The Google Talk Riddle for today is a classic:
My first doth affliction denote,
Which my second is destin’d to feel;
And my whole is the best antidote
That affliction to soften and heal.
I can’t make this stuff up.
The riddle was posted at 13:00. A few of you used the resources of Google and the like to find the answer, so you don’t win.
The correct answer came from my friend Justin at 18:42: “Woman.”
I picked up this riddle from Emma by Jane Austen.
Today’s Google Talk Riddle was:
You are in a room with three switches. Upstairs in a closed room is a single lamp with a normal bulb that is controlled by one of the switches. You must determine which switch controls the lamp. Once you go upstairs, you cannot return to the switches. How do you do it?
It was posted at 10:38 Central Standard Time.
The first correct answer came in at 10:54, courtesy of my friend Sol. This was his method:
Turn on the first and second switches and wait for a while. Then turn off the second switch and go check the lamp. If the lamp is on, the first switch controls it. If the lamp is off, feel the bulb. If the bulb is hot, the second switch controls it. If the bulb is cool, the third switch controls it.
An alternate, but essentially identical solution provided by my brother Eric is to turn on the first switch, wait a few minutes, then turn off the first switch, turn on the second switch and immediately go check the lamp. This is the solution I was aware of.
I am going to continue to release these Google Talk Riddles regularly, and the only place I will release them is in my status message on Google Talk. Because I only have a limited amount of space for the message, they are often abbreviated versions. I try to leave in all the essential information, but feel free to ask questions. I will answer to the best of my ability without revealing the solution.
Also, if you tell your friends about it and they want to add me as a contact, please either let me know or have them send me an email, so I recognize the email address when I receive a contact invitation.
Today I set my Google Talk status to the following riddle:
You reach a fork in a path. One way leads to a village of nice people who always tell the truth. The other leads to a village of mean cannibals who always lie. A representative from each village is at the fork, but you don’t know who is who. You can only ask one question, and both representatives will answer the question. Based on the answers you receive you must choose one of the paths to walk down. What is your question?
The first person to find a correct solution was my sister Lorraine. The question she asked was, “If I asked the other person which way the truth-telling village is, what would his answer be?” Both representatives pointed to the same path, and Lorraine ran the other way.
Now, that’s a complicated question. For anyone who was as confused as I was, here is the explanation:
We will call the solution the “outer question,” because it contains a hypothetical “inner question.”
If the liar was asked the inner question, he would point to his own village, the one full of cannibals who lie. Therefore, when the truth-teller is asked the outer question, he will point to the lying village.
If the truth-teller was asked the inner question, he would point to his own village, the one full of nice people who wouldn’t eat you. Therefore, when the liar is asked the outer question, he will point to the lying village.
So there you are, standing at a fork in the road with two people pointing the way to the village of liars, and you decide to run the other way. Good choice.
This solution works, but it isn’t what I was thinking of. There is a simpler answer. Or rather, there is a simpler question.
I asked, “Which way is it to your village?” Then I ran the way they pointed.
When Lorraine asked me why you have to run, I answered, “Because you are being chased by a bear.”