Buried Alive and Dug Up Dead

You bury me when I’m alive, and dig me up when I’m dead. What am I?

A plant.

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The Hand of the Princess

A wise king devised a contest to see who would receive the Princess’ hand in marriage. The Princess was put in a 50 x 50 foot carpeted room. Each of her four suitors were put in one corner of the room with a small box to stand on. The first one to touch the Princess’ hand would be the winner and become the new King.

The rules were the contestants could not walk over the carpet, cross the plane of the carpet, or hang from anything; nor could they use anything but their body and wits (i.e. no magic, telepathy, nor any items such as ladders, block and tackles etc). One suitor figured out a way and married the Princess and became the new King. What did he do?

Asked the princess to touch his hand.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Which Are True and Which Are False?

A. When a car is driven forwards the wheels rotate counter-clockwise.
B. If a clock is put forward 1 1/4 hours the minute hand moves through 450°
C. When a clock reads 4.10 the acute angle between the hands is exactly 60°

A. False – The near-side wheels rotate counter-clockwise, but the far-side wheels rotate clockwise.
B. True
C. False – The acute angle is a little more than 60° because by the time the minute hand reaches 10, the hour hand will have moved slightly past the 4.

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Serve Many But They Forget About Me

I serve many, confirmed by how healthy those I serve are. Yet after they’re successful they forget about me. It’s true, sometimes I hit them and they’re often bloody, but they don’t mind.

What am I?

A doctor (more specifically, an obstetrician) or a midwife. They deliver thousands of healthy babies but they are soon forgotten. Sometimes they smack the baby on the butt to clear the airway, and newborn babies can have blood on them from the placenta being pulled from the walls of the uterus or from an episiotomy.

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Two Faces But Show You One

I have two faces, but show you one.
I once had guests, but now have none.
I’m rarely bloody and seldom blue.
I’m often promised and sometimes new.

The moon. It has two sides, but on earth we only ever see one side. Man has been on the moon, but no one is there now. A full lunar eclipse is known as a blood moon, and the phrase “once in a blue moon” refers to something that rarely happens. Promising the moon is making an extravagant or impossible promise, and there’s a new moon once every lunar cycle.

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Probability That Both Children Are Girls

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.

Another variation of this can be found here.

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A Green Ranch

There’s a green ranch house on a green street with green walls, tables and chairs. What color is the staircase?

There is no staircase, it’s a ranch.

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Lots of Eggs

The number of eggs in a basket doubles every minute. If it’s full of eggs in an hour, when was the basket half full?

At 59 minutes. The eggs double every minute, so half full would be a minute before it was full.

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Invisible Walls

What invention lets you look right through a wall?

A window.

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Julian and Penelope’s Marriage Ages

When Julian and Penelope met, one was half the others age plus seven years. Ten years later when they married, Penelope was thirty, but this time one was nine tenths the age of the other. How old was Julian? (No fractions or partial years, whole numbers only).

Julian was 27 when Penelope was 30.

Posted in Brain Teasers