The King of Pointland

Riddle

What do you call the donkey that the U.S. Justice Department sometimes uses to help them solve crimes?

Note: If I've already shared this with you, please do not answer.

Updated . . . (click through)

ANSWER: You call it the Federal Burro of Investigation.

Losing Your Pants Gambling

     The following is a brief synopsis of information provided by the
Prince George's County Police:

INCIDENT:     Robbery
OCCURRED:     01/27/2007, 2:20 a.m.
LOCATION:     Gambling House in Nearby Residential Neighborhood
PGCPD CASE #: 07-027-0193
BRIEF DETAILS:

     On 01/27/2007, at approximately 2:20 a.m., two suspects entered a
house in a nearby residential neighborhood, displayed handguns, and
announced a robbery.  The house was occupied by approximately fifteen
individuals including some University of Maryland students.  The
suspects took cash, cell phones and the victims' pants.

	Reportedly, the house was recently purchased and appeared to
have been converted into a gambling house.  The basement was furnished
with three professional gambling tables, flat screen TVs, a cash room,
and a bar.  Most of the victims were patrons of the gambling house.
Some victims/patrons may have left prior to the arrival of police.

     Additional information, including a description of the suspects, if
available, can be obtained by accessing the "Crime Alerts" portion of
our web site.

http://www.umdps.umd.edu/police_support_services_public_crime_alert.cfm

     The Prince George's County Police Department is conducting an
investigation.  Individuals with any information regarding this incident
or the possible identity of the suspects are encouraged to contact Lt.
Hipps, Prince George's County Police Commander, District 1 Investigation
Section (301-699-2954).

     PG County Police Department News Releases may be found at the
following web address:  

http://www.co.pg.md.us/
 
Prepared by:

Police Capt. Don E. Smith
Office of the Chief
301-405-5725
dsmith@umpd.umd.edu

My Latest Complaint

This time, the Washington Post raises my ire.

The New Book World Design

The moment I picked up the first newly designed Book World, I knew there was something I did not like about it. It seemed somehow less substantial. There were fewer pages, I assumed. But when I compared a recent edition to an older one, I discovered that, no, there were and still are sixteen pages per issue.

Then it hit me: The leading had increased! There was now more vertical space between each line. The page count hadn't changed, but there were now fewer words per column inch. What was advertised as an improvement in appearance was, in fact, a reduction in content.

If you feel that the new leading is more pleasing aesthetically, please compensate by increasing the page count to retain the same content per issue. I'm quite sensitive about this matter. I grew up reading the Philadelphia Inquirer, and watched as the Sunday book review section shrank by degrees until it reached its current size of one paltry page in the Arts & Entertainment section.

-David Eisner
University Park, MD

Watch This Phrase

From an article in today's Washington Post:

The White House has authorized a widening of what is known inside the intelligence community as the "Blue Game Matrix" -- a list of approved operations that can be carried out against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Blue Game Matrix" ? What if we Google it ? Not a single hit (as of this morning). I'm curious to see if, when, and where it will show up.

My Brain

Today I remembered the word minuend, but not the word subtrahend. I did not try very hard, though.

Denmark's Welfare State

Here is an interesting article about the Danish welfare state:

Even some relatively conservative economists—like the American Enterprise Institute’s Kevin Hassett, who has been an adviser to John McCain—will concede that the Nordic model works, although they are dubious that the United States could copy it:“The Scandinavians,” Hassett says,“show that you don’t have to have a terrible economy if you have a big welfare state and high taxes.”

The Danes consume about 9.7 kg of coffee per capita per year. That was in 2002. So far, in 2007, I have spent $33.82 on brewed coffee.

Bookkeeping Question for the Treater and Treatee

Sometimes I purchase two cups of coffee: one for me, and one for Sandra. Should I record both in my tally, or just my share?

I'm inclined to record both, because Sandra also treats me to coffee, and I imagine it balances in the end. It makes my record keeping easier, too.

Coffee Update 2

I have spent $15.83 on brewed coffee this year.

Best Unintentionally Funny Movie Poster of 1960

This past Saturday night the local Philadelphia PBS station broadcast the classic film Inherit the Wind, starring Spencer Tracy and based on the events of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

I now challenge you to look at this poster for at least fifteen seconds and not laugh.

Begin.

With apologies to indexed.blogspot.com

A = Rainy Days
B = Today
C = Mondays
D = Always get me down

Haditha

Diagramming a Massacre

From the article:

Wuterich said the men got out of the car, and he shot them because he considered them a threat. But Dela Cruz said the men were standing in a line when they started to fall.

"As I crossed the median I saw one of the Iraqi civilians, who was standing in the center of the line, drop to the ground," Dela Cruz told investigators. "Immediately afterwards another Iraqi standing by him raised his hands to his head. I then heard other small arms fire and looked to my left and saw Sgt. Wuterich kneeling on one knee and shooting his M16 in the direction of the Iraqi civilians."

Dela Cruz told investigators that he pumped bullets into the bodies of the Iraqi men after they were on the ground and later urinated on one of them.

Properties of 2007

The number 2007 is divisible by three.

