Hillwalker News 2001/13
In this issue:
Support over the holiday period
Grand Prix Quiz - 20 really puzzely puzzles - with a great prize
GRAND PRIX QUIZ – THE QUESTIONS
GAMES
Well it is the festive season after all!
ISYS teamed up with a Games Company in the USA to bring you Alhademic Balls. Perhaps you have not looked the Games directory of your CD or you had forgotten since enjoying the game last year. Caution: it is addictive! Alhademic Balls is the game I like best but there are a few others.
WINDOWS XP
As you know, Hillwalker programs are written in Delphi and therefore work happily on all Windows from 95 through to XP. We tested version 4 products on XP but I have just had confirmation that Munros version 1 also works on XP, spanning a development gap of 6 years. Perhaps Bill Gates is not such a bad lad after all. Perhaps!
EVENTS
28 February (Thursday) Tiso GEO Coupar Street
18:00 - Wine and nibbles
18:30 - 21:00 Workshop: Getting the most out of the Hillwalker Series CDs version 4.
This is only our second ever Workshop. The first was called a Masterclass but Workshop is a better name. Everyone who came last time thought it would be a good idea to run another, so here it is. You can bring along any problems or discuss any ideas which you have had with other interested users. The concept is to explore more deeply the use of the programs and discover how to do things quickly.
There is a charge of £5 for the evening. Numbers are limited so please book early. There will also be an opportunity to save £5 and a free fine bone china mug.
There is no event this Saturday. I have tightened security on the Yahoo Hillwalker Group, which announced an event, but I still suspect the Yahoo software rather than a mischievous user!
NEWS
The funicular railway on Cąrn Gorm is now operational. The first passengers were transported up the hill before Christmas. All we need now is snow.
Not much was made of the Munro centenary (2001) by the hillwalking community in Scotland. Next year, 2002, is the International Year of the Mountains organized by the United Nations. The concept is not just to reach those who use the hills for work or recreation but to bring an appreciation of what the hills do for everyone, even for pavement people in low lying towns.
This and previous copies of the Newsletter are available on our Yahoo Group. Join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker
SUPPORT OVER THE HOLIDAY PERIOD
Isys was closed on Christmas 25 December but open from Boxing Day 26 December to Friday 28th. We will be open on Hogmanay 31 December until 4pm and then closed through Ne'erday 1 January, re-opening on 7 January.
PRODUCT RANGE
Normally the product range is appended but the Grand Prix Quiz got in the way so here is the list of products available from ISYS. Most are available Boxed (ideal for a gift) or Unboxed (to fit a letterbox).
Hillwalker Series version 4
The Munros (700 photographs)
The Corbetts (2,000 Scottish Hills)
Lakeland Fells (365 fells)
Mountains of Wales (3-D map of Snowdonia)
All cost £39.99. Buy all four for £120, saving £40.
Hillwalker Lite version 4 (available until 31 December 2001 only)
Peaks, Moors and Dales (Woodland for all England)
Hills of Man
Hills of Ireland
All cost £39.99. Hills of Man is included free with either of the others. All three for £60.
Hillwalker Series versions 1, 2 and 3 - available only while stocks last
The Munros 3 £19.99
The Corbetts 3 £19.99
Lakeland Fells 2 £19.99 (Unboxed only)
The Munros 1 £9.99
Upgrades - unboxed only - available only if you actually have the product already
The Munros 1 > 4 £29
The Munros 3 > 4 £22.50
The Corbetts 3 > 4 £22.50
Lakeland Fells 2 > 4 £22.50
Please add p&p £3.50 to all orders for UK delivery. No p&p on upgrades this month.
To buy:
Just e-mail your order to us. Quote your User Number (in the Subject of this e-mail), tell us what you want and, of course, quote a credit card number and expiry date. sales@hillwalker.org.uk
Just telephone with the same information 0141-943 1533
Visit the shop on the website. Upgrades and special offers are not yet available from the web shop. http://www.hillwalker.info or http://www.hillwalker.org
GRAND PRIX QUIZ
Win a Hillwalker CD of your choice - guaranteed - or, if you are the winner with all 20 questions correct, win the complete Hillwalker Series of 7 CDs worth £180. I hope I have made the questions twisted enough to catch all of you out somewhere. I don't want to be giving away too much in prizes. The questions are all logical puzzles; nothing to do with hills. Closing date is 25 February 2002. A tie will be drawn.
