Let me sum up... No, too quick. Let me (s)'plain.
Earlier at about Oh'darkAlmostMorning I came across a little puzzle in Fark. I played it, struggled with it, and about 20 minutes later victoriously posted about it. I did this because I love torturing the people who come across my journal.
With this out of my system, I slept. During my early morning slumber, something happened. I'm not sure entirely whose doing it was, but I've narrowed it down to either
anubis75, astarte93, riordan or dayglow_pirate. Rolling down one of their friends list came a denizen of LJ named septascarabae. A really nifty id and a great taste in musicals. (The last posting has a music of Avenue Q, so kudos there.)While deftly trying to solve the puzzle I posed, another friend posed a challenge to
septascarabae. It's a very old (at least in age of the internet terms....Um Hi, Al?) puzzle known as Petals Around the Rose. (Please note..., no link)Petals Around the Rose is a gaming simulation that has taxed the mathematical minds of Education even though it really only requires even the most basic of math skills. (Yes, even a 6 year old should be able to solve it.)
Sadly, knowing puzzles of this style. I was able to solve it before I even played it. That's right. I grasped it upon my first view. With that being told. I will give you the link. The link that
septascarabae used sadly doesn't work on Safari. This is primarily because either Safari sucks with some JavaScript, or Safari is just too accurate in not running bas javaScript. The link does work in OmniWeb.I did however find a flash based implementation that works in Safari over at baker.edu.
Interestingly, when you really and truly solve it you become a member of the Fraternity of Petals around the Rose. It will tell you more about the evil that the Potentate of the Rose as well as how Bill Gates himself dealt with this quandry.
