Futility Closet

What is this? Well, it's a dodecahedron, but what was its purpose? More than 100 of these objects have been found between England and Hungary; this one was discovered among Roman ruins near Frankfurt. Typically they're made of bronze or stone, with a hollow center and a round hole in the middle of each face, and they range in size from 4 to 11 centimeters.

The Romans likely made them in the second or third century, but strangely they appear in no pictures from that period and they're not mentioned in Roman literature.

Best guesses so far: survey instruments, candlesticks, or dice.

If two chessplayers cooperate, how quickly can they reach a stalemate without any captures? Working independently, Sam Loyd, E.N. Frankenstein, W.H. Thompson, and Henry Dudeney all produced the same position, which can be reached in 12 moves:

1. d4 e5 2. Qd3 Qh4 3. Qg3 Bb4+ 4. Nd2 a5 5. a4 d6 6. h3 Be6 7. Ra3 f5 8. Qh2 c5 9. Rg3 Bb3 10. c4 f4 11. f3 e4 12. d5 e3

Reno, Nevada, is farther west than Los Angeles.

Dennis Hendrick, a stone mason, sometime ago, for a wager of ten guineas, walked from the Exchange in Liverpool, along Deal-street to the corner of Byrom-street; being a distance of three quarters of a mile, blindfolded, and rolling a coach wheel. On starting, there were two plasters of Burgundy pitch put on his eyes, and a handkerchief tied over them to prevent all possibility of his seeing. He started precisely at half past seven in the morning, and completed his undertaking at twenty minutes past eight, being in fifty minutes.

– Curiosities for the Ingenious, 1825

"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." — Ansel Adams

In the early 1970s, an unknown assailant sexually attacked and strangled three young girls in towns near Rochester, N.Y.:

• Carmen Colon in Churchville
• Wanda Walkowicz in Webster
• Michelle Maenza in Macedon

The crimes have never been solved.

Solution to The Appraisal, from Wednesday:

Neither is authentic. No one in 51 B.C. could have foreseen the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, much less that he would arrive in exactly 51 years. And George would not have been called George I until it became necessary to distinguish him from George II ("Victoria" will not become "Victoria I" until we have a "Victoria II").

Pity the sign makers in this Welsh village:

That's the longest place name in the United Kingdom. It's Welsh for "St. Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio of the red cave."

That doesn't take the prize, though. The longest place name in an English-speaking country belongs to a hill on New Zealand's North Island:

It means "the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who traveled about, played his flute to his loved one."

Suppose I show you two old coins. One is dated 51 B.C., and the other is marked George I. Which is authentic?

I'll give the answer tomorrow.

Excerpt from the St. James, Mo., Leader, June 4, 1931:

Plennie L. Wingo, a man walking around the world backwards, stopped in St. James long enough to get some new toe taps for his shoes. This was the 4th pair he had wore out. He started from Fort Worth, Texas, April 15th, and has been walking ever since. He wears periscopic eyeglasses, fastened over his ears like regular spectacles, which enables him to see where he is walking. He will continue on 66 to St. Louis then on Highway 40 to New York where he will secure passage to Europe. Wingo expects to complete the trip in about four years. He depends entirely on the sale of postcards for his expenses. He averages about 20 miles per day.

Wingo had covered 8,000 miles by October 1932, when Istanbul authorities denied him a visa and he gave up and went home.

His wife had divorced him in absentia.