Four Weights To Thirty

What four weights can be used to balance from one to thirty pounds?

A = 1
B = 3
C = 9
D = 17

1 lb = A
2 lbs + A = B
3 lbs = B
4 lbs = A + B
5 lbs + A + B = C
6 lbs + B = C
7 lbs + B = A + C
8 lbs + A = C
9 lbs = C
10 lbs = A + C
11 lbs + A = B + C
12 lbs = B + C
13 lbs = A + B + C
14 lbs + B = D
15 lbs + B = A + D
16 lbs + A = D
17 lbs = D
18 lbs = A + D
19 lbs + A = B + D
20 lbs = B + D
21 lbs = A + B + D
22 lbs + A + B = C + D
23 lbs + B = C + D
24 lbs + B = A + C + D
25 lbs + A = C + D
26 lbs = C + D
27 lbs = A + C + D
28 lbs + A = B + C + D
29 lbs = B + C + D
30 lbs = A + B + C + D

Posted in Brain Teasers

A Big Rig Crossing a Bridge

An 18-wheeler is crossing a 4 kilometer bridge that can only support 10,000 kilograms and that’s exactly how much the rig weighs. Halfway across the bridge a 30 gram sparrow lands on the cab, but the bridge doesn’t collapse. Why not?

Since the bridge is 4 kilometers long, the halfway point would be 2 kilometers. The 18-wheeler would have used much more than 30g of fuel to drive 2 kilometers.

Posted in Brain Teasers

The Most Precious Commodity

What is the most precious commodity?
That which when needed seemingly is never enough,
Yet otherwise can be boringly plentiful.
While waking is oft dreamt of,
Whilst pining can scarcely be thought of.
For beings, is allotted in finite but indefinite quantity.
The more that’s given, the more is wasted.
Freedom is akin though this is something more simple,
Not related to virtue or sin.
Unless perhaps, without freedom, or its limit.

What is it?

Time.

(Thanks for submitting this one Duke)

Posted in Riddles
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Head, Tail, Brown and No Legs

What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

A penny.

Posted in Riddles

Not Flesh, Feather, Scales Nor Bone

We are not flesh, feather, scales nor bone;
Yet we still have fingers and thumbs of our own.

What are we?

Gloves. They’re not made of flesh, feather, scales or bone, but have fingers and thumbs.

Posted in Riddles

An Animal of Few Letters

I am an animal of few letters,
Remove the second and you can’t see,
Change it to “l” and I’m a punishment,
Yet backwards I’m a game.

What am I?

Frog. It only has four letters, removing the “r” leaves fog, which makes it hard to see. Changing the “r” to an “l” makes flog, a punishment I hope you’ve never experienced. Flog backwards is golf, a game some would call a punishment when you keep swinging away at the ball yet it remains perched on its little white tower of terror while the other golfers impatiently wait for you to tee off.

Posted in Riddles

NDOLA

What does “NDOLA, PAMODZI” mean?

Thanks to the comments, it doesn’t mean anything per se, but it’s a location in Zambia. If that’s all it is, it’s not really a brain teaser, but since we’ve already worked on it, I’m marking it as solved leaving it up for posterity.

Below are former attempts to solve it.

I have yet to figure this one out. NDOLA could mean And lo, or An old, among other things. Pamodzi on the other hand didn’t have any particularly meaningful anagrams. Both words together had over 1,000 anagrams.

I haven’t come up with any other possible meanings.

Posted in Brain Teasers

I’m Easy To Give Yet Few Will Take

I’m easy to give yet few will take,
I’m shared with a bride and can be seen at a wake,
I have a monopoly on the young,
And at times, it’s true, I may have stung.

What am I?

Advice. It’s easy to give it out but advice is often ignored. Brides are frequently given advice on their wedding day and you’ll even hear life advice at a funeral. Advice is frequently given to young people and some advice can be hard to stomach (like you should lose a few pounds).

Posted in Riddles

Binds Two But Touches One

What binds two people yet touches only one?

A wedding ring.

Posted in Riddles

Alone I’m Unknown

Alone I’m unknown,
With my twin I’m twenty,
And triplets make me a warning.

What am I?

The letter ‘X’. A single x is often used in math as an unknown, along with Mr. X. Two together (XX) make the Roman numeral 20, and three signifies a warning for adult only content, or a warning to other programmers of a problem in source code.

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