I just noticed that my posting about cereal was the 200th in Thingo's long and glorious history. I'd like to thank everyone who made this happy event possible. In honour of entry number 200, I have two random notes that don't deserve to be complete entries.

• Is there a brand of underwear called "Amicus Briefs"? If there isn't, there ought to be one. I tried a quick web search, but the results were flooded with legal pages.
• Normally I wouldn't simply pass on links, but everyone should watch this amazing table tennis point. It doesn't take the place of my favourite sports moment, but it's up there.

Last weekend, the US team held its qualifying test for the World Puzzle Championship. Top scorers on the test would join the US team in competition at the world finals this October in the Netherlands. Similarly, the Canadian team would be formed from the top Canadian scorers on this qualifying test.

The test consists of a number of challenging logic, math, and word puzzles. None require any knowledge of trivia or advanced math -- they can all be solved with paper and pencil (and eraser!), together with logic and some simple arithmetic. Here's an example from the test, a question I found particularly elegant. I got the first two during the test (though I stupidly failed to record my answers) and the last two at home that night.

In each puzzle below, the numbers in a logical sequence have been replaced by the corresponding initial letter. For example, the letters T, F, S, E, T, T correspond to the sequence 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. In each case, determine the original sequence.

1. O T S T F T T T F F
2. T O F T S F E S T N T E
3. F T O S T S E F T O
4. O S E F N T S T F T T E

Anyone got the answers yet? If you figure any of them out, send the answer to me and I'll hand craft an update to this posting, just for you. And no fair looking for the answers on the web.

Unfortunately, the test was marred by technical difficulties. A password was needed from a web page to start the test, and that password was unavailable to most people until sixteen minutes in. Then they mentioned that people who started late would get extra time at the end, but I didn't see that message until it was too late. In short, the final standings will be somewhat unclear. It's a shame that such a fun event should suffer from these difficulties. It's especially silly because an event sponsored by Google should never have its web server go down. Next year, hopefully Google will host the contest website.

[update: 06 June at 06:44]: We definitely have a winner! Zac solved all four puzzles in about twelve minutes. Perhaps Zac can one day outsolve even Brad Bart, a longtime high-scorer in the Canadian puzzle circuit.