Wednesday 28 February 2024

8x12 Symmetric Magic Knight Tour

 Guenter Stertenbrink reports that after a computer search 

there are no symmetric magic knight tours on the 8x10 rectangle.

 8x10 magic knight tours - ChessProblem.net


He provides this example of a rotationally symmetric magic tour 8x12.




First half numbered 1 to 48 (instead of 0 to 47).


Rank sum 582 (6x97). File sum 388 (4x97).


Tuesday 2 January 2024

New Years Moan

The Christmas to New Year period is my least favourite time of the year. 

Over Christmas all the radio stations I normally listen to are taken over by Christian propaganda in the form of carols, which being a secular humanist unbeliever I find annoying. I tend to go into hibernation and put on my own CD music collection. I'm also not keen on the consumerist advertising, since I like a simple life of plain food without alcohol. 

The other main annoyance is that everything closes down every few days, not excluding strikes by doctors and train drivers. This morning I was thinking of changing my method of payment of my energy supply from pay-as-you-go to direct debit, since finding a functioning Pay Point anywhere near is increasingly difficult. However I couldn't find any way of doing this online. I suppose I will have to phone tomorrow, if it is possible to get through. 

I also checked my bank account online, but found I was not allowed access until they had phoned me and I had given them a four-digit code (this was after signing in with my ID, Password and four letters of my Special information). I tried opening a saver account that was on offer, but got a message that something went wrong and I should try visiting the bank! I clicked on a message that was indicated, but it resulted in signing me out. So I couldn't make the transfer of money from my current account to my ISA that I intended. So it was all a waste of time and effort. 

It seems that BT is threatening to close down land lines. Since I don't have  a mobile phone this would leave me incommunicado. I rely on it for communication with the medical profession. Now it seems it would also cut me off from my bank account.

Happy New Year?