Work continues. Not much to say about that, the project is going well at the moment. We are working. Really. Today's lunch was vienna chicken schnitzel, spinach lasagne, roasted sweet potato, and asparagus salad.

Today is Pool Night for Jimmy, so we went to the Burlingame Steelhead Brewery for some drinks and some pool. I had a raspberry cider and a pear cider - both fantastic and flavoursome, although very easy to drink. Fortunately for me, my superior mathematics skills shone through my inebriety with some tricky angle and ricochet shots on the pool table, with Tony and I winning against Mike and Jimmy 2 - 1, and Jimmy and I winning against Mike and Tony 2 - 1 again.

I just got back from dinner at this Thai place down the road. I was thinking of going to Taco Bell tonight, but since tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I reckon I'll have my fair share of Mexican food yet.

People have been giving me a lot of problems lately. Luckily I've managed to cope, but goodness knows how many more I can take. Probably a lot more.

Geometry Problem

I have a square of size x. Inside the square sits a blue circle of radius x/2, the largest possible circle that sits inside of the square. At the corners, I have four smaller green circles, the largest possible that will fit in the space there. What is the area not covered by a circle (i.e., the red area)?

Timing Problem
I have two lengths of rope. The ropes burn at non-linear rates, but they will each burn entirely in one hour. Using only these ropes and your choice of a tool to ignite them, how do you measure out 45 minutes?

Hat Problem
There's a competition in which you and two friends decide to enter. The prize is $1 million. The rules are as follows:
- Each of you is randomly given a hat which is either red or blue. There are an infinite number of hats so the chance of getting a red or blue hat is exactly 50%.
- You cannot see the hat you are given, but you can see the hats that your two friends have.
- To win $1 million, the three of you must simultaneously call out the colour of the hat on their own head. No other forms of communication (signalling, blinking, pointing, flailing, etc) are permitted.
- You are allowed to pass, however, if all of you pass, you will forfeit. You will also lose if one of you gets it wrong. To pass, you will say "pass" instead of your hat colour.
Now that you know the rules of the competition, you must formulate a strategy that will maximise the chances of you winning the $1 million. You are allowed to discuss this strategy with your friends beforehand. What is the best strategy, and what are your chances of winning?

Since the other website I secretly work on is down, I thought I should come crawling back to this thing and post some stuff. I have a lot of photos on my phone I need to upload as well...

Anyway, something is definitely up with IGN's webservers because it's been down for the past two days. We found some malicious scripts in two of the PHP files which I managed to remove, but who knows what else has been compromised. Sigh. In any case, I can still work on it I guess, it's just that there's nothing to show for it.

Let's see, in the past three weeks:

There was an awesome fireworks display over Wellington Harbour on Guy Fawkes' Day. It was damn cold and really windy, but we were sitting by the back end of Te Papa so it slightly sheltered. We got to lean back against the concrete wall and watch the spectacular pyrotechnics in the sky.

There was the All Whites Victory Celebration and the Santa Parade. It was boring. There were three things that interested me: Snoopy, Pikachu and the adorable corgis. Oh, and I'm really happy for the All Whites, but I don't care much for soccer sport in general, so meh.

Sidhe celebrated two shipped projects (Madagascar Kartz and Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5) and two submitted projects (Rugby League 3...and one I can't say but it's for iPhone and I worked on it) with yet another ethanol-filled night at Red Square. Lasers were included, as well as a generous bar tab, thanks to securing more work for us. Yay employment!

Got invited out for a wonderful lunch at this couple's house in Titahi Bay last Sunday. I totally miss home cooked food. The wife is a magnificent baker - the Tiffany cake is for royalty. Besides that, it was cool to listen to their stories. They've certainly had some fantastic experiences, including a three week voyage over the Pacific Ocean from Auckland to Miami (back in the days when air travel was super expensive). A few years ago, they even got a photo with the then junior senator of Illinois... Barack Obama!

After a big lunch, we went for a walk on the beach. The sand was so perfect and untouched, I felt the urge to write in it.



Of course, this led to discussion about parabolas, trignometry, differentiation...all part of a normal day's work.