Hardcore Guide fans celebrating the anniversary in London(picture from here)
Rememberthe flying lesson with the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' a few months ago? There is news about it: on 11 October, hundreds of people celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Guide in London. Look at the picture to see what they were carrying. And do you know why? No??? Go to the end of the post and do the quiz immediately and then get hold of the book as fast as you can. If you have heard about this book and the craze that it stirred up but you haven't actually read it you might wonder why it became so popular. The success of the series probably lies in the strange philosophy and in the abstract humour. It is quite irrational and bizarre. It is dark. At times, it is even cynical but just manages to stay away from pessimism. It's adventure. Fans of Monty Python are often fans of the Guide and vice versa.
The other great news is that Arthur Dent has returned! Although the author, Douglas Adams died in 2001, the literary agency that manages his estate proposed an Irish writer, Eoin Colfer (best known for the Artemis Fowl series), to continue the Guide. The proposal was accepted and now the sixth part of the Hitchhiker's Guide series, titledAnd Another Thing... , is out on the shelves of bookshops. It is probably a different thing, it may be quite different in fact, but who knows? It might as well be good so why not give it a try and read it? Before you run to the bookshop do this quiz below to freshen up your memory about the characters and the places. If you are a newbie to the Guide you might try it all the same. But whatever you do...Don't panic!
The puzzle story was popular and some of you said that they would like to see some more. Soon, there will be a new one and in the future there will be puzzle stories to train the brain every now and again. (in a rhyming mood I am:) However, it takes time to come up with quality puzzle stories, so this post's puzzle is going to be different: a picture puzzle. (Or to be precise, three picture puzzles.)
The task is the following: Find out what you can see in the following three pictures as precisely as possible. The third picture is a bit more difficult than the first two. Partly, because I took that one, and my pictures are always puzzles even for me. And partly, because it is only a fraction of the whole picture. Nevertheless, I hope you will be able to solve this new puzzle. Again, I am not only interested in the 'real' solution, but in any other interesting and imaginative solution as well.
Here they go. Picture 1:
Picture 2:
Picture 3:
You have one week to think. You don't need to have guesses for all the three to comment. If you have ideas for one or two, that's fine too. Next Wednesday, I'll give the 'real' solution and a link for the originals in the comments of this post.
Despite the differences in vocabulary and pronunciation, American and British people tend to understand each other without major difficulties. I do remember getting a few raised eyebrows when I inadvertently spoke of 'rented flats' or 'pissed blokes' to my American friends who were not familiar with the British dialect (In Am. English these would be 'rented apartment' and 'drunk guy'). Yet, these misunderstandings don't seem to be paralyzing. What about slang? How much do they understand of the other nation's slang? From this video it seems that not too much. Ellen invited Hugh Laurie to her show and they had a slang knowledge contest. The expressions they present are not very widely used and the 'contestants' seem to be having good fun trying to find out their meanings. If you are not a native speaker of English this script may help you a lot but I suggest that you listen to the video first to see how much of it you can understand without the text.
Now check your slang knowledge with this simple quiz based on the video:
And if you are still here you surely deserve another video where Hugh Laurie has an 'unspoilt' British accent, a funny surname and hidden tapdancing abilities.
Yes, you have done it. I'm proud of you. You have given amazing answers, all of them quite plausible. The real point of these puzzle stories is not only to come up with the 'one and only' good solution but to think. However, if you are still interested in the 'official' solution go to the comments of the puzzle post. (the official solution is the fifth)
Check back on Friday for the new post on slang, which will feature two celebrity figures.
A few days ago I visited my mum for lunch and she told me this story. It is a puzzle story, which means that you will have to think and find out how something could possibly happen in the story. At first, I had all sorts of clever answers but, honestly, the one my mum gave me in the end was so good that I'd like to share it with you on the blog. So, here goes the story and if you have any good solutions you can post them as comments. In next week's post, the "original" solution will be revealed. But who knows? You may come up with equally good or even better ones.
The Puzzle:
There is a two-meter long tube which is made of plastic. It is straight and has a diameter of 45 centimeters. There are no holes on the surface of the tube anywhere and there is absolutely nothing inside it but air. The tube is located in somebody's garden. It is lying on the ground and it isn't covered or housed in anything special. Two cats (perfectly healthy young tabbies:) look into the tube from the opposite ends. The two cats cannot see each other. How is it possible???
Do you have luxuriant and flowing hair? Are you a scientist? If the answer is yes to both of these questions you might want to be a member of a special club:The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™. This can be found at Improbable Research, an organization that deals with "research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK". On glancing through the profiles and photos I was happy to find rock guitarist Brian May, one of my childhood heroes, among the members. I don't have long hair and I am not a scientist of any kind so I wouldn't qualify as a member. I still like the club a lot (besides, as Woody Allen said: "I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member"). Here is a nice photo of a scientist demonstrating her hair that so clearly qualifies her as a member:
