Yes/No-question puzzle
1. So they drinked exactly the same with the same poison. They are the same. Right?
2. Had one of them an anti-poison somehow?
3. Does it matter what they both did that day or a few days before?
4. They are both in the same bar, under the same circumstances?
5. Did the barkeeper add the poison to the drinks?
2. Had one of them an anti-poison somehow?
3. Does it matter what they both did that day or a few days before?
4. They are both in the same bar, under the same circumstances?
5. Did the barkeeper add the poison to the drinks?
1. YesMarinus wrote:1. So they drinked exactly the same with the same poison. They are the same. Right?
2. Had one of them an anti-poison somehow?
3. Does it matter what they both did that day or a few days before?
4. They are both in the same bar, under the same circumstances?
5. Did the barkeeper add the poison to the drinks?
2. No
3. No
4. Yes
5. That doesn't matter, all that matters is that there is poison in the drinks.
Wow. This is way harder than I thought it would be.
Isn't it fun to know the answer and watch you try to figure it out?
dlcs18
This isn't likely to happen in a real bar. It just happened in this one.Marinus wrote:Is this a situation that can happen in any bar in London or Amsterdam in real life?
So, the evidence you have so far is:
Two men enter a bar. They both order identical drinks. One lives; the other dies.
The two men drank the same amount of the drinks.
The drinks are exactly the same as each other.
The drinks are the reason one of the men died. He was not shot or murdered.
Both men are exactly the same, no matter what.
None of them choked.
What the drink is does not matter, so we are saying it's just water.
None of them have allergies
There was no alcohol in the drink (But it doesn't matter to the puzzle)
There was poison in both drinks.
None of them had anti-poison stuff.
Both men drunk exactly the same drink. (Only in seperate cups)
What one of them did earlier does not matter.
They are both in the same bar.
dlcs18
The only reason I've got this quickly, is that I know a similar riddle, but yours definitely got me to think, so I consider this a fair victory.
The poison was in an ice cube. The first person was drinking BEFORE the ice was melted. The second was unfortunate enough to drink AFTER the ice has melted.
A clever act from whoever added the poison to get a rock-solid alibi...
The poison was in an ice cube. The first person was drinking BEFORE the ice was melted. The second was unfortunate enough to drink AFTER the ice has melted.
A clever act from whoever added the poison to get a rock-solid alibi...
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
As soon as the poison gets released, it will all leak out, so that doesn't actually make sense.
The next one is actually a puzzle that CAN be worked out logically, but it's SO difficult that it borders on Yes/No questions. And yes, it makes perfect sense when you figure it out.
And yes, the obvious answers are wrong.
What is the opposite of lightness?
If everybody gives up, I will post the answer. But I don't expect everybody to give up for at least a couple of days.
EDIT: It's late and I've made an English mistake. The riddle is still so difficult so it makes almost no difference whether you work on "light" or "lightness" but I want to be correct.
The next one is actually a puzzle that CAN be worked out logically, but it's SO difficult that it borders on Yes/No questions. And yes, it makes perfect sense when you figure it out.
And yes, the obvious answers are wrong.
What is the opposite of lightness?
If everybody gives up, I will post the answer. But I don't expect everybody to give up for at least a couple of days.
EDIT: It's late and I've made an English mistake. The riddle is still so difficult so it makes almost no difference whether you work on "light" or "lightness" but I want to be correct.
Last edited by Muzozavr on Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Well, if the obvious answers are wrong, then I have no idea where to begin.Muzozavr wrote:What is the opposite of light? Um... -ness
Last edited by dlcs18 on Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
dlcs18
It's a very difficult riddle, so that is to be expected.
For a small hint: cold is not the true opposite to heat, and indeed no such opposite (for heat) exists.
An opposite of lightness, however, does exist, but it's definitely not what you think it is.
For a small hint: cold is not the true opposite to heat, and indeed no such opposite (for heat) exists.
An opposite of lightness, however, does exist, but it's definitely not what you think it is.
Last edited by Muzozavr on Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
By the way, I have slightly edited the riddle, for I've made a small English mistake by being tired.
It's still just as difficult, but more correct, so you want to recheck the riddle again.
It's still just as difficult, but more correct, so you want to recheck the riddle again.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
-
rescuefire
- Rainbow MegaStar
- Posts: 3406
- Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 3:20 pm
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.There was, but I was earlier, sorry.
