Inspector Matthews glanced around the kitchen of the weekend cottage. There was cold coffee in the coffeemaker, an ice cube tray half filled with melting cubes, and just a trace of ash in an ashtray. "All right, Mrs. Thurl. Tell me again."
The next-door neighbor looked uncomfortable. "I had just come home. It was about 8 P.M. I heard a car pull into the driveway next door. I mean here, at this house. When I looked out, two people had arrived and were walking toward the kitchen door. I recognized the woman. Myra Lovesy is rather fat—was. The man I couldn't see. They were fighting. The man grabbed Myra by the throat. She collapsed in a heap. Then the man just unlocked the door and walked inside. It took you long enough to get here—fifteen minutes from the time I called."
Clive pulled into his driveway, tired and cranky. When he'd taken this job with Gotham Advertising, he knew he'd be working long and hard, but he never expected to be arriving home at 8:30 A.M. With any luck, he could still get in a few hours' sleep before this afternoon's presentation. Clive climbed the porch. He had just put the key in the lock when he heard a noise behind him.
The police arrived ten minutes later, alerted by neighbors who'd heard a gunshot. They found a young businessman dressed in a torn and bloody suit and with a briefcase on the porch by his side. They also found a key chain suspended from the front-door lock and a bullet hole in the young man's chest.
"Looks like a botched robbery," the rookie officer told his partner. "Poor guy must have put up a struggle." He stooped to pick up a nearly empty wallet. "Clive Custard," he read from the driver's license.
Sir Mortimer Gains leaned across and confided a secret. "This is an exclusive, just for the Times. After talking with my new wife and with Alex Toinby, my costar, I have decided to leave the London production of Willy Boy and accept a movie offer in Hollywood. As you know, my bride is American. She's never really gotten used to England."
The reporter was aghast. "But what about your fans here? What about the play? Can it keep running without you?"
Sir Mortimer shrugged. "My producer has agreed to let me out of my contract. Now, if you'll excuse me ..." He motioned toward the dressing room door. "It takes an hour of makeup and preparation before each show." Thrilled to have such a scoop, the reporter rushed out of the King Edward Theatre to file his story.
Sir Mortimer went on that evening to give his usual, brilliant performance. After acknowledging ten curtain calls, he returned to his dressing room. A handwritten note was on his makeup table.
I won't let you take your talents elsewhere. I'd rather see you dead than have you dishonor the British theater. It may take the form of a bomb in your car trunk or poison in your favorite whiskey. But make no mistake; if you go to Hollywood, I will kill you.—A Fan.
The morning Times now had two sensational stories to report: the defection of Sir Mortimer and the threat by a deranged fan.
"Avery Archer was involved in some shady deals," the homicide sergeant said as he gazed down at the body. "Maybe that's why he committed suicide."
It certainly looked like suicide. The businessman in question was slumped back in his office chair, his hands folded peacefully in his lap. The murder weapon, a revolver, had fallen onto the desk, right beside a box of cough drops. The victim had been shot in the back of the mouth at the closest range possible.
"It's near impossible to shoot someone in the throat," the sergeant continued. "Especially when there's absolutely no sign of a struggle."
The man's secretary provided background. "Avery was depressed, partly on account of his lingering cold. Also, a few of his investors were getting suspicious. One even threatened to call the police fraud squad. Avery was working frantically to salvage this one deal. He had a noon appointment today with an investor; I don't know which. When I went to lunch, the investor still hadn't arrived. When I came back, Avery was just like that. Gruesome."
The police checked the contracts and discovered that this particular deal had three investors: Gino Grimaldi, a suspected mob figure; Marie Lackaday, the owner of a chain of gun stores; and Dr. Pete Crocus, a general internist.
by M.V. Simkin and V.P. Roychowdhury Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Recently we discovered [see cond-mat/0212043] that the majority of citations in scientific papers are simply copied from the lists of references that appear in other papers. Here we show that a model, in which a scientist picks three random papers, cites them, and also copies a quarter of their references accounts quantitatively for empirically observed citation distribution. Simple mathematical probability, not genius, can explain why some papers are cited a lot more than the other.
Greatness? Or Just Simple Probability? During the “Manhattan Project” (in which scientists created the first nuclear bomb), Enrico Fermi, the physicist, asked General Groves, the head of the project: “What is the definition of a ‘great’ general?”.1 Groves replied that any general who had won five battles in a row might safely be called great. Fermi then asked how many generals are great. Groves said about three out of every hundred. Fermi conjectured that, considering that opposing forces for most battles are roughly equal in strength, the chance of winning one battle is 1/2, and the chance of winning five battles in a row is 1/25=1/32.
