Lola at the Coffee House

Hey Frank, if you're in a humdrum at the moment, I'd like to confer with you on Joe's claim that he can do it in four, all assumptions including.
Here is the riddle:

The way I see it, you can conveniently start by either splitting the coins into groups of 25/25 or 15/15/20 or 20/20/10. In the latter method of the split, if one is lucky enough to have the fat boy in the group of ten, then Joe Nation is right, but if it isn't, as I said before (all assumptions including), it would require five weigh ins.
What do you think?

I've had you on 'ignore' for years, didn't you know? Don't understand how these lame comments of yours are slipping through. Have to talk to Robert of Jespah about that.

I can do it in ZERO splits. In fact Id duck tape em all together and run em through an EDAX and let the machine tell me the molecular structure and mass.
Sometimes the rules need changing

The world would be a more simpler place with easily available solid state spectroscopy, either that, or if everyone was drunk. How much do these babies cost per pop nowadays?

an analysis is about 150 bucks EDAX is cheap.

I come up with 5 weighings* also, ID, but there is an asterisk.

Preamble to the asterisk (Story from my favorite western, Maverick)

"My Daddy never gave me nuthin' but one piece of advice. He told me, 'Son, some day a man is going to walk up to you and bet you $1000 that he can get the Jack of Clubs to pop up out of any unopened deck of cards and spit cider in your ear. Don't take that bet, Son, because you are gonna end up a thousand dollars poorer and an ear full of cider.'"

*...If Joe says he can do it in 4...and you are forced to make a bet...take 4, not 5.

Oh!! the memories that brings back of my youth. I once scored 69 not out and took 4 wickets for 16 and everybody was talking about me as if I had almost won the match for the cup single-handedly. And at the dance afterwards a snotty, four-eyed, freckled swot type made that remark pointedly within my hearing and me being but a callow lad at the time I was stung to the quick.

Ah--but I was so much younger then, I'm older than that now. I had no way of knowing at such a tender age that it signaled that she was after me. But it didn't take me long to work out how young ladies flagged up that they had the hots for me without them seeming to have done so. It is their way of neutralising the tradition that we men must take the initiative and the responsibility. It's vulgar for ladies to be froward. The chances are they have been froward a number of times in the past, not excluding last night.

Hello, Frank!
Hi, Ice Demon!!

I love Car Talk, don't you? Each week they have a Puzzler and this week was the bogus coin weighing one.

To remind everyone: You have fifty coins, one of them weigh 2 grams more than the others, what is the fewest number of weighs you can take to figure out which coin weighs more than the others.
And the answer is Four, the question is HOW?

Here's how they answered it. (I just love the thinking outside of just dividing by two....how about tres partes???

RAY: Here’s the answer. At first blush you would think that you would divide the 50 coins in half.

TOM: Yeah. So, you'd do 25 and 25. That's weighing number one.

RAY: Right. You find out that the bogus coin is on the left side. Then you weigh the coins on the left, 12 and 12 with one left over.

Now, Assume the worst case scenario. One of them's heavier. So now that’s two weighings. Now you divide it six and six, making it three weighings. Then three and three, for four weighings.

TOM: And you're done for. It takes five.

RAY: Right. No matter how you do it using that system, it won't work. So you had to come up with something a little more clever. And what you do is divide the coins into three piles. Two piles of 17 and one of 16.

You take the two piles of 17 and you put those on the scale, and you keep the 16 pile aside,. Right away, you can see that you're going to eliminate not half the coins, but two thirds of the coins.
TOM: Oh, man. It's so beautiful, isn't it? It's beautiful.

RAY: So, let's assume that one of the 17 is the heavier one. You throw everything else away.
You've only made one weighing and you've narrowed it down to 17 coins. Now, you could divide the 17 in half, but better still, divide it thirds so you've got six and six and five.

OK? And you can see very clearly that you're going to be able to do this because the next group would be three and three, and then one and one. And bingo! And the key is, once you figure out the idea that you're going to divide it into three piles and not two, it jumps right out at you.

TOM: I always thought that the binary search was the only way to go.

RAY: Well, there you go. Who's our winner this week?

TOM: The winner is Laura Leonard from Charleston, SC. Congratulations, Laura!

Who was the winner on Able2Know??
Nobody, zilch-o, bupkiz, no winners.

Joe(Now, I will have an Irish Whiskey, please, neat, no ice.)Nation

Coban, Cuban, Caban, Ceban, Ciben. It's still chopped up veggies. Slugs will eat most of them.

That is clever!
Where is markr when you need him, dammit?!

In a Budding Grove. That's better than Valium.

I like everybody in here. I wouldn't go in a coffee-house if the company was all like me.

I heard a story the other day that amused me. Somebody on his staff arranged a speaking engagement for Andy Warhol up in Wisconsin. When he found out he was appalled, but only Warholian appalled. So he dressed a guy up to look like him and sent him off. When he was challenged about this action he said "he was better that I am."

If you split the coins 49/1 and were lucky enough to have fb in the smaller you would only need two weighs. I think.

And you didn't get an earful of cider.

Oh, Spendius, we would love, love, love it if you would send somebody here dressed up as you.

Joe(Just as long as it wasn't you. )Nation

Bestowed with such luck, you can be my gambling buddy. I will leave my coins in your good hands, however, only if you promise a 50:50 split in earnings.
So you were quite the cricket champion eh? I've tried my hand in cricket while i was in europe. I wasn't as proficient in it as baseball, however, but I think I'd rather play cricket rather than watch it. Watching it is much more boring than playing, do you suspect, for the sport of cricket?

To my new callow ears here, that sagely advise will not be passed along easily from one ear to another, I can assure you.

He's a tricky devil. Never forget that.

That's impossible. Andy, being so unique could easily find a double. I don't know anybody as average as I am.

Naproxen

who's got the Naproxen?

Lola? Sybil?

anyone

Dance class ran long tonight. My hip flexors are killing me.

(digging in big purse).....wait, wait, Bethie, I have it here.........I really do..wait.(more digging)
What Sybil?..........no, wait.......
Ok, so Sybil got there first....there you go, wait, I'll get the water..........what? Sybil, you've already got a glass of water in your hand?