The first thing that comes to mind for me is 4-H -- head, heart, and health are mentioned, but not hands.

Aha! And the "something special" about Washington could be that its fourth letter is an 'h': 4-H.

I wonder if that's the answer.

The only special thing I know about Washington and calculations is that his year of birth is the square root of 3 (if you place the decimal point correctly). Up to now, this has been useful only to those who knew the square root of three but forgot when Washington was born, or who knew when Washington was born but forgot the square root of 3. I don't know whether it's relevant to this riddle.

Purple Heart medals relate to health, have a heart shape, and feature George's head.
It would help to know what type of password they are looking for: Numbers? Letter sequence? If purple somehow fits into it, I would try using that.

Tim H.

Obviously Chris is cheating, and I refuse to have any part in it.

I got nothin'...


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Bill wrote:

Obviously Chris is cheating, and I refuse to have any part in it.

I got nothin'...

While I tend to agree that he is cheating, it may not be obvious--we don't know the rules of this contest--research/consultations may be allowed...and he wasn't the only one either...if he is cheating, the internet isn't the smartest place to go about it what with it being quite public and all...

If the "something special" refers to George Washington's hands, I immidiately thought of this video. And then I debated for a while about linking to it, because it's exceptionally vulgar.

It's by a fairly popular animator, Brad Neely, and I think it is hilarious. However, if you are offended easily, or have even a mild dislike for vulgarity, I don't recommend it. Also NSFW.

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=15035

The video says that "On a horse made of crystal he patrolled the land, with a mason ring and schnauzer in his perfect hands"

I seriously doubt this has anything to do with the answer unless Chris is in some really odd contest related to viral videos.

“Theres something special about Washington, and the heart sometimes rules the head which can often affect ones health, but thats not all, discover and calculate the end result.”

Heart/head/health is, I think, a strong pointer towards 4-H, and Ken’s “fourth letter is H” observation seems compelling. “That’s not all”, to me, says that the remaining word – “hand” – is critical. And the clue tells you to “discover and” – if you think of “hand” as “and” covered by an “H”, then to “discover and” from “hand” leaves you with just the H. Perhaps “calculate the end result” means perform some operation with the 4-H and the H – subtract to make 3-H, or divide to give you “four” as the password?

It would help to know how elegant the previous clues were – did they make every word count, or were there just a few key words in each?

Rex

My first instinct was to treat it like a cryptic crossword clue, with "affect ones health" indicating an anagram. Also heart and head are common cryptic devices. I haven't gotten anywhere with this yet, but it seems promising.

Quote:

Theres something special about Washington, and the heart sometimes rules the head which can often affect ones health, but thats not all, discover and calculate the end result.

I like Craig's 4-H idea, but I'm also bothered by the lack of apostrophes in the above statement. By my count three are missing. Maybe this is just an oversight upon Chris' transcription. I don't know.

Another thought. Washington could represent the number 600 (DC) which might come in handy when doing the "calculation".

After doing some Googling, I believe this riddle comes from this:
http://www.gadgets-reviews.com/index.php?page=post&id=459

I hope Chris is keeping an eye on this thread. I think "hands" is a pretty good bet.

Quote:

Theres something special about Washington, and the heart sometimes rules the head which can often affect ones health, but thats not all, discover and calculate the end result.

The password, quite obviously, is either Hillarycare or the percentage of Sen. Clinton's vote in the Iowa caucuses.

Ken Jennings wrote:

After doing some Googling, I believe this riddle comes from this:
http://www.gadgets-reviews.com/index.php?page=post&id=459

I hope Chris is keeping an eye on this thread. I think "hands" is a pretty good bet.

So ... does that thing pre-date the Simpsons episode, or vice-versa?

EDIT: The Simpsons episode with the "sphere of Isis," that is.

Hmmm.... The first "H" I thought of in context of George Washington was HOME. Our first president was happier at Mount Vernon than anywhere else (or so his journal says!).

And anyone who's ever seen Mount Vernon has to admit that it's pretty special!

My inclination, for what it's worth, is to agree with Ken that Craig was probably right in his first comment -- the answer is "hands" simply because that's the fourth H that's missing. It might not be a situation where every single word counts, and perhaps one doesn't want to overthink things.

My guess would be "firsthand" - Washington being "first", "hand(s)" being the missing element, then "firsthand" being "calculated" by combining the other two. Plus if you "discover" something, you might find it out "firsthand". Worth a guess anyway. The problem with riddles is that they might not give a strong Aha when you've finished them.

Squonk wrote:

My guess would be "firsthand" - Washington being "first", "hand(s)" being the missing element, then "firsthand" being "calculated" by combining the other two. Plus if you "discover" something, you might find it out "firsthand". Worth a guess anyway. The problem with riddles is that they might not give a strong Aha when you've finished them.

Sounds like good reasoning to me.

Incidentally, Washington isn't all that "special" in that its fourth letter is an H. I think that's true of three other presidents and four other US states. How quick can you come up with them?

Buchanan, Arthur, Bush.

Michigan, Idaho, New Hampshire, Utah.

geniusonwheels wrote:

Buchanan, Arthur, Bush

So, 4 actually, with both the Bushes. There won't be a 5th this year.

Banana wrote:

While I tend to agree that he is cheating, it may not be obvious--we don't know the rules of this contest--research/consultations may be allowed...and he wasn't the only one either...if he is cheating, the internet isn't the smartest place to go about it what with it being quite public and all...

I suspect the other forum Ken noticed this in is Ask Metafilter, to which I've referred before.

Everyone there, normally highly disinclined to help people with homework questions, seem all over this, with one minor exception; I was sort of surprised...


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econgator wrote:

geniusonwheels wrote:

Buchanan, Arthur, Bush

So, 4 actually, with both the Bushes. There won't be a 5th this year.

Unless it's McChain, Romhney, Obahma or Clinhton.

Oh my ghod.


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Crap, forgot Arthur.