“So you are right General,” said Enrico Fermi. “About three out of every hundred. Mathematical probability, not genius.”
The existence of military genius was also questioned on basic philosophical grounds by Tolstoy.2
Greatness in Science: Your Papers Are Cited a Lot A commonly accepted measure of “greatness” for scientists is the number of times other people cite their papers.3 For example, SPIRES, the High-Energy Physics literature database, divides papers into six categories according to the number of citations they receive. The top category, “Renowned Papers” lists those with 500 or more citations.
Let us have a look at the citations to roughly 24 thousands papers, published in Physical Review D in 1975-1994.4 As of 1997 there where about 350 thousands of such citations: fifteen per published paper on the average. However, forty-four papers were cited five hundred times or more. Could this happen if all papers are created equal? If they indeed are, then the chance of being cited is one in 24,000.
You know those little comment cards that businesses would like you to fill out for feedback? Wouldn’t it be nice if we had those for every situation of life? You’ll find comment cards for all kinds of everyday situations in the new book Comment Cards for Life by Derek McCloud.
You could really use a checklist for all the parts of your roommate that need improvement. Or maybe you want to leave a complaint with the neighbor whose dogs bark all night. How about handling out a card to get feedback on your own performance -as a lover, friend, or family member? Keep reading to see some of the many cards available in the book.
Disney is recycling their biggest princess movies by remaking them in live action format. First there’s Cinderella, coming soon to a theater near you, and now they’ve announced a live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. Although it seems like yesterday, the animated Beauty and the Beast came out 24 years ago! And there’s a whole slew of trivia behind that film that you probably never thought of.
1. Walt considered remaking the fairy tale as far back as the 1930s. But he liked to take his time mulling things over, and while he was pondering Beauty and the Beast, a live-action version of the movie was released by French playwright Jean Cocteau. Perhaps not wanting to release an animated version of a movie that had just been released, Disney tabled the idea.
2. In the late '80s, Disney hired British animator Roger Purdum to direct a non-musical version of Beauty and the Beast, with Linda Woolverton writing the script. But the company wasn't happy with the result of 10 weeks of storyboarding (which you can see here)—the story was too dark and depressing. "In the middle of our process, Little Mermaid premiered, and that changed everything," Woolverton told the Los Angeles Times. "[T]he concept of the musical, the Broadway musical brought to animation by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. So I was flown to Disney in Florida to meet with Howard. Howard and I just clicked. ... In a hotel room in Fishkill, N.Y., Howard and I pretty much conjured up this version of Beauty and the Beast. Howard and I never clashed. I was his student. He taught me everything I know about musicals."
In 1967 CBS hired the Smothers Brothers to host a variety show that would attract a young, hip audience. The show did that …but CBS didn’t like it. Here’s a look at the controversy behind The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
FAMILY BAND
In the 1960s, musical comedy duo Tom and Dick Smothers, professionally known as the Smothers Brothers, were already veterans of the folk scene. They’d recorded several hit albums of their unique act: singing and playing folk songs before shifting into scripted sibling arguments and topical standup comedy bits.
After the brothers appeared on a string of talk and variety shows, CBS signed them to a contract in 1965 and created The Smothers Brothers Show. It was a forgettable sitcom -Dick’s character was a playboy, Tom was the ghost of his dead brother- and the brothers felt it didn’t play to their strengths. There was none of their usual bantering, and they got to perform music in only one episode. The show was canceled due to low ratings in 1966.
HOW TO BEAT A BONANZA
Meanwhile the network was trying -and failing- to compete with NBC’s hit Bonanza, the #1 show on television. Nothing could touch it in its Sunday night time slot, and it had even killed off former hits Perry Mason and The Garry Moore Show. When Moore was canceled at the end of 1966, CBS decided that the best way to compete with Bonanza was counter-programming. Bonanza attracted mostly viewers over 40. What if CBS put something on that appealed to people in their 20s and 30s? At some point the network realized it already had the ideal stars of this new show under contract: the Smothers Brothers.
Before agreeing to a new show, executive producer and star Tom Smothers insisted on full control. His reason: The Smothers Brothers Show had been so stressful for him that he’d developed an ulcer and gotten divorced. CBS agreed and the brothers got to work hiring writers and performers from the burgeoning Los Angeles comedy scene. Some of those unknowns: Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Pat Paulsen, and Albert Brooks.
FOR WHAT ITS WORTH
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour debuted on Sunday, February 5, 1967, at 9PM.
