The Camel Race

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What did the wise man say?

The wise man said to switch camels.

Each son owns a camel, let’s call them Camel A and Camel B. If Camel A is slower, son A gets the fortune. If Camel B is slower, son B gets the fortune. Neither of the sons want to enter the city first because they won’t get the fortune.

When they switch camels, son A is now riding his brother’s camel (camel B) and son B is riding his brother’s camel (camel A). Now, they each want the camel they’re riding to get to the city first. If son A wins the race on camel B, that means his camel, camel A, was slower and he wins the fortune. The same is true for the other way around if the second son wins the race on camel A.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Cracked, Made, Told and Played

It can be cracked,
It can be made,
It can be told,
It can be played.

What is it?

A joke.

Posted in Riddles

Broken Before Use

I am broken before you use me,
I brighten your day until I die.

What am I?

Glow sticks that you have to break to start glowing, then they fade out (die).

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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.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Built From Anything You Don’t Like

I’m built from anything you don’t like,
You’re using me right now in fact,
I am one but represent many,
When attacked I’m easily cracked,
I’m created in seconds but live forever
And though you may not understand,
I’ll help you do well but be careful my friend,
Hurt me and you won’t withstand.

What am I?

Character (or characters).

Kids are often told, when dealing with unpleasant things, that it builds character. You’re reading the characters this riddle is written with. In computer science a char is often represented by one byte and can store any character you want.

When politicians have their character besmirched it can swiftly change the voting public’s mind about them. Characters in novels are created with a few lines but live on in our memories. And if your character or reputation is damaged, you may find it hard to deal with the aftermath.

And here’s a great quote from Warren Buffet on your character.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffet

Posted in Riddles

What Kind of Nut Has a Hole?

What kind of a nut has a hole?

A donut (or a nut as in a nut and bolt). Here’s a fun fact. Another riddle with donut as the answer is, “What has no beginning, end or middle?”

Posted in Riddles

A Hidden Message

44 33 555 555 666 9 666 777 555 3

What is the message in this code?

Pressing these digits in sequence will produce HELLO WORLD on a cell phone (for an SMS text message).

Posted in Brain Teasers

Petals Around the Rose

Here are five rolls of dice, with their score.

Roll #1 – Score: 6

Roll #2 – Score: 4

Roll #3 – Score: 4

Roll #4 – Score: 8

Roll #5: 0

This is what you know:

1. The name of this game is significant (Petals Around the Rose)
2. The answer is always even

How is the score determined?

The solution is to count the dots (petals) surrounding the center dot (the rose).

Only odd numbers have a center dot, so even numbers (2, 4 and 6) are worth zero.

1 doesn’t have any surrounding dots, so it too is worth zero.

The three has two dots surrounding the center, so it’s worth two.

A five has four petals around the rose making it worth four.

Posted in Brain Teasers

Twice Four and Twenty Blackbirds

Twice four and twenty blackbirds sitting in the rain.
I shot and killed a quarter of them. How many do remain?

After shooting a quarter of the birds, the rest would fly off, so the remaining birds, brutally shot by you, would be:

(2 × (4 + 20)) / 4 = 12

Posted in Brain Teasers

Tongue Can’t Taste, Throat Can’t Swallow

What has a tongue that can’t taste, a throat that can’t swallow, eyes that can’t see and a soul that will never die?

A shoe. It has a tongue, a throat, eyes (or eyelets) and a sole. I used soul here or else it would have given the answer away, but this riddle works best when told rather than read. And as the joke goes, old shoes never die, they just lose their sole.

Posted in Riddles