I’m A Sifter

I’m a sifter of a memorable shape,
You can eat a variety of me, but I can be toxic,
I can cause severe pain if you’re not careful,
And the action I describe could hurt as well.

What am I?

A kidney.

Kidneys filter your blood and are shaped like kidney beans, which you can eat. Red kidney beans contains high amounts of phytohemagglutinin (quite the word, eh?) and can be toxic if not soaked and boiled. Kidney stones can be extremely painful and if a kid knees you in the stones, that would also be unpleasant.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

This equation is incomplete: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100

One way to make it accurate is by adding seven plus and minus signs, like so.

1 + 2 + 3 – 4 + 5 + 6 + 78 + 9 = 100

How can you do it using only 3 plus or minus signs?

123 – 45 – 67 + 89 = 100

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Life Is Funny

“Life’s funny”, said an old friend when I bumped into him the other day.
“Listen to this, I was born in March, yet I celebrate my birthday in August, and last February I married my mother”.

How is this possible?

He was born in the month of August in a town named March, became a priest and married his widowed mother to her second husband in February (the month).

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Two Four Three Five Six

0 2 4 3 5 6 8 9 7 11 10 12 13 14 15 16 18 17 20 21 22 19 24 23 26 25 28 29 27

What is the next number in the sequence?

31. The tenth number is 10 + 1 = 11. The twentieth number is 20 + 1 = 21, therefore the thirtieth number is 30 + 1 = 31.

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No New Digits

A six-digit number represented by ABCDEF (each letter represents a different number) can be multiplied by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and yet no new digits appear in the result. As a matter of fact, all the digits are rotated. What is the number?

142857 (The first 6 digits of 1/7)

2 x 142857 = 285714
3 x 142857 = 428571
4 x 142857 = 571428
5 x 142857 = 714285
6 x 142857 = 857142

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Two Eights and Two Threes to Make Twenty Four

Using one or more addition, subtraction, multiplication or division operations, what formula using the numbers 3, 3, 8 and 8 equals 24?

8 ÷ (3 – (8 ÷ 3)) = 24

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Death By Marbles

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles and 2 empty bowls and instructs you to divide the 100 marbles into the two bowls. You can divide them however you want as long as all the marbles are in the bowls. You will be blindfolded and the bowls and marbles will be thoroughly mixed. You will then choose a single marble from one of the bowls. If the marble is white, you live. Black and you will be put to death.

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a white marble?

Place one white marble in one bowl and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (49 whites, and 50 blacks).

This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with one white marble and living. Even if you choose the other bowl, you still have an almost 50% chance of picking one of the 49 white marbles. There are no guarantees in life, but this gives you the best change of surviving.

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Too Much For One

I am too much for one, enough for two, but nothing to three. What am I?

A secret.

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Dancing All The Time

Moving to and fro,
Dancing all the time.
Only to be moved by others
To allow them to pass by.

What am I?

A door.

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Asks But Never Answers

What asks but never answers?

An owl.

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