Sechsunddreissig Strategien

Posted by me on Monday, the 23rd day of January, anno domini 2006 at 9:05 PM, local time.

So, while I hope to not get into the habit of just regurgitating things to this site, I thought it might be worthwhile to list the 36 strategies. They are unlikely to be part of your standard education, and they can help us all in many things, from playing Go to the business world. Not to mention, of course, war.

Anyway, here are the standard thirty-six, without explanation (which is likely to cause some confusion :-)

  • Deceive the sky to cross the ocean.
  • Surround Wei to rescue Zhao.
  • Borrow one’s hand to kill.
  • Make your enemy tire himself out while conserving energy.
  • Use the opportunity of fire to rob others.
  • Feign an attack in the east and attack in the west.
  • Create something from nothing.
  • Secretly utilize the Chen Chang passage.
  • Watch the fires burning across the river.
  • Knife sheathed in a smile.
  • Plum tree sacrifices for the Peach tree.
  • Stealing a goat along the way.
  • Startle the snake by hitting the grass around it.
  • Borrow another’s corpse to resurrect the soul.
  • Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair.
  • In order to capture, one must let loose.
  • Tossing out a brick to get a jade.
  • Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief.
  • Remove the firewood under the cooking pot.
  • Fish in disturbed waters.
  • Slough off the cicada’s shell.
  • Shut the door to catch the thief.
  • Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbor.
  • Obtain safe passage to conquer the Kingdom of Guo.
  • Replace the beams with rotten timbers.
  • Point at the mulberry and curse the locust.
  • Pretend to be a pig in order to eat the tiger.
  • Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof.
  • Deck the tree with false blossoms.
  • Make the host and the guest exchange places.
  • The beauty trap.
  • Empty fort.
  • Let the enemy’s own spy sow discord in the enemy camp.
  • Inflict injury on one’s self to win the enemy’s trust.
  • Chain together the enemy’s ships.
  • If All Else Fails, Retreat.

Now, you may have noticed that some of these appear to be completely worthless. But they’re good stuff, trust me. Take some time to think them over. Mull, mull, mull.

That is all. Gute Nacht.

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Sudoku

Posted by me on Wednesday, the 18th day of January, anno domini 2006 at 7:09 PM, local time.

Just thought I’d mention this addictive little game that is less frustrating than crossword puzzles but just as engrossing. Puzzles can be found on the web, in newspapers, or in books. I like doing them in books, but the web is nice as well, provided the interface isn’t too bad. With 5,472,730,538 legal puzzle solutions, taking into account symmetric redundancies, I have a little ways to go, so I should get to work.

For those of us who like to thoroughly research any hobby that might be a bit time consuming before we dive in, the Wikipedia entry is quite informative.

As for a good web interface for them, Websudoku isn’t too bad. It also keeps track of your times, allows pauses, can check your results, and can show how horrible your time is in relation to the other people who have done easy puzzles on their site.

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Qwantz and Homestar Runner

Posted by me on Wednesday, the 18th day of January, anno domini 2006 at 7:00 PM, local time.

Ok, now many of you may be well aware of my stance on web comics and the like. In fact, in the past I have ignored Strongbad completely and not been overly impressed, as Andy can attest to. However, I’ve got to admit, this one is pretty funny, what with the Burninating the Peasants and whatnot.

Of course, maybe you are wondering how in the world I managed to wander in that direction, since I don’t usually go an check up on the latest from Strongbad’s email. What led me there is, of course, Dinosaur Comics, which is quite hilarious in its own little way. Thanks to Adam for pointing that out and causing me to have quite a bit of backlog to read.

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