Fw: A Brain-Sweating Funny

[Guest guest]

>CLASSIC LATERAL THINKING EXERCISES

>Try these to loosen up the old brain cells.

>

>1. There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building.

>Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the

>building to go to work. Upon returning from work though, he can only travel

>half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless it's

>raining! Why?

>

>This is probably the best known and most celebrated of all lateral thinking

>puzzles. It is a true classic. Although there are many possible solutions

>which fit the initial conditions, only the canonical answer is truly

>satisfying.

>

>2. A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on the scene,

but

>the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon says, "I

can't

>operate on this boy, he is my son!" How can this be?

>

>3. A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, jumper, gloves and

>balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps off.

A

>black car is coming towards him with its light off but somehow manages to

>stop in time. How did the driver see the man?

>

>4. One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin

>brother,

>Terry, celebrated his birthday. How?

>

>5. Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

>

>This is logical rather than lateral, but it is a good puzzle that can be

>solved by lateral thinking techniques. It is supposedly used by a very

>well-known software company as an interview question for prospective

employees.

>

>6. A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left early.

>Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of

>poisoning. Why did the man not die?

>

>7. A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other people

>there. They were all naked and all looked as they did at the age of 21. He

>looked around to see if there was anyone he recognized. He saw a couple and

>he knew immediately that they were Adam and Eve. How did he know?

>

>8. A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of

>the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

>

>9. A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The

>barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says 'Thank you'

>and walks out.

>

>This puzzle claims to be the best of the genre. It is simple in its

>statement, absolutely baffling and yet with a completely satisfying

>solution. Most people struggle very hard to solve this one yet they like

>the answer when they hear it or have the satisfaction of figuring it out.

>

>SOLUTIONS

>

>1.The man is very, very short and can only reach halfway up the elevator

>buttons. However, if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him

>and can press the higher buttons with it.

>

>2. The surgeon was his mother.

>

>3. It was day time.

>

>4. At the time she went into labor, the mother of the twins was traveling

>by boat. The older twin, Terry, was born first early on March 1st. The boat

>then crossed a time zone and Kerry, the younger twin, was born on February

>the 28th. Therefore, the younger twin celebrates her birthday two days

>before her older brother.

>

>5. A square manhole cover can be turned and dropped down the diagonal of

>the manhole. A round manhole cannot be dropped down the manhole. So for

>safety and practicality, all manhole covers should be round.

>

>6. The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man drank the

>punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted, poisoning the punch.

>

>7. He recognized Adam and Eve as the only people without navels. Because

>they were not born of women, they had never had umbilical cords and

>therefore they never had navels. This one seems perfectly logical but it

>can sometimes spark fierce theological arguments. (Just what a HUMOR list

>needs!!) ;^)

>

>8. They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets, etc.). This puzzle

>stumps many people. They try outlandish solutions involving test-tube

>babies or surrogate mothers. Why does the brain search for complex

>solutions when there is a much simpler one available?

>

>9. The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew

>the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups--so

>the man no longer needed the water. The is a simple puzzle to state but a

>difficult one to solve. It is a perfect example of a seemingly irrational

>and incongruous situation having a simple and complete explanation.

>Amazingly this classic puzzle seems to work in different cultures and

>languages.

>

>[forwarded by Candice Chavez]

>