good afternoon people! its hot, its muggy, and we need to get ourselves a way to chill down. here in pennsylvania, we’re in for heat all week.
after those wicked thunderstorms we had monday, this thing is looking even better. [maverick]
…but oh noes. the world’s “biggest computer hacker” has been arrested in london. Do I smell the next “FREE MCKINNON”?
[Dash] sent this in. The red screen of death? Whatever, Longhorn sucks.
Fat? Enjoy Food? Love Chess? This is for you….lazy bum. (kidding of course)
Cnet also suprisingly alerted me that there is “ a shortage of mainframe hackers“. Gee, god knows every aspiring hacker loves a huge ass IBM mainframe. HP-UX pride baby.
Now, for your little cute lazy afternoon trick/story/hack/freebie, I’m celebrating one of my math tests I took today by giving your some mathemagician skills. Think of it as hacking math and the mind all at once. So here we go, get some friends on the phone and start rocking these:
Trick 1.
Think of any number, preferably divisible by two.
Add 8
Multiply by 2
Divide by 4
Subtract the half of the initial number
Your answer is now 4.
EDIT: Stupid KEYBOARD. I accidently hit 2 before the 4 key, yeah, you’re supposed to end up with 4 everytime..which you’ve figured out by now obviously.
OHHHH. Damn. Let’s have another shall we?
Trick 2.
Roll two dice.
Multiply one of the numbers by 2
Add 5
Multiply by 5
Add the second number
Subtract 25 and you get the dice numbers.
Now go off and enjoy. I’m getting all my wisdom teeth yanked out tomorrow so I’ll post pics.
Yes, pics
It’s “divisible.” Way to hack english.
“dividable”
that first math ‘trick’ doesn’t even work. choose 6. 6+8=14. 14*2=28. 28/4=7. 7+3!=24
Ummmm….
For trick one pick 0
0/2 = 0 so divisible by two.
0+8 =8
8*2 = 16
16/4 = 4
4 – (0/2) = 4
I must be a moron because I couldn’t get it to work.
Number: 64
64 + 8 = 72
72 * 2 = 144
144 / 4 = 36
Half of 64 – 32
36 – 32 = 4
4 != 24
i think its a typo to show 2 or 4….
any ways heres another one for yea
pick any number
multiply it by 2
add 12
divide it by 2
subtract the original answer
your answer is 6
The answer is 4, and not 24. Everyone got 4, well except for dephyler, but he obviously can’t read.
Any number in general:
Pick x.
Add 8: x + 8
Multiply by 2: 2(x + 8) = 2x + 16
Divide by 4: (2x + 8)/4 = x/2 + 4
Subtract half of the number: x/2 + 4 – x/2
The final answer should always be 4, not 24.
pick any number
add 1
subtract the original number
you get 1
who’s wasting your time? you should be thankful that people email you at all. you’ve wasted enough of our time recently, the past two weeks have been pure dribble.
keep alienating your readers with your criticisms, seems like this site is on the way out anyway.
Getting your wisdom teeth taken out, eh Vince? If they’re already partially grown in, you’ll be fine the next day pretty much. The worst part will be where all your friends are eating *good* food, (say, pizza) and you’re stuck with applesauce.
“divisible” because its denotation is “Capable of being divided, especially with no remainder.” Since these tricks are done with integers “divisble” is the best word to ue here.
SORRY SORRY SORRY. I put an edit up. Yeah, I accidently hit the 2 key before 4, as you can guess, you’ll end up with 4. <3
The maths ones are silly, geez a moron could make one, they are like:
Think of a number, add 2, take 2, wow! You have the number you started with…
Not impressed, as for the other stuff, mmmm tesla coil – kewl! ^^
I had one wisdom tooth pulled a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t that bad, except for the part where a little piece of jawbone managed to break of and it slowly pierced though my gums in the following week. Yeah, that was really painful. Good luck tomorrow :-P.
#10: I agree. Lazy afternoons is just hackaday links now, which sucked in the first place. I’d rather have eliot post less-than-daily hacks than listen to your crap, vince.
(psuedo)Algebra to the rescue!
Pick number x
x + 8 = x + 8
multiply by 2
2x + 16
divide by 4
x/2 + 4
Subtract the half of the initial number (x/2)
4
next:
dice x and y
multiply one by two (you can use x OR y, just swap later as well)
2x
add 5
2x + 5
multiply by 5
10x + 25
add second number
10x + 25 + y
Subtract 25
10x + y
So x=5 and y=4 would be 54, x=6 and y=2 would be 62, and so on.
While I agree that I enjoyed the older links, i still enjoy lazy hackaday afternoon links. I enjoy what comes up on these pages everyday, though some more do-it-yourselfer projects, and actual hacks would be nice.
Here’s the coolest math trick you’ll ever see:
1. Pick a number from 10 to 99.
2. Multiply by 10.
3. Divide by 10.
4. Square it.
5. Take the square root.
6. Jump out nearest window.
7. You’ve got your original number again!
gettins your wisdom teeth pulled isn’t that bad. The best part is when they give you opium, and you pass the fuck out.
#18: key phrase there..”actual hacks”
i like the links, and i like the lazy afternoon hacks becuase they’re kind of funny. I think it’s fine the way it is (except i still want a forum).
