Okay here’s the reason if you promise not to laugh. I had chicken pox. Now while we all love this shitty little ailment when we’re in school because even though those unsightly pustules can be a real pain in the ass at least you don’t have to go to school for a few weeks and study stuff about how to balance equations, factorise numbers or decline verbs (just say no).
But, and this is a huge b-u-t, if you get it when you’re older then it’s a motherless pain experience lasting 24/7 and in some cases 365/1 or more. See, if you’re near 50 or more then unlike childhood chickenpox it isn’t all over your body but only in a narrow half band that goes around the abdomen. Mine went around the navel to the backbone. Also you don’t really get pustules on that band or if you do they disappear in a few weeks. Then starts the continuous Munchian scream. My pain lasted for about two months and began to subside just a few days back.
The only thing is since I was virtually bedridden on multiple painkillers I couldn’t sit up to write or read. So this week’s Endgame is only to let you know I’m alive because some even wrote in to ask “Are you alive?” As if, if I wasn’t I was going to answer. It’s also to let you know that by next week things will really be back to normal in the usual format of total faffing that you’re getting used to. Okay enough said except that if you’re 50 plus or something you could take a vaccine shot against getting it. Ask your doctor if it’s okay for you to take a shot for shingles.
So . . . What’s unusual about this paragraph (even without Googling it should take only a few minutes)? “Trade was arrested as a base act after federated reserves regressed faster as extracted free trade was saved as extra reverted waste. Deserted as better fates were created, a few brave castes feared effects as excess stargazers were severed. Statecraft fretted, staggered, braced as steadfast braggarts beat state stewards, stewardesses. Tested as a great craze, trade traversed war; zest was dead as a few eager asses abated better treats, detested street fracases. Facts were effaced as we attested a great faded age.”
THROUGHPUT
(I think this one had not been answered. It concerned a bunch of words which the answers will make clear.)
These are all collective nouns and some very interesting too. WISDOM of Grandparents, BLESSING of Unicorns, UNKINDNESS of Ravens, KNOT of Frogs, HOVER of Crows (also MURDER of Crows), DESCENT of Woodpeckers, SCOLD of Jays, BLOAT of Hippopotami, BATTERY of Artillery, OSTENTATION of Peacocks. Thanks to you I learnt something new today. -- Ajit Athle, ajitathle@gmail.com
The ten words given are the collective nouns applicable to different species of land-based animals, amphibians, fish and birds.. -- Narayana Murty Karri, k_n_murty@yahoo.com
(The other one was: “How many people must be in a room in order for the probability to be greater than 1/2 that at least two of them have the same birthday?”)
Assuming that each of the 366 possible birthdays is equally likely, the probability of number of shared birthdays among a group of 23 random people is: (365*364*363* … *344)/(366^22) = about 0.492. Therefore, the probability of at least one shared birthday among a group of 23 people is about 0.508. If there are as many as 60 people in the group, it is almost certain that there will be at least one shared birthday. -- Shashi Shekher Thakur, shashishekher@yahoo.com
(The third: “Should you pour the room temperature cream in hot coffee immediately, just before you drink it, or does it matter,, if you want to keep it as hot as possible?”)
(1) Black coffee is darker and dark colour emits heat faster than light colour. So you slow down the rate of cooling by lightening the colour of coffee. (2) Hotter surfaces radiate heat faster than cooler surfaces. So the cream slows down the radiation of heat. (3) Adding cream thickens the coffee. This viscosity reduces the rate of evaporation; and thus less heat gets carried away. -- Saifuddin S F Khomosi, Dubai.
BUT GOOGLE THIS NOW
While driving between two towns, you arrive at a crossroads where some miscreant has uprooted the signpost and left it lying by the side of the road. How can you choose the right road and continue without asking for help?
Sharma is a scriptwriter and former editor of Science Today magazine.(mukul.mindsport@gmail.com)