Saturday 30 August 2008 7 keys that we haven't a clue what lock they fit (if any)

Friday 29 August 2008 7 variants of chess

  1. Atomic chess: any capture on a square results in an "atomic explosion" which kills (i.e. removes from the game) all pieces in any of the 8 surrounding squares, except for pawns.
  2. Andernach chess: a piece making a capture changes colour.
  3. Madrasi chess: a piece which is attacked by the same type of piece of the opposite colour is paralysed.
  4. PlunderChess: the capturing piece is allowed to temporarily take the moving abilities of the piece taken.
  5. Suicide chess: capturing moves are mandatory and the object is to lose all pieces. There is no check - the king is captured like an ordinary piece.
  6. Checkless chess: players are forbidden from giving check except to checkmate.
  7. Hierarchical chess: pieces must be moved in the following order: pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen, king. A player who has the corresponding piece but cannot move it loses the game.

Thursday 28 August 2008 7 programming quotations

  1. First, solve the problem. Then, write the code. - John Johnson
  2. Should array indices start at 0 or 1? My compromise of 0.5 was rejected without, I thought, proper consideration. - Stan Kelly-Bootle
  3. It's hard enough to find an error in your code when you're looking for it; it's even harder when you've assumed your code is error-free. - Steve McConnell
  4. Without requirements or design, programming is the art of adding bugs to an empty text file. - Louis Srygley
  5. The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time. - Tom Cargill
  6. Any code of your own that you haven't looked at for six or more months might as well have been written by someone else. - Eagleson's Law
  7. It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Hofstadter's Law

Wednesday 27 August 2008 7 minor characters from Arthurian legend

  1. Gwion
  2. Joseph of Arimathea
  3. King Lot
  4. Morgan Le Fay
  5. Uther Pendragon
  6. Vortigern
  7. The Fisher King

Tuesday 26 August 2008 7 answers to questions we got right in this week's University Challenge

  1. Banksy
  2. Minotaur
  3. 1939
  4. Puccini
  5. British Library
  6. Melatonin
  7. Green

Monday 25 August 2008 7 of the least spoken indigenous languages of Mexico

  1. Aguacatec
  2. Kiliwa
  3. Chchimí
  4. Ixil
  5. Kikapú
  6. Pápago
  7. Kumiai

Sunday 24 August 2008 7 favourite doodle-a-day doodles from the past month

  1. Roll up, roll up
  2. The fold
  3. Don't build on the flood plains!
  4. Take me
  5. Easier said than done
  6. Oh pants!
  7. I'll carry on packing in a bit