12 June 2, 2012 - ObserverXtra

30 | LIVING HERE
STRANGE BUT TRUE / BILL & RICH SONES PH.D.
WEIRD
NOTES
SUDOKU
OBSERVER CROSSWORD PUZZLER
THE OBSERVER | SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2012
What’s the ancient wisdom of young kids refusing to eat their spinach or brussels sprouts?
Q. What’s the ancient
wisdom of young kids
refusing to eat their
spinach or brussels
sprouts?
A. The five basic human
tastes play fundamental
survival roles, existing
for far more than just our
pleasure, says David G.
Myers in “Psychology:
Tenth Edition.” “Pleasureful
tastes attracted
our ancestors to energy-
or protein-rich foods that
enabled their survival.”
A sweet taste indicated
HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid
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SOLUTION: on page 22
a source of energy, the
umami taste drew us
to proteins that grow
and repair tissues, and
salty tastes were a draw
to sodium essential for
physiological processes.
Aversive tastes, on the
other hand, steered us
away from potentially
toxic new foods.
So those fussy two-tosix-year
olds might just
be exhibiting this inherited
biological wisdom
when they turn up their
noses at new meats or
bitter-tasting vegetables.
Since meat and plant
toxins were both potentially
dangerous sources
of food poisoning for our
ancestors, especially for
children, these sour and
bitter tastes were functionally
useful signals
to stay away. “Given
repeated small tastes
of disliked new foods,
children will, however,
typically begin to accept
them,” Myers says
Q. A Brooklyn, Ohio
reader asks, “If you
were to take a digital
clock and flip it over, in
a 12-hour period how
many words would it
spell out?”
A. The digits of seven-segment
numeric
displays, when turned
upside-down, may be
read as letters, giving
rise to “calculator
spelling.” Most famous
CUBS GET A CHANCE TO PADDLE ON
The First Elmira Cub pack enjoyed a weekend of canoeing and camping at Conestoga Conservation Park near Drayton May 25-27. Embarking
on a trek across the lake the pack powered through 1.5 hours when they stopped for a picnic lunch and canoe rescue in the water. Cubs and
leaders were treated to a couple hours on the beach on return and a hike on a wilderness trail. The pack is set to join all sections of Elmira
Scouting in a special anniversary Link Camp June 8-10 at camp Everton near Guelph. [STEPHANIE MARSHALL]
THE CHALLENGE
is the number 0.7734
which read upside-down
is “hELLO.” Another
popular example (which
has appeared on various
TV shows) is the mildly
risque 5318008, whose
translation is left to the
reader. If the display
includes “tails” on digits
6 and 9, then the
flipped-digit-letter correspondences
are 0=O, 1=I,
2=Z, 3=E, 4=h, 5=S, 6=g,
7=L, 8=B and 9=G. If tails
are not included, then
6=q and 9=b.
As for the words
spelled out by a fourdigit
(hours + minutes)
upside-down clock, a
few hours of computer
programming and a
41,000-word electronic
dictionary yielded 15
distinct words for a notails
display: bee, bib,
biz, bob, eel, lee, lei, lib,
lie, lob, oil, see, sis, sob
and sol. If the display
includes tails, you get
9 more: beg, big, bog,
gee, gel, gig, gob, leg and
log. Many of these words
occur at multiple times,
such as gig (6:16, 6:19,
9:16, 9:19). Curiously,
there are no four-letter
words spelled out.
For a clock showing
military time, leading
zeros are not suppressed
and all the words have
four letters. For a notails
display, there are
four distinct words:
bozo, silo, solo and soso.
With tails, gogo and logo
are added. Again, some
of these occur at multiple
times.
What if the clock has
six digits, including
seconds? For non-military
time and no tails,
there are 6 words: belie,
bezel, booze, libel, loose
and seize. With tails,
bogie, geese and goose
also occur. For military
time (with tails) you get
the longest clock-word:
gigolo!
ACROSS
1. A leopard
5. Cylindrical brush on a
thin shaft
15. Cool
17. ___ Bowl
18. Slow, musically
19. Fern-to-be
20. Strength
21. “B______” (The Dark
Knight)
22. Deformed toe that is
bent like a claw
24. About to explode
25. Trick taker, often
26. “Ciao!”
27. To retire
30. Befuddle
32. Former Portuguese
province on the south
coast of China
34. Home, informally
35. Breathing device
38. Eastern pooh-bah
41. “___ moment”
42. Starve
46. Officer in command
51. I say “______”, you
say tomatoe
52. Anderson’s “High
___”
53. Caddie’s bagful
54. Kosher ___
57. Auditory
58. “___-Team”
59. Be a snitch
60. Carbon compound
61. Wet, as morning grass
DOWN
1. Ottoman title
2. Petting zoo animal
315 Arthur St. S., Elmira | 519-669-5403
3. Lodge and take meals
4. Quad building
5. Butter up?
6. Assortment
7. Strengthen, with “up”
8. Not just “a”
9. Police, with “the”
10. British P.M. Tony
11. Transmit again
12. Like some beds
13. Says so
14. “I swear!”
16. Weak
23. Bakery selections
27. ___ Victor
28. “Dig in!”
29. Blow
31. In a dramatic manner
32. Peewee
33. “You ___ kidding!”
36. Detachable container
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bill a journalist, Rich holds a doctorate
in physics. Together the
brothers bring you “Strange But
True.” Send your questions to
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37. Churchill’s “so few”:
Abbr.
38. Appear
39. Baby’s first word,
maybe
40. Exclamation
expressing doubt
43. “Rocks”
44. “Comprende?”
45. “48___”
47. “___&T”
48. “On” backwards
49. “___” train
50. Old Republic
54. Like some lines
55. Flammable colourless
gaseous alkene
56. Hide
SOLUTION: on page 22