Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where we've been pondering numbers. After all, numbers are everywhere in our lives. If we said 24-7, you'd know we were referring to 24 hours, 7 days. Similarly, if we said 411, you'd think, "information." And you'd certainly recognize 3 and 5,000 as the number of people who read Picks last week and the pay cut we recently took. So, it's likely you know that 5,7,5 refers to the number of syllables in each line of a haiku. Now, someone has put together a page of haikus about another numbers-oriented topic: money. Make Money Fast Haiku is a collection of poems based on the "Get Rich Quick" postings that have been littering Usenet groups for some time. A sample:
Too good to be true Probably is felony Must rent P.O. Box
Most numbers are so packed with significance that scientists often spend time trying to create ones that mean absolutely nothing. Random numbers. Along these lines, some really groovy cats at Silicon Graphics came up with Lavarand, which takes random number generation a step further by adding an obvious ingredient to the mix: lava lamps. It's simple. They've set up a couple of lava lamps in front of a camera, and every now and then they take a picture and digitize it. Then they "cryptographically hash the digitization" and then---um, well, we better let them explain. So, what are random numbers good for? Why are scientists always looking for them? The guys at Lavarand have two suggestions: lottery numbers and poetry. What will they think of next?
Before the lottery, the best way to get rich quick was to go on a TV gameshow. One of our favorites was Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Monty Hall. Here's how it worked: You would dress up like a bunny, or a leprechaun, or a 15th-century Bavarian goatherder, and get a chance to pick one of three doors. Monty opened one of the other two doors and showed that it didn't contain the "big prize"--usually a large-ticket kitchen appliance. Then Monty asked if you wanted to switch your choice from the door you originally picked to the remaining door. The question is: What are the odds? Do the numbers say you should switch? Seems simple, but if, like us, you think that common sense says there's a 50/50 chance, you are absolutely, positively, indubitably, and unabashedly WRONG. Wanna know why? So did we. The Monty Hall Problem explains it all.
If you chose the right door on Let's Make a Deal, odds are good that your prize wasn't an all-expense-paid trip to Kiev. This city, the capital of Ukraine, has a population of 2,646,000 and covers an area of 1,600 square kilometers. But of course, numbers don't tell the whole story. And, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many numbers is that? For more on this, see Images of Kiev, a beautifully designed photographic tour of---you know what. Here, you'll find plenty of photos that capture the life of Kiev, its architectural landmarks, museums, monuments, nature, and people. There are 47 splendid pictures total. That's worth 47,000 words. Remember this. You will be tested.
Legend has it that cats have nine lives. But we all know that's a load of Macavity. What's true are the numbers revealed to us by Claude, a tongue-in-cheek research study revolving around one particular kitty. Here are some of the exciting results. The average food-related attention span of a cat: 2.16 hours. Total time a cat spends airborne in its life: 6.11 hours. The total number of times a cat yawns before it takes the "big nap": 109,500. Of course, each statistic is accompanied by the requisite adorable photograph of Claude. So, don't paws for a moment; make a feline straight for this site.
The Old West was full of numbers. The gold rush saw miners dubbed as "49ers," the rally cry for northern border skirmishes was "54-40 or fight!" and, of course, the earliest primetime soap opera was "Tombstone 85638." If the show were still on today, no doubt it would star Terry "Ike" Clanton, the current leader of The Notorious Clanton Gang. His site includes a history of Tombstone, "the town too tough to die," as well as information on what the gang is up to today. Terry, er, we mean "Ike," has been carrying the flame of the hard-ridin' cowboy clan by offering his services as "Old West lecturer, cowboy poet, motor sports announcer and recording artist." He's even recorded a book, titled "Wyatt Earp Murdered My Cousin." There's also an illustrated re-enactment of the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral. The final numbers on that showdown were: Earps 2, Clantons 0. But, we like Ike. He's got 'em beat on websites, 1-0.
Finally, and for no apparent reason, we turn to the number 82. Why? Because that was the only way we could bring up the year 1915, which conveniently occurred EXACTLY 82 years ago. Coincidence? Doubtful. It was in that fateful year the Panama Pacific International Exposition took place in San Francisco, celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal. You can read all about the Expo at this terrific site, which includes a fair history, background on architecture at the Exposition, a photo gallery of images, and more. Take your pick(s).
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