Official potpourri answer postings

[Courk]

There are at least 5 threads on this already. Lets just post the answers here. I will go back and edit this post with current answers, but I don't have time now, but please switch to this so we can keep it organized.

1. Yes
2. 29
3. Yes
4. There was no GL in 1995.
5. Iridium Satellites. (?)
6. IV
7. negative 3 trillion tons.
8. Yes
9. 3121
10. 5
11. 12
12. Phileas Fogg

I am sending these in.

ohh...links hate me...

[This message has been edited by Courk (edited 12-17-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Courk (edited 12-22-2000).]

[dethwing]

ok ill start:

9: 3121

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Potted plants dont anwser prayers
If you keep a stewed tomato in your shoe, it wont bring you eternal happiness

[knightofni]

1) yes (:

[borschevsky]

8. Yes.

[OcularGold]

7) The earth's gravitational field has no mass.

[Coyote]

11) Twelve knights:

[Courk]

Any more?

[Coyote]

12) Phileas Fogg

(See this link for an explanation.)

[Coyote]

10) Five: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami

And another link.

[CrystyB]

OK, I knew 12 was "Around the world..." but i had completely forgotten his name.

About 7: Isn't m=E/c^2, where E is the energy of the field? I read a while ago in an Asimov's story (scientific one i think) that the planet that was thought to exist between Mercury and the Sun (can't remember its name though) was finally accepted that was only the mas of the g.f. of the Sun.

[OK, my VERY GREEDY mistake ]
About 9: NO WAY 3121. If so, we get 5 piles of 624 each and give one coin to the monkey. THEN, we get [ 124 piles of coins ] 5 piles of 124 each and give 4 to the monkey. You substracted instead of adding, and thus miscalculated 3281. But this isn't the answer: it's "0x4016".
[/my mistake...]

May i have the explanation for #1?

edited on 12-08-2000 &

[This message has been edited by CrystyB (edited 12-15-2000).]

[mathgrant]

3121 is correct. The first pirate gives one coin to Jim and divides the rest into piles of 624 each. He takes one one them, so the remaining four piles total 4x624=2496. The next pirate gives one of those to Jim, and takes one-fifth or 499 of the rest. That leaves 1996 coins. The third pirate gives one to Jim and takes one-fifth or 399 of the rest, leaving 1596 coins. The fourth pirate gave one coin to Jim and took 319 one the rest leaving 1276. The last pirate gave a coin to Jim and took one-fifth of the remainder or 255, leaving 1020, which divided evenly among the five pirates the next morning.

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GL DPWestley: I had my backspace key removed and a beverage dispenser pur in it's place. See? I can't go back and fix "put."
GLmathgrant: I once was banned from a M:TG tourney for bringing over 50 banned cards! They were Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades, 2 of Clubs. . .

[This message has been edited by mathgrant (edited 06-06-2004 01:46 PM).]

[Pancake]

The answer to the 2nd riddle is "29".

I found the following on the WWW:

"references/books/maze

In room 29, a door to room 17 is hidden to look like a table. Using this door
this 16-step tour exists: 1 26 30 42 4 29 17 45 23 8 12 39 4 15 37 20 1."

@ http://shiva.di.uminho.pt/~azuki/puzzles/references.s.html

However, I do not have that book called "the maze". Who has?

[Wonko the Sane]

6) All but image 2 are noth manmade and incomplete.

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It's not the size of the spork, it's whether or not it's made of #7 recyclable plastic.

[Pancake]

I just found out that there is an online version of that maze. http://www.frontiernet.net/~jmb184/maze/

Going to room number 29 in that maze, one sees the whole (probably!?) of image number 4.

I guess that that may have to do with the solution of riddle number 6!?

(edit) All images are found in solutions to the potpourris I to IV! So IV does not belong, because the solution has not been published yet! (edit)

[This message has been edited by Pancake (edited 12-08-2000).]

