Clever idea to generate buzz while making an impact.

Edit, took a shot at it:

Is there something wrong with how you're running the scripts? My Python script seems to die saying:

    No such file or directory: '/opt/puzzles/*.in'

But your example on how you're going to run it on the bottom says you will specify an actual file rather than a wildcard. Running it locally on my machine on all your tests results in this:

    $ python test.py d.in > d_me.out
    $ md5 d.out 
    MD5 (d.out) = c6dc722a7020baacebd876d4377065ad
    $ md5 d_me.out
    MD5 (d_me.out) = c6dc722a7020baacebd876d4377065ad

So I doubt it's a silent failure in my code.

How long does it take? I earn an hourly rate such that $5 is not a lot of my time - perhaps it'd be more efficient simply to send them $5.

I solved the puzzle :) $5 to EFF for my solution