h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is is something to do with Wednesday?

Odin = Woden, who Wednesday
The Trinity = Ash Wednesday? (my theology's not good)
Noble Italians = Ricci's in early 19th C - Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams in the film.

I don't know about the last two, but I do know that any term containing Wednesday is _very_ difficult to Google - making it a good quiz question.

B

Wednesday was name after Woden, that last post was supposed to say.

With Polidari's help, wasn't Rolf's Cartoon Club on Wednesday afternoons?

B

Sorry, wrong Aussie artist and wrong Italian family.

Hmmm,

Noble Italians? The Borgias?
in NJ? Anheuser Busch - Budweiser?

Odin played a part in one of the Dirk Gently books. I think it was The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. (?)

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost, and Pentecost is 50 days after Easter. Can't see how that's going to help, but thought I'd say it anyway.

St. Augustine?!

Three could be the answer...

Odin is one of three brothers, and has the third day of the week named after him.
The Trinity speaks for itself
If the noble Italians are the Medici, then three of them became popes (Leo X, Clement VII and Pius IV)
If the NJ brewery is Anheuser-Busch, its current boss is August A. Busch III
If the Australian painter is Arthur Boyd, he's the third in the Boyd artistic dynasty - both his father Merric and his grandfather Arthur Snr were a bit tasty with an easel too

Borromean rings?

Seamus

Correct Seamus. I wouldn't have minded a little more detail to show you're not just guessing wildly.

You can find the answer at [Broken link removed by Moderator] but here's a summary:

The Borromean rings are three rings, which are linked together in that they cannot be pulled apart, but if one ring is cut out, the remaining two are not linked.

They are so called after the Italian Borromeo family, who used a picture of them in their family crest.

A Viking symbol known as "Odin's triangle" or "The knot of the dead" is a version where the three rings are triangles (or it's a triangular version of the trefoil knot). In battle scenes it would be put near a dead warrior to indicate he was on his way to Valhalla.

The nature of the rings - three joined but somehow seperate made them a useful symbol of the trinity, a use that dates back at least as far as Saint Augustine of Hippo (4th century).

The Ballantine brewing company also uses them as a logo, with the rings standing not for Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but for Purity, Body and Flavor.

Finally an Australian artist named John Robinson makes sculptures based on the rings.

I didn't mean to sound down on you for not giving enough detail, there, Seamus - you won fair and square.

Mycroft - close but not quite.

Who's been doing knot theory then...

And make that link: http://www.liv.ac.uk/~spmr02/rings/index.html

, Bagpuss, knew (found) all the connections, but didn't really want to win, as I haven't got much in the way of another question.
Give me a couple of minutes and I'll try to come up with something.

Seamus

You'll either know this and get it straight away, or you'llhave to think about it which might take a minute or two.
Here goes


A soldier is approaching the exact centre of an enormous field. He is fully armed and equiped, fully fit, and in perfect health. There is nothing in the field except grass, no enemy troops, no mines, no booby traps, no cattle, sheep, or animals of any kind, nothing but perfectly harmless grass. As far as the eye can see there appears to be no threat at all to the soldier.

However when the soldier reaches the centre of the field he is going to die. The soldier knows this. How does he know

?

His parachute didn't open...

You win doc.

Seamus

Gimme a minute...

Ok... There are 10 pirates. They've just raided another ship, and come back with 100 gold pieces. Now they have to divvie it up. There is a kind of democracy - they split their loot using the following process:

The fiercest pirate proposes a division of the gold, which is then put to the vote. If 50% or more of the pirate vote 'for' this division, the proposal is implemented. If not, the proposer is thrown overboard, and the process begins again with the next fiercest pirate.

Given a choice, any of the pirates would rather have gold that throw someone overboard. Obviously, they don't want to be thrown overboard themselves. This is the tricky bit - all the pirates are rational, and they all *know* they're all rational. By this, I mean they will all think through the consequences of any sequence of events. Also, no two pirates are equallt fierce - so there is a precise order to the 'fierceness', which is known to them all. Finally, none of the gold pieces are in any way divisible - they can't be split or shared.

So, what split should the fiercest pirate put forward, in order to maximise the amount of gold he gets?

For purposes of notation, number the *least* fierce pirate 10, the *fiercest* 1, and the ones inbetween as you would imagine.

What are their names?