Futility Closet: Difference between revisions

In January 2005, Greg Ross started the Futility Closet website, an online [[wunderkammer]] of trivia, quotations, mathematical curiosities, chess problems, and other diversions.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mark Frauenfelder |url=http://boingboing.net/2011/10/17/interview-with-futility-closet-blogger-greg-ross.html |title=Interview with Futility Closet blogger Greg Ross / Boing Boing |publisher=Boingboing.net |date=2011-10-17 |accessdate=2017-08-26}}</ref> The site has spawned two printed collections,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.futilitycloset.com/book/ |title=Books |publisher=Futility Closet |date=2013-11-22 |accessdate=2017-08-26}}</ref> and continues to be updated daily. Gary Antonick of the ''New York Times''' Numberplay blog described the first book as "the literary equivalent of [[Trader Joe's]] Tempting [[Trail Mix]]".<ref name="necktie">{{cite web|last1=Antonick|first1=Gary|title=The Necktie Paradox|url=https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/tie/|website=Wordplay|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=18 January 2018|date=10 February 2014}}</ref>

Futility Closet has sometimes been a conduit for results by [[John H. Conway]], [[Richard K. Guy]], [[Solomon W. Golomb]], and many other well-known mathematicians when they dabbled in recreational mathematics.<ref>[https://www.futilitycloset.com/2016/10/15/climbing-chains/ Climbing Chains puzzle] a problem of John H. Conway</ref>{{clarify|date=September 2016|reason=the reference is to results published by Guy in 1998 and 2004, later covered by Futility Closet in 2016. The article text implies that it was first published on FC.}} Puzzles from Futility Closet have frequently been featured in the [[New York Times]] puzzle section and the New York Times blog.<ref>{{cite web|urlname=https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/tie/|title=The Necktie Paradox}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/way/|title=Making"necktie" Way}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/crosswords/the-prisoners-paradox.html|title=The Prisoners' Paradox}}</ref> Futility Closet was recommended by the Honduran newspaper ''[[La Tribuna]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latribuna.hn/2017/02/15/plataformas-web-nunca-dejar-aprender/|title=Plataformas web para nunca dejar de aprender}}</ref> Its puzzles and paradoxes have been cited by ''[[El País]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/22/el_aleph/1490200756_349416.html|title=No solo de números consecutivos vive el cuadrado mágico}}</ref> and ''[[Il Post]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilpost.it/mauriziocodogno/2013/01/14/il-paradosso-della-decimazione/|title=Il paradosso della decimazione}}</ref>

=== Content and sources ===

=== Music ===

=== Reception ===

The Futility Closet Podcast has been praised by James Harkin of ''[[No Such Thing as a Fish]],''<ref>https://soundcloud.com/nosuchthingasafish/episode-131-no-such-thing-as-walking-the-life-jacket</ref> and by economist [[Tim Harford]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timharford.com/2016/02/the-five-best-economics-podcasts-of-2016/ |title=Tim Harford — Article — The five best economics podcasts of 2016 |publisher=Timharford.com |date= |accessdate=2017-08-26}}</ref> Joshua Gelernter of ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'' described Futility Closet as "one of the most interesting websites on the internet."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gelernter|first1=Joshua|title=Bob Dylan and the Great Poetry Hoax|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/bob-dylan-and-the-great-poetry-hoax/article/2005479|work=The Weekly Standard|accessdate=18 January 2018|date=26 November 2016}}</ref> Michael Förtsch of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired.de]]'' named the Futility Closet Podcast as one of seven podcasts to make you smarter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.de/collection/life/diese-7-podcasts-machen-euch-schlauer|title=Diese 7 Podcasts Machen Euch Schlauer}}</ref> The podcast was praised by Colin Patrick of ''[[Mental Floss]]'', by Jennifer K. Bauer of ''Inland360.com'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inland360.com/more-news/2017/08/staff-picks-futility-closet-podcast/|title=Staff Picks: Futility Closet}}</ref> and by Kayla Matthews of ''Makeuseof.com'', who praised Greg Ross's scrupulous research.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/true-story-podcasts-make-life-dull/|title=11 True Story Podcasts That Make Your Life Look Dull}}</ref> ''[[Gizmodo]]'''s Robbie Gonzalez praised the site's lateral thinking puzzles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/sunday-puzzle-hiatus-try-some-lateral-thinking-puzzles-1706481118|title=Sunday Puzzle Hiatus: Try Some Lateral Thinking Puzzles On For Size}}</ref> Futility Closet was praised by Steve Dodson of the linguistics blog ''Languagehat'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://languagehat.com/futility-closet/|title=Futility Closet}}</ref> and was cited by the linguist [[Ben Yagoda]] at the ''Lingua Franca'' blog.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2016/05/05/the-strange-saga-of-gobbledygook/|title=The Strange Saga of Gobbledygook}}</ref>

=== Support ===

== References ==

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