Riddle thread

[Bosterson]

I'm sure you guys already know this one:

 

Three wise men are told to sit in a row, one in front of the other. A hat is put on each of their heads. They are told that each of these hats was selected from a group of five hats: two black hats and three white hats. The first man, sitting at the front of the line, can’t see either of the men behind him or their hats. The second man, in the middle, can see only the first man and his hat. The last man, at the rear, can see both other men and their hats.

 

None of the men can see the hat on his own head. They are asked to deduce its color. Some time goes by as the wise men ponder the puzzle in silence. Finally the first one, at the front of the line, makes an announcement: “My hat is white.”

 

He is correct. How did he come to this conclusion?

 

 

The person who answers correctly should post the next riddle!

[hafilax]

If the two in front both had black hats the third would know his was white and would answer so. The second, knowing this knows that if the person in front of him has a black hat that his must be white otherwise the third man would have answered. Therefore if everyone is silent then the man in front must have a white hat.

 

I don't have any riddles.

[Bosterson]

I don't have any riddles.

 

How about jokes? My job is boring.

[hafilax]

Mine too. This has been entertaining me for the last couple of days. I'll see if I can think of something.

 

[video:youtube]tKKxPtP6XjQ

[G-spotter]

A man lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building. Every day he wakes up and checks the weather before he goes to work. He rides the elevator down to the lobby and off he goes.

 

When he comes home in the evening, if it's a rainy day or if anyone else is in the elevator, he rides up to the 12th floor. But if it's a sunny day with no one else in the elevator, he rides up to the 7th floor and then walks up 5 flights of stairs to his apartment. Why?

[Bosterson]

Ok. I was going to guess that he was a nudist bellboy or something, but in the interest of keeping this thread alive, I consulted Google, and it turns out he's too short to reach the 12 button. (Yes, I know, I cheated.) Problem with that is how does he manage to ride all the way up if it's raining and there's no one else in the elevator? I assume he must have a stick or something he can push the button with, meaning that on sunny days when the elevator is empty but he's tired, he might not take the stairs. Loophole!

 

Anyway.... another easy one:

 

You come to two unmarked doors, each with a guard in front of it. One guard always lies and one always tells the truth, though you don't know which is which. One door leads to Heaven and one door leads to Hell. After thinking for a moment, you as a single question, then correctly choose the door to Heaven. What did you ask?

[olyclimber]

he has an umbrella, and of course, he is gay

[G-spotter]

you ask which door the other guy would say to take to heaven. the liar tells you which door is hell and the truth teller ditto. then you take the door they told you not to take.

[G-spotter]

Of course that assumes that the guards know what's behind the doors! If Kafka wrote the script they wouldn't.

[G-spotter]

And ya, the midget/dwarf/person of size pushes the faraway button WITH HIS UMBRELLA

[hafilax]

What do I have in my pocket?

[G-spotter]

Your cell phone.

[hafilax]

A good guess but not at the moment. I don't want to accidentally walk up to the 1.9 Tesla field with it in my pocket.

[mkporwit]

A good guess but not at the moment. I don't want to accidentally walk up to the 1.9 Tesla field with it in my pocket.

 

Confucius say: Man who has hand in pocket feel cocky all day

[G-spotter]

A good guess but not at the moment. I don't want to accidentally walk up to the 1.9 Tesla field with it in my pocket.

 

Lint

[hafilax]

YES!

[G-spotter]

http://www.math.umass.edu/~diehl/mysteries.html