These questions are a little tricky, but fun.

1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2) If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half the lake?

Supposedly, your performance will tell you something about yourself.

Men and women also show different results. "Expressed loosely," he writes, "being smart makes women patient and makes men take more risks."

It's good to be normal.

Last week I had a blood test for hemoglobin A1c, which is an essential tool in managing diabetes, as it tells you your blood glucose levels over the past two or three months. My A1c was 5.5. Normal is from 4 to 6. So I was very pleased. When I was diagnosed in January 2003 (after several months of unknown and untreated diabetes), my A1c was 15.

And you're doing this because . . .?

A Zen teacher saw five of his students returning from the market, riding their bicycles. When they arrived at the monastery, the teacher asked the students, "Why are you riding your bicycles?"

The first student replied, "The bicycle is carrying this sack of potatoes. I am glad I do not have to carry them on my back." The teacher said, "You are a smart boy. When you grow old, you will not walk hunched over as I do."

The second student replied, "I love to see other places and watch the trees and fields pass by as I roll down the path." The teacher commended him, "Your eyes are open and you see the world."

The third student replied, "The fluid rhythm of pedaling frees my mind as well as my body." The teacher praised him. "Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly trued wheel."

The fourth student replied, "Riding my bicycle, I live in harmony with nature, the environment, and all sentient beings." The teacher said, "You are riding on the gold path of non-harming."

The fifth student replied, "I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle." The teacher sat at his feet and said, "I am your student."

(Thanks to Ed's Pittsburgh/Beaver County Bicycling Page.)

The Wonderful Wizard of wha. . .?

Do you thrill to the deeper political implications of The Wizard of Oz? (In which the emerald city is "emerald" only because people view it through green-tinted glasses, just like . . . paper greenbacks have value only because people pretend that they have value.) Do you yearn for the days when men were men, women were women, and currency was backed by gold and silver? Well, apparently you're not alone.

The Liberty Dollar is a privately issued currency backed by gold and silver. Beat the "rigged money system" with "money you can trust." Two men in Buffalo face criminal charges when a relative tried to use Liberty Dollars to buy beer at a Buffalo Sabres hockey game. Apparently, several stores in the Buffalo area accept them!

"About 20 of my regular customers use them. They pay me with silver, and they accept silver as change," said Daniel Hyman, owner of the Red Apple convenience store on Route 78 in Strykersville. "With inflation and government deficits, I see more and more people who don't trust paper anymore. Eventually, I hope the banks will accept Liberties for deposits."

"We take it at par with dollars," said Shawn Clawges, owner of Opener's Grille, a restaurant on Seneca Street in East Aurora. "They're a pretty coin, and they're backed by silver. It's a commodity that's going up in value, unlike the U.S. dollar."

Nice. Now, I don't want to beat up too much on the idealistic, deluded people behind this idea, but how can you seriously believe that "Liberty Dollar money can never become completely worthless because it has intrinsic value. It will always be valuable." Is there anything in this world with "intrinsic value"?What's odd about using gold and silver to back currency is that their price is fundamentally based on aesthetic appeal. I mean, obviously now gold and silver have value as investments--you buy them because you are confident that others will want to buy them from you, later, probably at a higher price--but then, in that respect they're no different from greenbacks, are they? And you're right back to a "rigged money system."

Anyway, these folks do have one thing right: It really is just a big confidence game. Just try not to think about it too much.

My alter ego.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Training begins soon.

The Ride to Cure Diabetes is May 4, 2006, in Death Valley, Calif. I give myself about three months worth of training, so my, uh, "off season" ends soon. Yeah, "off season"! That's the ticket! See, it's not laziness. It's all part of a plan.