The new riddle is "What is the opposite of lightness" and the obvious answers are wrong.
Oh, the shame of people posting at the same time! (been there, done that)
The new riddle is "What is the opposite of lightness" and the obvious answers are wrong.
Oh, the shame of people posting at the same time!
(been there, done that)Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
1. Honestly, I don't know, but I can give you the idea of the difficulty.
Google the "babel fish puzzle".
Read about it.
Imagine the difficulty spiking up by a significant notch.
Deep concepts and huge solutions for a puny six-word riddle are more likely than you might think.
2. Many.
The hint about the cold and heat, strange as it seems, is the only thing that makes it more or less logical, preventing the need for a huge intuition jump.
Google the "babel fish puzzle".
Read about it.
Imagine the difficulty spiking up by a significant notch.
Deep concepts and huge solutions for a puny six-word riddle are more likely than you might think.
2. Many.
The hint about the cold and heat, strange as it seems, is the only thing that makes it more or less logical, preventing the need for a huge intuition jump.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Just to get some of the basics out of the way:
1. Is it Darkness?
2. Is it Heaviness?
3. Is it Nothingness?
And, just so everyone doesn't have to look it up:
4. Is this the Babel Fish puzzle you're talking about?
The Babel fish is a fictional species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.
It is introduced in the first novel of the series as a species of fish that can instantly translate any language to any other language:
“ The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix, formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear, you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. ”
The Babel fish was a useful plot device for Adams, as it allowed various alien races to communicate while speaking different languages. Adams wrote that the idea that all aliens would speak English was, to him, very strange. In the story, Ford Prefect gives Arthur Dent his babel fish after they have teleported to the Vogon spaceship and the Earth has been demolished. In the TV series version, Ford acquires the fish for Arthur from an aquarium-like vending machine on board. In the book So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Arthur returns to Earth after his hitch-hiking and finally removes his babel fish – letting it swim in the goldfish bowl the dolphins have left for him and deciding that he will only now need it for watching foreign films.
The fish's name refers to the story of the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis.
1. Is it Darkness?
2. Is it Heaviness?
3. Is it Nothingness?
And, just so everyone doesn't have to look it up:
4. Is this the Babel Fish puzzle you're talking about?
The Babel fish is a fictional species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams.
It is introduced in the first novel of the series as a species of fish that can instantly translate any language to any other language:
“ The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix, formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear, you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. ”
The Babel fish was a useful plot device for Adams, as it allowed various alien races to communicate while speaking different languages. Adams wrote that the idea that all aliens would speak English was, to him, very strange. In the story, Ford Prefect gives Arthur Dent his babel fish after they have teleported to the Vogon spaceship and the Earth has been demolished. In the TV series version, Ford acquires the fish for Arthur from an aquarium-like vending machine on board. In the book So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Arthur returns to Earth after his hitch-hiking and finally removes his babel fish – letting it swim in the goldfish bowl the dolphins have left for him and deciding that he will only now need it for watching foreign films.
The fish's name refers to the story of the Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis.
Last edited by Dizzy1 on Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Questions:
1. Totally wrong, and in fact leads you to a DEADEND.
2. No, but it's just ONE step closer on a whooping huge road to the answer than Darkness.
3. Ha-ha. Neat, but totally wrong.
The "Babel Fish Puzzle" is from the GAME "The Hitchiker's Guide To Galaxy". Quoted from everything2.com:
1. Totally wrong, and in fact leads you to a DEADEND.
2. No, but it's just ONE step closer on a whooping huge road to the answer than Darkness.
3. Ha-ha. Neat, but totally wrong.
The "Babel Fish Puzzle" is from the GAME "The Hitchiker's Guide To Galaxy". Quoted from everything2.com:
Yes, my puzzle is even less obvious.Essentially, after awakening in the hold of a Vogon constructor ship, the player - as Arthur Dent - must retrieve a Babel Fish from a Babel Fish vending machine. In the book and television series Dent's friend Ford Prefect simply pressed a button and collected the fish from a pan, after which the book explained to the audience the significance of the fish and its role in causing "more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation".
In the game, life is not so simple. After the player presses the button, the fish is vended, but with such force that it flies across the room and into a hole. The sequence of events for the novice player goes as follows:
Above the hole is a hook, from which the player eventually decides to hang his dressing gown; this causes the vended Babel Fish to hit the gown and drop to the floor...
