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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Parchment Revealed, but first...a Puzzle

Gentlemen,
As our minds have just recently been stretched, and as the chosen selector of our next cerebral carnival, I feel my inner scholar beckoning me to continue to push the literary limits of myself and those around me. As Joey Chestnut prepares to eat 47 burritos in 10 minutes by stretching his stomach with 66 delicious hot dogs in 12 minutes, we too, the MOP, prepare to embark on our next intellectual journey no sooner than we have ravaged the last parchment and squeezed every last drop from its pages.

As our storied tradition dictates, the manner and method of unveiling the identity of the next parchment is as symbolic and sacred a ritual as we have. Before you today I humbly attempt to inform you in a manner befitting to our tradition and challenge you in a manner mindful of our synaptic prowess. Still too, as the tentative date for the inevitable mental orgasm of discussion and debate is set at October 17th, I endeavor to be efficient and concise in the unveiling ritual. So without further adieu I present to you the challenge to reveal the next parchment.

First, you will see a "folding challenge." It is a mental exercise designed to challenge one's ability to visualize objects in space and manipulate them in their mind. Of course, such a "challenge" is incorrectly labeled when a man of the parchment be the one to ponder it, yet in the spirit of expeditiousness I feel it appropriate. You too may find that the nature of this challenge may prove to be a subtle hint as to the identity of your next parchment, albeit likely in hindsight. You must follow the instructions for this mental exercise and choose the letter of the pattern that solves the puzzle. Once you have chosen a letter, click the corresponding link below which will take you to your next puzzle.

Of course, it is possible to choose the wrong letter (a deliberate practice common among many of us of exceptional brilliance who use "wrong answers" as a means to bring balance to our almost incessant exactitude). If the wrong letter is chosen you will still be taken to a puzzle, but the solution to the puzzle will make it clear that another path must be followed. Only the one true solution will present itself clearly and be accepted by a strong mind without question. Now, on to your challenge.

Below you will see 8 folding patterns surrounding a triangular prism. Two of these patterns can be folded along the dotted lines to form identical same colored prisms. You must correctly identify these 2 patterns and then select the corresponding letter for one of them (either one will work) in the list of hyperlinks below for your next puzzle.




Choice E

"There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there." -Albert Einstein

Yours in Palimpsest,
Margraf Readie McPageturner