How to Make Decisions
Issue 68

We welcome your letters, questions and desperate pleas for help in this uncaring world. As always, e-mail WBXylo at Gmail.com. Don’t fret about e-mailing me with puzzle problems; I won’t yell at you.

Q: How does my Wii know how fast I’m swinging?
Source: Popular Science April 2007, p. 62

The Wii’s remote, or wii-mote, contains an accelerometer, a device found in everything from airbags to pedometers.

The Wii’s accelerometer consists of a set of silicon plates and a silicon weight. The weight has a current running thought it and is held in place by a tiny spring. At rest, the weight sends equal voltage to each of the plates.

When the wii-mote is moved, the weight shifts, sending differing voltages to the plates. Using Acceleration is equal to Force divided by Mass, the wii-mote can calculate the rate at which one is able to change the speed of the wii-mote. The weight is able to shift in three dimensions, and thus the accelerometer can register forward to back, up and down, or left to right acceleration.

For those curious, the mass of this accelerometer’s weight is less than .000001grams, and it is able to shift no more than 5 nanometers in any given direction.

How to Make a Stinger

Adding the predicate “Stinger” to a drink name indicates the usage of white creme de menthe. There are tequila stingers and vodka stingers, each of which contains 2 ounces of the hard liquor to one oz of the liqueur and is served in cocktail glass.

The traditional Stinger contains 4 parts brandy to 2 parts white creme de menthe. Shake well over cracked ice and strain into the chilled old-fashioned glass.

Word of the Week

coprology – the study of pornography
(Source- There’s a Word for it by Charles Harrington Elster)

This Week’s Puzzle (Difficulty: Multiple Choice!)
From: Mindtrap

Which number is next in this series:

10, 4, 3, 11, 15, . . . ?

a) 14
b) 1
c) 17
d) 12

Last Week’s Puzzle (Difficulty: Anagram fun!)

Example: Five letters, arranged one way form dirt, another way make an organ.
Answer: Earth; heart.

Six letters, arranged one way form a class of animal, another way spell out something taboo.

BrokenDial’s Greg Wind is back on top again, providing the answer – Insect/Incest.

Last 5 posts by ML Kennedy

• How to Make Decisions (72) - June 19th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (71) - June 12th, 2007
• How To Make Decisions (70) - June 5th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (69) - May 29th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (67) - May 15th, 2007