Comments on: Never Say Never

By: Rodger Wrighthead

Rodger Wrighthead — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:16:53 +0000

Pro.

By: Mirage_GSM

Mirage_GSM — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:41:04 +0000

While you could argue that using a larger sheet of paper was cheating (and according to the parameters of the task set by her teacher it wasn’t) I have never heard that there was any inhibition regarding the way the paper had to be folded.
In fact that would be quite silly. If the only way you are allowed to solve a problem was a way someone else had already attempted and proven unfeasible, we should have stopped researching flight after Icarus died!
However regardless of whether she broke any records or not, that girl commands my respect simply because she managed to develop those equations. I consider myself quite competent in mathematics and I could not have developped those from scratch.
I challenge all those who belittle her achievement to accomplish something comparable.

By: dacoobob

dacoobob — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:16:38 +0000

So TP isn’t “a piece of paper people use every day”? Speak for yourself buddy, and maybe start eating more fibre…

By: Alx_xlA

Alx_xlA — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:55:46 +0000

Indeed. The point of the problem isn’t weather or not you can fold PAPER 8+ times, but a letter/A4 sheet of standard-weight (20lb) printer paper. Newspaper is sort of cheating, but is still semi-qualified for the challenge, since it’s a piece of paper people use every day. A roll of industrial toilet paper is just not an acceptable substitute. The paper the Mythbusters used was simply too large to qualify, although it had a similar ratio to regular paper. If you have to use a forklift, a steamroller, a shopping mall, or an aircraft hangar, it’s too big. Also, she shouldn’t claim that she did it, as she folded the paper in one direction only, since it did not have the L/W ratio that “real” paper does.

By: Defiant

Defiant — Tue, 29 May 2007 00:52:33 +0000

No, come on. The challenge is “a sheet of paper”. That’s in normal parlance and with what was at one time common sense. It refers to a normal sheet of writing, or binder, or if you’re trying to cheat, newspaper. And it won’t work within those parameters. The challenge isn’t to get a sheet of paper three acres in area, nor sheets of atomic thickness of the most malleable semi-common element on the planet. It’s a piece of paper, and no, you [b]can’t[/b] fold one more than eight times.
Still, congratulations on the Saltines thing. I’d not heard of anyone who’d done that. Well, and lived, anyway.

By: Dizzee

Dizzee — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:28:18 +0000

Sheryl Crow would be SO MAD at this horrible abuse of toilet paper. =P

By: ZeTron

ZeTron — Tue, 08 May 2007 23:28:12 +0000

MythBusters season 5 had a segment on this very subject (well after this article was written). They even mentioned Britney in their show. They were unable to fold a standard piece of paper more than 7 times. However they were able to fold a slightly larger sheet of paper 11 times! (And by slightly I mean about 170 ft x 220 ft and they used a steam roller to flatten the fold and a fork-lift to life the paper for the last few folds because the paper was so heavy, lol)

By: Record Broke

Record Broke — Thu, 03 May 2007 08:52:03 +0000

The record has since been broken - and legitimately.

This girl while creative did not adhere to the spirit of the challenge. She did not fold the paper correctly, it should be turned 90 degrees at each fold then folded on itself. She did not have to refold a fold with her method - thus, the longer the paper the easier to do. If she adhered to the spirit, the toliet paper would not have worked. She should never have been in any record book - breaking that record is as simple as getting a longer piece of material (paper of any kind). All you would need is the right connection in the right factory.

My 2 cents, no refunds.