Cycling, Walking and Brain Fog

Hi Everyone

Don’t you just love the headline I saw this week that said that Government ministers were promising to spend millions to ensure that 60% of schoolchildren will either walk or cycle to school by 2035 (yes that’s right nine years time). The money will be spent on cycle lanes and walkways near to schools. Does anyone really believe a statement like that? In nine years time we will have had at least one change in government, with  probably at least one of the following, another war, pandemic or financial crash. Five years ago our city was promised £65m for three projects. The smallest of the three was completed, while the other two never saw the light of day. Again during Covid, government promised to spend millions on a nationwide cyclelanes project. In our area, I have not seen any evidence of where the money has been spent. Governments of all persuasions continue to make promises they know they cannot keep, Is it any wonder that we are cynical about their statements of intent.

 A couple of weeks ago,  I confessed to the limitations of my brain, especially when it involved cryptic crosswords and brain teasers, so I set you one of the puzzles from the BBC Breakfast programme. While I offered an answer - 32- I did explain the person setting the puzzle was a professor at Oxford University. Just in case you had forgotten, here is the original puzzle.

The full string of numbers presented was:

1, 2, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 8, 1, 2, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, ? [1]

Followed by what is the next number in the sequence?

The answer was 16. 

Now this is how you solve It

The pattern is based on the highest power of 2 that perfectly divides each position (term number) in the sequence: [1]

• 1st term: 1 is divisible by \(2^{0}\) (1)

• 2nd term: 2 is divisible by \(2^{1}\) (2)

• 3rd term: 3 is divisible by \(2^{0}\) (1)

• 4th term: 4 is divisible by \(2^{2}\) (4)

• 5th term: 5 is divisible by \(2^{0}\) (1)

• 6th term: 6 is divisible by \(2^{1}\) (2)

• 7th term: 7 is divisible by \(2^{0}\) (1)

• 8th term: 8 is divisible by \(2^{3}\) (8) [1, 2, 3]

The sequence then mirrors its way forward. Since the missing number is the 16th term in the sequence, the highest power of 2 that divides 16 is \(2^{4}\), which equals 16. 

My answer was, of course, wrong, but having read how to solve it, I am now completely confused. I have no idea how the answer was arrived at, and on that basis, I have no idea how I managed to pass my O level maths back in 1955. 

If you are of a certain age you will remember those short black and white films featuring Larry, Moe and Curly, The Three Stooges. They were well known for farce and slapstick humour. As children most of us found it funny but as usual the Senior Partner did not find anything funny, so nothing new there then. Anyway, it seems that a reincarnation of the three stooges has now appeared ln glorious colour, Donald, James and  Pete better known as Trump, Vance and Hegseth. This week Pete the Secretary of War has upset everyone involved with the annual commemoration of D Day on the 6th June with his political and inappropriate comments. I find it hard to believe that moderate Republican voices are not appalled by the antics of these three stooges. These three are certainly not funny.

Just a Thought:

Promises are a lot like crying babies on a cinema, they should be carried out immediately. 

My brain is like a maze, mostly dead ends.

Every failure is just a warm up for the next disaster.

Brian