Ken's Blog

I was the 258th successful solver of problem number 622 on March 14, 2018. This was the latest problem at the time and was an interesting problem about the number of outer riffle shuffles of a deck of cards needed to restore the deck to its original order. For a deck of 52 cards the number is 8. The problem concerned what deck sizes need 60 shuffles. You can see the problem here.  https://projecteuler.net/problem=622 Managed to solve number 621 on March 4, the latest problem at the time. Even so I was the 192 person to do so. It's really impressive how quickly some people can solve these (one person solved it in 11 minutes). Just managed to solve number 618, the latest Project Euler problem posted on January 13, 2018. The website is named after the famous eighteenth century Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler I'm doing ok, with 233 out of 618 solutions to my name, but I am still only level 9 out of 23. At least I'm in ...

I thought it would be interesting to collect the movies I've liked. They are in no particular order. "Forbidden Planet". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet This 1956 science fiction film stands out like a gem among such 1950's works. The special effects actually hold up even by today's standards, and the actors are top notch. A very young Leslie Nielsen plays a serious role, and Anne Francis and Walter Pidgeon also star, but you will likely recognize Warren Stevens and Jack Kelly too. Aside from some brief silly sub-plots, the story is thought provoking and based on the Shakespearean play, "The Tempest". It's the 23rd century, and an earth made saucer shaped starship has travelled 16.7 light years to reach the Altair star system in order to investigate what happened to an earlier expedition 20 years before. It turns out there are only two survivors, a philologist Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira. There are also artifact...

Again, partly to remind myself, here are some recent movies or TV series I've watched on Netflix or Amazon Prime, with a comment or two. "Ex Machina" is a 2015 science fiction thriller involving artificial intelligence. Besides time travel, this is another area I enjoy and there have been some very good recent films about it. I have also read a couple of interesting books ("Superintelligence" by Nick Bostrom and "Our Final Invention" by James Barrat). What I liked about this film, without giving away too much, is I believe the ending is truly what would likely happen under the circumstances. You can read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_Machina_(film) "Infinity Chamber" is a 2016 science fiction thriller on Netflix. The story emerges over time by virtue of flashbacks but the bulk of the story involves a man held in an automated prison and what he can do about it. His only companion is a computer named Howard who is charged wi...

Mostly so I remember myself, here are some books I've recently read. A lot of these I found through bookbub.com , which provides daily deals on selected eBooks (some free, some 99 cents, etc.). I will try not to write anything that could spoil things for a new reader, but will place a link to the book on Amazon so anyone interested (or forgetful like me) can read about it. "The Spy Who Couldn't Spell" by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee.  https://tinyurl.com/y9ff9lfj  Still reading this non-fiction book about a spy. Winged Obsession" by Jessica Speart. https://tinyurl.com/yd9va5zh  This is a non-fiction book about something you might not think interesting, but the writing held my interest from beginning to end. It is about tracking down an infamous rare, endangered species, butterfly smuggler. Who knew this was such a lucrative business? "Method 15/33" by Shannon Kirk.  https://tinyurl.com/yagjhx72  This book is definitely not what you might t...

For more information about the game see  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.      Spoiler Warning:  Don't read this if you haven't played the game and plan to. Mipha and Link share a private moment together in Zora's Domain I recently "completed" this fabulous Nintendo game, originally released on March 3, 2017, including the two downloadable content (DLC) expansion packs released on June 30 and December 7, 2017, respectively. I solved all 120 shrines, recovered all of Link’s memories, completed all three Trial of the Sword levels, finished the Champions' Ballad Quest, obtained Master Cycle Zero, and defeated Calamity Ganon, all in both regular and master mode. I haven’t tried to find all 900 Korok seeds, but I do have over 800 of them. In summary, this game was an absolute delight to play and the best video game I have ever played by far. The game play is flawless, the puzzles challenging but solvable (often in multiple ways), and the...