Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

$50,000 To Solve the Most Complicated Puzzle Ever

Posted by samzenpus on from the gather-the-edge-pieces dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A team from UC San Diego is using crowd-sourcing as a tool to solve the most complicated puzzle ever attempted, which involves piecing together roughly 10,000 pieces of different documents that have been shredded. (The challenge is designed to reveal new techniques for reconstructing destroyed documents, which are often confiscated by troops in war zones). The prize for solving this jigsaw puzzle is $50,000, which the UCSD team has decided to share among the people who participate. If they win, you would also receive cash for every person you recruit to the effort! The professor leading the team, Manuel Cebrian, won the challenge two years ago, so his odds of winning again are great"

4 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Shredding vs. burning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I never really understood the purpose of shredding documents. If your documents are that sensitive, why not just burn them, leaving no trace of legible text? It seems like it would be cheaper, easier and faster too. Just throw them in a barrel outside, put a little lighter fluid in, and drop a match. Why is this not common?

    1. Re:Shredding vs. burning by GumphMaster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Indeed that is what became of classified material I have dealt with. Shredded using a military cross-cut shedder (output pieces smaller than 1x10mm), mixed thoroughly, and then incinerated using a purpose built belt-fed, gas fired machine.

      --
      Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
  2. Re:10,000 documents for $50,000 reward? by zill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For those who didn't get the reference.

  3. Huh... complex problem!? by c0lo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What about 600 million shreds from 45 million documents?

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.