# 53 bicycles: A lateral thinking puzzle **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 9, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868 "2017-07-09T19:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 123
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2441 "2018-01-30T03:03:41Z")
Since Hindus do not eat beef, that would rule out growth hormones. But they will drink cow’s milk, so are cattle being given something that increases milk production in cows, that is fatal to vultures? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2442 "2018-01-30T03:10:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is it anything that humans are deliberately doing to kill or hinder vultures? NO > Is it something that humans are deliberately doing to kill or hinder some other animal species? NO > Is it something that humans are not deliberately doing, but which is a byproduct of some other human activity? NO(if I understand your question) > Is it something that is only relevant to vultures because of bioamplification (the tendency for creatures higher on the food chain to get higher doses of contaminants)? NO > [@Railer13](#): > > But they will drink cow’s milk, so are cattle being given something that increases milk production in cows, that is fatal to vultures? NO No to everything! ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2443 "2018-01-30T10:39:24Z")
Are the cows dipped in something that makes the skin or another part of the body poisonous to vultures? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2444 "2018-01-30T13:01:07Z")
Does the overabundance of cows cause some sort of medical condition? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2445 "2018-01-30T13:14:50Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Are the cows dipped in something that makes the skin or another part of the body poisonous to vultures? No. > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Does the overabundance of cows cause some sort of medical condition? No. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2446 "2018-01-30T15:56:15Z")
Is it a medicine that is ingested by cows that is fatal to vultures? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2447 "2018-01-30T16:41:39Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Is it a medicine that is ingested by cows that is fatal to vultures? YES(sort of) It may seem solved, but can you all figure out the situation as a whole? I’m willing to give up on this tonight and post it in-full. You have the situation mainly figured out, but are still missing key details. If everyone is bored, I can just post the solution soon, too. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2448 "2018-01-30T16:51:24Z")
Were the cows too long-lived and the vultures ran out of patience waiting for them to die? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2449 "2018-01-30T18:17:13Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Were the cows too long-lived and the vultures ran out of patience waiting for them to die? No, but I love that answer. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2450 "2018-01-30T18:43:26Z")
Hey, even the absurd questions can lead to something. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2451 "2018-01-30T19:19:23Z")
Is it something given to cows to increase their longevity? Is it something given to cows to increase their milk production? Is it something given to cows to increase their productivity in some other way? Is it something given to cows to improve their quality of life? Is it detrimental to vultures by killing them directly? Is it detrimental to vultures by weakening or handicapping them? Is it detrimental to vultures by decreasing their rate of reproduction? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2452 "2018-01-30T20:25:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is it something given to cows to increase their longevity? NO > Is it something given to cows to increase their milk production? NO > Is it something given to cows to increase their productivity in some other way? NO > Is it something given to cows to improve their quality of life? YES > Is it detrimental to vultures by killing them directly? YES > Is it detrimental to vultures by weakening or handicapping them? NO > Is it detrimental to vultures by decreasing their rate of reproduction? NO KK ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2453 "2018-01-30T22:40:36Z")
Okay, I think we’ve got the first part: some medicine makes the cow’s meat poisonous to vultures. So for the second part, do other animals eat the meat instead and get rabies? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2454 "2018-01-30T23:00:55Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Okay, I think we’ve got the first part: some medicine makes the cow’s meat poisonous to vultures. So for the second part, do other animals eat the meat instead and get rabies? Yes, but I wouldn’t say you have the entire first part. Saying “they get medicine” alone isn’t enough of a solution. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2455 "2018-01-31T02:10:58Z")
The only thing I see that could be missing is the type of drug (and why it is given, if that’s not obvious from the type). Is that what you are waiting on? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2456 "2018-01-31T02:30:43Z")
I’m having a hard time coming up with anything that’s given to cattle for quality of life, even granted that they care more about that in India than here. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2457 "2018-01-31T03:32:00Z")
OK, I’m gonna call it. [The Great Indian Vulture Crisis](http://antranik.org/the-great-indian-vulture-crisis/) Vultures were dying off and rabies was on the rise. Turns out…they were giving a pain killer to dying cows to ease their suffering in death. Diclofenac(you did not need the name of the drug). It did ease the pain of dying, but it caused kidney failure in the vultures that at the cows. Wild dogs ate the cows, got the rabies, and passed it on to humans. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2458 "2018-01-31T13:43:52Z")
That reminds me a little of the [Four Pests Campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign). Mao ordered the Chinese to bang pots and make noise to keep rice-eating sparrows away. As a result, there were no predators to keep locusts from spreading, and this led to the Great Chinese Famine. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2459 "2018-02-08T10:42:58Z")
I have an unusual idea for one of these Question-Seek games. I’m thinking of an invention in the field of rotating-disk storage for computers. It implements a well-known performance enhancement, but without the complex scheduling firmware appropriate without the invention. _I’ll give some more hints if there’s interest_. … Or just answer yes/no questions. Technical knowledge will be useful in solving, but may not be totally essential — beyond the fact that the rotating-disk storage … rotates! If you succeed in solving this puzzle, you will have re-invented an (arguably clever!) invention. OTOH, AFAIK the invention was never implemented nor patented. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/2460 "2018-02-08T11:22:24Z")
Since the invention was never implemented, that rules out multiple platters. I can immediately think of two technologies that were never implemented commercially: heads on multiple arms and constant data density. Making the data density the same on the edge of the platter as the innermost would have increased data storage considerably. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=122) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=124)