It’s the Friday Puzzle!

If you like the Friday Puzzles, there is now a page containing 101 of them here.

OK, onto today’s puzzle….three riddles for you this week…..

1) When I’m going, it doesn’t mean I’m moving,  I can stop even though I don’t go anywhere, and I don’t have any arm but I do have hands. What am I?

2) He who makes me sells me, he who buys me does not use me, and he who does use me isn’t aware of it.  What am I?

3) I begin with an E, I end with an E and I only contain one letter, but I am not the letter E.

As ever, please do NOT post any answers, but feel free to say if you think you have solved them and how long it took.  Answers on Monday.

Clown caption contest….

I am giving a talk today at 6.30 at Foyles in London today (details here) – would be lovely to see you.

Time for a caption contest……

Any ideas? Feel free to post you captions and comment on others…..

Stare at the dot

This is a lovely and somewhat strange illusion. Stare at the red dot in the left-hand image for about 20 seconds, and then look at the centre of the right-hand image. All being well, lots of strange stuff will happen in your brain…..

Did it work for you? What did you see? People seem to see different things.

Best movement illusion I have ever seen….

First, if you enjoy the Friday Puzzle, I have just posted 101 of them here.

Second, I now can’t figure out who kindly sent this to me, but I love it (to get the full effect, it might be good to click on the image and open it up full size)…..

Does it work for you?

Answer to the Friday Puzzle!

First, if you enjoy the Friday Puzzle, I have just posted 101 of them here.

OK, to this week’s puzzle.  On Friday I posted this puzzle…..

John is a gardener.  The other day he bought a stack of posts and decided to put them around his garden.  He planted the posts 2 feet apart and found that he needed 200 extra posts.  Annoyed, he pulled up his posts and replaced them, but this time placing them 3 feet apart.  Now he had 25 posts over.  How many posts did he buy?

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else, the answer is after the break.

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

John is a gardener.  The other day he bought a stack of posts and decided to put them around his garden.  He planted the posts 2 feet apart and found that he needed 200 extra posts.  Annoyed, he pulled up his posts and replaced them, but this time placing them 3 feet apart.  Now he had 25 posts over.  How many posts did he buy?

As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do feel free to say whether you think you solved it and how long it took.  Solution on Monday.

If you enjoy the Friday Puzzle, remember that I have produced a kindle ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available in the UK here and USA here.

5 of the greatest photos ever…..

Tony E kindly sent me some great photos where people had clicked the button at exactly the right time.  Here are 5 of the best….

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Which is your favourite?

Photos that make you smile…

I have been sent two lovely photos.  Paula W kindly emailed me this…..

whilst @jbrownridge brought my attention to this….

Which do you prefer?

Wonderful psychology effect…..

@jbrownridge kindly sent me this and it is wonderful.  So clever on so many levels, especially the switch and use of the Polaroid camera!

Do you like it?

Answer to the Friday Puzzle….

At 10am today the tickets for the next Edinburgh Secret Society event (“The Lafayette Seance”) will go on sale here.

On Friday I posted this puzzle….

Can you cross out the unnecessary letters to leave a common phrase?

ATCHEOUNMNE

MCESOSNAPRH

YRLEATTSEERS

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else, the answer is after the break.

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

Can you cross out the unnecessary letters to leave a common phrase?

ATCHEOUNMNE

MCESOSNAPRH

YRLEATTSEERS

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

If you enjoy the Friday Puzzle, remember that I have produced a kindle ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available in the UK here and USA here.

 

Pick a card….

I have just announced the results of research carried out at the Edinburgh Science Festival showing that people cannot tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine.  The BBC have covered the story here and The Daily Mail discuss the details here.

OK, here is today’s item….watch and listen to this video in full and then choose a card….

Register your decision after the break….

CBS Mentalist

A few years ago I created various awareness videos to help promote the CBS Mentalist show…. this one was based on a card trick that I co-created with magician Peter Lamont

Like it?

The mystery of the ball and the glass….

Over the weekend I made this new illusion video….

Can you solve the mystery of the ball and the glass?

 

Answer to the Friday Puzzle….

On Friday I posted this puzzle… imagine that you accept a new job and are offered one of two possible pay schemes.

Scheme 1) You get a starting salary of $100 per year, and then a $20 pay rise each year.

Scheme 2) You get a starting salary of $100 per year, and then a $5 pay rise every six months.

In either case, you are paid every 6 months. Which scheme is better?

If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now.  For everyone else the answer is after the break.