Who Said It

Posted on October 21, 2008 by Steve

[A country's] leader ... has ordered the abolishment of most of the government ministries and handing over their powers to the people. "For years, [citizens] have been unhappy with the workings of their country's ministries which have been transformed into a labyrinthine bureaucracy in which corruption and maladministration reign," [the leader] told [his] parliament late on Sunday.

"Apart from the main departments of defence, internal security and foreign affairs and those responsible for strategic projects like the Great Man-Made River and airport and road construction," state ministries will be "abolished" the ... leader said, according to AFP. The 37-billion-dollar a year budget allocated to the ministries should instead "be shared among the people so that they can manage their affairs themselves," [the leader] told the session of the General People's Congress in the coastal city of [...].

According to him, the cabinet is not needed as it had failed to manage the country's huge oil earnings. He stressed big projects were behind schedule and so ordinary people should themselves devise a new way of sharing out oil revenues. "All citizens have the right to benefit from the oil funds. They should take the money and do whatever they want with it," he said, according to Reuters.

"Projects in several sectors are pending. This is a proof that the committees have failed. It's a failure. The administration has failed. The committees have failed in everything. They could not even train good artists and singers." "These committees will be replaced spontaneously by real committees to be created everywhere by citizens. Citizens will get part of the oil revenue directly. They don't need intermediaries," he said.

Mind Flexers 2

Posted on September 26, 2008 by Steve

Twenty-five more association puzzles from Games magazine. Instructions with the first post.

1.Appendix scarA.Armrest
2.At easeB.Backseat driver
3.AutoharpC.Bearing down
4.BackwardD.Bulletin
5.BeatenE.Bumper
6.BlusherF.Cool down
7.CurrentG.Coquette
8.EndangerH.Correction fluid
9.FeatheredI.Dirty socks
10.FlatheadJ.Divorce
11.Hearing aidK.Dogcatcher
12.HolsterL.Dwarf
13.Loaded gunM.Fire prevention
14.Low blowsN.Gavel
15.MinutemanO.Kennel fee
16.PenchantP.Landlord
17.Rigor mortisQ.Microbic
18.RustlerR.Oink, oink, oink
19.Scrabble pieceS.Orthopedic department
20.SlipcoverT.Rate like Bo
21.Split decisionU.Redone
22.Spot removerV.Sideline
23.TenureW.Solid state
24.Tiny penX.Stocktaker
25.VanguardY.Utile

Vocabulary quiz

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Steve

Here's another quiz. I got up to level 49 in the time it took to score 1020 grains of rice. A lot of words were unfamiliar but came to me as a gut feeling, and it helped that the ones you get wrong are repeated a little later.

English game

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Steve

Codebox Software's game: fun! Five minutes given; guess common English speech units. Hard crafting blog entry without clues.

Besides making big bucks

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Steve

What do Woody Allen, Ethan Coen, Philip K. Dick, John Elway, Harrison Ford, J. Paul Getty, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Lee, Steve Martin, Dennis Miller, George Soros, and Alex Trebeck have in common?

Clue in my furlstream.

Turkish Quiz

Posted on March 07, 2008 by Steve

Here's another item stolen from Games magazine, April 1998 issue. Match the Turkish words on the left with their English equivalents on the right.

1.akvaryuma.automobile
2.dosyab.cello
3.elektriklic.censorship
4.fantaziyed.circus
5.isterie.college
6.istimbotf.display
7.jiletg.doormat
8.kebabh.file
9.kismetlii.fishtank
10.kolejj.giraffe
11.lâstiklik.hysteria
12.mankenl.imperial
13.müskirm.intoxicating
14.otocarn.live wire
15.paspaso.lucky
16.perilip.movie
17.pikapq.plainclothesman
18.purdelir.record player
19.sansürs.roast
20.sinema filimit.rubber
21.sirku.safety razor
22.sivilv.scarecrow
23.sultaniw.sinister
24.viyolonselx.steamboat
25.zürafay.veiled

On the subject of Turkish vocabulary, I found the list of Basic English words I had intended to learn back in August. My proficiency was still around 50% or less, but I got a few more translations and memorized one or two. Seems technique is of little importance compared to actually putting in some effort regularly.

