Yesterday's Answer, Today's Question

Yesterday's Answer:


The Clipper (computer) Chip was developed and promoted in 1993 by the U.S. government to be used in secure voice equipment. It required users to give their cryptographic keys in escrow to the government, thus allowing law enforcement agencies to decrypt any traffic for surveillance and intelligence purposes.


I wish my guess had been correct. I am left wondering exactly what 4th Amendment rights we actually still have. I do not generally buy into "slippery slope" arguments because they are usually just not correct but we seem to be headed down a very dangerous one. Our Constitutional rights have been being assaulted since the 80's, in my opinion, and the pace is steadily quickening. I wish our elected officials would put the brakes on and act like our Constitutional rights are the guarantee we were taught it is. I believe we are on a very dire course.


Today's Question:


If you bounce three balls off a very rigid surface, one ball made entirely of glass, one of rubber and one of solid steel, which will bounce highest? Which will bounce second-highest?


Intuitively, I would say the order is rubber, glass and then steel but that seems too obvious. This question reminds me of a test of one of Galileo's discoveries I tested as a child. If you drop a balled up piece of loose leaf and a half dollar from an equal height which lands first? They drop at an equal speed! I think this question is likely similar, and will guess they all bounce the same height.


(Sources: American Mensa, email transmission, May 25, 2011; http://epic.org/crypto/clipper/; http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/05/17/supreme-court-erodes-4th-amendment-protections-eases-ability-for-police-to-enter-your-home-without-warrant/; http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html; http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/; http://www.jimloy.com/physics/galileo.htm)

Compiled by Otto Ladensack and Patricia Ladensack