Brain Twister(S)

[kbobam]

I think I have it.
Since I don't know how to do Steph's 'invisible ink'
trick, I'll wait before saying anything.

Edit:  I guess there's no reason not to go so far as
to say my answer is "Yes. There is a way." 

[Steph]

This could take awhile.

[Steph]

Does the room have a ceiling?

 

[kbobam]

I forgot to say the other evening that I thought the original "What're y'all in for?" post
was not only really fun it itself, but the different responses were incredibly interesting
for various reasons.  My gut is telling me that most of us felt like the humor had a
'first part' and 'second part'.  But for half of us (maybe?) the parts are reversed!
It all depends on which part you 'got' first, or if you're most comfortable thinking in
a 'linear' left to right way. 
Personally, I laughed at the "A Salt!" and "Battery!" idea almost immediately.
So that was the 'first part' for me.
But understanding the washing machine joke came much later, at which point I
laughed so loudly I almost made a mess in my pants. 

P.S. My approach to the lightbulb riddle doesn't need a ceiling or lack thereof.

[winnie]

I would take the table with the light bulb outside,and try which of the light switches energizes the light bulb.

You have to understand I'm not good in riddles.

[Steph]

I would ask Winnie to help me.

Since we wouldn't be able to hear each other through the door when it was closed, we would prearrange a code.

She would flip the first switch on and off once.  Then she would switch the second switch on and off twice.  Then she would switch the third switch on and off three times.

Then by the number of times the lightbulb came on, I would know which switch she was using which worked.

 

And I would get to meet Winnie.  

 

So that's my answer to the riddle.  

[Hoody]

Hi, maybe I did not give the rules exact enough. When the door is open (or has been opened and closed afterwards to let someone in or take the table out) then no switiching is allowed any more. So let's say: No changes to the setup, first switch while no one is in the room then open the door and tell. Video equipment or measurement stuff for anything can also not get inside before the door is open.

The room has a ceiling and a floor and when the door is close nothing comes in or out - no light, no sound, no ...

So Steph, winnie, maybe you would like to rethink your strategy?

@kbobam: Steph played around with the font colour - she set it to "white" -

And - yes, there is a way to find it out for sure.

[Steph]

What kind of switch is it?  

 

Is it an on-off switch.  Or is it the kind with a knob which allows you to adjust brightness?  

 

[Hoody]

Just simple on-off switches.

[Hoody]

Seems Steph has an idea.

All others: if you think the "dark room riddle" is too hard or you just know the solution you can advance to this one:

The ancient knights want to attack a castle. The water barrier is a rectangular shape and itself is 8 feet wide. The attacking knights just have two sturdy trees to build something like a rudimentary bridge but both of them are just 6 feet long - way too short. They have no nails and no ropes and nothing to fix the two trees together so the knights can pass with their heavy harnesses. But finally they managed to cross the water barrier using their two trees and the defenders of the castle gave up ...

Do you find out how they did it?

(Okay, it is not so new I guess)

[Steph]

I know the answer to the knight problem.

 

Still not an idea on the light problem. 

Was hoping for the fancy kind of switch.  With just on-off switches, I have to go back to the drawing board .....

[kbobam]

I was just thinking about something that isn't quite
a 'riddle', since there's no clear-cut answer.
Although sometimes, at least in English, we use that
word for this sort of situation.  If you take the traditional
situation of wondering whether a tree that falls down in
an unpopulated forest makes a 'sound', no one is going to
say "That's a fascinating philosophical inquiry!"  They're
going to say "Gee!  That's one heck of a riddle!"  

Now that I've bored you to death with that introduction, I'll
tell you what I'm thinking about.  What happens in
situations where you're wondering whether you should
say something?  Or maybe not.

At some point, I came to the conclusion that the fact that
you're thinking about it in the first place is a very good
reason to say nothing.  I still believe this makes a lot of
sense, although obviously I don't always do it here!   

Why embarrass yourself?  Or possibly do worse harm!
I guess because saying things can sometimes do a lot of good.
It's a real conundrum.  Or riddle, maybe.  ( :

[Hoody]

4 hours ago, kbobam said:

I was just thinking about something that isn't quite
a 'riddle', since there's no clear-cut answer.

kbobam,

maybe what is known as "Schrodinger's Cat" (Schrödingers Katze) fits your bill?

 

All who are not interested to the solution of the light switch problem might refrain from highlighting the lines hereunder (highlighting means to mark it as if you mark any text for copy&paste - it is a nice trick Steph figured out):

You flip the first switch to ON, flip the second switch to ON and go for a coffee. When you come back you flip the second switch to OFF and open the door to the room.

If the light is still on, you immediately know it must be the first switch still at its ON position.

