9pm (or 21:00). There are 12 hours between 1pm and 1am, so 6 hours after 1am is halfway. 6 hours + 1pm equals 7pm. In order for 7pm to be 2 hours behind the current time, it must be 9pm.
A mile from end to end, yet as close to as a friend. A precious commodity, freely given. Seen on the dead and on the living. Found on the rich, poor, short and tall, but shared among children most of all. What is it?
A pencil. It’s wooden, is covered in paint and the output of a pencil in the form of writing or art can make you laugh or cry. And graphite is the dark part inside.
This is becomes a self-referential paradox. Both A and D would be correct if there were four unique answers, but since A and D are the same answer, the chance that you would choose a correct answer is 50%, which makes B correct. But if there’s only one correct answer, the odds of choosing the correct one at random goes back to 25%. And around and round you go.
Four cards are placed in front of you on the table, each with a number on one side and a color on the other. The visible cards show 3, 8, red and brown. Which cards should you turn over in order to test the truth of the statement that if a card shows an even number on one face, then its opposite face is red?
You’d need to turn over only the 8 and brown card. Only a card with an even number on one face and which is not red on the other face can invalidate the stated rule. If you turn over the 3 card and it’s not red, it doesn’t invalidate the rule, nor does turning over the red card and finding it has the label 3.
This test was devised by Peter Cathcart Wason and is known as the Wason selection task. Less than 10% of test subjects got it correct in two separate studies.
“Scram, you can’t catch me!” yelled the thief. While running to escape, his shirt skewered a box of nails. He ripped free, but skidded to a stop as he passed a policeman. He tried to run again, then cowered in fright. Crime doesn’t pay.
