complete the sequence

Post #180,319 by rcareaga 10/21/04 5:19:29 PM Reply	complete the sequence I'm in "hurry up and wait mode," with numbers pending from which I'll presently generate tasteful charts but without which I'm left to twiddle my thumbs, so with time hanging heavy on my hands I offer the following roster of American historical figures. Complete the last two items—or not, according to level of interest—and justify your answer. John Tyler James Buchanan James Buchanan Frankin Pierce Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant Chester Alan Arthur Chester Alan Arthur Benjamin Harrison Woodrow Wilson Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Calvin Coolidge William Howard Taft Calvin Coolidge Harry S Truman ____________________ ____________________ I was originally going to ask "what do these men have in common?" but that seemed, I dunno, too easy. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,322 by Another Scott 10/21/04 5:43:19 PM Reply	Let's see... It's not strictly chronological. They weren't all vice presidents. Grover Cleveland was the only one to have discontinuous terms as president. It doesn't seem to have much to do with their number as president. Seems like a wacky list to me. I dunno. <googling, googling...> John Tyler didn't have a vice president??? Cheers, Scott.
Post #180,326 by rcareaga 10/21/04 5:54:07 PM Reply	John Tyler ...didn't have a vice-president because there was no constitutional mechanism for ever so long (latter 1960s, I believe) to replace a veep when that spare tire of government was promoted to president. As recently as the mid 1980s, there was a grandson of John Tyler (the tenth president) living somewhere in San Mateo County south of San Francisco. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,374 by Silverlock 10/21/04 9:07:01 PM Reply	Well, they're all dead first off, Naahh. That can't be it. The order they were discovered to have a venereal disease? No, that cant be right because a few of them were never reported to be drippers. I give up. ----------------------------------------- How do you convince a Washington Journalist that you're not slapping him in the face? Tell him you're not.
Post #180,388 by rcareaga 10/21/04 10:04:13 PM Reply	C'mon... It's a logical sequence, sorta like the ones on the SAT. I thought this one would fall within an hour. Engage those frontal lobes, sports! sis-boom-bah! Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,401 by Another Scott 10/21/04 11:19:33 PM Reply	They're mentioned in Sousa marches? I think you're overestimating our ability to follow logical progressions. We either immediately jump to the wrong conclusion, or we follow a premise 50 years into the future (not 2 steps), or we need to be spoonfed the answer. :-) Cheers, Scott. (Who's in the last group on this topic.)
Post #180,402 by deSitter 10/21/04 11:23:49 PM Reply	Re: C'mon... Well I got out the list of presidents (not trusting memory) and wrote down the sequence of integers, and could not immediately detect a pattern. Are you sure it's what you mean? -drl
Post #180,417 by rcareaga 10/22/04 12:53:59 AM Reply	Re: C'mon... Think correspondence— Named president: someone Named president: someone Named president: someone ... ... Named president: someone Named president: someone _____________________ _____________________ You can do this. I'm astonished it wasn't solved within an hour of anyone's first response. charitably, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,435 by deSitter 10/22/04 9:01:23 AM Reply	Re: C'mon... Grant twice?? I've read his memoirs and other bios, and nothing happened to him twice, other than getting elected president. But that can't be it (Chester Arthur was not elected twice). It's not some trick with integers. It's not about currency. It's not about veeps or any other pols, since Grant was never anything BUT president. It's not about Republicans since there were none before Lincoln. It's not about the states represented by the augustines. So WTF is it? Whatever it is, it ain't obvious. -drl
Post #180,397 by daemon 10/21/04 10:52:16 PM Reply	Re: complete the sequence Lynden Johnson Bush 41 both one termers who were veeps regards, daemon that way too many Iraqis conceived of free society as little more than a mosh pit with grenades. ANDISHEH NOURAEE
Post #180,444 by Another Scott 10/22/04 10:17:14 AM Reply	Let's see #2 Free Association? John Tyler -> Liv Tyler/Steve Tyler -> LoTR-Todd Rundgren/Aerosmith -> Utopia/High School Losers -> Bearsville/Boston -> Yosemite/More than a Feeling -> Runt/Curse of the Bambino -> Acapella/Amazing comeback -> Bang the Drum All Day/Halloween Series? James Buchanan -> Pat Buchanan -> Crossfire -> Culture War James Buchanan -> Pat Buchanan -> Culture War -> Culture Club -> Boy George -> GWB Frankin Pierce -> Mary Pierce -> Tennis -> Patrick McEnrowe -> Loser TV show Andrew Johnson -> Andrew Card -> GWB -> Never makes mistakes Ulysses S. Grant -> Corrupt administration -> Disgrace -> Mark Twain -> Redemption Ulysses S. Grant -> HUG at West Point -> Snuggle bear -> vomit Chester Alan Arthur -> President -> ? Chester Alan Arthur -> Eh? Benjamin Harrison -> Some musical or other Woodrow Wilson -> Drawbridge in DC -> League of Nations -> Resegregated DC -> Mixed Record -> Medles -> I hate medles Theodore Roosevelt -> TR -> Big Stick -> Great White Fleet -> Hunting -> National Parks -> Rosa Parks -> Buses -> Greyhound -> Dogs -> Loyalty William Howard Taft -> Ohio -> Fat -> Fat Ohioans -> Heartland -> Heart attack Woodrow Wilson -> Hey, he was up above -> WWI -> Did people call him Woody? Calvin Coolidge -> Slient Cal -> <crickets> William Howard Taft -> Hey, he was up above -> Did people call him Willy? Calvin Coolidge -> <crickets> Harry S Truman -> S stands for nothing -> Corruption fighter from corrupt machine in Missouri -> Atom Bomb -> Atom Ant -> Adam Ant -> Did people call him Harold? I'm failing to see a pattern... ;-) Cheers, Scott.
