10 March 2019

An interesting puzzle

Read this up in the book “Mathematical Circus”.

You have 2 green balls, 2 yellow balls and 2 red balls. One ball of each color is 11 pounds each. The other ball of each color is 9 pounds each. You have a scale and pan balance. (meaning you can compare the weights of two sides – which is heavier and which is lighter but you never know the exact weight).

What is the least number of weighings required to find out which are the three heavier balls and which are the lighter balls?

Send me personal message with the reasoning.

Category: Puzzles | 1 Comment on An interesting puzzle
9 March 2019

How do you explain this?

Tonight is our Day Light Savings night. Basically, at after 1:59am, the clocks jump to 3:00am. Which means 2 am is the same as 3am. And yet, when I went to check the weather channel for the forecast, this is what I got…

How can we have 50% forecast of rain and also 80% for exactly the same moment of time?

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3 March 2019

From the bartender’s corner – White Old Fashioned

Picked up this recipe from Dave Purcell of Melrose Umbrella Company in Los Angeles. This has Mezcal, white Creme De Cacao, Yellow Chartreuse and Orange Bitters.

Can’t say I am the biggest fan of the output. I read somewhere that instead of the white chocolate, the dark chocolate goes better with the smoky mezcal. Will try the dark creme de cacao next time.

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2 March 2019

Why do we say “silver bullet”?

This phrase came up during a conversation last night. Which got me thinking what might be the magic behind the silver in a bullet. Why does a bullet made of silver make it a “magical fix”? I was assuming it had something to do with the difference in the metallic characteristics between silver and lead.

Turns out, this is less based on actual scientific reasoning. While it seems there are many cultures that believed that a bullet made of silver has magical powers, the oldest mention I could find was from the 17th century when it was a common belief that only a silver bullet could kill a werewolf. (A vampire, on the other hand, was unfazed by a silver bullet – it needed a wooden steak driven thru its heart).

That apparently is at the root of why we use “silver bullet” to mean a reliable, magical solution to a complicated problem.

Category: Word Play | LEAVE A COMMENT