NEW CADET CHALLENGE

Congratulation to Cadet Robert Ferguson who solved the puzzle.  Congratulations also to Cadet Soriano who solved the puzzle back in August.

The weather at the Cape Horn makes it a notorious location where many ships have been lost to the sea. George Lyon, the famous diver, has discovered four ships that sank in the same spot, one on top of each other.


With some skill, George was able to determine the name, captain, cargo, destination and year each ship was built. The question is, can you?  You will find the following most useful:

1. During his first exploration of the site, George determined there were four ships - the Red Barn, the ship built in 1743, the ship captained by Quigley and the ship carrying tea that was bound for North America.

2.The ship that carried a cargo of saffron was built after the ship that carried a cargo of tea.

3. An entry in one ship's log found at the site indicated that the ship built in 1530 was carrying a valuable cargo of gold.

4. One ship was carrying botanical specimens to Spain. George determined that this was not the Royal Bride.

5. The Scarlet Queen, a pirate ship, was certainly built before the nineteenth century but not as early as the sixteenth. The captain of this ship was the famous rogue Parrothead.

6. The Runner was built after the Royal Bride. The Royal Bride's cargo was not tea and the Royal Bride was not travelling to the South Seas.

7. Captain Bolton's ship was built before Clubfoot's and before The Royal Bride.

Ships: Red Barn, Royal Bride, Scarlet Queen, Runner

Year Built: 1530, 1688, 1743, 1817

Captain: Bolton, Parrothead, Quigley, Vickers

Cargo: Gold, Saffron, Specimens, Tea

Destination: England, Spain, North America, South Seas

This challenge will end at 0730 7 October.  Good luck  There is at least one cadet who correctly solved this puzzle over the summer.  He is not eligible to win this time, but I will publish his name later.  Good luck!

NEW CADET CHALLENGE

Congratulations to Cadet Shavon Lloyd of our freshman class and Cadet Robert Ferguson of our junior class, both of whom correctly solved the Pill Conundrum.  Cadet Lloyd even understood the solution.  Good job!

Many cadets have seen this before, so no cheating.  If you are a new cadet, however, answer the famous "Pill Conundrum." 



You've been placed on a course of expensive medication in which you are to take one tablet of medicine A and one tablet of medicine B daily. You must be careful that you take just one of each because taking more of either can have serious side effects. Taking an A without taking a B, or vice versa, can also be very serious, because they must be taken together in order to be effective. In summary, you must take exactly one of the A pills and one of the B pills at one time. Therefore, you open up the A bottle, and you tap one A pill into your hand. You put that bottle aside and you open the B bottle. You do the same, but by mistake, two Bs fall into your hand with the A pill. Now, here's the problem. You weren't watching your hand as the pills fell into it, so you can't tell the A pill apart from the two B pills. The pills look identical. They are the same size, same weight, same color, same everything, and they are not marked differently in any way.



What are you going to do? You cannot tell which pill is which, and they cost $100 a piece, so you cannot afford to throw them away and start over again. How do you get your daily dose of exactly one A and exactly one B without wasting any of the pills?
 
The correct answer will include an explanation.  This challenge will expire 0730 Monday October.  Good luck!

RITA'S FUNDRAISER

Great job!  We raised over $400 dollars at last night's fundraiser at Rita's.  Thanks for coming out.  There'd be pictures except the CO and PAO aren't working hard enough.

THE MHS NJROTC CARES

On Saturday, 17 September an elite group of about 25 Middletown High School NJROTC Cadets assembled at City Hall and proceeded to clean about 3/4 of a mile of Linden Avenue. It was dirty work, but someone had to do it!  Good job!

RECENT PHOTOS

Here are a few recent photos (credit to Cadet J. Gomez):

The Evil Eye



This is why you shouldn't hire Gomez to take pictures of your wedding!




The OPS Officer has a profound thought.




MHS Cadets salute during the 9-11 Rememberance Ceremony at the Wallkill Plaza.



THE LATEST CADET CHALLENGE

Congratulations to Cadet Ashleigh Slingerland who correctly solved the puzzle:  90 degrees in a right angle.

Translate/explain the following:  90 D. in a R.A.

This challenge expires at 0730 20 September 2011.  The winning cadet will receive a prize of undescribed proportions.  It's simple.  Good luck! 