[Wonko the Sane]

Good pickup on that one...I'll buy it

[happymath]

Re: problem 6

Pancake is a genius. I agree that IV does not belong, but for a slightly different reason. And I have an idea that this may have been what the Minotaur had in mind. Of course, I would never have come within a million miles of this if Pancake hadn't made the key observation.

Not only are images I-IV from the solutions to Potpourri problems, but images I, II, and III are all solutions to past Potpourri problems WHICH HAPPENED TO BE NUMBER 6 in
their respective lists. However, IV is the solution to problem 2 in a Potpourri list, so it doesn't belong because it's the solution to the wrong problem number.

The only thing that bothers me is that while image III corresponds to Potpourri III, and image IV corresponds to Potpourri IV, the roles of I and II are exchanged. (Image I is the solution to Potpourri II, problem 6, and Image II is the solution to Potpourri I, problem 6.)

[Courk]

So what's the solution to #6?

[knightofni]

I think happymath has it... those are answers to the question 6's except for one.

[Courk]

So IV is the odd one out?

[Pancake]

Yes.
happymath got it.

[knightofni]

Does anyone else think #5 is a trick question?

[Chuck]

There's also a Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. Maybe a steel mill blew up.

[OcularGold]

im starting to believe its a trick question too...the date of that thing is the same day that he posted the question.

[Courk]

Chuck said he has seen #3 B4, and that its yes...

[Courk]

5 and 7, we have answers, kinda disputed...

5 seems right... It actually makes sense... Charlie's Angel suggested a comet of somekind, but that was me asking with really bad wording...

[Ghost Post]

:confused:
How can the solution be eventually credited to one person when many people contributed to it on here? Well, I suppose it would be the first person to get them all..

hey, why didn't the confused smiley come up?

[This message has been edited by dravid (edited 12-09-2000).]

[knightofni]

dravid, I think the point of this one really isn't for any one person to get credit for it... we're all working together so the donation goes through (:

[Courk]

quote:

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If any person or group of people working together can solve all twelve by December 31, 2000, the Grey Labyrinth will donate $5000 to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

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If only I could type a simple word like "quote"...

[This message has been edited by Courk (edited 12-09-2000).]

[OcularGold]

I have a gripe about number 10: the question asks how many different tastes a human can detect. Humans can detect way more than 5 tastes, these 5 are just the basic 5.

think in terms of the eye and color: even though there are three primary colors, a human can see millions of different colors.

I also strongly doubt the answer to number 5: the sun is by no means a "point of light."
and why would it only light up for a few seconds?

[knightofni]

Well, if the sun is shining through clouds, it could be a "brilliant point of light that shines for a few seconds".

[Pancake]

Question nr.5 (a very long post):

I think it is not the sun (isn't the sun a star, too!?).

In the next (planned for a long time...) nightmare on elm street movie called FREDDY VS JASON the following scene will occur:

EXT. BLUFF - OVERLOOKING BETHLEHEM - LATE AFTERNOON (DARK)

A LIGHTNING BLAST, JASON'S UPTURNED MASK clearly reflecting the
turbulent darkness above. As he drops his gaze, we notice the
chrome corroded more substantially than before.

WIDER NOW. We CRANE UP behind Jason, Bethlehem's houses spread
out neatly below...

CUT TO:

EXT. FREEWAY - EN ROUTE TO BETHLEHEM - NIGHT

Steven's pick-up speeds along a rain-slicked road.

INT. CAB - STEVEN'S PICK-UP TRUCK - NIGHT

Steven drives along, squinting through the windshield. Pummeling
rain renders the wipers impotent. BURSTS of STATIC cut across the
radio O.S., tuned to a MUSIC CHANNEL.

STEVEN
Come on...come on --

An INTENSE LIGHTNING FLASH like a H-BOMB BLAST - dwarfing
everything we've seen before - EXPLODES, blinding Steven.

STEVEN
Jesus!


