Contents
Fun & Games Too
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers!
Following on from our piece on the previous page about idiots in power in the UK, it is now only fair to bring you a story from Greece. Last month the government started an ambitious project to try and count just how many civil servants there are in this country. And no, before you ask, up until now no-one really knew. And yes, this had resulted in several fraudulent salary claims. Anyway it was estimated that there were somewhere between 700,00 and a million of these ‘pillars of the community’. It being the technological age and all, the government decided to conduct an online census in July. And in order to motivate people to register the government announced that failure to do so by July 23rd would result in people’s wages being suspended. You can see what’s coming next, can’t you?! On the day the census was launched, 200,000 panic - struck individuals tried to log onto the Ministry website at the same time, completely crashing the system - or in government speak ‘The application did not respond as planned’, as Diomidis Spinellis, head of the Ministry’s General Secretariat told Skai Radio. A special telephone help line set up to deal with queries was besieged, and union representatives were overwhelmed by the number of frustrated employees demanding to know what was going on. Eventually the system was restored. However, in order to prevent the system from collapsing again, the website managers restricted the number of people who could register each day to 12,000. Which might have been OK if the initial time limit for registering hadn’t been set at just ten days….so the deadline had to be extended and additional staff drafted in. The latest word was that around 700,000 have now managed to register, but still, not one of the Greek government’s finest moments!
Logic Problem #43: Cretan Kitty Cats go Wandering
This is the story of four gorgeous Cretan kitty cats who were much adored. However, despite having a great home life, these cats (being small and curious kitty cats) still felt the need to set out and have an adventure. From the clues below, work out the type of cat, the original adventurous plan, what they did instead, and what special treats they were fed by their worried owners when they finally came home.
Banjo set off to try and visit the Queen. Bingo is a Persian Blue. Ringo got sidetracked on his travels and joined a church choir. His contribution to the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ has to be heard to be believed.
When Tango returned home he was given poached chicken as a reward (by the way, to poach the chicken the owners used a stock made from fresh salmon infused with a gentle hint of white wine and tarragon).
The tortoiseshell cat went to look for the end of the rainbow. The cat that accidently became a football team mascot (we will not mention the name of the football team, but suffice to say it wasn’t Real Madrid) was given lightly spiced mince once he made it back home. Recipe may be in a previous edition and it seems that cats quite like a bit of cumin.
The cat who had the idea of going on a mouse hunt (not Tango) ended up being a stowaway on a ship. The ship wasn’t the Titanic, nor was it any ship to do with nasty oil slicks. It was quite a nice ship, and he also found mice, but the ship had problems with international seaworthy licences and things. So it was scuppered. But anyway, this particular cat would like to say thank you to all the sailors for their friendship and all those delicious fresh red herrings.
Neither Banjo nor Ringo are ginger. The cat that went off on a fishing expedition found himself unexpectedly involved as a muse for an installation at an Art Exhibition in Cheshire (theme of the exhibition: ‘Oh my paws and whiskers, watch that rabbit and please do not put any more of that hallucinogenic glue on the hat’. Understandably this cat was less than impressed by being asked to pose as a metal sculpture metaphor). And finally, Bingo was not the cat who was given filleted sardines once he got back to base.
SOLUTION TO LOGIC PROBLEM # 42: 1. Alfie, Golf, Three-Legged Race, Running Backwards, Posted on YouTube. 2. Bertie, Basketball, Sack Race, On all Fours, Station Announcement. 3. Charlie, Tennis, Obstacle Course, Wearing Handcuffs, Headline in Paper. 4. Danny, Football, Egg and Spoon, Blindfolded, Live TV.
