It’s the Friday puzzle!

OK, first the bad news. The lion finally died of malnutrition and it is all your fault for being so good at solving puzzles. Now the good news….the puzzles will continue sans lion. So, here we go….

Your task is to identify the phrase indicated in the following types of words….

YOU JUST ME

In this instance the answer is ‘just between you and me’.

Now that you have the general idea, try these six:

SALE SALE SALE SALE

STAND
I

BRO KEN

R | E | A | D | I | N | G

TIMING TI-MING

THE GORILLAS MIST

The answer to this puzzle, and 100 others,  can be found in a new kindle ebook called PUZZLED, and is available in the UK here and USA here.

Most Haunted Revealed

As part of our recent day at the Edinburgh Science Festival exploring the science of ghosts, Ciaran O’Keeffe presented a two minute summary of Most Haunted. For those of you who don’t watch the show, Most Haunted is a very popular TV programme in which presenter Yvette Fielding, medium Derek Acorah and parapsychologist Ciaran O’Keeffe ‘investigate’ alledgely haunted locations.

Here is Ciaran’s very funny two minute summary of the show….

Ciaran is well-known for this article (pre-cursor of it here), in which he dramatically claimed that there might be normal explanations for Derek Acorah’s seemingly paranormal abilities. What do you think? Are you a fan of Most Haunted or do you think it is a load of tosh?

Can you trust your eyes?

Thanks to everyone who responded to the ‘Supersense’ question yesterday – let’s give it one more day and then look at what we have.

In the meantime, here is another great illusion to help make the day slightly more curious (thanks Stephen). This clip is presented by the ever youthful Richard Gregory, and shows the amazing ‘Ames Window’ in action.

So, right now you have a choice.  You can leave the sound up and hear the explanation to the illusion, or turn the sound down and just enjoy the spectacle.

Which did you do?  Sound up or sound down?  It poses an interesting question – do you find illusions more or less enjoyable when you know the psychology behind them?

What do you save from your burning house?

I have just reviewed Supersense, new book on belief in the paranormal by Bruce Hood.  It’s a great read, and argues that some aspects of superstitious thinking are ‘hard-wired’ into our brains.  At one point Bruce describes a study in which people have to say which objects they would save from their burning house.  Here is my version of it…..

Imagine that you only have two objects in your house:
1) A £10 watch that was given to you by your partner and therefore has sentimental value.
2) Another watch that’s worth £1000 but has no sentimental value.

Your house catches fire, and you only have time to save one of the two watches.  Say whether you are male or female, and which watch you would save….

It’s the Friday puzzle!

Last week the hungry lion confronted you with a clever matchstick problem, only for the group to come up with three solutions! Well, he has decided to make things really tricky. The lion has arranged nine matchsticks in the following pattern, producing three equilateral triangles….

Your task is to move just three matchsticks and produce 4 equilateral triangles. To make things really tricky, no overlapping of the matchsticks is allowed. Same rules as normal, please feel free to say if you have solved the puzzle and how long it took, but no solutions.

The answer to this puzzle, and 100 others,  can be found in a new kindle ebook called PUZZLED, and is available in the UK here and USA here.

Another amazing illusion

Wow. That was quite a response to the post yesterday. If fact, it caused almost as many comments as the debate that took place on here with the creationists.  I was tempted to post a straightforward porn image today and ask whether you could see the lamp in it. Anyway, I resisted the temptation and instead looked at the voting. It’s interesting. About 61% of men saw the woman first vs just 48% of women. We may have found the first optical illusion that is perceived differently by the sexes!

This week is turning into a bit of an illusion-fest, with this lovely video version of the Thatcher illusion….

What do you think? Like it?

What do you see when you look at this?

OK, here we go……what is the first thing you see when you look at this?

This is another find from my ongoing search for great illusions.  Obviously the image can be seen in a couple of ways and I am all curious to discover if men and women see the picture differently.

So, please say whether you are male or female and what you saw when you first encountered the image (keep it clean)….

Amazing optical illusions

I have been asked to put together a new project on optical illusions, and so was taking a quick look around the web to see what was out there. Here are 3 amazing illusions that I have never seen before…..in different ways, they each show just how many assumptions we make about the world around us

1) Created by Barton Anderson and Johnathan Winawer, in one image the figures appear black and the other they appear white. In fact, both sets of figures are identical.

2) A lovely induced movement image…

3) “A Lufthansa 747-400 and a United Airlines 757-20 on simultaneous approaches. The separation requirement for flying parallel and simultaneous approaches is 225 meters. These two aircraft are at a safe distance for the approaches they are each flying. Due to the Lufthansa 747 being three times larger than the 757 plane and being slightly behind , gives us this incredible optical illusion.”

