THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: CXLVI
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
-Yogi Berra
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, July 8, 2022
Quiz # 33: A Bit of Mind Play
Mind Play
Ask any astronaut or mountaineer: there are so many ways of looking at the world. Not everything is as it seems and many obvious things contain hidden complexities. Today's quiz celebrates the tricky and dodgy aspects of life with a bit of mind play: questions that require some lateral, or even reverse, thinking. Consider this quiz a way to help you while away the hours or minutes...
1. What is the next letter in the following sequence
M A M J J A
2 If Jack is 40 inches plus half his own height, how tall is he?
3. Within five, how many species of animals did Moses take onto the ark?
4. John Kennedy was the youngest person elected to the presidency. However, he was the second youngest person to hold the office? How it this possible?
5. Frank was chatting on line with somebody about painting his second home, each side of which is painted a different color. The agent on-line asked him for the color of the south side of his house. Frank replied. "All the sides face south." How is this possible?
6. We all know that if Christmas is on a Monday, a week later New Year's will be on a Monday, as well. However, in 1941, Christmas and New Year's were on different days. Why?
7. Presto John made the claim that he could predict the score of a baseball game before it even starts. How can he possibly do this?
8. Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on Earth?
9. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
10. You buy two cigars, which, together costs $1.10. One cigar costs one dollar more than the other. How much does each cigar cost?
ANSWERS
1. S
Each letter is the first letter of a month
March
April
May
June
July
August
The next letter would be "S" for September
2. 80 inches tall.
40 inches plus half his height, which would also be 40 inches.
3. None.
Noah took the animals onto his ark
4. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, 42, became president after President McKinley was assassinated.
5. Frank's second house was at the South Pole.
6. Within a given year, Christmas and New Year's will always fall on a different day.
For instance, Christmas 1941 and New Year's 1942 will be on the same day. However, Christmas 1941 and New Year's 1941 will be on different days.
7. Easily. The score of any baseball game before it even starts will be 0 - 0.
8. Mount Everest
9. The letter "m"
10. $1.05 and $0.05