In the interest of keeping your minds nimble

Topic

New Reply

Some of you may have seen this before but I thought it might be fun to share with you all (my apologies for the US centric nature of the questions).

This is based on U.S. info, so use all lobes of your brain. This can be more difficult than it looks – it just shows how little most of us really see! There are 25 questions about things we see every day or have known about all our lives. How many can you get right? These little simple questions are harder than you think– it just shows you how little we pay attention to the commonplace things of life. Put your thinking caps on. No cheating! No looking around! No getting out of your chair! No using anything on or in your desk or computer!

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there in the USA? (Don’t laugh, some people don’t know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty’s torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell’s soup can label?
5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don’t have letters by them?
6. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? (Don’t you dare get up to see!)
7. How many matches are in a standard pack?
8. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
9. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
11. Which way does a “no smoking” sign’s slash run?
12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
13 On which side of a women’s blouse are the buttons?
14. Which way do fans rotate?
15 How many sides does a stop sign have?
16. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?
18. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
19. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who’s missing?
20. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
21 On which playing card is the card maker’s trademark?
22 On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
23. There are 12 buttons on a standard touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
24. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

I will post the answers at a later date (right Rudi?), in the mean time have fun and happy synapsing!

Reply | Quote

Replies

That was fun, just two comments…

4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell’s soup can label? why would it be assumed that people would know this one?!

22. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats? i have never gotten this right when moving them

Reply | Quote

“4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell’s soup can label? why would it be assumed that people would know this one?!”
Because MOST people can remember on the two prime and even forget about the BLACK print.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell’s soup can label? why would it be assumed that people would know this one?! Because they are M-m-m-m Good!

22. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats? i have never gotten this right when moving them I had to stop and think what a Venetian Blind is

Reply | Quote

5. What two numbers on the telephone dial don’t have letters by them?

More interestingly (?!), why?
Why not have a letter-set for “1” or for “0”.
If, as this page suggests “The assumption was… that somehow they needed letters as well.” in order to remember telephone numbers, wouldn’t it make sense to have letter codes for all ten digits?

An argument that “the digits 1 and 0 prefix reserved numbers” doesn’t hold water; you need to dial “0” or “1” in telephone numbers, period. What’s the problem with having letters assigned to them.
Why should a phone number such as “621-9304″not be directly translated into a full-letter mneominc?

(if you want to play)

Reply | Quote

25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

This one can only be answered ‘yes’. It depends on which way you pushed it.
I really miss seeing playground equipment like this on the modern playgrounds. Both my sons and I learned a lot of physics on the playground sets of years past, including this “whirl-n-hurl” (centripetal force), the teeter-totter (laws of levers), and others.

Reply | Quote

25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

This one can only be answered ‘yes’. It depends on which way you pushed it.
I really miss seeing playground equipment like this on the modern playgrounds. Both my sons and I learned a lot of physics on the playground sets of years past, including this “whirl-n-hurl” (centripetal force), the teeter-totter (laws of levers), and others.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel

Direction
In the UK and Europe, merry-go-rounds (as they are most often referred to in those countries) usually turn clockwise (see photograph at top), while in North America, carousels typically go anti-clockwise (or “counter-clockwise”). One mounts a real horse by lifting one’s right leg over the animal’s back as it stands with its head towards one’s left (the horse’s left side is called its “near” side). Likewise for a carousel that turns anti-clockwise: one stands on the near side of the horse to mount (towards the center of the carousel, not on its outer edge). One possible reason for carousels in the USA turning anti-clockwise may be so that the rider can use their right hand to catch a brass ring.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

The question was about a merry-go-round, not a carousel. At the beginning, it says it is for US info. In the US, a merry-go-round typically refers to a piece of playground equipment. A carousel refers to the amusement park ride where you go in circles on horses and such.

Reply | Quote

The question was about a merry-go-round, not a carousel. At the beginning, it says it is for US info. In the US, a merry-go-round typically refers to a piece of playground equipment. A carousel refers to the amusement park ride where you go in circles on horses and such.

That is not true, the use of merry-go-round can and does refer to several, it is generic: One in a playground or one in an amusement park, even a simple one for the backyard. The use of “carousel” for one in the amusement park I think is an older term and I don’t think it is used as often especially with US children.

I am from the US and my first thought was that the question was referring to the amusement park variety. I laughed when I saw your response of “Yes” since the question was not explicit, I thought your answer was the better one and the playground ones never entered my mind.

Steve

Reply | Quote

17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel?

I happened across this puzzle yesterday and apparently guessed this one right. I got a flat tire this morning. Dirty things are darn hard to remove in heels.

Reply | Quote

10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?

Either. The “correct” answer depends on which half of the globe you’re in, but the Coriolis effect has so little influence on the direction that you can twirl the water however you want. Any kind of consistency is due to imperfections: faucet off-center, bumps in the sink, etc.

21 On which playing card is the card maker’s trademark?

That one card they print that’s inserted before the other 52 cards, but I don’t think that’s the answer you were looking for

Reply | Quote

25. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

It depends!

It depends if you are looking from above the merry-go-round or from below it!

Reply | Quote

I worked a few years in with a Carnival, and we had BOTH. One was a merry go round for the very small children and it went in the opposite direct of the Carousal which was large enough for the parents to even ride the horses.

By the way, none of the horses were ever blue on either of them.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

Couple of your questions do not have a single definitive answer:

10. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise? Not answerable; the area of the wirls its too small for coriolis force to have any real effect.

17 How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel? Depends on year and manufacturer. Four, five or six are all possible correct answers.

Here’s one – which direction do lug nuts turn to tighten? (Sort of a trick question; again depends on manufacturer and year.) And, if they don’t all turn the same way – why not? (HINT: Has to do with racing equipment…)

Reply | Quote

Cor, these are old threads you are picking up, it is lucky Mickey is still a regular Lounger

Reply | Quote

12. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?

seriously? who has a dial? I think this part of the quiz is a bit dated.

Reply | Quote

seriously? who has a dial? I think this part of the quiz is a bit dated.

and that quote from someone who calls themselves the timelord

Reply | Quote

Oops! So sorry, I have corrected this entry so that TerryB doesn’t think I am purposely trying to minimize his point totals.

Hi All,

Ron Hamilton reminded me that I never got around to posting the answers to this thread. Sorry about that although it seemed like everyone was having fun with it.

Here ya go:

Answers

[*]Bottom[*]50[*]right[*]blue, red, white, yellow, black, and gold[*]1,0[*]left[*]20[*]red[*]88[*]counter (unless you happen to be south of the equator but then again, maybe not)[*]towards bottom right[*]12 (no #1)[*]right[*]clockwise as you look at it[*]8 (What about the front side and back side? I think it also could be 10).[*]left[*]5 (there are other configurations but this is the most common here in the States)[*]6[*]Bashful[*]8 (Two less than the # of hot dogs in a package )[*]Ace of spades[*]left[*]ONE[*]3[*]counter

Scoring
[indent]25 Mensa is calling, sherlock
20-24 Not too shabby
16-19 You could do better
10-15 McDonald’s is calling (would you like fries w/ that?)
9 or below Being blind wouldn’t affect you one bit!

[/indent]

Reply | Quote

Wow!!
30 answers to a post with 25 questions – no wonder I didn’t get maximum points

Reply | Quote