bonanova

You all know how to solve the 3 lightbulb problem, right? Davey and the boys nodded in agreement. OK then, said Alex, try this one. You've got four switches that control four lightbulbs. You can't see the bulbs - they're in a closed room. You can do anything you want with the switches, say they're marked 1, 2, 3 and 4, and then you can go into the room and inspect the bulbs - they'll be marked A, B, C and D. A pint says you can't match the numbers and letters correctly. As usual, it was Jamie who took the bet. Did Jamie get his pint?

What if the wind blew at the plane's air speed?

clarification. compare the round-trip air travel times with and without a constant wind. the pilot doesn't know about schedules - kind of like real life.

I misunderstood ... I thought you knew the answer. Good luck.

He's doing what? asked Jamie. Shh.. here he comes, answered Ian. He's studying physics on the Internet. I think we should humor him, OK? So here's yer challenges for tonight, me boys. Alex had a strange way of smiling when he thought he had his friends over a barrel. He was smiling now. [1] how can you tell a raw egg from a hard-boiled egg? [you can't break the shell or use light, heat, sound or X-rays] [2] compared to a still day, will a round-trip airplane ride take more, less or equal time if there's a constant wind blowing? [a headwind one way, a tailwind the other way] And there's more where that came from, boys ... have fun.

Tip of the hat - and a frosty mug - to the Eng Lit major! I think there's a next-level puzzle built into this. Can't use it here, cuz the cat's already outta the bag ... but ... maybe somewhere else ... wouldn't it be kewl to list the five poets and the five novelists and then ask the solver to pair them up and say why/how the two are linked in each case. Re: your 2nd post: One pair then could be Gene Roddenberry and Dylan Thomas ... excellent! And your 3rd post: The final pair would be ... Zeus and Yaweh? Get some sleep, WB.

Well ... I don't know whether you were wrong, or not. The question was who will win the bet? Or is it a tossup? Your clever answer was "his odds would be lower." Couldn't tell if you meant Jamie's odds or Alex's odds. So, no, I'm not saying you're wrong. And congratulations on the MENSA thing!! That's great.

Morty's was uncharacteristically staid last night. Alex was wearing a Tux, for one thing! Gather round boys, and try to come up with some things ya may never have learnt, back in yer book learnin' days. While ya may have thought that poems were poems and novels were novels, the dirty little secret around literary circles is that novelists sometimes "borrowed" quotatons from the better poets to use for book titles. Some might call that plagerism - I wouldn't mind ya - but I did find five instances of what others might call the sincerest form of flattery by some pretty well known blokes. Places where poetry was shamelessly raided, just to find a catchy book title. Here, take a look. And he spread out the following poetry excerpts with the book titles asterisked out: [1] Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; / He is trampling out the vintage where *** ****** ** ***** are stored [2] *** **** *** ******* *****'s ignoble strife / Their sober wishes never learned to stray [3] How beauteous mankind is! O ***** *** ***** / That has such people in't [4] For fools rush in ***** ****** **** ** ***** [5] Had we but ***** ****** *** ****, / This coyness, lady, were no crime A cold pint to the bloke who can come up the names of the five poems, their poets, the titles of the five novels [the asterisks] and their novelists. Have fun!

Yeah ... Alex scraped the bottom for this one.

Kewl

Normdeplume trashed the destiny thing by pointing out you could commit suicide before then. Knowing that action removes my death's certainty, I don't have actually to do it. I'd switch channels and just continue living normally.

Thanks wustvn. I have to admit that I'm more overwhelmed by the size of this thing than I am intrigued by it. I looked at the tables a couple times but nothing occurred to me. I'm interested in the answer tho....

Great! What time zone you in? I'm GMT-5, but it doesn't seem to affect when I sleep.

Maybe this will point to the answer. Alex's first version of the note was less subtle: One of the words on this paper is misspelled. Which one? PRECEDE ... RHYTHM DELICACY ... SEPARATE PARALLEL ... DECEIVE

Going for the bull? Correct Cricket? No. Morty keeps the place pretty clean. Low number? I didn't notice. Coordinates? 3 cm above and 2 cm right of bullseye. Sun? No. Limp? Yes. How did you know? People rarely notice. He covers it up so well. Pints? Five.

Russian roulette normally has a single bullet in one of 6 chambers. The barrel is spun and players take turns pulling the trigger, passing the gun to the other player should they survive. The game stops when one player dies. Russian roulette on steroids has bullets in 3 consecutive chambers. The barrel is spun only once. You have the choice of being the first or second to shoot. Which do you choose?

Good shot, said Davey, after Jamie's 1st dart. Sorry, didn't mean to jinx you, he said, when the 2nd dart was farther from the bullseye. Alex chimed in, I'll wager a pint your 3rd dart won't be better than your 1st. You're on, said Jamie as he took aim. Who is likely to win the bet? Or is it a tossup? Assume Jamie aims for the center of the board all three times, and his skill is the same for all 3 darts [not distracted or helped by the comments or the bet].

Bravo!

Countdown until UR slaps his forehead ... 9.... 8.... 7.... 6.... 5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... 1 ....

Just one possibility I suppose. Score a point for originality. Nice one!

You can join my organization ... DENSA - Diversely educated - not seriously affected.

UR - me. Martini - nice going. Cold one on me at Morty's tonight.