Ferri Tales

"Ask Marilyn" of Parade Magazine posed the following problem : A prince asked a king if he could marry his daughter. The king gave him three baskets. “Pick enough apples so you can put half of them plus ½ apple more in the first basket. Then put half of the remaining apples plus ½ apple more in the second one. Then put half of the apples left plus ½ apple more in the third basket. If you have one apple left for my daughter, I will judge you smart enough to marry her.” How many apples should the prince pick? She gave the answer as 15 which is correct, but didn't provide an algebraic method of the solution. Here it is. Assume x is the total number of apples. Basket #1 will contain half of the total # of apples plus half an apple: Basket #2 will contain half of the remaining apples plus half an apple: Basket #3 will contain half of the remaining apples plus half an apple: There is one apple left for the princess, so the final equation is: Basket #1 gets 8, #2 gets 4, #3 get...

According to the Rachel Maddow show, in 1989 the assistant attorney general under George H.W. Bush wrote a controversial legal opinion that supposedly allowed the FBI to enter foreign countries and arrest their leaders without the consent of the foreign state. This was in response to a failed coup attempt in Panama to overthrow Manuel Noreiga . The coup was clumsily sanctioned by Bush who later denied it -- just as clumsily. The L.A. Times reported that the document existed, reported its title as " Authorityof the FBI to Override Customary or Other International Law in the Course ofExtraterritorial Law Enforcement Activities ," identified its author as William Barr (who was then the assistant attorney general), and summarized the documents intent. This is the same William Barr who is the current attorney general under Trump. Congress was alarmed at the new powers claimed by Barr's opinion and opened a hearing titled "FBI Authority to Seize Subjects Abroad."...

Why is Trump's attorney general, William Barr, hiding the Mueller Report from Congress and the American people? If the report truly vindicated and exonerated Trump, Trump and the GOP would have put it on page one of every newspaper in the country, dropped copies from helicopters, and Fox "News" would be reading excerpts 24/7. Yet, Barr released an incomplete summary with conclusions based on evidence that he is hiding from everyone else. Why? Justice Department regulations require that the full report be released to Congress for further action if necessary. No conclusions are necessary in these reports nor is the attorney general required to summarize or interpret it. However, Congress is required to review the evidence and act accordingly. The precedent for this has been set multiple times: Special Counsel John Danforth's report on the Waco Raid during Clinton was released to Congress and the public. Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigations during the Cli...