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ThinkFun
ThinkFun, formerly known as Binary Arts, is a toy and board game company founded in 1985 by Bill Ritchie and Andrea Barthello. The two started the company from the basement of their home in Virginia, with a product base that initially consisted of four games invented by a family friend William Keister (Spin-out, The Cat, The Horse and Hexadecimal Puzzle). The husband and wife team used these products as a launching pad for their company, and within six months they were able to move the company headquarters out of their basement and into a more workable space and were able to begin to expand their product line. History ThinkFun was founded in 1985 in the basement of husband and wife team Bill Ritchie and Andrea Barthello, with the mission "To translate the brilliant ideas of the craziest mathematicians, engineers and inventors into simple toys that can be appreciated by boys and girls around the world." The 1980s were a difficult time in the toy industry. Retailers were moving aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rush Hour (board Game)
''Rush Hour'' is a sliding block puzzle invented by Nob Yoshigahara in the 1970s. It was first sold in the United States in 1996. It is now being manufactured by ThinkFun (formerly Binary Arts). ThinkFun now sells ''Rush Hour'' spin-offs ''Rush Hour Jr.'', ''Safari Rush Hour'', ''Railroad Rush Hour'', ''Rush Hour Brain Fitness'' and ''Rush Hour Shift'', with puzzles by Scott Kim. Game The board is a 6×6 grid with grooves in the tiles to allow cars to slide, card tray to hold the cards, current active card holder and an exit hole. The game comes with 16 vehicles (12 cars, 4 trucks), each colored differently, and 40 puzzle cards. Cars and trucks are both one square wide, but cars are two squares long and trucks are three squares long. Vehicles can only be moved along a straight line on the grid; rotation is forbidden. Puzzle cards, each with a level number that indicates the difficulty of the challenge, show the starting positions of cars and trucks. Not all cars and trucks are us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoppers (game)
Hoppers (ages 8+) is a classic Peg solitaire game released by ThinkFun in 1999. Players set up the board according to the pictures on each challenge card, then "leap frog" all the green frogs until only the red frog remains. The game was created by Nob Yoshigahara, and is based on the classic Peg Solitaire game “The Great Thirteen” which was patented on July 15 by the inventor W.C. Breitenbach Yoshigahara also developed a computer program to develop a wide range of challenges for the game. Hoppers Jr. (Ages 5–7) is also sold by ThinkFun. It has a larger board, fewer frogs and easier puzzles than the original. Awards Hoppers Awards: *Oppenheim Toy Portfolio: Gold Award-2001 *Oppenheim Toy Portfolio: Gold Award-2000 *Parents’ Choice: Silver Honor Award-1999 *Dr. Toy: 100 Best Children’s Products-1999 *Dr. Toy: 10 Best Games-1999 *Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media: Children’s Media Program Award-1999 Hoppers Jr Awards: *iParenting Media 2008 Greatest Products Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. The city's estimated population has grown by 1% annually since 2010 on average. Like the rest of Northern Virginia and Central Maryland, modern Alexandria has been influenced by its proximity to the U.S. capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the United States federal civil service, federal civil service, in the U.S. Military, U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to Government contractor, provide services to the federal government. One of Alexandria's largest employers is the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. Another is the Institute for Defense Analyses. In 2005, the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nob Yoshigahara
Nobuyuki Yoshigahara ( ''Yoshigahara Nobuyuki'', commonly known as "Nob"; May 27, 1936 – June 19, 2004) was perhaps Japan's most celebrated inventor, collector, solver, and communicator of puzzles. Nob graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in applied chemistry. After becoming disenchanted with his career in high-polymer engineering, Nob turned to high school teaching as an educator of chemistry and mathematics. As a puzzle columnist, Nob was an active contributor to many journals and had monthly columns in various popular magazines, including ''Quark''. He penned over 80 books on puzzles. Perhaps best known as a puzzle inventor, he commercially licensed his designs, such as the ''Rush Hour'' puzzle game, to companies including Binary Arts (now known as ThinkFun), Ishi Press, and Hanayama. He was also an avid computer programmer who used computers to help solve mathematical puzzles. Nob was an active participant in the International Puzzle Party, traveling the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Kim
