Slashdot Mirror
A Solution for the Ten Letter Acrostic Puzzle?
rmo101 asks: "A story in the Times reports a solution to the ten letter acrostic square puzzle that has defied solution since the ancient Greeks. An acrostic puzzle comprises a square of letters where the arrangement of letters from words written in rows result in the same words appearing vertically in the same order. The ten letter solution, however, is not accepted by all as one of the words does not appear in a dictionary. Sounds like a puzzle in search of a fiendish algorithm for interrogating a dictionary. The ancient Greeks believed that the solver of the ten letter puzzle would become immortal. Anyone fancy their chances?" Of course, the Times article doesn't report the proposed ten-letter solution (they show a five-letter one), but they do mention the controversial word: "nonesevent". Are any of you interested in trying your hand at a better solution?
Fourty-two
From the beginning of time people have tried posted comment solely in order to gain karma, rather than by trying to actually provide the community with anything. Once Slashdot evolved, it was inevitable that people would start whoring for karma.
HISTORY OF KARMA WHORING
Karma whoring has existed for as long as Slashdot has existed. The earliest karma whore to achieve substantial success was Signal 11, who is unfortunately close to forgotten by now. Earlier users may remember him as an outstanding karma whore, taking the whoring to a new level. Unfortunately, Signal 11 quit karma whoring in 2000, citing no reasons. Many people have claimed to be his successors, but thus nobody is even close to achieving his legendary success.
KARMA WHORING TODAY
Since Signal 11's withdrawal, the karma whoring profession has florished, but the newcomers are mostly amateurs. Newcomers like PlayfullyClever are in late 2005 trying to replicate the achievements of Signal 11 and other early pioneers, but are sorely lacking in skills. Oldtimers long for the good old days when karma whoring actually took skill rather than merely ripping semi-relevant articles from unacknowledged sources.