think again!

Read more here and here. If you have a math blog of some sort, please include these links.

Kindly informed by Nick Brown.

We have a few days off from work so the blog is closed till Tuesday while we explore Khao Yai National Park.

Have a peaceful holiday! We will return Tuesday January 5, 2553, local time.

Martin Gardner was 95 last week and we will celebrate him with a few quotes and problems this week. Martin Gardner wrote a column in Scientific American on recreational mathematics from 1956 to 1981 and has published more than 70 books, the last one last week.

I wrote for 4.5 years a recreational math column in a Scandinavian monthly journal called Fakta from 1988 to 1992. Most of the problems were ‘inspired’ by Gardner’s columns, as his column, was inspired by problems from great puzzlists like Sam Lloyd and Henry Dudeney and input from knowledgeable readers and mathematicians.

When i started this blog I again copied problems from Gardner, and when they ran out, I found problem sites on the Net which I give credit to when I am inspired by them. It bears repeating that the best part of this blog are the comments, false or correct ones, submitted by you, the reader.

Winnie the Pooh is a bear with a small brain. I have one thing in common with him and I am not a bear. To illustrate: last week I went to Ko Chang an island close to the border with Cambodia. ‘Chang’ means elephant in Thai, but only last week I came to think of that Hsiang Ch’i, the chess played in China, must mean ‘the elephant game’ and that ‘Hsiang’ must mean ‘elephant’ in Chinese (Mandarin?). Yesterday I returned to Ban Chang, the town where I currently live, and then it struck me. I have lived for a year and a half in the ‘town of elephants’ without knowing it.

The advantages of being the chief editor of this blog are many. One is the company required mandatory holidays that are in place to guard against mental burn-out. In other words, we are off to the island of Koh Chang so the blog will be closed for a week. Happy reading, and commenting, on old posts!

The shop will be closed till September first. Till then, enjoy life, and thank you for your comments!

This blog will take a break till January 5.

This blog will resume its duties tomorrow Sunday after nine months absence.

We will now publish from Thailand. The posts will be published at midnight local time (GMT +7) in the local year 2551.

This blog will reopen its doors and windows some time in September this year. For the grand opening in Thailand the Rolling Stones has asked if they may perform.

Till then, here are the problems from May 2004 - November 2007.

Tomorrow we will leave Tarija for Christmas holidays in Santa Cruz. Tarija has been our home for almost a year since we left France for Bolivia.

After the holidays we will move to country X. We have an idea of what X is, and will tell you as soon as we have an Internet connection there. When that will be? Hopefully, not later than January 20.

The easiest way to find out when we are broadcasting again is to go to Subscribe and set up an email subscription or a feed one. They are both free.

Till then, happy holidays and thanks for your comments and suggestions this year. If you have ideas of problems we might serve when we return, just drop me a line at jannordgreen@gmail.com.

The news about the break was inadvertently leaked to the press yesterday. The image shows the typical reaction amongst our younger readers.

Update January 24: The blog will recommence hopefully in another three weeks. X´s Immigration Department is working on our case.

Update February 29: The blog will recommence hopefully in one to three months. X´s Immigration Department is working on our case. I currently live in Samaipata, Bolivia, where the only way to connect to the Internet is via three satellite driven cafes. With no Internet at home, no blog. Sorry!

Update July 19: X was American Samoa before it became Qatar and then Kuwait. At the moment it is Thailand. If everything goes well this blog will resume its operation in mid September.