I give you a group of three. One is sitting down, and will never get up. The second eats as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry. The third goes away and never returns.
I debated adding this riddle because it is less of a riddle and more of an illustration of how kids are (or are not) being taught to think for themselves. But after reading how kids feel the need to make up an answer without understanding why, I thought this could be a good reminder for all of us to exercise our critical thinking skills.
Walking down the street one day, I met a woman strolling with her daughter. “What a lovely child,” I remarked. “In fact, I have a younger child as well,” she replied.
What is the probability that both of her children are girls?
1/2 probability. This has been know to cause raging debates and is known as one of the variations of the Boy or Girl paradox. This variation is more straightforward because knowing the position of the child leaves only two possibilities – the other child is a boy or a girl, each of which have a 1/2 probability.
Alphonso and his sister Sadie are entering the airport to meet their mother when Sadie gasps in surprise and says to her brother, “You see that man in the crowd over there?”
Alphonso replies, “It’s Bernie. I don’t believe it. Let’s go introduce ourselves.”
Neither of them had ever met Bernie before. They’d never seen a picture or painting of him, nor was he a famous celebrity.
Alphonso was born as a twin, but he was separated from his twin brother at birth. Bernie is Alphonso’s identical twin, which is how Sadie was able to recognize him in the crowd.
This is kind of a cheat, because there are probably other possible explanations. But we can’t have everything :)
A one way street sign. It tells you the correct way to go, is black and white (in the United States), going the wrong way can get you a citation and the sign only has two words on it.
Noreen doesn’t have a driver’s license and goes the wrong way on a one-way street, then turns left at a corner with a “No left turns” sign. A policeman sees her but does nothing. Why?
Ted was lost while driving around the country and saw a house. He parked under a nearby tree and started toward the house. As soon as he got out of his car a huge dog lunged at him from the opposite side of the tree. Fortunately the dog was chained and Ted managed to stay out of reach. Finding no one home at the house, Ted returned to his car, but as he approached the dog lunged at him again. The chain was so long the snarling animal could reach both car doors. How did Ted escape the dog and get back into his car?
Ted moved slowly around the tree keeping just out of the dog’s reach. The animal followed, winding its chain around the tree until it was too short to reach Ted’s car
My days are in the summer When you’ll eat me when I’m hot In fact I’ll even eat myself Where battles tough are fought But when you find me in a fight ‘Twill be high in the sky And if you catch me napping I suggest you let me lie When you’re bad come to my house From Ma get thoughts profound Am I big or am I small? Some say I’m just a pound.
