It’s the Friday Puzzle!

A quick bit of good news before the puzzle.  The Apple ipad launches today in the UK and 59 Seconds has been chosen as one of the very first featured ebooks!  Congratulations to everyone at MacMillan for working so hard and making that happen.

OK, on with the puzzle.

The other day I went for a bike ride.  My favourite route has signs every meter saying how far you have travelled.  I came across the sign saying ’15951 meters’ and thought ‘Oh, that’s interesting, it is a number palindrome because it reads the same from left to right as right to left’.  Then I rode on.  Two hours later I came across the next palindromic number sign.  How fast was I going?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have solved it and how long it took.  Solution on Monday!

Dylan and a great illusion….

Good morning. I have just come across some rare footage of Bob Dylan performing a magic trick – thought you might enjoy it. Fingers crossed you can see it here.

Also, this is a lovely illusion.  See if you can identify the picture below.  Once you have it you won’t believe that you didn’t see it in the first place…..

New ghost illusion

Three things.

1) As you may have heard, the genius that was Martin Gardner passed away a couple of days ago.  I never met Martin, but he was a huge inspiration (e.g., my Prediction video is based on his work).  His last interview is great and available here (and thanks to @alexbellos  for bringing it to my attention).

2) Jon Ronson and my good self were guests on Radio 4′s Museum of Curosity recently.  I suggested that Milgram’s shock machine should go into the museum, and you can hear the show here.

3) @alexisconran sent me the great ghost photo below.  Any ideas about what might be happening?

Tell me what is going on here….

First, a huge thank you to everyone who has helped put 59 Seconds into the Amazon UK top twenty – great to see a science book out-selling The Secret in the self-help section!

Yesterday I put a fun psychological test on Twitter.  If you missed it, take a quick look at the picture on the left and decide what might be happening.  Who are these people?  What is, has, or is going to happen?  Why?

Find out what this might reveal about you after the break!

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

You are trapped in a prison and the guard decides to play a game.  If you win, you will be allowed to leave.  But if you lose, you die.   The guard says that he is thinking of number 1, number 2, or number 3.  You are allowed to ask one question to find out which of these three numbers the guard has in mind. However, the guard will only answer with a “yes”, “no”, or “I don’t know”.  What should you say to the guard?

As ever, please feel free to say if you think you have a solution and how long it took, but please do NOT post your answers.  Solution on Monday.  Have a good weekend!

The illusionist

Professor Richard Gregory died a few days ago. Richard carried out a great deal of work into the psychology of illusion, and  his wonderful book, Eye and Brain, is responsible for sparking my interest in perception and deception.  Early on in his career he came across a cafe in Bristol with a pattern of tiling that produced a striking illusion (details here), and so I thought it would be nice to use the image to produce a small tribute to the great man……

If you haven’t figured it out, the lines in the illusion appear sloping but are actually parallel.

UPDATE: Michael Kingsford Gray just brought my attention to this huge 3D version of the illusion…

Here is Richard in action explaining another wonderful illusion…..

Are you a fan of his work?

Are the good looking people also good in bed?

Time for some fun.  I wonder if you can help solve an argument.  The other day a friend of mine said that he thinks that good looking people also tend to be good in bed.  I am not so sure.  So, to help solve the issue is a totally scientific way, could you vote on the following polls.  To see if there are any sex difference, females should vote in the first poll and males in the second…..

Monkey Business Illusion

A few things.  I am in Brighton today taking a look at the new Project Alpha show.  All very exciting and I will let you know how it goes.  Also, Dan Simons (him of the fab gorilla and basketball video) has a new book out called The Invisible Gorilla.  Do check it out.  To celebrate, he has produced this nice new video….

Did it catch you?

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

For those who missed it, Channel Four’s recent ‘Derren Brown Investigates…’ can be seen online here, and features my good self chatting about cold reading.  I have a feeling you are the sort of person that will enjoy the programme.

OK, to the puzzle…..today I have to make dinner and have to boil some pasta for exactly 9 minutes.  However, I only have two hourglasses.  One of them measures 7 minutes and the other measures 4 minutes.  Can I use the hourglasses to time exactly 9 minutes?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have a solution and how long it took.  Answer on Monday.  Make the most of Saturday.  It is due to rain on Sunday.

Does this move for you?

First up, talented magician and mate Pete Firman is performing at London’s South Bank on Saturday.  If you enjoy good magic and many a laugh, please go and see him (details here).  Second someone sent me this on Twitter yesterday (unfortunately I have now lost the tweet so please let me know who you are and I will say thank you!)…..I think it is amazing….

but the question is……does it move for you?

Stunning optical illusion

Loads of people have been kind enough to draw my attention to this.  It is, quite simply, stunning.  Enjoy….

Are you impressed?

Let’s play a game…..

Many thanks for the kind comments about my little bit in Derren Brown’s great show last night.  I have had lots of questions about the purple shirt I was wearing.  It is from here.

Let’s imagine that we are going to play Rock Scissors Paper.  If you don’t know it, this is the classic two person game where each of you put your hands under a table or behind your back, and bring them out as a fist (rock), flat (paper) or with two fingers extended (scissors).  The combination dictates who wins, with Scissors cutting Paper, Rock blunting Scissors and Paper covering Stone.  So, if possible, actually place your hand under the table, imagine that you are going to play, and that this is the first round.  Bring out your hand…which did you choose?  Vote now and let’s see if there is a difference between men and women….

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

Just to remind you that this is the final day Amazon UK have  59 Seconds for just £3.59.  Order it here.

OK, onto the Friday puzzle…..

Imagine that you are trapped in a prison cell.

The only way out is through the door, but the door is locked.  There is a combination lock on the door, and the following sequence of numbers appears above the lock:

1
11
21
1211
111221
312211

…to open the door you have to enter the next number in the sequence into the combination lock.  What number should you enter?

As ever, please do NOT post your solution, but feel free to say if you have solved it and how long it took. Answer on Monday.  Have a good weekend!

What do you hear when you listen to this?

Just to remind you that Amazon UK have just chosen 59 Seconds as book of the week, so it will be just £3.59 for the next seven days.  Order it here.

OK, ad over.  What word or words do you hear when you listen to this?

More about what this says about you after the break…

How predictable are you?

I was on the BBC One Show yesterday talking about the new Chris Morris film, Four Lions (a comedy about terrorism).  You can see the show here.

I am writing about cold reading at the moment, and wondered how difficult it would be to create some statements that sounded very specific, but are actually true of lots of people.  I have come up with the three below.  For each one, vote whether it is true of you, then click the ‘view results’ button to find out how predictable you are!

How did you do?  Are you more predictable than you imagined?  Any ideas for other statements?