The problem was stated thus by getha: "Can anyone show me a (or better yet: the shortest) route through the nodegel using hardlinks (!!!) that starts and ends at the same node, going through all four of the possible nodetypes (thing, place, idea, person)??
Obviously, no cheating: you cannot create new nodes, nor can you /msg other noders to add hard links where there were none and use those in your solution. I'd still encourage you to suggest the links after you've found your path.
I would also propose an alternate form, whereby the object is to find the longest path from a node back to itself without repeating a node inbetween.
Here is my solution:
Enrico Fermi (person)
->Colombia University (place)
->Albert Einstein (person)
->Nobel Prize (thing)
->Nobel Prizes: Physics (idea)
->Enrico Fermi (person)
My original path, which had a missing link between
Enrico Fermi and
Fermi Problem (pointed out by
getha, no less), was:
Fermi Problem (thing)
->Stanford University (place)
->Palo Alto (place)
->Radiohead (thing) (person)
->Oxford (place)
->Oxford University (place)
->University of Oxford (place)
->physics (idea)
->Atomic Theory (idea)
->quantum mechanics (idea) (thing)
->Albert Einstein (person)
->Nobel Prize (thing)
->Nobel Prizes: Physics (idea)
->Enrico Fermi (person)
->Fermi Problem (thing)
Some link suggestions: "Nobel prize" in Enrico Fermi should be hardlinked to Nobel Prize. "Oxford University" in Oxford should be hardlinked to University of Oxford. Physics might enjoy a link to Albert Einstein somewhere. And Enrico Fermi should have a link to Fermi Problem, which I think I must have assumed the first time thru. Just a symptom of the fact that softlinks are not good enough for strong relationships. ;-)
If anyone wants a kickstart, Sphere and Michael Crichton link to eachother and get you three of the four types. Only place is not covered. If only Harvard wasn't so anemic that one might've played out more easily.
Good Luck!