A recent article on Engadget had me thinking about the Rubik’s cube.  The article talks about “God’s number” or the shortest number of moves to solve a puzzle on average.   I like to consider myself semi-intelligent, but have never considered myself to be much of a puzzle solver.  I remember one day a few years back someone I worked with who was very quickly overloaded with their work load was talking with me about the Rubik’s cube as our discussion continued I attempted to solve the cube, for hours.  I got nowhere.

After some time working on this puzzle, that’s what people do in a cube farm, I handed the cube over to this coworker.  Within a minute or so, right in front of, the cube was solved.  Unbelievable!

It is a certain type of mind that can solve these puzzles, and it is that mind-type that has puzzled me for years now.  I have always been there with a quick retort, a negotiator, an idea guy, but puzzles, I just can not believe how some people I would have NEVER guessed to be good at them could embarrass me so quickly.

I still have yet to solve a Rubik’s cube without the assistance of a solver.  But since that day I have always thought about the many ways to measure the human mind.

This is a short clip out of Cory Doctorow’s new book For The Win.  It doesn’t have to much to do with the rest of the book (mostly), but I thought it was interesting.  The book is a fictional tale about virtual gold farming and the rights of gold farmers virtual workers.

So far I like the book.

“You’re in a strange town, or a strange part of town. A little disoriented already, that’s key. Maybe it’s just a strange time to be out, first thing in the morning in the business district, or very late at night in clubland, or the middle of the day in the suburbs, and no one else is around.

A stranger approaches you. He’s well-dressed, smiling. His body-language says, I am a friend, and I’m slightly out of place, too. He’s holding something. It’s a pane of glass, large, fragile, the size of a road atlas or a Monopoly board. He’s struggling with it. It’s heavy? Slippery? As he gets closer, he says, with a note of self-awareness at the absurdity of this all, “Can you please hold this for a second?” He sounds a little desperate too, like he’s about to drop it.

You take hold of it. Fragile. Large. Heavy. Very awkward.

And, still smiling, the stranger methodically and quickly plunges his hands into your pockets and begins to transfer your keys, wallet and cash into his own pockets. He never breaks eye-contact in the ten or 15 seconds it takes him to accomplish the task, and then he turns on his heel and walks away (he doesn’t run, that’s important) very quickly, for a dozen steps, and then he breaks into a wind-sprint of a run, powering up like Daffy Duck splitting on Elmer Fudd.

You’re still holding onto the pane of glass.

Why are you holding onto that pane of glass?

What else are you going to do with it? Drop it and let it break on the strange pavement? Set it down carefully?

Tell you one thing you’re not going to do. You’re not going to run with it. Running with a ten kilo slab of sharp-edged glass in your hands is even dumber than taking hold of it in the first place.”

What is Mantopia?

Is it a place where beer and women frolic hand and hand?

A place where sports are on 24/7

A place where there are always enough people for a LAN game?

A place where 500hp and 500ft/lbs is the norm… in your motorcycle?

Or is it just a place where you’re given a Leatherman, some WD-40, duct tape, and perhaps event his new Sharpie Liquid Pencil and told to MacGruber (who even remembers what the original show was called!) your way out of a ticking time bomb and/or desert island.

Tell me… what is your Mantopia?

The worst day ever!

Ok, maybe not ever, but surely one of the worst days as far as time WASTED was the day I got the Antivir Solution Plus Virus… say what?

Yeah that virus is wicked!  And my own fault.  It comes in looking like a regular Windows Update (down by your clock) it says “Hey you need to update” (or something more pressing in nature) and so you’re “shoot I better update its been a while”  Once you do… all hell breaks loose!

I blame myself, I should know better, but it looked so convincing, so much like the regular Windows Update, but something was a bit off.  Best advice, confirm the identity of confirmation and installation boxes.  Of course once you’ve gotten to the point where its asking you that, its already pretty deep in your system.

Once that nightmare has shown up your day could be ruined.  It took me a long time to get my system pretty clean of that disaster.

Remember the internet is a dangerous place, there nothing out there for FREE, don’t give your personal information to someone you don’t know (including and especially a site for a free iPad!) and of course, know before you click!

That said, if you are having the worst day ever, here is my guide to getting rid of the Antivir Virus, and it should work for many other viruses, trojans, spyware, etc. http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/uninstall-or-remove-the-antivir-solution-pro-virus/

(((Ok to be fair my power button crapping out on my Pre sucked too, but I figured that one out as well http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/tech/how-to-fix-the-power-button-on-the-palm-pre/ )))

Last.fm vs. Pandora

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, which is better?

I guess it depends on what you’re looking for.  Pandora has apps, apps all over the place.  Last.fm has quite a few now too, but none for the Palm webOS, which would make the most sense, since I can Pandora AND do something else (multitasking?) and have been able to for a year.

Pandora has listening limits and for a guy who listens most of the time I’m at my desk at work, I hit them, hard!

Last.fm seems to have the following line of code entered into its music taste selection algorithm “IF likes = music; THEN likes = beatles.”

So my answer to the age old question Last.fm vs. Pandora is BOTH.

I last.fm all day at work, and Pandora on my mobile.

If there was Last.fm for webOS would I be only Last.fm?  Maybe.

If there was no Pandora listening limit (free) would I be only Pandora? Maybe.

There you have it folks, Peanut Butter & Jelly, they’re better together!