Vulcan Logic

[WxMurray 0]

Well, since no one seems to be able to get it, here's the answer.

 

The hint was the two-door coupe, because when he looks into the car after it arrives, it's empty. Don't forget, he wakes up, the car is there, but it's empty. He notices that the seat back is pushed forward. It's a two-door car. The third person in the car was in the back seat and got out. So the kahuna was riding up front, of course, and the other bodyguard was in the back seat. And when the three of them got out, the seat back was pushed forward, and the detective said, "Now I know the big boss is in the building."

[WxMurray 0]

A graduate student worked at one of the institutions of higher learning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and wrote his dissertation on the relationship between uncontrollable outside forces and automobile accidents. He collected thousands and thousands of accident reports from the State of Massachusetts and correlated the time of the accident with other factors, like temperature, road conditions, automobile size, age of the driver, alcohol usage, speed limits, and whether the accident victim was listening the radio.

 

After thousands of hours of data input and hours of computer grinding, he discovered an amazing statistic. He found the absolute safest time of year to drive an automobile on a public highway.

 

It was so safe, in fact, that not one single accident had occurred.

 

However, still not able to believe his own conclusions, he returned to collecting more accident reports -- this time nationwide. Nationwide, he found that there had been statistically less than 2% of the number of accidents in any other time frame.

 

The question is: when was the safest time of the year to drive on a public highway and why?

Edited March 21, 2005 by WxMurray

[Reidun Seversen 0]

February 29th because it happens only once every four years therefore has 1/4 the chance of accidents as any other day in the year.

[WxMurray 0]

February 29th because it happens only once every four years therefore has 1/4 the chance of accidents as any other day in the year.

That's a good guess, but is incorrect because it occurs once every four years. My guess would also be that there have been accidents on Leap Day in the past. What I am looking for occurrs every year.

[Darrik 0]

I'm guessing one of those daylight savings time things. It's the day where there is only 23 hours.

[WxMurray 0]

I guess this one was a bit easier than the last. That's right. In most parts of the US, Daylight Saving Time (the proper term is "Saving", not "Savings") begins at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of April. At this point the time jumps ahead an hour to 3:00 AM. Technically, this hour doesn't even exist, hence the 23 hour day. So this student could not have found any local accidents for this hour. However, there are some parts of the US that do not observe Daylight Saving Time. With so few locales that do not observe DST, it stands to reason that there would be some accidents in these areas in this hour.

[WxMurray 0]

A few weeks ago, my vacuum broke. This is a conventional vacuum cleaner -- the kind that's on wheels, with the hose that plugs in on one end. The vacuum looks like a torpedo.

 

Before I threw it out, however, I decided I'd take it apart to see if I could fix it. I surprised myself and found the problem. It was a broken wire.

 

While I'm fixing it, I notice a huge chunk of iron attached to the base of the vacuum. It looks like it weighs about two pounds.

 

I remembered two years ago when I took a stereo component apart. I noticed that it also had a huge chunk of iron in there -- so that you wouldn't think it was a big empty box with 65 cents' worth of components

 

I thought, Do I want my wife dragging around this vacuum cleaner that's two pounds heavier? Of course not. I'll just throw this thing out. So I pry off the piece of iron and I put the vacuum back together.

 

A while later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table, smugly chewing on an apple. When my wife comes in and goes to vacuum, something odd happens. The question is: what happened to the vacuum when she turned it on?

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

The vacuum shot forward, because the air being vented was sufficient to move it once the extra weight was removed.

 

I would never have gotten that bodyguard one. I am one of those compulsive people who returns front seats to the full upright position in two-door cars.

[WxMurray 0]

The vacuum shot forward, because the air being vented was sufficient to move it once the extra weight was removed.

 

I would never have gotten that bodyguard one. I am one of those compulsive people who returns front seats to the full upright position in two-door cars.

That's pretty close. Actually, the vacuum started turning in circles. Using Newton's Third Law (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction), the vacuum would turn in circles opposite the direction that the motor rotates.

[WxMurray 0]

Sargent O'Malley and his rookie assistant Ned are just pulling out of the local donut shop. They get a call on the radio that the town north of them has had a bank robbery. The suspects are proceeding south, and it's a high-speed chase.

 

The chase has been going on for 40 minutes, and O'Malley and Ned should be on the lookout -- even though the State Police don't have a plate number. They do, however, know that they're looking for a yellow Mustang with two men in the front seat and a woman in the back. The State Police were in hot pursuit, but they lost them -- right as they were headed towards Centerville, where O'Malley and Ned work.

 

What should happen, but as O'Malley and Ned are pulling out of the donut shop, they happen to see that very car -- with two guys in the front and a woman in the back. Sargent O'Malley says, "That's the car, Ned! We're going to go after it. Flip on the siren, and let's get 'em!"

 

Ned, who's been studying the back of the car, says, "I don't think so, Sarge. It's not them."

 

Just what did Ned see?

[Sovak 0]

Here is one of my favorites:

 

A frog is sitting at the bottom of a 30 foot well. The well is old and the walls are slick and moldy. He decides he will try to escape his predicament so he gathers his strength and jumps up as high on the side of the well as he can, however, because of the slick purchase, he slides back down a distance before he can stop. From that place he makes another mighty leap, but with the same results.

 

Each time he jumps up he jumps three feet, but then slides back down two. From that point he jumps another three feet, but slides back two.

