From cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com Tue Dec 3 23:34:02 1996 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com Received: from curry.epilogue.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by curry.epilogue.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id XAA14205; Tue, 3 Dec 1996 23:34:02 -0500 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@curry.epilogue.com Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 21:54:18 -0500 (EST) From: Nicholas Bodley To: Norman Diamond 04-Dec-1996 0859 cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: 6-cube and Hofstadter; Meffert In-Reply-To: <9612040008.AA29913@jrdmax.jrd.dec.com> Message-ID: Around 1985, I think, I was browsing through a book by Douglas Hofstadter, most likely his _Metamagical Themas_; buried deep within it was a comment (I think without attribution) that a prototype of the 6-cube had been built, and a paper design for the 7-cube existed. Digging through the archives for this mailing list might also yield something. He also said that almost all the Magic Dodecahedrons had been melted down for their plastic, because each one used about $2 worth. This is one of the sadder pieces of news I have heard. Does anyone know whether Uwe M=E8ffert (Meffert, if your char. set isn't ISO 8859-1 compatible [See Moderator's Note]) is still in business? He's Swiss, and was (and might still be) primarily an aquaculturist. The 6-cube would be fun to manipulate and solve, but what I'd really love to see is its innards! The insides of the 5-cube are awe-inspiring... Regards to all, |* Nicholas Bodley *|* Electronic Technician {*} Autodidact & Polymath |* Waltham, Mass. *|* ----------------------------------------------- |* nbodley@tiac.net *|* When the year 2000 begins, we'll celebrate |* Amateur musician *|* the 2000th anniversary of the year 1 B.C.E. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Moderator's Note: Actually, I would prefer it if people didn't use extended ISO 8859 characters (or MIME, or PGP) in sending messages to Cube-Lovers. This message got to the Cube-Lovers inbox quite mangled because of the presence of an 8-bit character in Meffert's name. I undid the damage, and I agree that this -should- just have worked, and perhaps someday soon it -will-, but for now, it just doesn't work. The the extent that it is possible, I request that Cube-Lovers subscribers stick to submitting messages formatted in plain ASCII. Thanks! - Alan ]