Assuming it’s genuine, it’s great….

Which is your favourite and why?

It’s the Friday puzzle!

So here is the situation. You are walking along the street and suddenly two men jump out of a van. They blindfold you and bundle you into their vehicle. You are driven for miles before being taken into a house and your blindfold removed. You find yourself sitting in a dark, damp, room. There is a small table in front of you containing 11 matches and a small ball of paper.

A hungry looking lion is sitting opposite you, and out of the corner of your eye you can see four hats (two red, two blue) and a candle lying on the ground.

The lion leans forward and arranges the matchsticks and paper ball into the following dog-like shape.

He then turns around, takes a piece of chalk from behind his ear and writes on the wall….

CAN YOU MAKE THE DOG LOOK IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION BY MOVING JUST TWO OF THE MATCHSTICKS AND THE PAPER BALL? IF NOT, I WILL EAT YOU…..OH, AND ONE THING….THE DOG’S TAIL MUST REMAIN POINTING UP.

Can you escape with your life? As ever, feel free to say if you think you have solved it, and how long it took, but no answers. Solution on Monday. Have fun.

Update:  OK, so it turns out that there are two answers!  Can you get both of them?

The answer to this puzzle, and 100 others,  can be found in a new kindle ebook called PUZZLED, and is available in the UK here and USA here.

I’m in the mood for dancing

Tonight I will be teaming up with Dr Peter Lovatt from the University of Hertfordshire to explore the science of dancing at the Edinburgh International Science Festival. We will be having a dancer perform in total darkness, measuring the ears of the best dancers in the room (good dancers have more symmetrical ears than bad dancers), and teaching people the secrets of sexy dancing. More info here. Do come and join us if you can.

Peter used to be a professional dancer and now spends all of his time examining the psychology of dance. Here he is on the Graham Norton show strutting his stuff and demonstrating how to move in a sexy way…..

What do you think the way that someone dances say about them? Ever fallen for someone simply because of the way they move on the dancefloor?

How to play Jenga anywhere

A few posts ago I described how to construct a chess set from Battenberg cake and marshmallows. Well, the other day a friend and I wanted to play Jenga, but didn’t have a Jenga set. What on earth could we do? Answer after the break.

The world’s most annoying statue

The Sunday Times recently asked me to nominate a piece of art that I found inspirational. I went for one of the most annoying statues ever. Discover why after the break.

It’s the Friday puzzle!

Gordon Rutter is a writer, photographer and organiser of the Edinburgh Fortean Society. He is also a jolly nice man and was one of the speakers and co-organizers of the Hauntings event. A few weeks ago he told me about a great puzzle, and here is my version……

Imagine waiting in line at the Post Office. There is one person in front of you and another behind. The door suddenly bursts opens and in walks the nasty man that hung you upside down in the previous Friday puzzle. This time he has a bag containing four hats (two red and two blue), and is accompanied by his very good friend, the hungry lion.

You look at the lion, wink, and start to sing ‘happy birthday’. The lion snarls and the nasty man yanks his chain.

Next, the nasty man makes everyone in the line shut their eyes, takes three hats from the bag and placed one on each person’s head. Then he tells you all to look straight ahead and open your eyes, thus ensuring that each of you can only see the colour of any hats directly in front of you.

The nasty man then issues his ultimatum. “First, you are not allowed to say anything to one another. Now, if any of you can correctly state the colour of the hat you are wearing, all three of you will live. However, if you get it wrong then the hungry lion will eat all three of you”.

Not surprisingly, you are shocked. After all, you only came in for a packet of stamps and a Kit-Kat. Anyway, after about a minute of pin-dropping silence you suddenly name the colour of your hat, and the lion punches the air in frustration.

There are no mirrors, reflective surfaces, or squirrels in the Post Office, so how did you rob the lion of his meal this time?

The answer to this puzzle, and 100 others,  can be found in a new kindle ebook called PUZZLED, and is available in the UK here and USA here.

Speaking stuff

I will be going to the States tomorrow to speak at the CFI World Congress.  They have a great line-up of speakers, including Christopher Hitchens, Elizabeth Loftus, James Randi and Paul Kurtz.
Back early next week to talk to the Edinburgh Skeptics Society and to co-present an event at the Edinburgh International Science Festival on the psychology of dance with Peter ‘Dr Dance’ Lovatt.

If you make it to any of then events, be sure to come and say hi.

Dedication is what you need

A few posts ago I asked everyone to send in their best piece of life advice, describing how the winner would receive a dedication of their choice in my new book.

We received hundreds of entries and the standard was really high. A panel of judges have now chosen the top ones, and we are inviting everyone to vote by clicking here.

What is the best piece of advice that you have ever received?