Regruntled.com

Tums antacids gives you a choice between Regular Strength, E-X 750 Extra Strength, and Ultra 1000 Maximum Strength.  Same size bottle, same price.  The difference is that Maximum Strength is twice as thick as Regular Strength and you get half as many.  Extra Strength is 50% thicker than Regular Strength and you get two-thirds as many.  Same amount of flavored chalk, different size pieces.  Duhhhh.  Let’s see, should I get Regular Strength and take more of them for severe heartburn, or get Maximum Strength and use a pill splitter if I have mild heartburn?  Ow, now my brain hurts!  I can’t decide, so I’ll compromise on Extra Strength.

Speaking of heartburn, this is like ordering a large pizza and having it cut 6 ways instead of 8 because you’re on a diet.

 

Flash Gear has a 3-D stereogram generator.  Maybe you know how to uncross your eyes and see the hidden image, maybe not.  I was interested in whether the 3-D effect is preserved when the image is resized.  It is, but resizing the image changes the geometry and you have to uncross your eyes by a different amount.

If you could pass off the stereogram as abstract art… the hidden image might go unnoticed for years.  Or maybe the museums are already full of abstract art pieces that are really stereograms and just waiting for someone to look at them the right way.  Maybe the right hemisphere of my brain is coming loose.

 

xkcd on science.

 

The game has changed.  The CDC is not reporting daily totals any more.  Two days ago, the total was 4714, and it’s almost certainly gone over 5000 by now, but the 5000+ contract is still open because the official total is still 4714.

When the game changes, it’s time to change strategy.  This is not the swine flu market of two weeks ago.  Swine flu is out of the news, the contracts have less time to expiration, the targets are farther apart, and the CDC is changing the way it reports.  Now is the time to minimize risk and wait for the next opportunity.

See also: Bullish on swine flu

 

Bill Turnbull of Jakarta has an automated solitaire program that he uses to test different strategies.  As a computer nerd, I can appreciate what he is doing.  And yet, after setting up his program and watching it grind through game after game, I am struck by the hilarity of the whole idea of automating solitaire.

Bill’s program shares a web site with artist Rozi Turnbull, presumably Bill’s wife.  She describes herself:

I am the middle child of a musical and artistic family from Dorking in Surrey, England.

So.  Solitaire, programming, art, and Dorking are all connected.  The Googleverse is abundant.

 

Reporters at a Kansas City TV station ordered fish from the menus at 20 area restaurants, confirmed the type of fish with the waiter, and sent samples away for DNA analysis.  In 17 cases, or 85% of the restaurants, the fish was a different species than that listed on the menu.  The typical pattern was that a less expensive type of fish was sold as a more expensive type of fish.

Last year there was a similar case in New York, where two high school students found fraud in 25% of their samples.

Here’s the story that didn’t happen:

In other news, police raided a popular local restaurant after samples of fish obtained by undercover FDA agents failed DNA analysis.  The restaurant has been shut down indefinitely and 20 employees are out of work.  The restaurant manager was arrested and faces fraud charges.

 

Conceptis has a series of pictures of sudoku-themed quilts.  This particular quilt has an error in it.  I suppose the artist could be challenging the viewer to question his assumptions about sudoku-ness… or it could be a stupid mistake.

See also:

• Patchwork sudoku
• Sudoku quilt