Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Your chance to vote on February's project

February has been a slow month for the Secret Laboratory. I have several serious projects on the go but there will not be any results until late March at the earliest. Therefore, as infill, I have decided to test the intellectual orientation of my readership. You may vote upon the following three last minute projects for February, the most popular of which will be published here.
  1. Decidable Predicates. How to decide whether numbers possess a given property.
  2. How to make that yummy honeycomb stuff they put in Crunchie bars.
  3. What actually happens if you shoot an aerosol can of "Silly Party String" with an air pistol.
You may vote 1, 2 or 3 by responding to this post.
Posted by at

22 comments:

  1. Kate Gruntfuttock23 February 2010 at 06:30

    Having recently watched a programme about infinity I fear that Number 1 would cause me further brain damage if contemplated too soon afterwards so I must pass on that one.

    Making honeycomb holds no mystery for me as I made it as a child so I must discount Number 2.

    My vote then has to go to number 3. I wonder if the different colours of silly string have different properties when shot with a variety of firearms or smashed at with a pickaxe. Fake snow also ...

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  2. Kate Gruntfuttock23 February 2010 at 06:34

    In addition, I would like to know just how silly 'silly party string' actually is.

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  3. Marcus Morris23 February 2010 at 07:20

    It's very silly. It's silly to the power of silly, squared and then some, rounded down but with extra zeroes for pizazz. I'll order some extra colours, hitty objects and report results.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Cosmic Tinktank23 February 2010 at 09:52

    1) This can be easily verified by looking at the Land Registry.

    2) You cant make that stuff in crunchie bars. Its made by bees,silly.

    Which leads me to vote for,

    3) As abuse of aerosol cans can be dangerous and destructive, I suggest you get as many cans as you can. build a great big fire, and chuck em all in.
    Stand well back.
    Try and have a large quantity of water available in case you catch fire. Film the results and put em on YouTube. Good luck. AP

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Cosmic Tinktank23 February 2010 at 09:57

    What is Intellectrial Ormanentation anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Angie H23 February 2010 at 17:17

    well we know the silly string works in principle after the wasps incident. when i started reading no 1 i came over all bunnies and kittens, so it'll have to be 2 i spose. couldn't you try 'how many bubble's in (small) bubble wrap i can puncture in 60mins'.

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  7. Millevache23 February 2010 at 17:46

    I'm going to play it safe and go with No.2

    1 cup sugar
    1 cup dark corn syrup
    1 tablespoon vinegar
    1 tablespoon baking soda

    Use a large, heavy saucepan since the mixture expands when you add the soda. Combine the sugar, corn syrup and vinegar. Cook and stir until the sugar melts. Bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until a thermometer reaches 300°F (hard-crack stage).

    Remove from the heat and stir in baking soda. (The mixture will bubble and expand.) Quickly pour into the prepared pan (so that mixture stops cooking and doesn't burn). Cool. Lift honeycombe and break into pieces.

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  8. Unknown23 February 2010 at 20:40

    Honeycomb all the way!

    Andrew.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous24 February 2010 at 00:24

    No contest! Number 1 is the only challenge for the SL - however, 3 would be more fun - is there a practical application for either?
    2 is tempting but Millvache(wikipedia,F. Craddock,N. Moleworthy et al)have it sorted.
    So,let's eagerly anticipate the SL's answer to..........?????

    ReplyDelete
  10. Marcus Morris24 February 2010 at 01:53

    Decidable predicates the only challenge? Would you like me to throw in Undecidable predicates into the bargain? Or those tricky semi-decidables?

    No - it's beginning to look like No.3 is the favourite option! There's still a few days to go yet though - vote now!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kate Gruntfuttock24 February 2010 at 06:23

    @The Cosmic Thinktank

    As a child I was a little B...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kate Gruntfuttock24 February 2010 at 06:24

    Incidentally, my cat votes number 3.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Su25 February 2010 at 00:10

    Un & semi!! Now you're talkin!!
    Bring it on! No 1 !!got to be.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kate Gruntfuttock25 February 2010 at 09:32

    Having given these potential projects some considerable thought, can you not attack all 3?

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Cosmic Tinktank26 February 2010 at 11:39

    I've thought again, and vote for any project that dosn't involve cruelty to cobras.
    If you go stickin' your helmet in a bag of 'em, you could scare 'em all to death !

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous27 February 2010 at 01:40

    I vote no 1!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous1 March 2010 at 00:35

    Number 3!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous1 March 2010 at 07:15

    3 is the magic number.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Unknown1 March 2010 at 07:32

    1 I don't get what you're on about at all and don't want to.

    2 sounds boring and factory people are always doing it, just look at Emmerdale!!!

    3 might end in some sort of mess and mess is good, go for it! You've got to video it though and dayglo pink is my fave if we're talking colour!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Marcus Morris1 April 2010 at 00:36

    Well said James! Number three is what it's going to be! Dayglo pink everywhere. I'm just waiting for the vidcam now. We're going to attempt super-fast capture for super-slowmo replay.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Kate Gruntfuttock1 April 2010 at 11:23

    How many aerosols will be involved in this venture?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Kate Gruntfuttock1 April 2010 at 11:24

    Or were you just having us on?

    ReplyDelete

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