12 March 3, 2012 - ObserverXtra

THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012
Strange but true / bILL & rICH SOneS PH.D.
Leap years occur every fourth year, in years divisible by 4
WEIRD
NOTES
Q. You know that
leap years occur every
fourth year, in years divisible
by 4. Do you know the
one exception?
A. Division by 4 makes
2012 a leap year, with
February 29 added to the
calendar, says Joey Green
in “Contrary to Popular
Belief.” But 2100 won’t
be a leap year because
centenary years also need
to be evenly divisible by
400 (2100/4 = 525 but
2100/400 = 5 1/4). Yet you
may remember the year
SuDOku
HOW TO PLAY: Fill in
the grid so that every
row, every column and
every 3x3 box contains
the numbers 1 through
9 only once. Each 3x3
box is outlined with a
darker line. You already
have a few numbers to
get you started.
solution: on page 29
2000 was a leap year since
it was divisible by both
4 (2000/4 = 500) and 400
(2000/400 = 5).
Q. Ready for an old
party trick or puzzle:
Think of a number. Now
add 5, and double your
result. Next subtract 4,
then divide by 2. Finally,
subtract your original
number. Is your answer 3?
A. No, we’re not psychic,
just algebraic, confides
Colin Pask in Math for the
Frightened: Let x be your
original number. Now
when you add 5, you get x
+ 5. Double this and you
get 2x + 10. Subtracting 4
leaves 2x + 6. Dividing by 2
yields x + 3. Finally, when
you subtract your original
number x, you get (x + 3)
- x = 3. In other words, 3
will always be the answer,
no matter what number is
selected at the start. How
fun is that!
Q. What animal
causes the greatest
number of human deaths
each year? Sharks? Alligators?
Snakes? Bears? Dogs?
A. Would you believe
deer, says astronomer Bob
Berman in Strange Universe:
The Weird and Wild
Science of Everyday Life-on
Earth and Beyond.
Those “cute Bambis” are
responsible for some 100
automobile fatalities in
the U.S. annually, amounting
to about a 1 in 40,000
lifetime risk per capita. By
contrast, the lifetime risk
of your suffering a shark
attack is 1 in 4 million.
Alligators are twice as
dangerous (1 in 2 million),
then snakes (1 in 700,000),
bears (1 in 410,000) and
dogs (1 in 240,000).
“Deer may be charming
but they’re many times
more lethal than all other
animals combined -- even
deadlier than the figures
quoted.
Q. Can you cite some
famous examples of overconfidence
down through
history?
A. At its worst, overconfidence
breeds folly and
catastrophe, says David
G. Myers in Intuition: Its
Powers and Perils.
It was an overconfident
Hitler who invaded the
countries of Europe, an
The big easy The challenge
ObseRVeR cROssWORD
OBSERVER SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
LB
ObseRVeR TRaVels
LM
LocAtion
Guadalajara, Mexico
cAPtion
SOLUTIONS: 1. LETTERS ON SNOWBOARD 2. TREES IN BACKGROUND 3. SNOWBOARDERS HAIR
4. SNOWBOARDERS SHIRT 5. GOGGLE STRAP 6. SNOWBOARDERS SHADOW 7. MISSING FINGER
While exploring the City Square,
Michael Zenker makes sure to include
the Observer in a photo. Seen here in
Guadalajara, Mexico on Feb. 25, 2012.
Michael told us how safe the city felt and
how much he loved travelling there!
overconfident Lyndon
Johnson who sent the U.S.
Army into South Vietnam,
an overconfident Saddam
Hussein who marched his
army into Kuwait. And as
writer Artemus Ward put it,
“It ain’t so much the things
we don’t know that get us
into trouble. It’s the things
we know that ain’t so.”
“They couldn’t hit an
elephant at this dist
...” General John Sedgwick’s
last words, uttered
during a U.S. Civil War
battle, 1864. Regarding the
atomic bomb: “That is the
biggest fool thing we have
ever done. The bomb will
never go off, and I speak as
an expert on explosives.”
Admiral William Leahy
to President Truman,
1945. “You’d better learn
LIVING HERE | 35
secretarial skills or else
get married.” Modeling
agency, rejecting Marilyn
Monroe in 1944. “You
ought to go back to driving
a truck.” Concert manager,
firing Elvis Presley in
1954. “The horse is here
to stay but the automobile
is only a novelty, a fad.”
Michigan banker advising
Henry Ford’s lawyer not to
invest in the fledgling Ford
Motor Company.
On a personal level, Myers
concludes, we would
all do well to keep our
confidence and optimism
in touch with reality.
Across
1. To the same degree
3. Get (something) done
5. Plugs
11. C-worthy?
14. “___ away!”
15. Introduces an alternative
16. Presence of modern
mammals
17. A natural consequence of
development
19. Shoreline problem
21. Contraction of I am.
22. Victorian, for one
24. In the Christian era
25. Someone from Ottawa
27. Armageddon
28. Avoid
30. Lake _ (South Sudan)
31. Linked_, networking site
32. One thousandth of an
ampere
34. __ Tank, in World War II
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35. A card for identification
36. Introduces a conditional
clause
37. A Chinese surname
38. A radioactive transuranic
metallic element
40. Denying or questioning
the tenets of especially a
religion
47. Fire as from a gun
50. Henry Clay, for one
52. _ and Lois, a comic strip.
53. Poorly stated
54. Number the pages of a
book or manuscript
59. Brown v. Board of
Education city
61. Give sanction to
62. Used in specifying
adjacent dimensions
63. “O Sanctissima,” e.g.
64. Leave or strike out
65. Short for for Toronto
66. Occur, take place
Down
1. “Give it ___!”
2. Former French coin
3. Ism
4. “Catch-22” pilot
5. Nave bench
6. Automatic
7. Autumn color
8. The object form of I
9. “___ moment”
10. “Buona _” (Italian
greeting)
12. “Farewell, mon ami”
13. Bleed
18. Little bird
20. “___ to Billie Joe”
23. A degree in nursing
25. Located at
26. Municipality smaller
than a city
29. Official notice; been
About the Authors
Bill a journalist, Rich holds a doctorate
in physics. Together the
brothers bring you “Strange But
True.” Send your questions to
strangetrue@compuserve.com
fired
31. “Rocky ___”
33. “Much ___ About
Nothing”
39. Of me or myself
41. Host
42. “For shame!”
43. About to explode
44. Christmas ___
45. _&T, cell phone services
46. Bounded along
48. Tall hat; British soldiers
49. Hale
51. Autumn tool
53. Ashes holder
55. “Crikey!”
56. “___ a chance”
57. “Chicago” lyricist
58. Blonde’s secret, maybe
60. 16th letter, Greek
alphabet
solution on page 29