The Stuff I Didn't Get To -- 3/14/07

-Quote of the year?-
I know, it's still early. But this is definitely in the running. "America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn't make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference." -- Retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak (Rolling Stone)

-Forty-two-
A british TV show's call in quiz question is getting them in hot water as being unanswerable. "The on-screen question, headed Add the pence, listed: Two pounds, 25p, £1.47, 16p, Fifty pence. A prize of £30,000 was offered. The phone tariff to enter was 75p. The presenter told viewers: 'Takes a bit of working out, I know, but it’s worth it: Thirty grand!'" It's not just the british currency that makes it impossible -- it's a puzzle and the show isn't telling anyone what the puzzle actually is.

"Mathematics professors, the high-IQ organisation Mensa and the lateral-thinking pioneer Edward de Bono all failed to come up with a solution. Finally the cryptanalysts of Bletchley Park, which hastened the end of the Second World War by cracking the Nazis’ secret ciphers, provided an answer. But ITV said that the codebreakers were wrong."

The answer is 506. No one knows exactly why it's 506, but there ya go. The show, Make Your Play, could be fined for posing an impossible question. (The Times)

-It used to be pink elephants-
A Billings, MT resident contends he wasn't responsible for crashing his truck into a light post. "Prosecutor Ingrid Rosenquist said Phillip C. Holliday Jr. initially denied driving the truck involved in the March 7 crash in Billings. He told officers at the scene that a unicorn was driving, she said." Needless to say, in addition to felony charges of criminal endangerment, Holliday faces charges of drunken driving. The Brothers Grimm couldn't be reached for comment. (AP)