Riddles

[freeztar]

A crystal or a jewel?

 

It is both of those, but I'm looking for a specific name.

[Moontanman]

Sapphires, rubies and garnets have been used but I think you are looking for quartz.

[Turtle]

I help watches keep time

And boy do I shine

I am sometimes clear, but also colorful

The mystics all agree that I'm wonderful

 

What am I?

 

quartz

[freeztar]

Sapphires, rubies and garnets have been used but I think you are looking for quartz.

 

Bing bing bing!

 

Quartz it is.

 

I'm not familiar with corondum or garnet as time keeping ingredients. It makes sense though. Do you have info handy? It sounds like good reading if so.

 

Off to ponder another riddle...hopefully a bit harder this time...something like 9 on the Moh Scale.

[Moontanman]

The sapphires, rubies and garnets are used as bearings on mechanical watches, quartz is used on electric watches to actually keep time not as a bearing.

[freeztar]

How about this one, which is a variation on a classic riddle theme.

 

A man is stranded on an island with no food or water in sight. There is nobody on the island but him and he needs to get off the island. What is the quickest way for him to get off the island?

 

He can't swim to the mainland because it is too far away.

[Jay-qu]

Jump

[freeztar]

Jump

 

Nope, keep the guesses coming.

[pamela]

death?

[Jay-qu]

swim? (I know you said its too far but the question at the end just asks how he can get off the island, not make it home safely:))

[modest]

An airplane. Or, better yet, a rocket. Does he have a fully fueled and ready to launch Saturn 5 rocket available? Or, how about a transporter? That would transport you at the speed of light being instantaneous from the stranded islander's perspective. But, wait a minute, when you say "What is the quickest way for him to get off the island?" from whose frame of reference are we calculating this? If the transporter somehow used quantum tunneling then perhaps the trip could be made instantaneous from earth's frame. Then again.... if the islander is allowed to go faster than the speed of light then he/she could go back in time making the quickest way to get off the island not to go there in the first place!

 

Hummm....

 

Ok, I'm gonna say "time travel" as my final answer. We'll have to break some laws of physics to accomplish it, but with a time machine we'll have all the time we need for that. :)

 

~modest (worst riddler ever)

[Michael Mooney]

The sole survivor of a shipwreck swims ashore on a remote island known to be inhabited by two tribes living in the one and only village.

One tribe consists of all sworn truth tellers and the other sworn liars who must always lie.

Other than the village the island is known to be barren desert with no food or water, no life support at all.

 

He follows a trail from the beach and comes to a fork where a man is sitting by a sign that says "You can ask only one question to find out which trail leads to the village and survival and which to certain death in the desert."

He has no idea whether the man is a liar or a truth teller.

What is the question he must ask?

Michael

[modest]

"If I ask someone from a different tribe, which direction would they indicate leads to survival?"

 

Do the opposite of the direction indicated.

 

Moontanman had an interesting variation on that riddle:

 

How about this one.

 

You are in a room with three gods, one is the god of truth, one is the god of lies and the other is the god of truth and lies. The god of truth only tells the truth, the god of lies only tells lies and the god of both only tells a lie or the truth at random. They can only answer in a language known only to them and they can only answer yes and no, ya and da in their language but you don't know what either word means. how can you ask them only three questions (total) to find out which one is which?

 

~modest

[freeztar]

An airplane. Or, better yet, a rocket. Does he have a fully fueled and ready to launch Saturn 5 rocket available? Or, how about a transporter? That would transport you at the speed of light being instantaneous from the stranded islander's perspective. But, wait a minute, when you say "What is the quickest way for him to get off the island?" from whose frame of reference are we calculating this? If the transporter somehow used quantum tunneling then perhaps the trip could be made instantaneous from earth's frame. Then again.... if the islander is allowed to go faster than the speed of light then he/she could go back in time making the quickest way to get off the island not to go there in the first place!

 

Hummm....

 

Ok, I'm gonna say "time travel" as my final answer. We'll have to break some laws of physics to accomplish it, but with a time machine we'll have all the time we need for that.

 

~modest (worst riddler ever)

 

I was fishing for answers and I think you took the cake!

 

The answer was dial 911 on the mobile phone. :hyper:

 

But I like the way y'all think.

[Michael Mooney]

Modest:

"If I ask someone from a different tribe, which direction would they indicate leads to survival?"

 

Do the opposite of the direction indicated.

 

Hey, that's a new one on me, but it works! Congratulations.

 

The answer I was fishing for was:

(Pointing to either trail): "If I were to ask you if this trail leads to the village, would you say 'yes'?"

M

[Michael Mooney]

As quoted by Modest:

 

Originally Posted by Moontanman View Post

How about this one.

 

You are in a room with three gods, one is the god of truth, one is the god of lies and the other is the god of truth and lies. The god of truth only tells the truth, the god of lies only tells lies and the god of both only tells a lie or the truth at random. They can only answer in a language known only to them and they can only answer yes and no, ya and da in their language but you don't know what either word means. how can you ask them only three questions (total) to find out which one is which?

 

I just sat by the river and worked this one out (I think) using the same double negative trick (as in mine) to snare the liar:

 

Question #1: "If I were to ask you all if you are gods, would you say 'yes?'"

(The three will give the same answer which will translate as "yes," given that the liar, as in my riddle, must lie about what he would have said, and switch hitter must give the same answer regardless of which hat he is wearing... and they are all gods.)

Say they all say "ya." This decodes the translation, whichever it is.

 

Q #2: "Are we all in a room?"

At least one, maybe two will give the word for "yes."

If just one, he is the truth teller. If two said "ya" it could be either.

 

Q #3:

(Addressed to whomever gave the

lie to Q #2, whether one or two gods.):

"Is that god, (or "is one of those those gods"... depending on whether one or two gods affirmed Q#2) ...a truth teller?"

 

Since we know that the answer in either case is the "yes" word, a "no" word will identify the liar and the third is , odd man out, the switcheroo.

 

Oopse! I'm reconstructing this as I go and the switch god could still go either way!

I'll have to give it some more thought. Meanwhile if

you wanna sort it out for us now Moontanman... or Modest, go ahead before I lose sleep over it!:eek_big:

 

Michael

[modest]

Modest:

 

 

Hey, that's a new one on me, but it works! Congratulations.

 

The answer I was fishing for was:

(Pointing to either trail): "If I were to ask you if this trail leads to the village, would you say 'yes'?"

M

 

Cool.

 

I just sat by the river and worked this one out (I think) using the same double negative trick (as in mine) to snare the liar:

 

Question #1: "If I were to ask you all if you are gods, would you say 'yes?'"

(The three will give the same answer which will translate as "yes," given that the liar, as in my riddle, must lie about what he would have said, and switch hitter must give the same answer regardless of which hat he is wearing... and they are all gods.)

Say they all say "ya." This decodes the translation, whichever it is.

 

Very clever. You could also ask "are you the god of truth" which would decode yes and no (at least 2 have to say "yes" to that question") and also could give you more information (if the god of truth and lies answers honestly then he would say "no").

 

~modest