you know that riddle about "thinking outside the box?" (even typing it makes me cringe). draw three rows of three equally-spaced dots so that you end up with a square. without lifting your pencil off of the paper, connect every dot using only four lines.
when i first heard this riddle in college, i couldn't figure it out. it was posed to my friend in an interview with Shell or Microsoft or another some such conglomeration.
so when i got to Mediation class last week and saw the trademark nine dots on the board, i knew what we were in for. when he finally got to the dots and explained the riddle to us, everyone went to work. heads bent, pencils gripped, fingertips white. i sat there and stared at the desk, the wall, the dots on the board.
after five minutes, the teacher called time and looked right at me and said, "sir, can you solve it?"
nod.
"come up and show us."
i hate having to do this kind of stuff. i begrudgingly got out of my chair and waltzed over to the board. i quickly scribbled the lines on the board and i heard a collective "ohhhh" from the class.
no, people, i'm not that talented. i didn't figure it out either. i practically live in the box.
as i walked to my chair i had to smile to myself because of the class' reaction. if they only knew... now they do! at least some of them do.
also, thanks to john, the calendar works again. muchas garcias. in the process of fixing the calendar i also had to force myself to fix other things that have been broken for a long time, so it was all good.
Comments (7)
here`s another ¨think outside the box¨ puzzle that I learned last week on a cruise in the Galapagos - you have 9 coins, one of the coins weighs more than the other 8 coins. you have a balance (2 sides to weigh the coins)...in only two tries, how do you determine which of the 9 coins is the heavier one?
Posted by ej | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
see, i steal ideas from everyone.
Posted by particleman | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
Damn, Particleman, I was going to use this title for my post today.
Posted by Thomas | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
Now, do it while only using 3 lines. It can be done!
Posted by Steve | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
j - hey, if you can fix all the bugs... m - it does, it certainly does.
Posted by particleman | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
The lesson we learn from this is that experience matters.
Posted by Michael | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
meh... i was bored. no thanks needed. as long as you have a rss implementation and a calendar by me, then i am happy. soon, the rest of the site will be controlled by me.
Posted by john | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16