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by **Bigtone53** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:11 am

udosuk wrote:Also I hope Federer beats Nadal tonight.

Well, nearly :!:

by **udosuk** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:21 am

Well, I did say hope.

At least in soccer the team I like won and the team I hate lost.

Sorry Glyn no time to give a real effort for your riddle. Hope others have better luck with it.

by **Glyn** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:36 pm

As this has stalled completely shall I just post the answer/info for reference. I'm a bit surprised as you were all getting so close.

by **Bigtone53** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:04 pm

Probably best. It at least clears the deck for anyone to jump in with a new one. If this was not American Football-related, I apologise but as soon as it looked as if that was part of it, I switched off

by **Glyn** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:48 pm

Ok Bigtone53 as you were probably the nearest anyway. Here is the answer in all its gory detail.

It sounds like I swapped two digits in this sequence. Who am I and why?

8,8,16,8,16,8,8,16,16,8,16,8.

The person I was looking for was songwriter Bobby Troup, who wrote Route 66.

Square root of 66 as a continued fraction (yes those again)

8,8,16,8,16,8,16,8,16,8,16,8

8=8
8+1/8=65/8=8.125
8+1/(8+1/16)=1048/129=8.124031
8+1/(8+1/(16+1/8))=8449/1040=8.1240385
8+1/(8+1/(16+1/(8+1/16)=136232/16769=8.124038404
etc

Labelling the locations mentioned in the song Route 66 in geographical order (Starting in Chicago ending in LA).

8 Chicago Illinois
8 St. Louis, Missouri;
16 Joplin, Missouri;
8 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma;
16 Amarillo, Texas;
8 Gallup, New Mexico;
16 Winona, Arizona;
8 Flagstaff, Arizona;
16 Kingman, Arizona;
8 Barstow, California;
16 San Bernardino, California.
8 Los Angeles California

Bobby Troup reversed the order of Winona and Flagstaff in the lines "Flagstaff Arizona, don't forget Winona" to get a better rhyme. => 8,8,16,8,16,8,8,16,16,8,16,8

Along the way we had extra hints

Follow the sun = Travel west. Beckham went to LA Galaxy, obviously for 'kicks'.
"Bend it like Beckham" actress Parminder Nagra plays Neela Rasgotra in ER (A Chicago hospital filmed in LA). (They've gone west even though they pretend they haven't).
“A Young Man is Gone” Lyrics by Mike Love, based on the melody of "Their Hearts were full of Spring" by Bobby Troup (this wasn't much help)
Thought I'd chuck that in. (allusion to Chuck Berry)
Sir Alf's finest moment on Wembley Way. (His route in 66).
She was out of order on December 12th 2001. (Winona Ryder arrested for shoplifting in Beverly Hills).
Finally harking back to the biscuit teaser Abraham Lincoln was married in Springfield, Illinois which is also on Route66.

by **Bigtone53** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:22 pm

Great teaser Glyn, but I would never have got there in a hundred million years. Perhaps we need two or more levels of these things so that those of us who operate at a lower mental level can still participate somehow.

by **udosuk** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:08 pm

Bigtone53 wrote:Great teaser Glyn, but I would never have got there in a hundred million years. Perhaps we need two or more levels of these things so that those of us who operate at a lower mental level can still participate somehow.

I don't think it has anything to do with "mental level". That riddle involves so much specialised knowledge. Call me ignorant but I don't listen to old English songs and have never heard of Bob Troup or Route 66. I guess these stuffs are researchable on google but it requires much time and effort, and a lot of motivation/enthusiasm which I couldn't give. Cultural gap I guess.

Yep, looking back at all the details it was all very clever (including the hints). For some reason I don't feel sorry for missing the continued fraction link, guess it's past me.

Anyone are welcomed to post a new brainteaser/riddle. Hopefully it will be another nice one!

by **Glyn** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:11 pm

Let's post a quick poser to drown the spam. A bit obscure but not as tortuous as the last one. A nice bit of trivia.

Without me Bill Gates might never have got his first big break, but Excel gets my 10th 'birthday' wrong.
Who am I?

by **Bigtone53** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:41 am

Glyn,

Are we talking computer languages or similar here :?:

by **Glyn** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:31 pm

Bigtone
As regards languages.
There is a connection for our mystery person in the syntax of one language and the way it might have been accessed.
For Bill it's a different language. Perhaps you're already on track for that one.
My big clue (is the 's)

by **Bigtone53** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:36 pm

Glyn wrote:Perhaps you're already on track for that one

Nope, haven't a clue. I just ask these things in the hope that your answers will assist someone else.

by **Glyn** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:25 pm

Bigtone53 I was really confident there.
1) Any ideas what Bill's big break was?
2) Why is a word enclosed in quotes?

by **udosuk** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:21 pm

Glyn wrote:1) Any ideas what Bill's big break was?
2) Why is a word enclosed in quotes?

1) Any of these 5: micro, soft, basic, dos, windows?
2) Still clueless... :?:

by **Glyn** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:08 pm

Matt. Basic and DOS are spot on

Clue 1) It happened in 1980. A request for a Basic Interpreter turned into something more lucrative. Who it was for will lead you further.

Clue 2) Word in quotes. Extra help. Pirates of Penzance

by **Bigtone53** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:06 am

Clue 2 - The most memorable song from Pirates of Penzance is "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" and Wikipedia tells me that the very distinctive form of the song was used as a spoof called the Unix Sysadmin Song in The Unix Companion.

Gates, operating systems :?:

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