Kevlar, Fire Escapes and Wipers, Oh My!

What do computer compilers, kevlar, fire escapes and windshield wipers all have in common?

They were all invented by women.

A variation of this brain teaser includes laser printers (they were invented by Gary Starkweather) and bulletproof vests (invented by Casimir Zeglen using silk, though modern vests use Kevlar, so it’s halfway right).

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Average of Three

There are three numbers. The first two are 2/3 and 3/4.

What does the third number have to be to make the average of all three be 2?

4 7/12

In order for the average of three numbers to be 2, they must all add up to 6. That gives you this equation:
2/3 + 3/4 + n = 6

Solve for n = 55/12, or 4 7/12.

Posted in Brain Teasers

13579U

What does this represent?

13579U

The odds are against you. All of the odd single-digit numbers are lined up next to the letter u, representing the word you.

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Tagged with

I A N Rebus

What does the following rebus represent?

I           A
      N
R           B

Scatterbrain.

Posted in Riddles
Tagged with

Turd Station

At Coney Island (the amusement park in Ohio) over Memorial Day weekend I saw a changing station in the men’s bathroom. A clever fellow had scraped off some letters to make the changing station read, “Turd Station”. What was the original name of the changing station?

sTURDy Station2, by Rubbermaid.

Here’s a picture of one without the letters scratched out.

rubbermaid-changing-station

Posted in Brain Teasers

Forever Stuck

I can’t go right,
I can’t go left.

I’m forever stuck going only up and down.

What am I?

An elevator.

Posted in Riddles

Four Against the Masses

We are four against the masses. We are trying to find the one who is the whole package. We sigh, we laugh, we frown while we hope that the next one will be the one. Who are we?

Four orphaned siblings. It seems like there may be a better answer than this. If you have one, please add a comment.

Posted in Riddles

What Does Man Love More Than Life?

What does man love more than life
Fear more than death or mortal strife
What the poor have, the rich require,
and what contented men desire,
What the miser spends and the spendthrift saves
And all men carry to their graves?

Nothing. This one is similar to Greater than God, but different enough to include it here.

Posted in Riddles

The Dead Bring Forth the Living

I saw the dead bring forth the living. I saw the living bring forth the dead. Who or what did I see?

A funeral. Someone’s death caused the living to come to the funeral, and during the funeral the living carry the casket of the deceased.

Posted in Riddles

Rearrange My Letters To Be Clean

Rearrange these letters into something you can clean with.

boas

soap (by flipping the b upside down, similar to how IHOP became IHOb)

Posted in Brain Teasers