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Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:14 am
by Jamiet99uk
Was he from the United States of America?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:31 am
by Spartaculous
This post doesn't contain any questions for JECE; it is just chit-chat.
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:13 am
So given the date of death, this person's date of birth is likely to be between the 1800s and the 1880s.
Please no more questions about birth or death dates, that's a small enough range to work with.
Something that I have wondered about is what it would be like to attempt to brute-force the birth or death date. If we have an 80-year range for either one, that works out to 29200 days (plus leap days). We could then spend 13 questions performing a binary search on (say) date of death, and, since 2^13 = 8192, we could narrow it down to around a 4-day period, at which point, you go to, say,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892#Deaths and hope that it works.
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:53 am
by Jamiet99uk
Spartaculous wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:31 am
This post doesn't contain any questions for JECE; it is just chit-chat.
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:13 am
So given the date of death, this person's date of birth is likely to be between the 1800s and the 1880s.
Please no more questions about birth or death dates, that's a small enough range to work with.
Something that I have wondered about is what it would be like to attempt to brute-force the birth or death date. If we have an 80-year range for either one, that works out to 29200 days (plus leap days). We could then spend 13 questions performing a binary search on (say) date of death, and, since 2^13 = 8192, we could narrow it down to around a 4-day period, at which point, you go to, say,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892#Deaths and hope that it works.
Ho ho.
While superficially interesting, I fear that sounds like an utterly joyless approach which would rob this pursuit of its essential character, reducing a somewhat whimsical general knowledge game to an almost purely mathematical exercise.
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 2:53 pm
by JECE
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:14 am
Was he from the United States of America?
Yes
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 2:55 pm
by JECE
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:53 am
Spartaculous wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:31 am
This post doesn't contain any questions for JECE; it is just chit-chat.
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:13 am
So given the date of death, this person's date of birth is likely to be between the 1800s and the 1880s.
Please no more questions about birth or death dates, that's a small enough range to work with.
Something that I have wondered about is what it would be like to attempt to brute-force the birth or death date. If we have an 80-year range for either one, that works out to 29200 days (plus leap days). We could then spend 13 questions performing a binary search on (say) date of death, and, since 2^13 = 8192, we could narrow it down to around a 4-day period, at which point, you go to, say,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892#Deaths and hope that it works.
Ho ho.
While superficially interesting, I fear that sounds like an utterly joyless approach which would rob this pursuit of its essential character, reducing a somewhat whimsical general knowledge game to an almost purely mathematical exercise.
What do you have against (whimsical) mathematics?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:29 pm
by Spartaculous
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:53 am
While superficially interesting, I fear that sounds like an utterly joyless approach which would rob this pursuit of its essential character, reducing a somewhat whimsical general knowledge game to an almost purely mathematical exercise.
Remember, I'm the one who thinks it would be lots of fun to have you guess 16th-century Italian mathematicians.
Anyways, actual question for JECE: Did this person ever serve in any of the following roles in the US government: president, vice president, senator, Supreme Court justice, or cabinet member?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:33 pm
by JECE
Spartaculous wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:29 pm
Anyways, actual question for JECE: Did this person ever serve in any of the following roles in the US government: president, vice president, senator, Supreme Court justice, or cabinet member?
No
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:42 pm
by Jamiet99uk
1,3. Real white man.
2,4 Born between 1800 and 1919
3. Born in a country in the Northern Hemisphere with the colour white in its flag.
5. Best known for his work in government/politics, the military, or for being a member of the hereditary nobility.
6. Died before 29th Feb 1921.
7. From the USA.
8. Did not serve as US president, vice president, senator, Supreme Court justice, or cabinet member.
NOT:
David Glasgow Farragut [DougJoe]
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:42 pm
by Jamiet99uk
Did he serve in a military role during the American Civil War?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:49 pm
by JECE
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:42 pm
Did he serve in a military role during the American Civil War?
Yes
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:57 pm
by Jamiet99uk
JECE wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:49 pm
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:42 pm
Did he serve in a military role during the American Civil War?
Yes
Did he hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, or higher, in the United States Army? (i.e. on the side of the Union, rather than the Confederacy).
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 4:13 pm
by JECE
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:57 pm
JECE wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:49 pm
Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:42 pm
Did he serve in a military role during the American Civil War?
Yes
Did he hold the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, or higher, in the United States Army? (i.e. on the side of the Union, rather than the Confederacy).
No
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 4:53 pm
by JustAGuyNamedWill
Free Guess: William Tecumseh Sherman?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 5:20 pm
by JECE
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 5:39 pm
by DougJoe
Was this person part of the military of the Confederate States of America?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 5:47 pm
by JECE
DougJoe wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 5:39 pm
Was this person part of the military of the Confederate States of America?
No
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 6:56 pm
by Octavious
Is his role in the civil war what he's most famous for?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:14 pm
by Jamiet99uk
That answer was impossible given the answer to my question.
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:45 pm
by cdngooner
That he is a major or lower in the Union army, and not a high level politician after the war, suggests he is mostly famous for non-political, non-military pursuits, and that his war service is tangential to the public's knowledge of him.
So I'll ask: was he a professional writer?
Re: XX Questions - Game CXLV
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:47 pm
by cdngooner
Or alternatively, that he WAS a senior policitian, but not in the class of politicians listed in the earlier question.
So I'll ask a second question, if I may, before turning the floor over to others. Was he a state governor?