The Puzzle Challenge

Here is a fun puzzle to try. You are given two glasses. The first glass holds exactly 4 ounces. The second holds exactly 9 ounces.

Your task is to measure exactly 6 ounces of water in as few steps as possible.

You may only use the two glasses. You may not use a third container. You have an endless supply of water and can dump and fill the glasses as much as you like.

Can you solve the puzzle in less than ten steps? Email me back with the answer at [email protected] and I'll post the winners, along with the answers on the blog.

Update

Bunny Novak takes the checkered flag for providing the answer first - in just 8 steps! I will post the answer in a day or so.

Answer

The following is a process to solve this puzzle in just 8 steps.

1. Fill 9oz glass                                    (9Glass=9, 4Glass=0)
2. Fill 4oz glass from 9oz glass             (9Glass=5, 4Glass=4)
3. Dump 4oz glass                               (9Glass=5, 4Glass=0)
4. Fill 4oz glass from 9oz glass             (9Glass=1, 4Glass=4)
5. Dump 4oz glass                               (9Glass=1, 4Glass=0)
6. Pour remaining ounce into 4oz glass (9Glass=0, 4Glass=1)
7. Fill 9oz glass                                    (9Glass=9, 4Glass=1)
8. Fill 4oz glass from 9oz glass             (9Glass=6, 4Glass=4)

Done! 

Fair use and YouTube dispute claims

In our society, there is a shift from a culture of consumption to a culture of creation. This shift has happened over the course of the last sixty years, since the popularization of broadcast.

In a nutshell, we have gone from a culture that simply consumes what it is handed (television, movies, radio, music, etc.), to one that takes what it is given and creates something new. Thereby, our culture is advanced.

This is never so eloquently put as it is by Larry Lessig's talk on "How creativity is being strangled by the law". To me, this is a must-see/read for anyone interested in online copyright issues or modern cultural advancement.

In response to copyright claims by Constantin Film (producer and distributor of the much parodied The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich), Know Your Meme has released a video outlining YouTube's dispute process. This video not only perfectly outlines the process, but also the reasoning behind why you should dispute a reworked video.

Larry Lessig's talk on "How creativity is being strangled by the law".