Found Questioning #5

The premise.  This question comes courtesy of iO9.

Can You Solve 'The Hardest Logic Puzzle In The World'?

Quoting from the article by Robbie Gonzales:

You visit a remote desert island inhabited by one hundred very friendly dragons, all of whom have green eyes. They haven't seen a human for many centuries and are very excited about your visit. They show you around their island and tell you all about their dragon way of life (dragons can talk, of course).

They seem to be quite normal, as far as dragons go, but then you find out something rather odd. They have a rule on the island which states that if a dragon ever finds out that he/she has green eyes, then at precisely midnight on the day of this discovery, he/she must relinquish all dragon powers and transform into a long-tailed sparrow. However, there are no mirrors on the island, and they never talk about eye color, so the dragons have been living in blissful ignorance throughout the ages.

Upon your departure, all the dragons get together to see you off, and in a tearfulfarewell you thank them for being such hospitable dragons. Then you decide to tellthem something that they all already know (for each can see the colors of the eyes ofthe other dragons). You tell them all that at least one of them has green eyes. Then you leave, not thinking of the consequences (if any). Assuming that the dragons are (of course) infallibly logical, what happens?

If something interesting does happen, what exactly is the new information that you gave the dragons?

I'm not satisfied with the answer I came up with for this question, and the internet wasn't much help in answering this problem.  Here's my answer:

The dragons come to the conclusion that you are trying to mess with them, and that therefore you cannot be trusted.  When you come back to the island, the dragons attack and kill you, plucking out your eyes in the process as a message to others.

Kathleen Parker: Wrong

Occasionally I come across a piece by someone that brings to mind one of the more prominent words from a 2009 single by Depeche Mode, the video of which is embedded above.

Such is the case with a column written by Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker entitled "The silly, selective ‘war on women’".  The part of this column that gave me this reaction comes from the third sentence.

It has long been accepted by the conventionally wise that the Republican Party is waging a “war on women.”

Let’s be clear. The war on women is based on just one thing — abortion rights."

Wrong.  Liberals who criticize conservatives over their perceived "War On Women" point out several policies enacted by Republican lead governments as well as by conservative pundits and commentators.  These policies are not just limited to abortion rights.  Quoting the ACLU:

"The "War on Women" describes the legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation. In includes a wide-range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women's health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies."

Among the stories listed when you do a search for the tag "War On Women" on the Daily Kos are stories about Personhood Legislation, Contraceptives and Equal Pay, and proposals to sterilize women on Medicare.  A search for the keyword "War On Women" on The Huffington Post brings up stories about the disparity between male and female speakers at the recent CPAC conference, Mike Huckabee's Uncle Sugar comment, and a commentary about the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Finally a Wikipedia article about the "War On Women" includes subheadings dealing with reproductive rights, violence against women, financial assistance, and workplace and pay discrimination.

Saying that when liberals gripe about the Republican Party's "War On Women" that they only gripe about things having to do with abortion rights is not only intellectually dishonest, it's simply wrong.  To say that the "War On Women" is only about abortion rights seeks to delegitimize criticism of policies being enacted by our government, as well as the gender equality movement in general.  The use of the phrase "silly, selective" is fitting because conservatives would rather dismiss any criticism or any perceived criticism rather than dealing with criticism in an intellectually honest and fair fashion, 

I Am In The Wrong Business

Game Revenues of Top 25 Companies up 17%, Totaling $25Bn


What this report from New Zoo has shown me is that I am clearly in the wrong business.  Rather than being a writer, satirist, and potential lunch winner, clearly I need to get into the making and distribution of bar graphs.  Bar graphs are a dynamic way to visualize important information for viewing to a wide audience., and, in our highly visual culture, visualizing information is an integral way that people get information.  Look at this bar graph:

You can tell it's a bar graph because it says "bar graph".

What is this a bar graph of?  What information does it convey?  It doesn't matter!  What does matter is that one bar is bigger than the other bar, and bigger is better because it is bigger and bigger is better.

Bar Graphs: They aren't the wave of the future, they are the wave of now!

Sony's Simple Machines

After being touted as a much heralded launch title, the video game public has slowly lost faith in Sony's upcoming title Driveclub.  This is due to several delays, comparisons to Forza 5 and Test Drive, as well as the titles existence on the Playstation 4.  Much of those fears were assuaged today following an annoucement made on Sony's Playstation Blog about this title.

On Tuesday, Sony, along with Evolution Studios, announced that the upcoming racing game Driveclub will include wheels.  Invented in the second half of the 4th millennium BC by Nikola Tesla, the wheel has become an integral part of our modern society.  Evolution Studios co-founder Mick Hocking is quoted as saying, "Without the wheel many of the things that we do today would not be possible, and our decision to include the wheel in our upcoming reflects our pursuit of creating a racing title that reflects the reality of how people drive, race, and live."  Sony Computer Entertainment President Jack Tretton is quoted as saying "This was a question?"

The announcement of the inclusion of the wheel in Sony's upcoming Driveclub brings up the question of what other simple machines will be included in the game.  Specifically gamers wish to know about the inclusion of the screw, the inclined plane, and the internal combustion engine.