It’s the Friday Puzzle!

First, if you are in or around NYC, you can still take part in this great Halloween experiment into hauntings. Details here.

OK, onto the puzzle.  Another classic from Martin Gardner this week.

Let’s suppose that a couple have four children.  All four of the children could be the same sex, there could be three of one sex and one of another, or the sexes could be balanced two and two.  Which possibility is most likely?

As ever, please do NOT post your answer, but do feel free to say if you think you have solved it and how long it took.  Answer on Monday!

 

 

Chaplin time travel video solved?

Quite a few people have sent me this interesting video showing a few moments from a 1928 Chaplin film in which a woman appears to be on a mobile phone!  Take a look at the footage…

Any ideas?  I suspect that the answer to the riddle is here.  What do you think?  Could she have been testing the device by talking into it and seeing if she could hear herself?

UPDATE: Adam Wood has suggested that it might have been a ‘Lutz Ferrando ear trumpet’. Details here.

If you are interested, the full video about the original footage is here.

 

 

Great upside down art….

I am a big fan of upside down art and here are three of my favourites….

turns into this….

Number two….

turns into….

Number three….

turns into….

What do you think?  Which is your favourite?

Great 3D illusion

@MetalMonsteruksent me this and it is fab…..

Do you like it?

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

Two great Martin Gardner puzzles this week….

1) Can you change 100 into CAT by moving just two of these matchsticks?

2) Can you draw one line (it needn’t be straight) that will divide this figure into two identical parts?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, do say if you have solved them and how long it took.  Solutions on Monday.

Update: Here is a ‘personal’ magic square that I created as part of the Martin Gardner Mind Party in Edinburgh…

Test your imagination!

Today  people all around the world will be celebrating the genius that was Martin Gardner.  Go here to see if there is an event in your area.  I will be staging a short Gathering for Gardner event in Edinburgh tonight, just prior to Edinburgh Skeptics in the Pub at 7.30.  Venue details here.

Here are three lovely examples of our amazing ability to see nonexistent faces and bodies in stuff …..

What do you think?  Which is your favourite?

 

 

The Monkees have Saddam Hussain!

First,tonight I am speaking at Newcastle Skeptics in the Pub – please come along! Details here.

Second, for those of you in or around NYC, there is a great opportunity to take part in some amazing ‘ghost’ research that is happening very soon – details here.

Second, I came across this great misheard lyric the other day….proof that The Monkees have Saddam Hussain…

and this is great too…

What do you think? Does they work for you?

Caption competition

@thewildbunny sent me this great image of a rather unusual costume today……

…I thought it would make a rather lovely caption competition.  So, 10 points for the best caption……

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

A rather curious one this week via Mike P.

What rule has been used to create the following number sequence:

8 5 4 9 1 7 6 3 2 0

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

I am a Freud not….

This morning I will be on the Today program discussing whether there is any scientific evidence to support the ideas of Sigmund Freud.  As such, I thought that it was appropriate to run with an inkblot test.  So, lay down on the virtual coach, clear your mind and tell me what you see when you look at this image….

Any idea what this is?

This is a rare and lovely image…..

Can you tell what it is?  As soon as you see it you won’t be able to perceive the image any other way!

Lovely Ricky Jay illusion….

This is quite a few years old, but is an illusion ad starring the amazing Ricky Jay….

Enjoy it?  Can you explain it in less that 50 words?

 

 

It’s the Friday Puzzle…..

OK, two puzzles this week.

First, you have a large box, a small box, and three stones…..

How can you put the stones in the boxes to ensure that each box contains an odd number of stones?  There are at least two solutions – can you find both of them?

Second, this nice puzzle was submitted by my good friend Mr Pythagoras.  Take a look at the diagram below….

Can you figure out the radius of the circle?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do feel free to say if you have solved the puzzles and how long it took.  Solutions on Monday.

 

Prepare to be very very confused…..

Just come across this…..

If the dancers are not rotating, click on the image.  The lines are a great addition to the classic dancer illusion because it makes the far left hand figure appear to move in one direction and the far right hand figure move in the opposite direction.  Does it make your brain hurt?

New magic illusion….

First, @_LriCh_ sent me this yesterday….a genuine rabbit – duck illusion….

Second, magician Pete Firman told me about this ….

It is a very nice variation on a trick known as the Substitution Trunk.  Any ideas how it is done?