... where it falls down a drain ('press button and catch fish' is not a valid input). The player may then decide to block the drain with his handy towel, which causes the fish to hit the gown, drop to the floor, and land on the towel...
... where it is cleaned away by a cleaning robot that dashes into the room, and dashes out again via a small panel. At this point the player realises that the game is toying with him or her. Undefeated, he or she may choose to block the panel with Ford Prefect's satchel*, at which point the Babel Fish flies into the gown, drops to the floor, the robot picks it up, runs into the satchel, and throws the fish in the air...
... where it is cleaned away by another cleaning robot, one tasked with maintaining the upper half of the room. It is this additional puzzle that caused players the most anguish, as the solution is not at all obvious - it involves placing some junk mail on Ford Prefect's satchel, which, when sent flying through the air, occupies the second cleaning robot enough for the Babel Fish to arc gracefully into the player's ear.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
1. No. It can be a possible path to get to the answer though, but then you'll not understand the logic and become even MORE confused. So, forget it. No black holes.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Good puzzle Matt! (about the ice cubes) 
I wonder how long and how much more questions it should have taken before I found out the right answer.
Muzozavr, actually this was not really the kind of puzzle I had in mind with a little story what happened that has to be guessed. If I'm right I need pretty much knowledge about some kind physics. Although I like those things, I think this should be puzzles about a little story that everyone should easily understand after all. However, I'll try to give you the right answer.
First we need to know the definition of opposite in easy words. I think 2 things are opposite when they compensate each other. By example, the opposite of 4 is -4 for both together are compensating each other and together they are 0/zero.
So it has to be something that compensates light. I'm not sure if that's possible in real life but in theory it is possible. Light can be two things:
1. Radiation of energy-particles. Then the opposite should be the same radiation with the same kind of particles from the same place at the same time, but with the opposite energy. With other words: negative energy. (Not sure if such really exists)
2. A waveform. Like a wave in water. Then the opposite is also exactly the same wave, from the same and at the same time, but with opposite amplitude or 180 degrees out of fase.
I think this should be almost possible. When you throw a stone in water and after half the time of 1 wave you throw another stone at the same place, the water should be almost still. It is be done with soundwaves with the purpose of noise reduction or such if I'm right.
I wonder how long and how much more questions it should have taken before I found out the right answer.Muzozavr, actually this was not really the kind of puzzle I had in mind with a little story what happened that has to be guessed. If I'm right I need pretty much knowledge about some kind physics. Although I like those things, I think this should be puzzles about a little story that everyone should easily understand after all. However, I'll try to give you the right answer.
First we need to know the definition of opposite in easy words. I think 2 things are opposite when they compensate each other. By example, the opposite of 4 is -4 for both together are compensating each other and together they are 0/zero.
So it has to be something that compensates light. I'm not sure if that's possible in real life but in theory it is possible. Light can be two things:
1. Radiation of energy-particles. Then the opposite should be the same radiation with the same kind of particles from the same place at the same time, but with the opposite energy. With other words: negative energy. (Not sure if such really exists)
2. A waveform. Like a wave in water. Then the opposite is also exactly the same wave, from the same and at the same time, but with opposite amplitude or 180 degrees out of fase.
I think this should be almost possible. When you throw a stone in water and after half the time of 1 wave you throw another stone at the same place, the water should be almost still. It is be done with soundwaves with the purpose of noise reduction or such if I'm right.
I'm shocked to discover that Marinus is nearing the right answer that soon. I could do it in "tricky puzzles", but the very moment of defining the opposite is enough to make some yes/no questions before figuring it out, or making an intuition leap. You took the leap. Great!
However, even though you have the logic, you're going the dead-end path by taking the lightness-darkness pair as a basis.
You see, most of the sources I've read say that the waves don't cancel each other out as opposites, but through some sort of an another process. Superposition or something. I didn't get it, but it is pointed out, and the source was serious enough for me to incline to believe it.
And the "anti-photon" does NOT exist, period, end of. It has no charge, and therefore doesn't have a negative at all. And can never, ever, have.
Which means that down the lightness-darkness path, no true opposite exists.
There's a much more obvious answer down the other path, which also doesn't need as much knowledge in physics.
However, even though you have the logic, you're going the dead-end path by taking the lightness-darkness pair as a basis.
You see, most of the sources I've read say that the waves don't cancel each other out as opposites, but through some sort of an another process. Superposition or something. I didn't get it, but it is pointed out, and the source was serious enough for me to incline to believe it.
