Cave News

Sabotage was the name of a WWII card game sold in the 1940‘s

I played Sabotage during recess while attending an eight-grade one-room school. The school was behind the old original SDA Church on Duluth Avenue in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

When I was in the 6th grade the game disappeared. The teacher probably thought a war game was too graphic or otherwise inappropriate for kids.

The Sabotage playing cards were broken down into several categories including airplanes, tanks, bombs as well as materials such as steel, aluminum, rubber etc.

The object was to complete a factory and then build a tank, airplane or battleship.

If you were lucky enough to draw a Sabotage card you could use it to destroy an opposing players factory.

Until the cards were taken away some of us thought the game was great fun.

Report: New Corona Study Bolsters Case to Reopen Schools

From a report at the link below:

Several countries are reopening schools after temporarily closing them due to coronavirus.

For example, Denmark and Norway have reopened their elementary schools. States in America should start reopening their schools, too. New research says that doing so won't spread coronavirus to many adults, and it will have little effect on child mortality. Yet schools remain closed in 44 states.

Full report here.

Fun to do a real easy puzzle occasionally while house bound

It’s Jigsaw puzzle time during isolation

For this one we dug out a nearly 40 year old Springbok puzzle showing an old CocCola advertisement titled “An old fashioned Girl”

We bought this puzzle at a Hallmark store in 1981 when Springbok made really good puzzles.

The box lid is shown here

A report on the Internet said this puzzle was released in 1980.

This must be a difficult crossword. Nobody has been able to solve it.

What is the only letter that’s not in any U.S. State name?

50 states and 25 letters. Which one is missing?

Microsoft’s new Xbox Adaptive Controller

This year, Microsoft announced a surprise project called the Xbox Adaptive Controller,

This controller could open whole new world to gamers with disabilities as shown in photo below.

It features two oversize buttons that are easy to hit, not just with dexterous fingers but any appendage. It features an additional 19 ports for people to plug in any specialized controllers they might need, from sip and puff sensors to more easily graspable arcade joysticks.

Link

In the new game of Monopoly, women make more than men

One of America's most recognizable board games is getting an upgrade. Hasbro is debuting a new game celebrating women's empowerment -- Ms. Monopoly, marking the first time in Monopoly history when a new mascot will be featured on the cover of the game.

The twist? In Ms. Monopoly, female players will get more money. Unlike the classic game, women will collect 240 Monopoly bucks when they pass "go," while male players will collect the usual 200. The idea is to create a game where women make more than men, the first game to do so, according to Hasbro.

t's "a fun new take on the game that creates a world where women have an advantage often enjoyed by men," the company said in a statement. "But don't worry, if men play their cards right, they can make more money too."

Link

Artificial Intelligence solves Rubik’s Cube in the time it takes to blink!

The Rubik’s Cube has been frustrating would-be solvers for decades, and whenever someone is able to conquer it, it’s an achievement worthy of recognition. Now, researchers from the University of California have created an extraordinary artificial intelligence system capable of solving the Rubik’s Cube — in a fraction of a second.

The AI system is a deep reinforcement learning algorithm named DeepCubeA, and — perhaps even more astonishing — it doesn’t need to be provided with any specific information on the Rubik’s cube or in-game coaching to beat the puzzle. It learns all on its own.

Astonishing. Unbelievable. Creepy.

Link

Do they make erasable Sharpie pens?