Whittle It a Little, It’ll Fit

Odds and sods I look at regularly, just because they amuse me. I hope they do the same for you. Incidentally, I found this page’s title on Greg Ross’s Futility Closet (it’s somewhere on this page) in a mini-article which also includes the delightful sentence in Icelandic: Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabbabara. Ross points out that this, “besides being fun to say, is spelled with only three letters. It means “Barbara, daughter of Ari, brought only rhubarb to Ari the Arab.”

Weird Universe » Norma and Normman

Sunday 3 March 12:12:00 UTC 2024

In the summer of 1945, the Cleveland Health Museum put a statue of "Norma" on display. Norma was said to be the "norm or average American woman of 18 to 20 years of age." Accompanying her was a statue of Normman, her equally average brother. The two statues had been sculpted by Abram Belskie, based on data gathered by Dr. … [Link]

Futility Closet » Target Practice

Sunday 3 March 7:02:32 UTC 2024

An arrow has a 1/4 chance of hitting its target. If four arrows are shot at one target, what’s the chance that the target will be hit? SelectClick for Answer Each arrow has 3/4 chance of missing, so the chance that all four arrows miss is 3/4 × 3/4 × 3/4 × 3/4 = 81/256. The chance that at least … [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons