Riddles

[ubannoying]

The answer to the Boston, MA one is:

neither the child nor parents were human.

What string follows:
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

1113213211
(one one, one three, two ones, three twos, one one)

 

[ubannoying]

Here's a more advanced one (although I may have simplified it a little too much and made it easier):

There is a remote island populated by monks. Some monks have green eyes and some have brown eyes. Since none of the monks speak, and there are no mirrors on the island, each monk does not know the color of their own eyes. It is a tradition, among this order, that monks with green eyes commit suicide at dawn as soon as they find this out. A visitor comes to the island one day and says "Hey, some of you have green eyes and some of you have brown eyes!" The monks were obviously disturbed by this fact, and the visitor left right away. Three days later, some number of monks committed suicide at dawn. The question is how many, and why did they wait three days to do so.

 

[Fr8monkey]

How many Penguins does the average Polar Bear eat in a day?

 

[puglover]

Polar Bears don't live at the South Pole!

As for the monks, I have no idea!

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Originally posted by ubannoying

1113213211
(one one, one three, two ones, three twos, one one)

and welcome to CFC

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Originally posted by ubannoying
Three days later, some number of monks committed suicide at dawn. The question is how many, and why did they wait three days to do so.

Why 3 days later? Because they had to wait for the tribal council to vote them off the island!!

Just kidding. I am thinking about an answer though.

 

[Steve Winer]

Tch... I posted one of these types of threads a long time ago and no one replied to it.....

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

Originally posted by ubannoying
The answer to the Boston, MA one is:

neither the child nor parents were human.

Hmm, funny, I told some people at school the riddle, and that's the answer they gave me as well. Nonetheless, that is incorrect.

Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

 

[Illustrious]

Originally posted by ubannoying
Here's a more advanced one (although I may have simplified it a little too much and made it easier):

There is a remote island populated by monks. Some monks have green eyes and some have brown eyes. Since none of the monks speak, and there are no mirrors on the island, each monk does not know the color of their own eyes. It is a tradition, among this order, that monks with green eyes commit suicide at dawn as soon as they find this out. A visitor comes to the island one day and says "Hey, some of you have green eyes and some of you have brown eyes!" The monks were obviously disturbed by this fact, and the visitor left right away. Three days later, some number of monks committed suicide at dawn. The question is how many, and why did they wait three days to do so.

That day (day zero), the monks all look at one another.

(1) If there is only one monk with green eyes, he will see only brown eyes, and therefore knows his eyes are green. So, any monk who sees only brown eyes will kill himself next morning. However, nobody does kill himself next morning, so there must be at least two green-eyed monks.

Day one dawns, and no-one is dead. The monks look at one another again.

(2) If there are only two monks with green eyes, each one of them will see only one pair of green eyes among the other monks. Since he knows (by the absence of dead monks) that at least two monks must be green-eyed, he now realises that he has green eyes. So, at the second dawn, any monk who only sees one pair of green eyes will kill himself.

Day two dawns, and again nobody is dead. The monks now know that at least 3 monks have green eyes.

(3) Any monk now who sees three or more sets of green eyes is still none the wiser about his own eye colour. However, any monk who sees only two sets of green eyes has the sickening realisation that he is the third pair (he knows, after all, that there must be at least 3, and can account for only two...). Any monk seeing two sets of green eyes must kill himself on the morning of day three.

So, day three dawns and three monks lie dead. The reason it took so long was that the full information required was not available to them until after the dawn of day 2.


EDIT: The number of monks in general terms is the same as the number of days it takes them to kill themselves.....

 

[ubannoying]

Thanks for the welcome CrackedCrystal. I've been browsing these boards for a while and finally had a good reason to register.

Back to the Boston, MA question:

They were all born before 1776 (they were colonists).

 

[ubannoying]

Originally posted by Illustrious


That day (day zero), the monks all look at one another.

(1) If there is only one monk with green eyes, he will see only brown eyes, and therefore knows his eyes are green. So, any monk who sees only brown eyes will kill himself next morning. However, nobody does kill himself next morning, so there must be at least two green-eyed monks.

Day one dawns, and no-one is dead. The monks look at one another again.

(2) If there are only two monks with green eyes, each one of them will see only one pair of green eyes among the other monks. Since he knows (by the absence of dead monks) that at least two monks must be green-eyed, he now realises that he has green eyes. So, at the second dawn, any monk who only sees two pairs of green eyes will kill himself.

Day two dawns, and again nobody is dead. The monks now know that at least 3 monks have green eyes.

(3) Any monk now who sees three or more sets of green eyes is still none the wiser about his own eye colour. However, any monk who sees only two sets of green eyes has the sickening realisation that he is the third pair (he knows, after all, that there must be at least 3, and can account for only two...). Any monk seeing two sets of green eyes must kill himself on the morning of day three.

So, day three dawns and three monks lie dead. The reason it took so long was that the full information required was not available to them until after the dawn of day 2.

It's funny how the answer to the riddle is longer than the riddle itself Yes indeed, you have it correct (but you knew that already)

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

@ ubannoying:
Try the other one now.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Originally posted by DiamondzAndGunz
Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

Just a stab in the dark... 'something'?

 

[Civanator]

The answer is "language". or, it could be gry itself, but the real answer is language. This puzzle has circulated widely on the Internet for some
years, but usually in an abbreviated form such as "Name three
common English words ending in 'gry'", which has no good third
answer

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

I knew I was on the right track though...

 

[DaveMcW]

Originally posted by DiamondzAndGunz
Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

"Language" is the third word in "the English language"!

Edit: No!!! 2 minutes too late

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

@ civanator & davemcw:

yeah, there are lot's of versions of that one, and most are told wrong and have no answer.

What is the greatest worldwide use of cowhide?

 

[Civanator]

Hiding cows?

 

[DaveMcW]

A child is born in Boston, MA., to parents who were both born in Boston, MA. The child is not a U.S. citizen. How is this possible?

The child was born before 1776, when there was no U.S.

What is the greatest worldwide use of cowhide?

Keeping cows warm?

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

You are in a 2 story house. There are 3 light switches downstairs. Upstairs, in a room you can't see from down stairs, there is a light bulb that is turned on by one of the switches. If you can only go upstairs one time how can you tell which switch turns on the light?

Edit: fixed wording.