A well-fed caterpillar tries to squeeze into a small cocoon to start her metamorphosis. You and I know that’s not how it’s done in nature, but this is a cartoon. Two insects decide to give her a helping hand, which leads to all kinds of shenanigans. This animation was created by Matéo Bernard, Matthias Bruget, Jonathan Duret, Manon Marco, and Quentin Puiraveau of the French art school ESMA. -via the Presurfer
We recently linked had the story of how the game Monopoly was born, tracing it to Elizabeth Magie’s The Landlord’s Game, which she patented in 1903. Parker Brothers bought the rights to a derivative game in the ‘30s from Charles Darrow, then bought the rights to Magie’s game for $500 -and destroyed it. Skip ahead 40 years, and we have the story of Ralph Anspach, who challenged Parker Brother’s rights over the game and uncovered Magie’s story.
Anspach, an economics professor, developed the game Anti-Monopoly. It was designed, like The Landlord’s Game, in order to teach an alternative to cutthroat economic competition that leads to monopolies. But Parker brothers did not like it one bit.
Anspach hired a lawyer and began looking into whether Parker Brothers was, in a moment of supreme irony, committing an antitrust violation against Anti-Monopoly. They reasoned that a common trait of monopolies was to use legal threats to scare off competition. Depositions ensued, and though Anspach held his own against the Parker Brothers legal team, he was a teacher of modest means and they were a multimillion-dollar corporation with a lot to lose. The idea of going through with the lawsuit seemed crazy.
It was, therefore, a revelation when Anspach’s son happened upon a passage in a book noting that Charles Darrow hadn’t actually invented Monopoly. If a Monopoly board game preceded Charles Darrow’s 1935 patent, that patent might be overturned. Monopoly might, in fact, be built on a house of Chance cards. It might be in the public domain.
The object of the game Orb-x is to roll your orb into the black hole. You’ve got objects to change the trajectory of your ball, but you have to plan your moves ahead of time. As you get through each level, there are more objects that act differently. I was fine until I got to level 14, then decided it would take too much time to figure it out. Eventually, I will finish the whole thing. Try it yourself -I found it enjoyable. -via Look At This
Miss Iris the Hyacinth Macaw likes to be clean, so she takes a shower in the sink. She knows how to use the faucet, and she likes the pressure on high! -via Daily Picks and Flicks
This week saw the internet go crazy over a picture of a dress that appeared to be different colors to different people. It didn’t take long for creative minds to take advantage of the situation. We had tons of people trying to explain the phenomenon, but even better were those who made it funny. As you can see here, Liz Climo used the dress perfectly for her animal characters.
Randall Munroe at xkcd explained how the phenomena worked without a word in his Friday comic. The hover text for this one is priceless. Keep reading for more.
The Klamath County Sheriff’s office in Oregon received a report Tuesday of a stolen house. No, it wasn’t a mobile home, but a 1,500-square-foot log cabin that was completely missing from its foundation. Deputies began an investigation of this unusual crime, the likes of which none of them had ever seen before. Within 48 hours, the cabin was located, almost a mile away.
The property in question is originally purchased by Ronald Niederbrach.
He and a girlfriend, Paulette Kallo, live together for a time in a conventional house on the property. At some point, Miklos Kallo, Paulette's ex-husband, also moves onto the property and she provides care for him as he has health issues.
Miklos Kallo buys a log cabin kit, has it built and stays in the cabin.
Things don't work out between Niederbrach and Paulette, and Niederbrach moves to Sisters.
The Kallos reconcile and live in the house until a fire severely damages it, leaving it uninhabitable. At some point, the property is titled in the names of all three persons.
On July 8, 2014, Miklos Kallo sells the cabin to a fourth party. In September, the buyer moves it to where it was found this week.
Yes, it's a real soap opera. Niederbrach didn’t know the cabin was gone for some months. When he discovered it missing, he asked Paulette Kallo about it, and she said she didn’t know anything. The unnamed buyer of the cabin had no idea there was any dispute over the ownership until the police got involved. The investigation is continuing to determine who, if anyone, had the rights to the structure. You can read the entire story at Oregon Live.
(Image credit: George Rede | The Oregonian/OregonLive)
He just wanted to install a new light in the bathroom, but it didn’t turn out exactly right. It looks like a case of two homeowners in a row who did their own wiring, and believe me, building on someone else’s weirdness only leads to more weirdness. At least this couple hasn’t been electrocuted, which is a real possibility when you get this many wires crossed.
I once had a bathroom/bedroom addition built. It didn’t take long to figure out things were wonky, because when you turned off the bathroom light, the alarm clock by the bed stopped. I could’ve called the contractor back to fix it, but he’d screwed up so many other things, he probably would have just made it worse. I got a master electrician to sort things out -after he stopped laughing. -via Viral Viral Videos