And so on. Copied from an online-script at http://www.fridaythe13thfilms.com/bts/scripts/fvsj_pb.txt

This describes something taking place on a LATE AFTERNOON, NE of Bethlehem, it is DARK and the light is BRIGHTER THAN ANYTHING WE KNOW SO FAR.

But why December 3rd?
Maybe someone else has a clue?

[ZenBeam]

I have a definitive answer for number 7. The mass of the Earth's gravitational field is about negative 3 trillion tons.

On number 5, I'm thinkng it may have to do with the International Space Station's new solar array. This is the largest array in space, just put up at about then. Maybe they intentionally "flashed" bethlehem at that time. This one is pure speculation on my part.

For number 10, how many tastes, I don't think 5 is correct. I don't believe you can mix specific amounts of salt, sugar, vinegar, something bitter, and something like the fifth taste (MSG?), and get something that tastes like a banana, or a strawberry, or peppermint.

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It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

[Logain]

I think the answer to number 5 is the International Space Station Endeavour. On Decemeber 3rd, they deployed its solar panel wings.

[Ghost Post]

The “point of light” in question #5 could be one of the missiles that Israel launched against Palestinians.


the article that follows was taken from cnn.com http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/12/04/mideast.02/index.html


Heavy Israeli-Palestinian gunbattles flare near Bethlehem

Fierce Israeli-Palestinian gunbattles raged overnight near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources, and as many as 35 people were reported injured.
…..
In response to Israeli-Palestinian gunbattles at the shrine, Israeli helicopter gunships fired two missiles at a building near the Aida refugee camp outside Bethlehem, according to Israel Defense Forces.

[Courk]

I am sending these answers.

1. Yes
2. 29
3. Yes
4.
5. Logain said: I'm think the answer to number 5 is the International Space Station Endeavour. On Decemeber 3rd, they deployed its solar panel wings.


quote:
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The solar panels, which are 38 feet across, will be the third brightest object in the night sky next to the moon and the star Sirius, NASA officials said.

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[URL=http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/12/04/shuttle/]http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/12/04/shuttle/

6. IV
7. negative 3 trillion tons.
8. Yes
9. 3121
10. 5 disputed
11. 12
12. Phileas Fogg

[Ghost Post]

This is probably wrong) a possibility for 5 can be found here, but I don't have time to check further: http://www.watch.pair.com/bethlehem.html

[Dread Pirate Westley]

How about www.cybercom.net/~kevinlin/labyrinth/ for number 4? It showed up on a Google search for grey labyrinth and its got Kevin's name in it, but all it gave was a 404.

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[This message will have been edited by Dread Pirate Westley (to be edited 12-13-2003).]

[hank]

I wish to place my whole hearted support behind zero the hero's answer for number 5. It fits the bill exactly. A missile fired near Bethlehem that night of Dec 3, 2000 has to be the brightest point of light for several seconds. Anyone who has ever viewed a sattelite travelling across the night sky knows that point of light will last a lot longer than a few seconds.

[hank]

Hmm, did a little more research on the net and find out from an Israeli newspaper(can't remember which one) that the missiles were fire somewhat later than late afternoon, more around midnight.

[Courk]

OH OH OH! Redeeming myself for #4!
There was no GL in 1995. The puzzle archives go back to 1996, and then there's this, posted by the Minotaur himself:

quote:

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Finally, it's Happy Birthday Grey Labyrinth time! The Grey Labyrinth has now been live on the World Wide Web for four years. Thanks to everyone whose visited, shared it with their friends, or given feedback to make it the site it is today.

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That was posted on 7-10-2000. That would mean the GL was created in 7-1996.

Also there is this, its from the screen shots of the old design, you can see them if you go to the about page. The address in the bar is http://johndoe.ne.mediaone.net/labyrinth
I think the answer is either that or there was no GL.

What do you all think?

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My old village called, they're tired of having you as idiot and they want me back...