approaching 100,000 visits... and a prize drawing!

[Trev]

TV - The more you watch, the less you know!

[scott]

TV - The more you watch, the less you know!

That's probably a true statement, Trev, but I'm baffled as to how it relates to what we've been talking about.

In any case, I did the drawing tonight. Here are the results:

Code: Select all

First, I selected the eligible users (i.e. users that have activated their account and visited the board at least one time):

    sql --> SELECT * FROM `phpbb_users` where user_lastvisit != 0 and user_active != 0; 
    result --> 137 rows in set (0.07) sec

Next, I removed my own account and two test accounts from the list:

    result --> 134 rows in set (0.07) sec

Then I randomly picked a row using the sql RAND() function. 
And the winner is...

    Leinad44

Congratulations Leinad! You've won a copy of Bessler's Apologia Poetica courtesy of besslerwheel.com and John Collins. I will be contacting you via email to get your shipping information.

Thanks for playing everyone. And thanks for helping make besslerwheel.com what it is today. See you again at 200,000!
-Scott

[Oxygon]

imho...

I've decided that bites man... ;|

I think we should have a random selection of most active 15 users...

So that at least the one of us that gets the book can read it and perhaps add an even more researched perspective on pmm stuff...

I have never heard of Leinad44...

he has contributed !!"0"!! posts according to the memberlist listing and hasn't even been here since April 19th 2004...

I say again "this bites man..."

[ovyyus]

imho...

I've decided that bites man... ;|

I think we should have a random selection of most active 15 users...

So that at least the one of us that gets the book can read it and perhaps add an even more researched perspective on pmm stuff...

I have never heard of Leinad44...

he has contributed !!"0"!! posts according to the memberlist listing and hasn't even been here since April 19th 2004...

I say again "this bites man..."

Poor show Oxygon. Who is to say that Leinad44 isn't the one to solve this puzzle? I doubt that the number of posts a member makes is in any way proportional to their capacity to problem solve. I'm sure it wouldn't kill you to actually purchase the result of John's hard work. Don't be such a poor loser.

Congratulations Leinad44, and good luck.

Well done Scott - may BesslerWheel.com grow and prosper!

[Leinad44]

Thanks for the book Scott, and you're right ovyyus, I might be the one. Now Oxygon is just picking a bone. I visit often, but don't log in. I haven't posted because my 28 years of research hasn't shown anything more conclusive than what you guys have already posted. And, I'm not ready to show what I have, yet.

My Dad, an engineer, turned me on to his theory 28 years ago. He, at that time, had been working on it for 40 years, but he never heard of Bessler. He would have been the one. He has since gone on to be with the Lord. I have his prototypes and drawings.

I turned a 180 and went the other way and have a very workable idea. Am currently building a model. Not a simple task. Dad saw mine, on paper, and never agreed it would work, but he never said it wouldn't. In theory, it works, and it is very simple in design. It could nearly have been built the day they discovered the wheel.

Now, there have been stories like this posted on this board before, and we haven't seen anything yet. So, don't wait on me. I'm just plugging along.

I think y'all get way too complicated in your ideas and calculations. It has to be a very simple process. Well, maybe not a simple process, but a simple theory.

I used to build "coal-fired steam-powered turbine-driven electric generating stations", and I envision this "wheel" being built a couple of hundred feet in diameter and simply turning a generator. That would get rid of the fossil fuel disasters and supply our every need. First though, you would have to get it patented, and get it by the utility giants making trillions off the fossil fuel.

Those are just my thoughts.

Keep those ideas coming.

[Oxygon]

It does not make anyone else angry that a member who contributes now "1" whole post to the entire forum got the prize...?

Listen, I know that my "paranoia" and " jealousy" are strong, but I am not without some justification...

Nor does my "opinion" here reflect any intention outside this topic to hold any grudge or complain any further...

Question Everything, Oxygon.

[Fletcher]

It does not make anyone else angry that a member who contributes now "1" whole post to the entire forum got the prize...?

...angry... ughhh no !? I read & understood Scotts selection conditions like everybody else, so didn't have any undue expectations. It was his to do as he wished with afterall. Perhaps you could donate the next prize Oxy then you can choose who is eligible ;)

Infact I had already purchased & read JC's book (Apologia) & it was enlightening, sometimes inspiring & supprisingly entertaining. Worth every cent I should judge. Honestly, everyone should read it as essential background to solving this puzzle. Quite unexpectedly I strangely felt closer to a solution after having read JB's descriptions & walked a thousand miles in his shoes, so to speak. It has recharged & retargeted my thoughts & redoubled my efforts. My thanks to John Collins.

Enjoy the read Leinad44.

-fletcher

[coylo]

I must admit that I have never read any of John Collins' books. Everything I have learned about Bessler I picked up off the internet. When you consider that the vast majority of this information must be sourced from John's hard work, I guess I owe it to him to purchase one of these critically acclaimed Fletcher reads.

It's just when I read the Bessler clues my mind draws a blank. I think that I wouldn't get anywhere trying to break codes or solve contradictory riddles. Instead I concentrate all my efforts making models and learning from the experience (learning from the failures mostly). That, I believe is where someone will make the breakthrough. The tinkerer will succeed not the code-breaker.

Just my modest opinion.

[Fletcher]

Hi Coylo,

I too have tended to shy away from 'interpreting' the clues simply because each time I thought I was onto something, with a new design, I would refer to the clues & start reading more into it than was justified. It then became the tail wagging the dog or at least it felt that way more often than not.

I soon realised that all of us thought our ideas fitted well with JB's "clues" & we couldn't all be correct now could we ? What would be the chance of that ? The use of words were a part of his genius as well as his playfulness & so it soon became apparent to me that I would have to start to understand the man in order to make some headway with the clues. I relegated them in importance (as to hard to understand) until JC's book was available to give context.

It' a bit like the arguments for a certain religion v's another (each believes they are the one true religion - lets not go there :) or whether life exits elsewhere in the universe. If it happened once & the universe is for all intensive purposes infinite, then it has happened a zillion times, but we may not be close enough to talk. We are infact our own proof of hypothesis simply because we exist & we are aware of it.

Back to Bessler. I have been trying to find a workable "principle" & not necessarily a mechanism. That will come once a principle is found. Reading JC's book confirmed two things for me.

1. IMO Bessler was very honest although clever with his use of words. He was not economical with words but could wonderfully obscure meaning & intent. That skill has allowed his secret to stay a secret so long.

2. Bessler definetely found a principle (I have been looking for this assumption in statement form for a long time) & JB gives it.

These things only come thru loud & clear when you read his own words & his life story. You will be left with no doubts about his personal honesty & truthfulness. His statements appear to me as factual but deliberately misleading if you do not consider them as part of the whole. Taken in isolation each will lead you on a merry dance & that is what he intended. We all have experience with that.

Back to the clues - I feel far better equipped for the task ahead now that I have read JC's book. It cleared up a lot of ambiguity for me. I feel I have the hard earned experience from "trial & error" & now I can 'layer in' the clues in a much more meaningful way. At least that how it feels for me.

One of us may "stumble" on the mechanism from trial & error but Bessler is confident that his answer is so counter intuitive that he can afford to write clues about it without real risk of the answer being found b4 it's time. I simply say why not try to understand his instruction manual even if it is in Japanese & upside down :) On the other hand I doubt anyone would solve the puzzle from interpreting his clues alone (without build time) unless they are a savant or something.

-fletcher