http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/...

Oh boy, this is a problem right out of my college combinatorics books! The professors made us memorize all of these arcane equations littered with factorials, but I'd just roll up my sleeves and think my way through his questions. When I got them wrong he'd say "I told you so!" and when I got them right it really got his goat.

Let's see if the rolled-sleeve method works here. It would be an easy question were it not for that "no two adjacent digits are even" clause, so I'll solve it *without* that clause first.

The first digit can be any of 6 numbers, clearly. The next digit can be any of 5 numbers. The third digit is one of 4. And the final digit is one of 3. So that's 6*5*4*3 = 360 numbers. The only problem is that some of these numbers have adjacent even digits.

I note that it's OK by you if they are all odd, you just don't want to see two adjacent evens. So EOEO is fine, EOOE is fine, etc. Let me enumerate all possibilities: OOOO OOOE OOEO OEOO OEOE EOOO EOOE EOEO. The configurations we must not allow are: OOEE OEEO OEEE EOEE EEOO EEOE EEEO EEEE

Hmmmm.... 8 configurations are OK, 8 are not OK. Since the original set of digits has an equal number of evens and odds, I'll just divide that 360 in half to get my final answer.

This is more of a question of how to express the concept of concurrent statements, than an analysis of the puzzle itself. It's a meta-analysis of the puzzle, if you will.

I will agree with this much: If the first 9 were obscured, and you could only see statement 10, you would conclude that 10 is false. However if the last 9 were obscured, and you could only see statement 1, you would have no way of knowing.

At first I thought you were picking hairs, but then I thought of a simple example that might illustrate the point you are trying to make. I'm not trying to make a "straw man" here, so if this is a bad example of your idea then feel free to correct me:

<
Which statement(s) is(are) true?

1. X = 3
2. X = X / X
3. X = X * X
4. X = X - X
5. X = X + 1
>

Mathematically, statement #5 is absolute garbage, for it says that 0=1. All of the other formulas are solvable, but not *simultaneously* solvable. We have to assume that the X in the first statement is not the same X in the second statement, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xBx...

A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request
By the shore's of old Lake Michigan
Where the "hawk wind" blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, "Its late and its getting dark in here" And I know its time to go But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

Told his friends "You know the law of averages says: Anything will happen that can"
That's what it says
"But the last time the Cubs won a National League pennant Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan" The Cubs made me a criminal
Sent me down a wayward path
They stole my youth from me
(that's the truth)
I'd forsake my teachers
To go sit in the bleachers
In flagrant truancy

and then one thing led to another
and soon I'd discovered alcohol, gambling, dope
football, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
But what do you expect,
When you raise up a young boy's hopes
And then just crush 'em like so many paper beer cups.

Year after year after year
after year, after year, after year, after year, after year 'Til those hopes are just so much popcorn for the pigeons beneath the 'L' tracks to eat
He said, "You know I'll never see Wrigley Field, anymore before my eternal rest So if you have your pencils and your score cards ready, and I'll read you my last request He said, "Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field On some sunny weekend day (no lights) Have the organ play the "National Anthem"
and then a little 'na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye' Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin and six ground keepers clear my path
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath
Its a beautiful day for a funeral, Hey Ernie lets play two! Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back, and conduct just one more interview
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field, Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt And I'll be ready to die

Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats, And toss my coffin in Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest wind
When my last remains go flying over the left-field wall Will bid the bleacher bums ad?eu And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue

The dying man's friends told him to cut it out
They said stop it that's an awful shame
He whispered, "Don't Cry, we'll meet by and by near the Heavenly Hall of Fame He said, "I've got season's tickets to watch the Angels now, So its just what I'm going to do He said, "but you the living, you're stuck here with the Cubs, So its me that feels sorry for you!"

And he said, "Ahh Play, play that lonesome losers tune, That's the one I like the best" And he closed his eyes, and slipped away
What we got is the Dying Cub Fan's Last Request
And here it is

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

This song by Dodger fan Danny Kaye was a huge hit in LA during the 62 season, as the team seemed to be on its way to the pennant. It was popular is SF as well, but of course much, much more so, when the Giants caught the Dodgers on the last day and won the pennant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvqO...