Ya know, we have some pretty decent and innovative kids in this country

[The Straight Story]

For all the crap we see on the news about crime among teens, poor driving, poor scoring, image problems and so on, one would think our kids are just crazy druggies who want to dress like the stars and only care about American Idol.

Well, here is one young lady I thought I would toss out there as an exception to that. Feel free to add some you know about:

Folding Paper in Half 12 Times:
The story of an impossible challenge solved at the Historical Society office

Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.

Through the Looking Glass by L. Carroll

Britney Gallivan has solved the Paper Folding Problem. This well known challenge was to fold paper in half more than seven or eight times, using paper of any size or shape.

In April of 2005 Britney's accomplishment was mentioned on the prime time CBS television show Numb3rs.

The task was commonly known to be impossible. Over the years the problem has been discussed by many people, including mathematicians and has been demonstrated to be impossible on TV.

For extra credit in a math class Britney was given the challenge to fold anything in half 12 times. After extensive experimentation, she folded a sheet of gold foil 12 times, breaking the record. This was using alternate directions of folding. But, the challenge was then redefined to fold a piece of paper. She studied the problem and was the first person to realize the basic cause for the limits. She then derived the folding limit equation for any given dimension. Limiting equations were derived for the case of folding in alternate directions and for the case of folding in a single direction using a long strip of paper. The merits of both folding approaches are discussed, but for high numbers of folds, single direction folding requires less paper.

Well, she did it (in 2002, but still...)

http://www.pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm

[Burma Jones]

1. Dumb Blonde

Ha....I will save this for my daughters. I can add this to the Biographies of Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper if either of them ever think math ain't for Girls......even good looking girls like Ms. Gallivan here......

[The Straight Story]

2. And she is a California Blond to boot :) Oh the huge manatee!!!

Like, she totally solved her problems with, like shopping and stuff at macy's for some big paper, duh :)

[rinsd]

3. Mythbusters recently did this and credited the young lady (nt)

[Esra Star]

4. What part of NO didn't she understand.

People who can think like probably don't understand how hard it is to live
inside the square.
Will a lobotomy help?