Richard Wiseman's Blog, page 64

Scary eyes illusion

I love the ‘eyes open – eyes shut’ illusion.  Here are three of the best….

Which is your favourite?

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Yu Ho Jin

The world championships of magic (known as ‘FISM’) have just been held in Blackpool.  The overall winner of in the stage category went to the amazing Yu Ho Jin.  Take 6 minutes out of your day and watch the finest manipulative magic I have ever seen….

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Like it?

New and lovely pool illusion

Just spotted this – really simple and really well done – enjoy!

Answer to the Friday Puzzle…..

On Friday I posted this puzzle…..

A man places three coins in front of you – a bronze coin, a silver coin and a gold coin.

The man says “If you tell me a true statement, you will be given one of the coins.  But if your statement proves to be false, you will be given nothing”.

What should you say to guarantee being given the gold coin?

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

You should say ‘You will not give me the copper or the silver coin’.  If this is true, you get the gold coin.  It cannot be a lie, because if it were a lie, it would have to come true!

Did you solve it?  Any other answers?

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.

It’s the Friday Puzzle….

A man places three coins in front of you – a bronze coin, a silver coin and a gold coin.

The man says “If you tell me a true statement, you will be given one of the coins.  But if your statement proves to be false, you will be given nothing”.

What should you say to guarantee being given the gold coin?

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.

See a woman levitate right in front of your eyes!

@danjones23 sent me this yesterday and it is lovely…..

and everyone and their dog sent me this…..

Oh, and delighted to announce that the new Rip It Up posters are out and about on the London underground right now….

Have a nice day.

Chances of that…..

@symoneinOz brought my attention to a whole host of strange photos….. here are my two favourites….

Which one works best for you?

Best ever military parade?

@Letitia_Potorac  sent me this last week and it is stunning

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If fact, some people have suggested that it is CGI – what do you think?  Genuine or fake?

Answer to the Friday Puzzle……

On Friday I set this puzzle…….

John wants to toss a coin to make a random decision.

However, he only has a biased coin (that is, a coin that does not have a 50:50 chance of coming up heads or tails).  Even worse, John doesn’t know the extent of the bias, and thus has no idea about the likelihood of obtaining a head or tail.

How can John toss the coin to make a 50:50 random decision?

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

Imagine John tosses the coin twice.  The chances of getting heads-tails is the same as tails-heads, no matter what the bias of the coin.  Thus, all he has to do is toss the coin twice, assigning a ‘yes’ to HT and a ‘no’ to TH.  If the coin comes up TT or HH he ignores the trial and repeats the process until he gets TH or HT.

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.

It’s the Friday Puzzle!

John wants to toss a coin to make a random decision.

However, he only has a biased coin (that is, a coin that does not have a 50:50 chance of coming up heads or tails).  Even worse, John doesn’t know the extent of the bias, and thus has no idea about the likelihood of obtaining a head or tail.

How can John toss the coin to make a 50:50 random decision?

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.

Yesterday we had a Rip It Up caption competition.  Here was the image:

I thought that the best caption came from Dominic Twose - “I’d leave it five minutes if I were you.” Congrats Dominic, drop us an email and we will get a signed book to you.

And finally, here is a little interview with my good self revealing exactly what Rip It Up is all about…