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I'M OLD
There are seven houses,
In each house there are seven cats,
Each cat catches seven mice,
Each mouse would have eaten seven ears of corn,
If sown, each ear of corn would have produced seven heqat of grain.
How many things are mentioned altogether?
(They made me sick with all those new things today, so before you the oldest known - written - puzzle, form Egypt)
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Is it just a sum or am I missing something tricky?
19607
7 H
49 C
343 M
2401 E
16807 H
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Were they all going to St Ives[^]? 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I try not to involve wives in my posts 
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Good plan - and not only for posts.
Cheers,
Mick
------------------------------------------------
It doesn't matter how often or hard you fall on your arse, eventually you'll roll over and land on your feet.
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Dunno. What's a heqat?
(If I google it, I'll probably get the puzzle - it's reasonably famous)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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It is extremely famous...
And heqat is a unit used to measure - grain too - in ancient Egypt... It is a kind of bowl of about 4.8 liter...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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There are seven houses,
In each house there are seven cats,
Each cat catches seven mice,
Each mouse would have eaten seven ears of corn,
If sown, each ear of corn would have produced seven heqat of grain.
I had to lookup Hekat (unit) - Wikipedia[^].
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Five "things" are mentioned: Houses, Cats, Mice, Ears of Corn, Grain. (Multiple instances of each "thing" of course).
OR
7(H) + 49(C) + 2401(E) + 16807(G) = 19264. The 343 mice don't exist any more, having been eaten by the cats. Because the cats exist, the mice don't (and are therefore only "imaginary" or "remembered" things), so the ears of corn and their grain do exist. Although, the wording implies that the corn has not been sown, hence the grain doesn't exist; so maybe 7(H) + 49(C) + 2401(E) = 2457.
OR the classical answer of 19607.
The problem has been inadequately specified.
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DerekTP123 wrote: inadequately specified
And that was by intention... or it seems to...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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To further confuse: one example: 'ears of corn' = 2 things, 'ears of corn' and 'corn' itself.
or for the pedantic, "How many things are mentioned?" None or one: 'thing'/'things' is never mentioned in the scenario (none), but is mentioned in the question (one) - depends if counting literally and where it's being counted.
Heck, if English were easy then everybody would understand it.
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In an earlier post The Lounge[^] I noted that a useful member of IT staff was abruptly terminated and, as of yesterday, they grim reaper harvested another. Meanwhile, some thoughts:
IT, per say, was put on notice by the New Kids on the Block that are reorganizing the company, that if a certain program isn't completed by a (demanded) hard date than we're all history. Personally, I think they were simply setting up a pretext, but let's assume not.
OK - so these guys come around (and they're IT-clueless, unlike the predecessor), demand a hard deadline and make threats. Two scenario's open up.
1 - we don't make their deadline - and we're replaced by "smarter younger programmers"
2 - we do make this deadline. Now we've set a precdedent that the seriously understaffed development group can be intimidated into results.
So - now I can look forward to a slightly early retirement or working continuously under the gun. That does not go well with my personality in the least. The other 'real' developer is quite good and wouldn't bat an eye at seeking employment elsewhere. About half the company's operations are running on the stuff we built. We'll both go on making the best stuff we can while we can.
But - thrown out to you lot - comments?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Find another job; it will only get worse, so it seems.
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If they all found other jobs (and quit on the same day) their employer would have an direct problem.
Would serve them right!
Employees hold the power, unfortunately it's a lot harder to make a bunch of employees work together than it is for management to work against all of them 
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Good idea. Viva la revolution!
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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Alas, I'm rather old by developers' standards - old enough to be two. One of my pet lines is to get a job as a programmer you need to be 25 years old and have 30 years experience. Maybe some local contract work?
Fortunately - I put in the preparation and am essentially immune from any real damage. Time to get back into some serious photography? (!)
The thing is, I love coding - but, then again, I learned to do it and did it years before someone would pay me.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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52 I was when I switched last. 49 before that. Took more than one application but not many. You can do it.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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Fifty when I started here - took "only" three months (which was actually quite good at the time. But that was long enough ago where - as I said, it's a slightly early retirement. And perhaps some small local contracts. I could go on SS immediately if I've a mind to.
Luckily - I don't need the company for my benefits. That IS a big deal.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Why not apply for other stuff while still in the "safety" of your present place? You could think of it as a free lottery ticket. 
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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I to am an older programmer. I am 67 years old. I am being paid below market because there is real and active age discrimination in our profession.
I have done some contract work, and it is OK. Unfortunately, it is not really stable employment. As soon as you get settled and the job done, the contract is up and it is time to move on....
I do it (programming and development)because I love it. My pet line is that I work for free... I charge for the B.S. I have to put up with.
Good luck....
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Thanks for your good wishes.
I'm not sure I'll do contract work if they terminate me. More likely, teaching locally (Adult Ed, for example) and/or charitable work.
I've created a state of reasonable financial security - but I don't want my mind to rot away from stagnation (or excessive posting on CP).
As it turns out, I've been keeping a spreadsheet (since Hurricane Sandy) and know what my monthly (and thus annual) expenses are. Including vacation expenses, although there will be more of those.
My calm feeling, now that I see a possible precipice, is the mental test of whether or not I really believe in my preparations - I guess I do.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Agreed.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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Prepare your escape plan now.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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You essentially have two choices:
0) Tell them where they can put their "hard deadline" (and don't omit the depth or force of insertion requirements)
1) Work until they fire you and leave without so much as a whimper. Don't forget to thank them for the opportunity to get screwed on your way out the door.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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I can do most of (1). More likely than not, they'll discover the extent of the infrastructure I built, and commented though it is, if anything breaks their up to their ankles in sh*t: standing on their heads.
However, they gave me a position to begin with, so I have this caveat to your solution: they put food on my table for years.
I'm many things (check the soapbox) - but an ingrate is not one of them. The thought of . . . well it crossed my mind but I'll just pack my things and go.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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