FIRST UNIFORM DAY

This Tuesday was our first uniform day.  As you know, cadets are now being inspected during their assigned class as opposed to before school as we did the last couple of years.  Overall, it wasn't too bad.  Remember that your military aptitude counts for approximately half of your overall grade.  Do the math: 

• Assume a cadet earns an "85" in classroom academics--they come regularly, participate in class, and do OK on the test.  The same cadet misses 3 uniform days without an excuse or makeup.  When they are in uniform they look OK, but not great.  Pull out your calculator and average 0, 0, 0, 80, 90, 90, 70, 80, 80, 90.  The answer is 58.  58 and 85 averages to 71.5, which would be recorded as a 72. 
• Assume the same cadet earns only a "75" in classroom academics.  75 and 58 averaged together is 66.5, which would be recorded as a 67.  Still passing, but barely.

My point is that you have to take both the classroom academics and the military aptitude seriously.  Most cadets bilge themselves because they blow off academic requirements and aren't serious about wearing the uniform.  It ought to be easy to get an 85 or 90 in Naval Science, but it does take some effort.  Your Naval Science grade goes into your academic average with the same weight as any of your regular classes.  You ought to work hard in all your classes, but wouldn't it be better to have Naval Science pull up your average rather than having it pull your average down after you worked hard in Chemistry, but got a 67 in Naval Science because you didn't wear the uniform as required?

Meeting the uniform requirement is your responsibility.  A big part of our program is learning to take commitments and requirements seriously.  Excuses that you might think are valid will not work with us. There are occasionally acceptable explanations, but here are a few excuses that will not be accepted:

1. I forgot.  (Check the calendar posted on our website.  Pay attention in class.)
2. My mom didn't wash it.  (It's not your mom's uniform.)
3. My pants don't fit. (Bring your pants in and we will exchange them.  If you don't have a pair because they are being fitted, we will give you an excuse.  This will work for one week, but not often more than that.)
4. I lost my garrison cap.  (You should have been more careful.  You owe us $8.00)
5. I left my uniform at my girlfriend's house.  (Too bad.)
6. I don't have any black socks.  (Really?  Visit the retailer of your choice.)
7. It got wrinkled in my locker. (Take your uniform home and wash it.  Cold cycle.  Hang it up and let it air dry.)

ROTC ought to represent a serious commitment on your part.  If it doesn't, and if you don't plan on changing, you probably ought to drop the course. 

NEW CADET CHALLLENGE

Congratulations to Cadet Shavon Lloyd who correctly calculated that Diophantus was 84 years old when he died.  This was a tough question, not because it was tricky, but because it was intricate and required close attention to detail.  Worthy of note:  Past correct solutions to this question were submitted only by seniors in honors-level math.  BZ Shavon!

Congratulations to everyone else who submitted correct answers to the last challenge.  Here's a new one, and this one is a cat of a different color.  It's a famous puzzle that has challenged literally over a thousand year's worth of students.  Reportedly it was left on the tombstone of Diophantus, one of the Fathers of Algebra.  See if you can figure it out:

He was a boy for one-sixth of his life. After one-twelfth more, he acquired a beard. After another one-seventh, he married. In the fifth year after his marriage his son was born. The son lived half as many as his father. Diophantus died 4 years after his son. How old was Diophantus when he died?

This challenge will expire at 0730 on 19 September.  The prize will be a Middletown NJROTC pen and the winner must not only present the correct answer, but explain the solution.  Good luck!

NEW CADET CHALLENGE

Congratulations to Cadet Corrine Jewell who was the first (of three) cadets to submit a successful answer.  One of the successful answers is "facetiously." 

Here's the latest cadet challenge:  What is an English word that contains all the vowels in order?  This challenge expires 0730 Monday 12 September.  Good luck.

Don't forget, the first uniform day for returning cadets is Tuesday, 13 September.  Be ready. 

WELCOME CLASS OF 2015 (AND EVERYONE ELSE, TOO)

Summer's over, you're back in school.  You knew it would happen, but not so soon.  For our new ninth graders, welcome to high school.  For everyone else, welcome back.  This will be a busy year.  Things will happen fast--right around the corner we have our fundraiser at Rita's, we're collecting cell phones for recycling, we expect to take at least one bus of cadets to the NYC Veterans; Day Parade on November 11th, and our Tricky Tray is on 18 November.  Somewhere along the way we will participate in at least one, maybe two, drill meets, probably at Washingtnville or Bethel.  Next week will be the first uniform day for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, and before long we will be issuing uniforms to freshmen. 

Don't forget, though, the purpose of school isn't to socialize with friends, play ball, or be a squared-away cadet.  Those are all certainly good things to do, but the real purpose of school is to get an education.  That's an active process that requires you to work your hardest.  Get on with it!