Now that I'm back to work as a technical writer, I hope I can do better than this.
the funny thing is that you could probably give that game to a kid and they would have no problem understanding the directions.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Friday, November 18, 2005
100 Points
Firstborn has a project at school. They each have to find $1.00 words. Each letter in the alphabet is assigned a value. In this case, it is their place in the alphabet. They then add up the values of all the letters in a word trying to find one that adds up to exactly 100. Firstborn has been working on this all week. Last night he finally explained the process enough to me that I understood and I explained to DH who immediately caught the fever. Last night at 10:00 as I passed him on my way to bed, he was sitting in front of the TV with a pad on his lap calculating the value of various words. But, of course, he had to come up with an algorithm.
I just asked him if he came up with any. His answer. Yes, but they were not the kind of words he could use. Of course my mind is going in an obvious direction. Is yours?
No. He made up words. His algorithm was to come up with the cumulative cost of common endings like ing, ed, er, and erly. Then he could add up common words and know which ending to put on them to come up with 100 points. His $1.00 words were: mouther -- Which by the way is a word, but I don't think firstborn will be able to bring it in, elementish, customed, and fingerism
Can you find a word worth exactly 100 points. And no, elementish doesn't count.
I just asked him if he came up with any. His answer. Yes, but they were not the kind of words he could use. Of course my mind is going in an obvious direction. Is yours?
No. He made up words. His algorithm was to come up with the cumulative cost of common endings like ing, ed, er, and erly. Then he could add up common words and know which ending to put on them to come up with 100 points. His $1.00 words were: mouther -- Which by the way is a word, but I don't think firstborn will be able to bring it in, elementish, customed, and fingerism
Can you find a word worth exactly 100 points. And no, elementish doesn't count.
Friday, November 04, 2005
The assignment
To disguise a picture of a turkey so that he won't be eaten for thanksgiving.
The solution:
The turkey will be disguised as "The Pile of Toys on Lastborn's Floor."
The implementation:
We took a leftover wood tile from the bedroom floor, attached the picture of the turkey, cut out by Lastborn. Attached a base row of Lego plates, and then built up the layers of Lego plates until he had a 3 dimensional pile of Lego attached to the floorboard. The only part of the turkey picture showing is the turkey's eyes.
Quite a successful family project.
I'd take a picture, but the 2 dimensional aspect of the camera would make the effect less impressive.
Unfortunately, Lastborn has a cold today. So he wants me to carry in his artwork.
The solution:
The turkey will be disguised as "The Pile of Toys on Lastborn's Floor."
The implementation:
We took a leftover wood tile from the bedroom floor, attached the picture of the turkey, cut out by Lastborn. Attached a base row of Lego plates, and then built up the layers of Lego plates until he had a 3 dimensional pile of Lego attached to the floorboard. The only part of the turkey picture showing is the turkey's eyes.
Quite a successful family project.
I'd take a picture, but the 2 dimensional aspect of the camera would make the effect less impressive.
Unfortunately, Lastborn has a cold today. So he wants me to carry in his artwork.
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