Continue to have a happy Christmas and have a great New Year.
Iain R White
Isys, authors of
Serious Hillwalker Software for not so serious hillwalkers
Web site: http://www.hillwalker.org
e-Mail: support@hillwalker.org.uk
GRAND PRIX QUIZ – THE QUESTIONS
The puzzles are not mathematically difficult, although some I shall disguise as mathematical horrors. Note that I didn't say that they weren't difficult, some of them are, but in every case I shall endeavour to obfuscate and befuddle you to make them seem the more difficult.
Just in case you need them, here are some formulae to help you:
Area of a sphere: 4 Pi r² Volume of a sphere: (4/3) Pi r³ Pi = 3.1415926 (approximately)
1. Fence stobs (posts if you live in the far south) cost £1. Wire is 10p/m. Stobs are placed at 1m intervals. How much is the material for a 100m 5-wire fence?
2. A snooker cue and chalk cost £21. The cue costs £20 more than the chalk. How much is the chalk?
3. 3 costs 12p; 12 costs 24p. How much is 100?
4. How many times do the hands of a (conventional) clock make a right angle in a day?
5. The Mad Hatter's watch is correct at 3 o'clock. The minute hand travels at twice the normal rate. When will it next show a valid time?
6. A man is working on the 24th floor of a skyscraper. He jumps through the (open) window and does not hurt himself. What is his occupation? (He does not have a parachute; there is no ledge or roof under the window; he is not wearing a light-fawn suit; there is a concrete pavement 24 floors down directly below the window.)
7. I have two British coins in my hand to the value of 30p. One is not a 20p. What are the coins?
8. Two days ago, my friend was 33. Next year she will enter her 37th year. What is her star sign?
9. A slug starts at the bottom of a two-foot gravestone. He climbs 3 inches by day but slips back 2 inches at night. How long will he take to reach the top?
10. There are three sealed boxes of socks. One box contains white socks; one box contains black socks and one box contains a mixture of black and white socks. The labels indicate this. Unfortunately, the boxes are all wrongly labelled. Is it possible by drawing one sock from one box and seeing its colour to identify correctly the contents of all the boxes?
11. Bothers and sisters have I none, yet that man's father is my father's son. What is the relationship of 'that man' to the speaker?
12. Two persons share the same birthday and year of birth. They have the same biological mother and the same biological father, yet they are not twins. How is this possible?
13. Ruaraidh's mum bought a (rectangular) box of sugar cubes. Ruaraidh eat the top layer; all 77 sugar cubes. He went back some time later and ate the right hand (vertical) layer of 55 cubes. Greedy Ruaraidh went back again and ate the front layer. How many sugar cubes were left?
14. Two dice are thrown on a table and show a total of 7 spots. What is the total of the faces next to the table?
15. A napkin ring is made by turning wood into a sphere and then drilling out a 'core' (like an apple). When the ring sits on the table with the (missing) core vertical, it is 2 inches high. What is the volume of the napkin ring?
16. A drawer contains 50 pairs of red socks, 50 pairs of green socks and 50 pairs of blue socks, all the same size and the drawer contains nothing else. In the dark, how many socks must you draw to be sure of getting a pair?
17. We start with the same drawer as the start of question 16. How many socks must you draw in the dark to be sure of getting a red pair?
18. According to the song, how many gold rings (or golden rings in some versions) did my true love give to me?
19. What two English words contain the 6 vowels in alphabetical order?
20. Two planets are in line with each other and with the sun. The outer planet orbits the sun in 12 years; the inner planets orbits in 3 years. Both planets orbit in the same direction and the circular orbits are co-planar. When will they again be in a straight line with each other and the sun?
Good luck, and do give a brief word of explanation of your answers. It makes much more fun to read. If you get ten or more, send in your answers to quiz@hillwalker.org.uk