One way to tell whether a number is divisible by three is to add its digits together. If (and only if) that sum is divisible by three, then so is the original number. For example, for 2007, we note that 2 + 7 = 9, which is divisible by three. Therefore, so is 2007. In fact, 2007 = 3 x 3 x 223.

I don't remember when I learned this trick, but I was never taught why it works. From time to time I thought that I should figure it out, but I never got around to it. Until the other day. After a little thought, it became clear. The following example should give you the idea.

Consider the number 31512. 3+1+5+1+2=12, which is divisible by three, so 31512 is, too. This is why:

31512 = 3x10,000 + 1x1,000 + 5x100 + 1x10 + 2x1

= 3x(9,999 + 1) + 1x(999 + 1) + 5x(99 + 1) + 1x(9+1) + 2x1

= (3x9,999 + 1x999 + 5x99 + 1x9) + (3+1+5+1+2)

= 3x(3x3,333 + 1x333 + 5x33 + 1x3) + (3+1+5+1+2)

We always end up with a number of the form 3 x A + S, where S is the sum of the digits. If S is divisible by three, then S = 3 x C for some whole number C. So, we can write the number we're testing as 3 x A + 3 x C = 3 x (A+C), which means that the number is divisible by three.

Conversely, if we know the number is divisible by three, then 3 x A + S = 3 x K for some whole number K. So S = 3 x (K-A), which means that the sum of the digits, S, is divisible by 3.

Please don't tell me that you figured this out when you were ten, while waiting for the school bus. I already know.

Predictions

Welcome to 2007 CE.

This year, I have spent $3.41 on brewed coffee. I predict that I will spend at least that much again before the year is out.

William Safire likes to make predictions, too. Sometimes he forecasts the war in Iraq. Here he is (with Evan Thomas of Newsweek) on NBC's Meet the Press, January 2, 2005:

MR. RUSSERT: How do you see Iraq, Evan?

MR. THOMAS: I think there's a good chance we will declare victory and come home, that within a year, we'll hope for some kind of Iraqi stability and come home.

MR. RUSSERT: Bill Safire?

MR. SAFIRE: I think we're going to win in Iraq. I think by the end of next year, we'll have begun to withdraw our forces. We won't have them out but we will have begun to withdraw. And the Kurds will be firmly in charge of northern Iraq. And look, you've got two-to-one, three-to-one majority of Shia over Sunnis, and they're going to run Iraq. And the Sunnis, who live in the middle, not with the northern oil fields or the southern oil fields, are going to have to live with it and come to grips with it. I don't see a long civil war there.

Oops. A year later, on January 1, 2006:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to Iraq and to the Office Pool column of William Safire, which runs at the end of the year in The New York Times. Here it is here: "U.S. troops in Iraq at 2006 year's end will number, (a) current `base-line' of 137,000; (b) closer to 100,000; (c) closer to 90,000; (d) 80,000 or below." ...

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Safire, your answer was?

MR. SAFIRE: D.

MS. GOODWIN: He's the hopeful one amongst us.

MR. SAFIRE: I'm an optimist about it. I think...

MR. RUSSERT: Below 80,000.

MR. SAFIRE: Eighty thousand or below, and I think that 80,000 figure is something that the administration is really shooting for, would love to see, depending on the situation. ...

As it turns out, we have about 140,000 troops in Iraq, and December was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in two years. Finally, this past Sunday, December 31st, 2006:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me talk about Iraq and we're going to talk about Mr. Safire's office pool, the various options you lay out. But first, because this is a program of accountability, let me--Bill--bring Bill Safire back, January 2nd, 2005. Two years ago, his prediction about Iraq. Let's read.

"I think we're going to win in Iraq. I think by the end of next year," that would be the end of '06, "we'll have begun to withdraw our forces. We won't have them out, but we'll have begun to withdraw. ... I don't see a long civil war there."

How do you plead?

MR. SAFIRE: Optimistic, and frankly, that was as well-sourced a prediction as I've ever had.

MR. ROBINSON: That was the problem.

MR. BESCHLOSS: They know things that we don't know, right, Bill?

MR. SAFIRE: But one of these days I'm going to be right.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, here are the questions that you posed...

MR. DIONNE: He's steadfast.

MR. RUSSERT: Yeah. Here's the Safire office pool, and we're all going to take it.

"The level of American troops in Iraq at year's end"--that's at 2007, end of this, next year, 2007, A: over 100,000, down from 160; under 100,000 from today's unsurged 140; under 80, with announced timetable for downsizing in '08 to 40 to secure Iraqi Kurdistan."

Mr. Safire, you picked A, over 100,000.

MR. SAFIRE: I think what we'll have is surging, the surge will be there. And the Democrats will go along with the surge, provided that it can be shown to have a mission in mind, and has some support from the Iraqis. Even Hillary Clinton, when she said, "I'm against the surge unless it has some other mission in mind."

This is good news! We can expect to have fewer than 100,000 troops in Iraq by the end of 2007!

I wish there were some sort of Prediction Clearing-house, a one-stop shop for past prognostications. It would demonstrate (I predict) that, as a rule, we humans are not very good at guessing the future.