If the light is off, you went in, carefully touch the light bulb and when it is hot then it is the second switch.

If the lightbulb is still cold, it must be the third switch (we assume, that the lightbulb is working).

[Hoody]

The knight's bridge (you know now how things work ):

They lay the first tree across one corner of the water barrier, at an angle of 45°. The second tree they put from the midpoint of this first tree to the opposite corner. Just take a piece of papaer and a pencil, do a sketch and you see yourself ...

[Steph]

Beautiful solution to the lightbulb problem!

[kbobam]

My solution to the lightbulb situation was to turn on switch 1 and then go get coffee or whatever.
When you get back you turn switch 1 back off, turn on switch 2 and immediately open the door.

Although I've been straining my brain trying to come up with an amusing reason why my
approach is somehow better, it looks like it's basically the same thing. 

[kbobam]

I forgot to ask.
Are other people getting spell-check warnings about "lightbulb"?
I'm going to assume that we're being requested to write "light bulb" instead.
99% of the time I don't like the spelling and grammar changes I've seen in
modern times, because they're almost always completely stupid.
But I'm going to make an exception here, because in this case it's the
traditional way that's less logical.  A 'light bulb' is any sort of 'bulb' that's
not as 'heavy' as average.  A lightbulb is a specific object. 

To hell with it.  From now on I refer to them with the even older term
"incandescent lamps".  And the modern energy-saving squiggly units,
which clearly aren't bulbs at all, will be called "fluorescent fudge-ups" 

[Steph]

I was wondering if the modern ones would mess with the solution to this riddle.  

[kbobam]

The modern ones mess with everything!
Personally, I think it's a commie plot!
Forgive me.  Old habit from an old guy.
And honestly, even when I was younger I
never met a so-called Communist I didn't like.
Please replace that term with whomever we're supposed to be hating now! 
 

 

[Hoody]

Hi, I already was thinking of how this "light bulb = lighbulb = incandescent lamp" riddle would work out in a decade or so. But let's be honest: even the most modern LED light sources get warmer when on. So I think for the next ten years we can stay with this. Maybe we need to go for a party instead of just one coffee.

I like kbobam's idea also. A nice additional solution.

No, I do not get spell-check warnings. Spell checking seems to be off.

===================

In 50 years or so the problem must be reduced from 3 to 2 switches. It will take everybody 5 to 10 minutes to program his smart underwear to find about about the doing ... and in a hundred or so years people's brain are stressed to the limit when asking about a switch - everything will be controlled just mentally in those days ...

[Steph]

I really do love that kind of riddle.

It's close to a kind of riddle that my brother introduced me for killing time on a trip down to Mexico.  Where someone poses a simple-sounding situation and then you ask lots and lots of yes-or-no questions to try to figure out what the real story is.

This type ... 

http://www.destination-innovation.com/articles/the-top-ten-lateral-thinking-puzzles/

[Hoody]

" The Man in the Elevator" I already knew. "The Coal, Carrot and Scarf" I personally found obvious for itself but the remainder ... some are really funny when reading the solution.

 

Let's try this one (maybe my writing is not as perfect as should be):

Two men are sitting at a junction. It is known that one of them always tells lies, the other one always tells the truth. But nobody knows which of the two is the liar. One day a wanderer arrives at the junction. He wanted to head to the village but there was no sign to direct the proper way (left or right). Only the two guys to ask. The wanderer just took a short rest, then asked one of the two men exactly one question and from the answer he knew immediately which of the two ways leads to the village.

Can you figure out which question the wanderer asked?

[Steph]

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that one -- from memory -- but now I have to go back and remind myself the logic of why it works.  

It's a good 'un.

 

 

Edit: yup!  I got it.  It's just a little bit slippery.  I needed a diagram.

[Hoody]

Is it already time to give an answer? I hope I got it right myself:

On 5/11/2016 at 8:57 AM, Hoody said:

Can you figure out which question the wanderer asked?

"Which direction will your neighbour give me to the village?" the wanderer asked one of the two men.

The man immediately pointed to the right. The wanderer took the other way and arrived at the village later on. Why?

If he asked the always-tell-the-truth-guy he will get the direction NOT leading to the village because the always-tell-lies-guy is his neighbour and since he always lies he would give the wrong way.

If he asked the always-tell-lies-guy he will also get the direction NOT leading to the village because the always-tell-the-truth-guy is his neighbour and since he would give the right way the liar does his job and falsifies the result.

Besides that we still do not know which of the two is the liar - in fact they keep their secret.

[Steph]

The lie teller will falsely tell you that the truth teller will point in the false direction -- so you go the other direction.

The truth teller will honestly tell you that the lie teller will point in the false direction -- so you go the other direction.