Good morning.
It’s a mostly sunny day with a high of forty-two ahead for Whitewater. In Pensacola, it will be a mostly sunny day with a high of sixty-six.
Yesterday’s Google puzzle was one of distance: “What’s the difference, in feet, between the highest point on land and the deepest point in the ocean?” Turns out, Google didn’t have in mind the distance between these two measurements, but simply the difference between them.
Google’s answer: “Search [deepest point undersea] to find that Earth’s deepest point is the Challenger Deep at around 36,000 feet. Estimates of depth vary from 35,813 feet to 36,168 feet. Search [highest point above sea level] to find Mt. Everest at 29,035 feet. Google the difference: [36,168 – 29,035] to find that the ocean’s deepest point is 7133 feet deeper than Mt. Everest is tall.”
Neither the span between depth below and height above, nor the linear or spherical distance between the highest and deepest points, mattered to Google. They were looking for a simpler answer. So was the question ambiguous, or did I over-complicate the possibilities? I’ll go with over-complicate, as the question’s just asking for a difference, not a span. I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions, but that’s not a bad lesson for the new year, five days in: simple is often right.
For today’s puzzle: “Consider the element that makes rubies red. What color does this element become when it’s added to beryl to create another precious gem?”
How’s this for the person who has almost everything? A personal drone: