[match tricks seven] try before you check

A farmer had 3 small paddocks and 2 large ones.

He sold a small one and then had 2 the same size left.

Which 4 matches did he remove?

Check the solution here.

You might like to try these too:

Matchtricks 1
Matchtricks 2
Matchtricks 3
Matchtricks 4
Matchtricks 5
Matchtricks 6

[spot the virgin] which of these are unsullied

[tea parties] taking back the nation

Mind you, it's a pity to see such lovely tea go to waste.

Why can't we do things like this?

Local citizens played a part in the presentation as well: About 30 children led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, a man dressed as Patrick Henry gave the founding father's famous speech ending in "give me liberty or give me death," and another shared a song he wrote expressing a need to retake the country.

"It was a very powerful and moving program. It was an opportunity for people to come together who are like minded and speak out about their feelings about spending in Washington, the raising of the debt," event organizer Steve Owen said. "We're all for limiting government and we see the government exploding. And this was a great time for people to come out and come together."

What is it with us? I'm sure we don't lack courage - there was that little matter of the Empire, you know - but has the socialization of Britain gone so far that none dare speak up for reprisals, for fear of one's job? What is it? Is it that people feel there's actually nothing wrong and the high-tax, debt-ridden society is actually more comforting than a brave new world of free enterprise?

Please tell me. There must be many others like me who simply will not sit down and shut up while iniquities are being perpetrated on us.

[bread and butter pudding] in search of a finer experience

In the middle of the Obama health care issue and the British General Election preparation, another issue which does require swift resolution is how to make the best Bread and Butter Pudding.

Without knowing that, we can go no further forward with civilization. I do understand that this is a man's issue, as we love through our stomachs but bear with it girls. Without further ado, here is the base recipe, courtesy of the BBC:

Ingredients

25g/1oz butter, plus extra for greasing
8 thin slices bread
50g/2oz sultanas
2 tsp cinnamon powder
350ml/12fl oz whole milk
50ml/2fl oz double cream
2 free-range eggs
25g/1oz granulated sugar
nutmeg, grated, to taste

Method

1. Grease a 1 litre/2 pint pie dish with butter.

2. Cut the crusts off the bread. Spread each slice with on one side with butter, then cut into triangles.

3. Arrange a layer of bread, buttered-side up, in the bottom of the dish, then add a layer of sultanas. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon, then repeat the layers of bread and sultanas, sprinkling with cinnamon, until you have used up all of the bread. Finish with a layer of bread, then set aside.

4. Gently warm the milk in a pan over a low heat to scalding point. Don't let it boil.

5. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add three quarters of the sugar and lightly whisk until pale.

6. Add the warm milk and cream mixture and stir well, then strain the custard into a bowl.

7. Pour the custard over the prepared bread layers and sprinkle with nutmeg and the remaining sugar and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

8. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.

9. Place the dish into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is golden-brown.

Question

My question to you, laze and gem, is how to improve on it? How to make that consummate B&B Pud which will have us eating out of your hand? Any ideas?

[those french telecom suicides] what's behind them

There's been another one:

Une jeune femme s'est jetée vendredi par la fenêtre de son bureau parisien. Le ministre du Travail, Xavier Darcos, devrait rencontrer la semaine prochaine le PDG de l'entreprise. Une salariée de France Télécom, âgée de 32 ans, est décédée vendredi, après s'être jetée du 4e étage d'un immeuble du groupe dans le XVIIème arrondissement à Paris. La jeune femme était chargée de clientèle, au service de recouvrement d'Orange, la marque de téléphonie mobile de France Telecom.

In plain English:

The latest suicide occurred on Friday, when a 32-year-old woman leapt to her death at a France Telecom office in Paris. On Wednesday, a 49-year-old man in Troyes, east of Paris, plunged a knife into his own stomach during a meeting in which he had been told he was being transferred.

Like Airbus going down due to design faults, this one of Telecom raises many questions:

1. Why so many at France Telecom specifically?

2. What's the work culture there?

3. What have they been told, in the light of the recession? How were they told about having to transfer, for example? Was it done compassionately?

4. Is there something in the character profile of a FT employee? Is that person tending to the soft or has he/she been used to secure tenure in the past?

5. Why are employees not coming out and saying much or is the media being suppressed at state level?

FT say it is not a statistical aberration, compared to the French average and the French do tend to be highly strung but still ... that's pretty extreme.

[the cult of obama] replacing the presidential seal

What's the big deal about all these logos? In the top one, the American flag was removed and Obama had his own logo put on. In the second, the Healthcare plan does not carry the seal of the United States - it carries Obama's personal seal.

The third is another he used, drawing attention to his site.

Much has been written and spoken of Obama's Cult of Personality and look once again at the adoration in this post, praising his rhetorical skills but not bothering too much about the substance. Watch this youtube, courtesy of Harry Hook, where the issue is about Obama's logo now appearing everywhere, post-election. The video speaks of iconography.

Now let's move to August, 2009:

On Friday, Aug. 28, the principal of Eagle Bay Elementary School in Farmington, Utah — in the name of "education" — showed her young charges the "Obama Pledge" video released at the time of the inauguration, in which Ashton Kutcher and various other big-time celebrities, two or three of whom you might even recognize, "pledge to be a servant to our president and to all mankind because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek."

Let's get this right - a Principal wanted the children to see the pledging to Obama, not the United States?

Now look at this triptych [interesting in itself] and who is seated to our right of the staircase? The article says:

Obama at fund-raiser at Steven and Judy Gluckstern's home, April 9, 2007. George Soros is seated to the right of the stairs. (Published in "How Barack Obama Struck Fund-Raising Gold, New York Magazine April 16, 2007; Photo-credit: Michael Edwards (note that this is the actual photo as published by New York Magazine, and contrary to the claim of William Lowther @ Telegraph, has not been doctored by this blog; (via "Daily Speculations" | What is the "Transfiguration"?)

You've no doubt seen all of these and perhaps you see nothing terribly wrong in them. Perfectly normal to scrub the Presidential seal American flag off the tail of a plane and put your own seal in its place and to attach your own seal to countless promotional packages throughout the country. It must be boring being one of the 44 who've been entitled to use that Presidential seal and opting not to use it.