Scott Kim is an American puzzle and video game designer, artist, and author of Korean descent. He started writing an occasional "Boggler" column for ''Discover'' magazine in 1990, and became an exclusive columnist in 1999, and created hundreds of other puzzles for magazines such as ''Scientific American'' and ''Games'', as well as thousands of puzzles for computer games. He was the holder of the Harold Keables chair at Iolani School in 2008. Kim was born in 1955 in Washington D.C. and grew up in Rolling Hills Estates, California. He had an early interest in mathematics, education, and art, and attended Stanford University, receiving a BA in music, and a PhD in Computers and Graphic Design under Donald Knuth. In 1981, he created a book called ''Inversions'', words that can be read in more than one way. His first puzzles appeared in ''Scientific American'' in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column and he said that the column inspired his own career as a puzzle designer. Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shopping Mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refer to the walkway itself which was merely bordered by such shops), but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming commonplace at the time. In the U.K., such complexes are considered shopping centres (Commonwealth English: shopping centre), though "shopping center" covers many more sizes and types of centers than the North American "mall". Other countries may follow U.S. usage (Philippines, India, U.A.E., etc.) and others (Australia, etc.) follow U.K. usage. In Canadian English, and oftentimes in Australia and New Zealand, 'mall' may be used informally but 'shopping centre' or merely 'centre' will feature in the name of the complex (such as Toronto Eaton Centre). The ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inc 500
''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events yearly. Published by Mansueto Ventures, ''Inc.'' is best known for its annual rankings of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States, called the "Inc. 500" and "Inc. 5000." History ''Inc.'' was founded in Boston by Bernie Goldhirsh, and its first issue appeared in April 1979. Goldhirsh was an MIT-trained mechanical engineer who founded ''Sail'' magazine, which he sold for $10 million in 1980. Paul W. Kellam, who had joined Goldhirsh's company as editor of ''Marine Business'', was one of ''Inc.'' first editors. Goldhirsh kept a low profile, and George Gendron, who served as editor-in-chief from 1980 to 2002, was considered the "public face" of the magazine. In 2000, Goldhirsh sold the magazine to German publishing hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rubik's Cube
The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978, and then by Ideal Toy Company, Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 Spiel des Jahres, German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. , 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy. The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014. On the original classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. Some later versions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravensburger
Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market. History The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began publishing in 1883 with his first author contract. He started publishing instruction folders for craftsmen and architects, which soon acquired him a solid financial basis. His first board game appeared in 1884, named ''Journey Around the World''. At the turn of the 20th century, his product line broadened to include picture books, books, children’s activity books, art instruction manuals, non-fiction books, and reference books as well as children’s games, Happy Families, and activity kits. In 1900, the Ravensburger blue triangle trademark was registered with the Imperial patent office. As of 1912, many board and activity games had an export version that was distributed to Western Europe, the countries of the Danube Monarchy as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population was over 8.65million, with 36% of them living in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in the New World. Virginia's state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status. Slave labor and land acquired from displaced native tribes fueled the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant university and the founding campus of the University of California system. Its fourteen colleges and schools offer over 350 degree programs and enroll some 31,800 undergraduate and 13,200 graduate students. Berkeley ranks among the world's top universities. A founding member of the Association of American Universities, Berkeley hosts many leading research institutes dedicated to science, engineering, and mathematics. The university founded and maintains close relationships with three United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, national laboratories at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FMRI
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases. The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa in 1990. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not involve the use of injections, surgery, the ingestion of substances, or exposure to ionizing radiation. This measure is frequently corrupted by noise from various sources; hence, statistical procedures are used to extract the underlying signal. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