Post #180,451 by rcareaga 10/22/04 10:33:10 AM Reply	An honorable, if fanciful attempt Hokay, you're a buncha smart fellas, so if the list doesn't seem obvious to you then it's likely me who's being obscure rather than you being obtuse. As briefly explained (I'll enlarge upon it here), the list should be considered to have a second, invisible column of names. If I provided one name at random in column B, a general correspondence between that pair would be obvious. If I provided three or four consecutive names in column B, most people would recognize a logical sequence to those names. Had I provided column B rather than column A, it wouldn't have been much of a puzzle. The apparently random sequence of column A has as it were a reflected logical structure derived from the invisible column B. Last hint: work backwards. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,458 by deSitter 10/22/04 11:03:29 AM Reply	ROFL! -drl
Post #180,481 by jb4 10/22/04 1:58:14 PM Reply	Associative Memory is a Dangerous Thing... jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT
Post #180,645 by rcareaga 10/23/04 4:06:24 PM Reply	very well, then. the sequence completed The younger brother, no slouch, was by last night, and he didn't get it, so I am persuaded that I was being impossibly obscure. Accordingly, the last two names in column A are: Harry S Truman Franklin D. Roosevelt* *This was me attempting to be too clever. The presence or absence of this name on the list is for the next several days co-resident on a common plane with the health of Shroedinger's cat (hence, also, a double meaning for "justify your answer"). It's pretty likely, however, that if FDR doesn't join column A this time out, he never will. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,650 by Silverlock 10/23/04 4:17:18 PM Reply	Well said But WHY do they complete the sequence? Are they last two streets you cross on the way to work or is it something those living outside of your skin might know.? ----------------------------------------- How do you convince a Washington Journalist that you're not slapping him in the face? Tell him you're not.
Post #180,662 by rcareaga 10/23/04 8:09:40 PM Reply	Re: Well said McKinley was born during Tyler's presidency. TR and Taft were both born in the Buchanan administration. Extrapolate. Note that the interregnum between election and inauguration used to be longer. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,670 by deSitter 10/23/04 9:28:32 PM Reply	Re: very well, then. the sequence completed And the rule is? This was not fun. A puzzle has to be difficult and clever. -drl
Post #180,699 by rcareaga 10/23/04 11:14:48 PM 10/23/04 11:16:17 PM Reply	not fun The presidents in the invisible (see above) column B—a chronological sequence from McKinley forward—were born during the terms of the presidents in column A. I thought it was cleverer than it was difficult, but since I appear to be the only person holding this opinion I am persuaded that I am wrong in this instance, and apologize to anyone who feels his energies were ill-applied in the exercise. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil? Edited by rcareaga Oct. 23, 2004, 11:16:17 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #180,700 by deSitter 10/23/04 11:15:42 PM Reply	Re: not fun You penance is to construct a solvable puzzle involving presidents! -drl
Post #180,702 by Another Scott 10/23/04 11:27:26 PM Reply	Please confess. You didn't have their terms and birthdates in your head, and you had to look that stuff up. Didn't you?!? Cheers, Scott.
Post #180,711 by rcareaga 10/24/04 12:29:55 AM Reply	split the difference Well, I could have told you all the terms of the 20th century presidents. I'd also long known, just by way of a random bit of historic trivia, that Eisenhower was born in the Harrison administration. I knew as well the birth years of the presidents from Kennedy forward, so it was easy to correlate these with the relevant administrations. It helped to remember that Nixon was born in January, which put him under Taft rather than Wilson (presidents used to take office in March). I did have to doublecheck on Gerald Ford, whom I remembered to have been born in 1913, but whose sign I did not (Leo, with Wilson rising), and I had to consult the same almanac for the birth years of Truman back to McKinley. I should perhaps mention that since very early childhood I have tended to maintain these internal chronologies—enough that it was remarked upon by bemused adults within a year or two of my starting school—in a freakish yet somehow endearing sort of, you know, high-functioning autistic kinda way. cordially, Cthulhu for President. Why vote for a lesser evil?
Post #180,739 by Another Scott 10/24/04 10:56:45 AM Reply	My older brother has mild Autism or Asperger's syndrome or something similar. (Like much of mental health, those are not really hard-and-fast diagnoses.) He remembers things like "it snowed today in 1973". Freaky, but entertaining at times. :-) Thanks for the explanation. Cheers, Scott.
Post #180,745 by deSitter 10/24/04 12:39:13 PM Reply	Re: split the difference At one point I thought the idea might be like Woodrow Wilson Pickett William George Clinton Richard Nixon Hell Boy George Washington etc. -drl

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