -- Marcus Aurelius: Should you let little things bother you?

1. List some of these duties:
Duties to Parents (combining with Duties to Teachers, ahem!):
Annoy her, Study hard, tidy up, have fun, be nice, eat my vegetables.

Duties to My Friends:
Have fun, be nice, do not annoy them.

Duties to Myself:
Have fun, be nice, make a mess, read, study.

2. What is more important, doing your duty or trying to be happy?
Dash: Try to do both if possible.
Mom: What if you can't do both?
Dash: Then be happy.
Mom: :{

Discussion on Effort and Intelligence

From Philosophy for Kids, Question #3 -- Confucius: Should you be rewarded for your efforts in school?

1. What do you think Confucius is assuming about intelligence and also about the relation between effort and intelligence?

Dash: I think Confucius assumed that people have fixed intelligence. He assumed that no one cheats in a test. He assumed that if you put in a lot of effort, you are trying very hard to get the answer, therefore, you don't know the answer and have lower intelligence.

Mom: I think hard work can lead to high intelligence and that Confucius assumed effort and intelligence are two separate qualities and do not co-exist in one person.

A. Does intelligence vary from person to person?
Dash: Intelligence varies from person to person. But people can become smarter.
Mom: Agree.

B. Does one person's intelligence vary from subject to subject?
Dash: Yes. But you can improve if you study hard for that subject.
Mom: Agree.

C.Can intelligence increase, or does it remain the same?
Dash:. Yes., it can increase.
Mom: Agree.

2. Why should effort be rewarded?
Dash: You should reward effort because if you try hard, you can become smarter.
Mom: Doesn't that mean you are rewarding intelligence?
Dash: Effort begets intelligence.