Stanford Engineering Puzzle
June 2007
The Internet is amazing. No question about it. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't question whether the current Internet is all we should ever have. In fact, it might not be economically sustainable as it is, and it is certainly not as secure and as fast as we'd like it to be. Taking the long view and a nothing-is-sacred approach, the Stanford engineers on the Clean Slate Design for the Internet are now asking, "What should the Internet look like in 15 years?"
One potential answer to the question is that it's backbone should be made up of more repsonsive, cheaper, lower power and faster optical switches rather than old school routers. The name for this research led by electrical engineering Professors Nick McKeown and Leonid Kazovsky is called "Lightflow." This is the inspiration for our puzzle.
Directions for puzzle
In this puzzle your job is to make connections across the Internet, by connecting the fiber optic cables that make data flow. For fun we will post (below) the names of every ten alumni who successfully complete the puzzle and e-mail the secret word in the subject line to staff member Marge Kastner. She'll post entry number 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, etc. up to 91.
You must have Flash installed to run this puzzle, which was designed by Scott Kim of Shufflebrain and programmed by Larry Doyle of Cyberiandesign.
In less than 24 hours we've had over 220 solvers. WOW! A fantastic performance by our engineering alumni. Congratulations all. Because the E-News and puzzle link arrive at various alumni mailboxes over the span of 24 hours, everyone who replies with an answer is really a winner. We only list every 10th response, otherwise no one would have the patience to scroll down to read them all. Here are the one's that came in at the right time to get listed below. Although a special recognition is due Tim Piland who found no less than 5 solutions.
Stop the presses! Nick Brindley just came in with 24 unique tile combinations. Is there any limit to the brillance of our engineering alumni?
All solutions and their attendent alumni will be recorded in our Puzzology database for honorary degrees next June. To check out the degree earners this year please see the Puzzology page.
"Winning" entries
- 1) Nick Baxter
- 11) Clark Barret
- 21) Greg Koniowka
- 31) Allan Abott
- 41) Andrew Thiessen
- 51) Yaneeka Huq
- 61) Bob Odineal
- 71) Olivia Waillliamson
- 81) Malcolm Murdock
- 91) Damien Crochet
- 101) Richard Treadwell
- 121) Richard Thill
- 131) Steve Errea
- 141) Terry Rassieur
- 151) Julie Newell
- 161) James Grove
- 171) Chip Glassanos
- 181) Kenneth Newcomer
- 191) Wayne Warren
- 201) Danny Hsu
- 211) Scott Wilmore
- 221) Rebecca Liu
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