 

He gains a foot each time, so how many jumps will it take him to escape the well?

 

There is no trick in wording or hidden meanings in this logic problem. The most often assumed answer of this problem, 30 feet, is, of course, wrong.

[WxMurray 0]

Since he jumps three feet up each time, 28 will get him to the top.

[koolaidman 0]

Sargent O'Malley and his rookie assistant Ned are just pulling out of the local donut shop. They get a call on the radio that the town north of them has had a bank robbery. The suspects are proceeding south, and it's a high-speed chase.

 

The chase has been going on for 40 minutes, and O'Malley and Ned should be on the lookout -- even though the State Police don't have a plate number. They do, however, know that they're looking for a yellow Mustang with two men in the front seat and a woman in the back. The State Police were in hot pursuit, but they lost them -- right as they were headed towards Centerville, where O'Malley and Ned work.

 

What should happen, but as O'Malley and Ned are pulling out of the donut shop, they happen to see that very car -- with two guys in the front and a woman in the back. Sargent O'Malley says, "That's the car, Ned! We're going to go after it. Flip on the siren, and let's get 'em!"

 

Ned, who's been studying the back of the car, says, "I don't think so, Sarge. It's not them."

 

Just what did Ned see?

license plate from afar?

[WxMurray 0]

license plate from afar?

No, the State Police couldn't get the plates (second paragraph).

[Darrik 0]

Sargent O'Malley and his rookie assistant Ned are just pulling out of the local donut shop. They get a call on the radio that the town north of them has had a bank robbery. The suspects are proceeding south, and it's a high-speed chase.

 

The chase has been going on for 40 minutes, and O'Malley and Ned should be on the lookout -- even though the State Police don't have a plate number. They do, however, know that they're looking for a yellow Mustang with two men in the front seat and a woman in the back. The State Police were in hot pursuit, but they lost them -- right as they were headed towards Centerville, where O'Malley and Ned work.

 

What should happen, but as O'Malley and Ned are pulling out of the donut shop, they happen to see that very car -- with two guys in the front and a woman in the back. Sargent O'Malley says, "That's the car, Ned! We're going to go after it. Flip on the siren, and let's get 'em!"

 

Ned, who's been studying the back of the car, says, "I don't think so, Sarge. It's not them."

 

Just what did Ned see?

The car was going north?

or was the man actually a woman? <_<

 

was it because they were in a donut shop for 40 minutes?

maybe some mustangs don't have a backseat?

[WxMurray 0]

The car was going north?

or was the man actually a woman? <_<

 

was it because they were in a donut shop for 40 minutes?

maybe some mustangs don't have a backseat?

No, no, no, no. We are assuming the second Mustang is going south and is physically identical to the first, with two men in the front and a woman in the back.

[Dumbass 0]

Perhaps the obvious question is why the heck it took them 40 minutes at high speed just to get to the next town over.

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

A flat tire?

[WxMurray 0]

Perhaps the obvious question is why the heck it took them 40 minutes at high speed just to get to the next town over.

That is an integral part to the answer.

[Dumbass 0]

That's it! They were stuck trying to take lug nuts from the other tires! <_<

[Sovak 0]

Since he jumps three feet up each time, 28 will get him to the top.

Correct.

 

On the 27th jump he would be at the 27 foot mark. Jump up 3 feet, and since he is at the top, he will not slide back.

[Sovak 0]

Just what did Ned see?

What Ned could have seen was condensation (water) dripping from the exhaust system, showing the car to recently have been started, and not fully warmed up. A car that had been running at high speed for 40 minutes would have a clear exhaust.

[Sovak 0]

A man shows a picture to you, and quotes the following poem:

 

This man's father is my father's son

Brothers and Sisters have I none.

 

What relation to the man is the pictured person?

 

(A fairly easy one, but it has sparked some lively debates for me when I have used it. I have to admit that writing it down makes it seem pretty simple. It sounds better when told aurally.)

[WxMurray 0]

What Ned could have seen was condensation (water) dripping from the exhaust system, showing the car to recently have been started, and not fully warmed up. A car that had been running at high speed for 40 minutes would have a clear exhaust.

That's it exactly.

 

The scene: it's World War II, an RAF airfield north of London. A dimly lit Quonset hut filled with air crews just returned from bombing runs over Germany.

 

The meeting opens with the chaplain leading the men in prayer for their lost comrades. He is followed by the flight operations chief, who begins the debriefing by asking the airmen, "From what direction were you attacked by the German fighter planes?"

 

Without hesitation or dissent, the reply was, "From above and behind."

 

The flight operations chief hastily scribbles the information on the back of top secret maps, and hands it to a junior officer with the instructions, "Get this information to the departing air crews. It may save their lives!"

 

As the officer turns to leave, from the inky shadows, a hand grasps his arm and he hears these words: "Hold that order. The information you're about to give will lose lives rather than save them."

 

What did the guy from the inky shadows know that the flight operations chief didn't?

[Reidun Seversen 0]

A man shows a picture to you, and quotes the following poem:

 

This man's father is my father's son

Brothers and Sisters have I none.

 

What relation to the man is the pictured person?

 

(A fairly easy one, but it has sparked some lively debates for me when I have used it. I have to admit that writing it down makes it seem pretty simple. It sounds better when told aurally.)

The one in the picture is the son of the man showing the picture