George Woltman reports (on the GIMPS mailing list) that a computer has reported finding a new Mersenne prime. If confirmed, this would be the 44th known. I assume GW is ringing up friends with fast machines (and independent software) to confirm the result. <rcs> Given the current ranges being tested, the size probably exceeds 10M digits, winning some kind of prize. A new quick-test was added to the GIMPS program a while back, which gives a pretty fast indication if the finding is real. (There have been one or two false reports caused by bugs or hardware problems.) The quick-test: The claiming computer forwards the Lucas residue from a few steps preceding the final 0. The receiver can do a few steps forward from this residue to validate the 0. The chance of a random residue passing this test is negligible, and we don't know of any way for a cheater to back up more than a couple of steps from a final (fake or real) 0, without taking more time than a Lucas test. ---- On other subjects, specifically land-based tetrahedra: Have we looked for land-based octahedra or cubes? I assume the Pacific Ocean would force any dodeca/icosa to have one or two vertex(ices) on an() island(s). Can we use the North Pole while it lasts? What about water-based polyhedra? This might need a database of lakes. Rich