[knotty panda]

I'm so sorry. You are absolutely right and I was so wrong, very wrong. Chalk it up to being creeped out, please. (Creepy in a compelling sort of way lol.)

But I still think you've got a book deal in the works!

Originally Posted by knotty panda

I'm so sorry. You are absolutely right and I was so wrong, very wrong. Chalk it up to being creeped out, please. (Creepy in a compelling sort of way lol.)

But I still think you've got a book deal in the works!

Hi Knotty,

If I did it would never materialize. I am a notorious procrastinator. It would probably take me 15 years just to get started, 30 to finish it and another 10 to get it to the publisher's office. By then I will dead. Why bother.

Slraep

[Josh]

Wait a minute! That's two against one. Is there no one out there in the pearl ether on my side?

Originally Posted by Josh

Wait a minute! That's two against one. Is there no one out there in the pearl ether on my side?

Don't worry, Jesus still loves you.

Slraep

[Josh]

So do you think he's on Pearl-Guide?

[effisk]

Originally Posted by Slraep

You have 80 pearls. One is lighter than all the others. Can you find the odd pearl in just four weightings? Explain why or why not.

okay.

Divide your pearls into 2 groups of 27 pearls and 1 group of 26 pearls. Weight the two groups of 27 pearls (First weighting). If one is lighter than the other, the light pearl is in that group, if not, the light pearl is in the third group (containing 26 pearls).

Then divide the group containing the light pearl in three equal parts (each containing 9 pearls - add a pearl from another group if that group only contained 26 pearls). Weight two parts (Second weighting). If one is lighter than the other, the light pearl is in that group, if not, the pearl is in the third group.

Divide the group containing the light pearl in three equal parts (3 pearls each) and do the same as above. (third weighting).

you end up with three pearls. Weight two pearls (fourth weighting), if they are of equal weight, the third pearl is the light one.

Originally Posted by effisk

Divide your pearls into 2 groups of 27 pearls and 1 group of 26 pearls. Weight the two groups of 27 pearls (First weighting). If one is lighter than the other, the light pearl is in that group, if not, the light pearl is in the third group (containing 26 pearls).........etc.

Mon ami, I have to commend you on your ability to do internet searches. I thought the answer was well hidden. You should have switched the words around a bit, then I would have believed you had actually solved it on your own. Still, you are good.

Slreap

[effisk]

Originally Posted by Slraep

Mon ami, I have to commend you on your ability to do internet searches. I thought the answer was well hidden. You should have switched the words around a bit, then I would have believed you had actually solved it on your own. Still, you are good.

Slreap

hey! I did not look that up on the internet. While writing my prose I was actually wondering if anyone would understand my broken explanation.

I knew a similar one with nine apples and 2 weightings or something like that so I just had to adapt.

Originally Posted by effisk

hey! I did not look that up on the internet. While writing my prose I was actually wondering if anyone would understand my broken explanation.

Hmm...if that's the case then you are not only good, but very good. You also did not make the common mistake of using the word "weighing" instaed of "weighting".

Slraep

[effisk]

Originally Posted by Slraep

Hmm...if that's the case then you are not only good, but very good. You also did not make the common mistake of using the word "weighing" instaed of "weighting".

hehe, that's because English is a second language for me; I do not make common mistakes such as "than" instead of "then", "its" when it should be "it's" and so on.

I make other mistakes: I write "connexion", "independant", "langage"...

Originally Posted by effisk

hey! I did not look that up on the internet. While writing my prose I was actually wondering if anyone would understand my broken explanation.

I knew a similar one with nine apples and 2 weightings or something like that so I just had to adapt.

Effisk,
very impressive!

Ok, i got it, it IS Nikola Tesla! He had a fear of pearl earrings which is hypothetically related to a fear of orb shapes in general. And oh yeah, very nice maths skills there effisk!

Originally Posted by tacy_cc

Ok, i got it, it IS Nikola Tesla! He had a fear of pearl earrings which is hypothetically related to a fear of orb shapes in general. And oh yeah, very nice maths skills there effisk!

Yes, you are right. It is my favorite mad genius, Nikola Tesla!! I'm not sure he had a fear of spheres or orb shapes since he used them on paper and in his inventions. It was more about the pearls themselves, maybe the glow of them. He was afraid of women too. So you can imagine his reaction to any woman wearing pearls. Poor Tesla---that's the price of being a genius---having weird phobias and eccentricities.

Slraep

Wow. I didn't know about the pearl phobia. Tesla did some significant things, but it was completely overshadowed by his weirdness. No one trusted or believed him.

Originally Posted by GemGeek

No one trusted or believed him.

Tesla also trusted no one. He understood magnetism as no one else did, except maybe Edward Leedskalnin. They both were very secretive about the true nature of magnetic current. That's probably a very good thing in general---knowing how human nature works. Tesla left enough cool inventions to keep people wondering though.

Tesla may have had a certain degree of autism, hence his unexplainable terror of pearls worn by women and his love of white pigeons, amoung lots of other equally weird things.

In his own words....

"I contracted many strange likes, dislikes and habits, some of which I can trace to external impressions while others are unaccountable. I had a violent aversion against earrings of women… I would not touch the hair of other people except, perhaps, at the point of a revolver. I would get a fever looking at a peach and if a piece of camphor was anywhere in the house, it caused me the keenest discomfort."

Most interstingly by far is another thing he said...

"I do not think you can name many great inventions that have been made by married men."

Yup, Tesla is one of my favourites.

Slraep