Richard Wiseman's Blog, page 62
August 15, 2012
Chatty chatty chat chat
Those nice folk at Interviews With Comedians recently chatted with me at the Edinburgh Fringe. I spoke about my hatred of shortbread fingers, experimenting with puppies, and bitchy magicians.
I hope that you enjoy it!
August 14, 2012
Punctuate this sentence……
First, if you are up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I am performing my Psychobabble show today at 12.10 and 6.05. Details here.
Second, without thinking about it too much, how would you punctuate this sentence…..
“A woman without her man is nothing”
In fact there, are two popular answers. More after the break.
According to the ever reliable internet, women tend to write
“A woman: without her, man is nothing”
whilst men go with….
“A woman, without her man, is nothing”
Did it work for you? Vote now!
Take Our Poll
August 13, 2012
Turn your legs to jelly……
I am fascinated by videos that cause people to have strange experiences. @Roxmo sent me this – I dare you to watch it without your legs turning to jelly…
What effect did it have on you?
August 12, 2012
Answer to the Friday Puzzle…..
On Friday I set this puzzle….
You have nine tennis balls and four shopping bags. Your challenge is to put the balls in the bags in such a way that there is an odd number of balls in each bag. That is, each bag must contain 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 balls. Can you do it?
If you haven’t tried to solve it, have a go now. For everyone else the answer is after the break….
It is all about putting the bags inside one another. You could, for example, put 3 balls in each of 3 bags, and then place one of these bags in the fourth bag. There are lots of possibilities. Did you solve it? Any other solutions?
I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.
August 9, 2012
It’s the Friday Puzzle!
First a quick bit of news – tomorrow I am interviewing comedian and actor Alan Davies as part of ‘BBC at the Edinburgh Festival’. Tickets are available from 11am tomorrow at their venue.
Now, the puzzle.
You have nine tennis balls and four shopping bags. Your challenge is to put the balls in the bags in such a way that there is an odd number of balls in each bag. That is, each bag must contain 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 balls. Can you do it?
As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have solved the puzzle and how long it took. Solution on Monday.
I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.
August 8, 2012
World’s largest anamorphic illusion?
Came across this and loved the scale of it……
Like it?
August 7, 2012
Amazing nominative determinism!
In Quirkology I described lots of research into nominative determinism – the idea that a person’s name can have a significant influence on their life. @nedatutu recently sent me this great example from the Olympics. The final woman listed on the chart fell over in the 400m hurdles……
Oh, and if you are up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I am performing my Psychobabble show twice today. Details here.
August 6, 2012
Fool your eyes right now…..
Much happening at the moment. I am delighted that Rip It Up is now Deal of the Week on Amazon UK. Details here.
Second if you are up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I am performing my Psychobabble show tomorrow. Details here.
Finally, here is one of my heros, Richard Gregory, talking about the amazing Ames window illusion…..
Did it fool you?
August 5, 2012
Answer to the Friday Puzzle….
I was walking along the street and saw a woman playing with two children of different ages. One of the children was a girl. What are the chances that both children were girls?
If you have not tried to solve it, have a go now. For everyone else the answer is after the break.
So, there are four possible combinations in which two children could be born:
BG
GB
BB
GG
We know that BB is impossible, so we are left with:
BG
GB
GG
If the girl was born first then the possible combinations are
GB
GG
If the girl was born second then the possible combinations are
BG
GG
Either way, the answer is 50:50
Did you solve it?
I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.
August 2, 2012
It’s the Friday Puzzle!
I was walking along the street and saw a woman playing with two children of different ages. One of the children was a girl. What are the chances that both children were girls?
As ever, please do NOT post your answers, but do say if you think you have solved the puzzle and how long it took. Solution on Monday.
I have produced an ebook containing 101 of the previous Friday Puzzles! It is called PUZZLED and is available for the Kindle (UK here and USA here) and on the iBookstore (UK here in the USA here). You can try 101 of the puzzles for free here.
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