And the "anti-photon" does NOT exist, period, end of. It has no charge, and therefore doesn't have a negative at all. And can never, ever, have.
Which means that down the lightness-darkness path, no true opposite exists.
There's a much more obvious answer down the other path, which also doesn't need as much knowledge in physics.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
I don't completely agree what you said:
1. One of them is: To be or not to be. In that case the opposite of:
something <> nothing
light <> darkness
warmth <> coldth
existance <> no existance
........ <> no ...........
(Actually darkness and coldth don't exist)
But I think it's obvious that's not the kind of opposite you're talking about
2. About "something <> nothing", it's also possible to say the opposite of nothing is not just something, but everything. (I only know this example but not a definition)
3. more <> less
higher <> lower
etc.
4. A matter of feelings / sense / taste / thoughts. The one side of what should be normal and the opposite side.
warm <> cold (without "th")
light <> dark (without "ness")
light <> heavy
sweet <> bitter
good <> bad
Because it's a matter of sense and such there is not a good definition of it I think. Most of those examples are sort of similar to one of the other kinds of the word opposite like more or less, yes or no, to be or not to be
5. My definition mentioned in my previous post: Two things are each other's opposite if they compensate each other. And of course, when there is something that compensates light, when that happens the light isn't there anymore so then there is darkness. Is that what you meant by taking that pair as a base?
But as a matter of fact I was not saying the opposite of light is darkness. Actually I said the opposite of light is light itself (180 degrees out of fase)
Is one of these 5 examples your kind of opposite?
And what about my defintion of light? Waveform, radiation. Is that what you mean? Or is it more lightness like the fact that there is light? The lamp is on so there is light(ness), it is light.
Or something else?
I think the word "opposite" can mean many different things.taking the lightness-darkness pair as a basis.
1. One of them is: To be or not to be. In that case the opposite of:
something <> nothing
light <> darkness
warmth <> coldth
existance <> no existance
........ <> no ...........
(Actually darkness and coldth don't exist)
But I think it's obvious that's not the kind of opposite you're talking about
2. About "something <> nothing", it's also possible to say the opposite of nothing is not just something, but everything. (I only know this example but not a definition)
3. more <> less
higher <> lower
etc.
4. A matter of feelings / sense / taste / thoughts. The one side of what should be normal and the opposite side.
warm <> cold (without "th")
light <> dark (without "ness")
light <> heavy
sweet <> bitter
good <> bad
Because it's a matter of sense and such there is not a good definition of it I think. Most of those examples are sort of similar to one of the other kinds of the word opposite like more or less, yes or no, to be or not to be
5. My definition mentioned in my previous post: Two things are each other's opposite if they compensate each other. And of course, when there is something that compensates light, when that happens the light isn't there anymore so then there is darkness. Is that what you meant by taking that pair as a base?
But as a matter of fact I was not saying the opposite of light is darkness. Actually I said the opposite of light is light itself (180 degrees out of fase)
Is one of these 5 examples your kind of opposite?
And what about my defintion of light? Waveform, radiation. Is that what you mean? Or is it more lightness like the fact that there is light? The lamp is on so there is light(ness), it is light.
Or something else?
The definition is 5. In simple words, in a physical sense, an OPPOSITE is a something that compensates, or should I say, negates lightness.
There is nothing that negates lightness in the direction of lightness-darkness, but if you take a look at Dizzy's questions, the second pair is lightness-heaviness. English language makes it that more evil.
Apply your logic to that and you will get it.
There is nothing that negates lightness in the direction of lightness-darkness, but if you take a look at Dizzy's questions, the second pair is lightness-heaviness. English language makes it that more evil.
Apply your logic to that and you will get it.
Rest in peace, Kym. I hardly knew ya.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
Rest in peace, Marinus. A bright star, you were ahead of me on my own tracks of thought. I miss you.
So if I understand well the lightness has nothing to do with a light that shines or daylight, but it's a matter of weight or mass?
If yes, what is closer, weight or mass?
-With mass I mean a property of an object, everywhere the same, on Earth, on the moon, in space..
-With weight I mean the force to that object, caused by gravity
If yes, what is closer, weight or mass?
-With mass I mean a property of an object, everywhere the same, on Earth, on the moon, in space..
-With weight I mean the force to that object, caused by gravity