Light Houses Galore

lighthouses puzzles
does anyone have the soultions for either the retro rods or Maine Lighthouses scramble squares puzzles?

Hi Sarah,

Scramble Squares are deceptively difficult. Maybe that is because there are 95,126,814,720 possible combinations (almost 100 billion).

I wrote a program to solve the puzzles. (geeky, I know)
Another Asker had sent me a picture of their pieces.
http://www.vinceherman.net/puzzle/puzzle%20014.jpg
I ran it through my program to get the solution, and then rearranged the pieces to show what the solution would look like.
http://www.vinceherman.net/puzzle/puzzle%20014%20solution.jpg

But I also found solution sites online.
http://cdl.best.vwh.net/Puzzles/Scramble/scramble.cgi
It has an interface that lets you describe the faces of the 9 squares, and solves the puzzle in a few seconds.

If you cannot make that work, feel free to email me with a picture of your puzzle (or a link online if you can find it) and I will solve it and show you the solution. Or you can post it on to your original question using the 'Additional Information' feature'

Good luck and have fun!

The Keynote: a Humorous Interlude

Let me tell you a true story ...

I was walking along the beach one day, feeling lucky. My life was good. I had all my ducks lined up in a row. Whatever I had believed, I had conceived and achieved. And when the going had been tough, I'd got going.

As I walked, I saw a starfish lying in the sand. I picked it up and asked him, "What are you doing?" He replied, "I'm building a cathedral." But he clearly wasn't. So I threw him into the ocean.

Suddenly I felt a force in my back, and I was thrown face first into the sand. I turned to see a group of monkeys aiming a large hose of jet-cold water at me.

"What did you do that for?" I yelled. They stopped, and looked at each other, puzzled. "Err, there's no 'I' in team," one said haltingly, and then added, "Although, now that I think of it, there are two in 'schizophrenia'."

"Ummm ... We were just shifting your paradigm", said another.

"No, no", said a third. "We moved your cheese."

I just stared at them, until eventually one of them muttered, "Nobody ever asked us that before", and they skulked away.

I turned away in disgust and looked out to the ocean. Suddenly, to my horror, I saw a battleship heading towards the beach, and - what's more - right into the path of my starfish.

I cupped my hands to my mouth and yelled across the water, "Turn 10 degrees to port - now!" In reply, their loudhailer boomed back at me, "No, YOU turn 10 degrees to starboard - now!"

They were in trouble - BIG trouble. But I had a positive attitude, which was contagious - and I hoped it was worth catching by the men on that ship. I called back again, "I'm warning you - turn 10 degrees to port - NOW!" But the reply came back, even louder, "And I'm warning YOU - turn 10 degrees to starboard!"

What could I do? They were heading straight for shore. "Stop! Danger!" I yelled. But the reply came back, "I stop for nobody. I'm a battleship."

Quickly, I thought outside the nine dots and yelled back, "I'm a lighthouse". Unfortunately, it was daytime, and they could see I obviously wasn't. So they ignored my warnings and headed straight for the shore.

I knew I had to lead, follow or get out of the way. I got out of the way. Unfortunately, the starfish wasn't so lucky.

I tell you this story not to sadden you - because the sun is always shining even when you can't see it - but to inspire you.

Nor to apologise - because love means never having to say you're sorry - but to theorise.

And not to point a finger at the commander of that battleship - because whenever I do, there are two fingers pointing back at me (there used to be three, but I lost one in a freak accident when I lost concentration while sharpening an axe for six hours) - but to point YOU in a new direction.

You see, that was in the past, and the past is just a memory. All we have is the gift of now - that's why we call it the "present" (Ummm ... and the gift of tomorrow, I suppose - that's why we call it, err, the future. But that's another story).

I felt bad at the time, but it WAS in my past. Looking back now, I realise it didn't make a difference to me. But it did to that starfish.

About the Author

Gihan Perera is the author of "The Seven Fatal Mistakes That Most Web Site Owners Make - And How To Avoid Them" and "Spin: Turn One Idea Into Hundreds of Information Products". Visit www.gihanperera.com and get your complimentary copies now.