Mind Flexers 1

Posted on February 21, 2008 by Steve

These puzzles came from an old issue of Games magazine I found in the basement. The copy cites psychology professor Morgan Worthy as the inventor of the form, and he appears to be behind the 26 = L. of the A. puzzle that drove my extended family to distraction years ago (this kind of puzzle is apparently called a "ditloid").

Mind Flexers are comparatively easy but I've obfuscated a bit by merging the five sets of five into one list of 25. The object is to match items on the left to related items on the right. For example, the first one, "About face" corresponds to "Whiskers."

1.About faceA.Bicyclist
2.BruiseB.Briefcase
3.CookC.Bruised ego
4.Dance floorD.Bumpkin
5.DatelineE.Coast Guard
6.DozenF.Coin return
7.FatallyG.Conquest
8.LimpidH.Dusting
9.ManhuntI.E.K.G.
10.Now playingJ.Finished drilling
11.OzoneK.Junk food
12.Parking brakeL.Meditate
13.Pet duckM.Mount St. Helens
14.Prepares the cameraN.Munchkin
15.QuarterbackO.Panhandler
16.RagtimeP.Party platform
17.Sail byQ.Passport
18.SatanR.Past practice
19.Shower stallS.Picture frame
20.Speedy trialT.Sinking
21.SpokespersonU.Touchdown
22.TickertapeV.Umbrella
23.Well doneW.Want to dance?
24.WithdrawingX.Went to court
25.WooedY.Whiskers

Word Frequency Quiz: Moderns

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Steve

Our sole respondent to the Classics edition of the Word Frequency Quiz got a perfect score. Eric correctly identified these titles with their most frequently used common nouns.

Aesop's Fables: fox, lion, man, wolf, day, time, mouse, ass, way, dog
Candide by Voltaire: man, woman, world, country, master, day, baron, people, sheep, captain
Discourse on the Method by Descartes: order, being, things, time, reason, heart, others, nature, blood, truth
The Iliad by Homer: man, son, ships, spear, horses, hand, gods, armour, battle, city
The New Testament: god, man, things, lord, son, men, father, day, spirit, heaven
The Old Testament: lord, god, king, son, people, house, man, land, children, day
Plato's Republic: man, state, life, justice, soul, nature, knowledge, truth, things, world
Tales of the Brothers Grimm: king, man, time, day, home, father, door, wife, mother, head


Today's quiz requires that you pair up more recent titles with their oftenest-used nouns.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The Encyclopedia Brittanica
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Ulysses by James Joyce

(1)
lord
king
man
duke
time
heart
queen
lady
death
hand
(2)
man
father
time
love
money
face
life
heart
moment
god
(3)
man
time
eyes
hand
street
father
day
face
night
head
(4)
time
lady
sister
family
man
day
hope
father
letter
room
(45)
time
man
way
hand
head
boy
day
night
eyes
face
(6)
time
way
men
work
place
man
head
room
air
water
(7)
time
way
moment
question
fact
eyes
father
place
face
life
(8)
work
day
francs
man
hotel
money
men
people
tramps
food
(9)
year
time
bridge
town
century
building
number
city
government
life

Word frequency quiz: Classics

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Steve

Can you recognize these classics by the nouns that appear in them most? The lists below are the ten most frequently used common nouns, in descending order, from the following titles.

Aesop's Fables
Candide by Voltaire
Discourse on the Method by Descartes
The Iliad by Homer
The New Testament
The Old Testament
The Republic by Plato
Tales of the Brothers Grimm


(1)
fox
lion
man
wolf
day
time
mouse
ass
way
dog
(2)
man
son
ships
spear
horses
hand
gods
armour
battle
city
(3)
god
man
things
lord
son
men
father
day
spirit
heaven
(4)
king
man
time
day
home
father
door
wife
mother
head
(5)
lord
god
king
son
people
house
man
land
children
day
(6)
man
state
life
justice
soul
nature
knowledge
truth
things
world
(7)
man
woman
world
country
master
day
baron
people
sheep
captain
(8)
order
being
things
time
reason
heart
others
nature
blood
truth

Telegram quiz

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Steve

The following telegram was read to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1884:

MONOTREMES OVIPAROUS, OVUM MEROBLASTIC

It was described as "the most important message in a scientific sense that had ever passed through the submarine cables."

What was it about?

(a) A species of coral.

(b) A tribe of jungle-dwellers.

(c) Evidence of microscopic meteorites.

(d) The nature of the platypus.