Loud Linda
Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Which is more probable?
1) Linda is a bank teller.
2) Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.
1) Linda is a bank teller.
Most people guess number two, but the probability of two events occurring together is always less than or equal to the probability of either one occurring alone. This problem is known as the Conjunction Fallacy.
Inscribed On My Face
Marking mortal privation when what’s under me is in place.
An enduring summation, inscribed on my face.
What am I?
A tombstone (or gravestone, headstone, monument, you get the idea).
I Can Sound a Gong
I’m in bowling and baseball,
For better or for worse,
On a match (but not the sporting kind),
I can sound a gong,
And I’m gone.
What am I?
Strike.
A strike in bowling is good. In baseball it’s good for the pitcher but not for the batter. You can strike a match to light it. When the clock strikes one a gong sounds and when you strike a paragraph, it’s gone.
What I Embrace I Destroy
My first two letters say my name.
My last letter asks a question.
What I embrace I destroy.
What am I?
Ivy. IV is pronounced ivy, y is pronounced why and fast growing ivy can smother and kill trees, shrubs and grass.
Never Ahead, Ever Behind
Never ahead, ever behind,
Yet flying swiftly past;
For a child I last forever,
For adults I’m gone too fast.
What am I?
Childhood.
Turn Into a Car, Building or Robot
I can turn into a car, building or even a robot. I’m man made and my siblings and I outnumber you sixty-two to one. My name means, “Play well” in my creator’s native tongue. What am I?
Legos. They can be turned into all sorts of things, including cars, building and robots. If you divided up all the legos ever made, each person on the planet would get 62. Lego is based on the Danish phrase leg godt which means, “play well”.