I hate to read other people’s complaints all the time in the comments, but hackaday has been driving me nuts for the last couple months. The links are fun every once in a while, but usually i’ve seen most of the links before and they don’t relate to hacking. I dont think that hackaday is the place for many of these, as we all have other sources where we get news. I thought that lazy afternoons was a great idea, until it started just being more links. Additionally, the “lazy afternoon” hacks are all *yawn*
I admit I’m lazy, but this is rediculous. I want to make something at my desk as I waste my perfect summer afternoon at my computer. What I don’t want to do is a math problem out of a children’s “magic” book. Go back to stuff like this. http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000073029700/ This is the perfect example of the kind of thing I want to do on a lazy afternoon.
anyone see the new $20 “disposable” digital video camera CVS sells? looks ripe for the hacking, especially if it means not turning it back into CVS to get your videos.
I look at hackaday the same way Eric Burns (www.websnark.com) looks at webcomic update schedules–that is, there is a difference between people doing this for a living and people doing this because they want to. If they are doing it because they want to, then they are not obligated to your viewers. However, if it IS their job (as in, it is their main source of revenue), then they *ARE* obligated to give their viewers what they want.
Now, does Vince do this for a living? I don’t think so (but I could be wrong). I know Vince has written other material, which he could be making money on. He also seems like a fairly young person that is still going to school (evidenced by the Hilary Duff wallpaper and the quote, “I’m celebrating one of my math tests I took today…”).
Therefore, if you don’t like it, try to help, offer suggestions, submit something cool, but Vince is *NOT* /obligated/ to you to produce a necessarily kick-ass hack. You should be nicer than some of you are being because of this.
(Of course, if this IS Vince’s day job, then you have full rights.)
My main source:
http://www.websnark.com/archives/2004/10/the_difference.html
I wasn’t one of the sumbitters of that was mentioned, but in their defence: You are getting paid to run a blog, why do you have to complain about getting tips that have already been posted?
Thats what the search box is there for? I didn’t even notice there was a search box, until you mentioned it. Its hard to find next to all the ads.
I can understand the frustration if you were getting hundreds of tips, but three? How much inconvinence could this possibly cause to you? These people are only trying to help. Many hackaday readers would love to be able to go through all the links that you get sent.
The thing that bugged me the most of all this is that just yesterday, the hackaday links had a repeat link – of the FEATURED ARTICLE from the same day no less. At least practice what you preach.
If you want to whine, get a LiveJournal.
why would you want your wisdom teeth taken out? unless of course they are growing crookedly.
They are called wisdom teath for a reason and just because a doctors says you should get them taken out, doesnt mean, you have to.
Just brush really well back there.
i was in pennsylvania over the weekend (i live in canada) for the american regional mathematics league. your state is ridiculously nondescript. i honestly have no stories about it whatsoever.
Dude, having my wisdom teeth pulled was the most fun I’ve had in years! You’ll hardly remember anything after they give you the IV, and you get narcotics! Summed up, a week of being stoned, legally. Unless you have complications, then you might have some pain. Regardless, I’m pretty sure you’ll feel waaay to happy just lying on the couch staring at the ceiling to post any pictures. Enjoy.
90% of the readers are excellent. Then there’s the 10% who just need to become lepars on an island. But maybe….JUST MAYBE…you’d realize that some of us don’t have the time to make a satellite dish that controls an A1 Abrahms tank over the weekend…but, we do have time for more practical things. And yes, Im well aware of the CVS disposable camcorder and maybe when How-Tuesdays roll around you’ll see something (maybe = yes)…so stay tuned. We try our best to please you guys doing everything from podcasts, to hacks, to ideas, etc. And if we kept it at one silly post a day, the site would remain linear forever! So we’re trying new ideas and rather than complain, tell us how to improve upon these things.
That being said, you’ll get your “WOW!!!” hack on tuesday. So, go out, get your disposable camcorder for 30 bucks, and get ready.
Perhaps it is not Hack-A-Day that is growing stale, but links to hacks around the web… For every 40,000 people that do something that would be considered a “WOW!” hack, one perhaps posts a website about it?
you say you want ideas, for people write in, then almost everyday I read you bashing someone who sent you another redundantcy. you refer to %10 of your readers as “lepars on an island”. I’m not sure what side of the fence I stand on, as I suggested some sort of a forum, to which this idea was smitten without hesitation. get over yourself, we like the site, but stop being a prick cause it’s getting lame.
i just got all four taken out, i woke up on the table just as the dentist was pulling out the biggest fucking dremel out of my mouth, the blood on the bit was the best part…
i had already beem numbed up, but i woke up and got to say hi.
ps, 3 vicodin and the largest chocolate mcdonalds milkshake make for a bitchin 4 hours
Very handy trick indeed. As a magician, I use some of those mathematical tricks for some mentalism effects. As a programmer, I already coded the second trick in C++ and VB. I have the source code on my site.
As for the Wisdom teeth … if they have to cut jawbone, initially take an extra dose of whatever drug they give you as soon as you get home (even if you still feel great from the knockout drugs) and keep em rollin’ you don’t want to come down off of that pain free high.
If they don’t cut you’ll be fine. As far as the milkshake comment, please use a spoon; no straw!!! It’s not fun. believe me.
I can’t believe that a canadian just dissed Pennsylvania… (comment #25) That’s really harsh. it must have been _REALLY_ intensely boring. :P
ok hacks dont grow on trees. hacks have to be thought of, implemented, and submitted. hackaday obviously revolves around this. so..if you want a better hackaday, start hacking and stop crying
Does trick #2 work if I use a d20 die? I’m too lazy to try it.
This is not lazy. This is plain stupid.
is it me, or does the “red screen of death” have a pitiful typo? I could swear i’m reading, “exectuion.”
How come everything in in lowercase when clearly it is in uppercase when the source is viewed?