# stupid riddle **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411 "2000-03-27T00:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/21 "2000-03-27T19:04:00Z")
No, sorry - I got that wrong. Please ignore that previous post. I’ll go off somewhere and punish myself… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/22 "2000-03-27T19:25:00Z")
A man thorws a ball as hard as he can. it travels 100 feet and comes right back to him. The ball hits no wall or other object and has no strings attached. How can this be? These things are great. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/23 "2000-03-27T19:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > A man thorws a ball as hard as he can. it travels 100 feet and comes right back to him. The ball hits no wall or other object and has no strings attached. How can this be? He threw it straight up. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@kozmo.com](mailto:ckeller@kozmo.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/24 "2000-03-27T22:57:00Z")
Bravo. I recently was given a sheet ofthese but can’t find, it. I will keep looking (shuffle shuffle shuffle) ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/25 "2000-03-28T06:00:00Z")
Okay…I have a question. One time in Freshman year math my teacher told us a bvery very elaborate one involveing a circus and a stiltwalker…does anyone know how it goes? ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/26 "2000-03-28T06:22:00Z")
Here’s one I always liked: There lived in a kingdom an alchemist and a wizard. Both had a hobby of mixing poison potions, and each would frequently boast to the other that he was the better poisoner. Eventually the king tired of their boasting and decided to end the debate once and for all. He devised a competition, based on the following unusual principle: In this land, if one who was poisoned subsequently drank a stronger (more poisonous) potion, the stronger potion would actually act as an antidote, and the person would be cured. The king decided this: The two were to come before him, each with his own potion. The two would switch potions, drink, then switch back and drink their own potion. Whoever had the stronger potion would be in possession of the antidote and survive. The other would die. The alchemist, in spite of all his boastfulness, knew in his heart that the wizard was, in fact, the superior poisoner. He could not hope to win the battle as it was. He decided on a plan that would allow the alchemist to survive, and the wizard to die. On the other hand, the wizard knew that the alchemist realized his own inferiority, and therefore anticipated the alchemist’s plan. As such, he decided to devise a counter-plan. (Otherwise, the alchemist’s plan would have worked). On the day of the competition, the two walked in with their own potions, and everything proceeded according to rules. The result: The wizard survived, the alchemist died. 1. What was the alchemist’s plan? 2. What was the wizard’s counter-plan? ---
**Author:** ![Yoop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@Yoop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yoop)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/27 "2000-03-28T16:53:00Z")
Cabbage, I think I have it: 1. The alchemist’s plan was to drink a weak poison, P1, _before entering the room_, and then bring a placebo P0 (no poison) to the contest. P1 is so weak, it won’t kill him before the contest is finished. The alchemist assumes the wizard would be out to win and would bring P10, the strongest poison he could manufacture. In the first round, the alchemist (poisoned with P1) drinks the wizard’s P10 and is cured. The wizard drinks the alchemist’s P0 and nothing happens. Then they switch, the alchemist drinks his own harmless P0, and the wizard drinks his own P10, the deadliest poison in the land, for which there is no antidote. Wizard dies, alchemist dances. 1. The wizard, being no fool, knows the alchemist will pre-poison himself and bring a placebo. So he carefully (being more skilled) brews two even _weaker_ poisons than the weakest the alchemist could come up with, P1. Let’s call these two poisons P0.1 and P0.5. He drinks P0.1, then enters the contest hall with P0.5 in his hands. During the first round, the alchemist (poisoned with P1) drinks the wizard’s P0.5, which is not an antidote because it is _weaker_ than what is already in his system. The wizard (poisoned with P0.1) drinks the alchemist’s P0, which has no effect. They switch. The alchemist drinks his own P0 and falls over dead, poisoned by his own P1 and the wizard’s P0.5. The wizard drinks his own P0.5, which counteracts the P0.1 he took in secret, and lives. ---
**Author:** ![Yoop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@Yoop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yoop)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/28 "2000-03-28T16:58:00Z")
Actually, I just saw an even _simpler_ solution for the wizard’s counterstrategy: 1. He doesn’t bother drinking anything; he just brings a placebo P0 of his own. The two combatants trade their sugar water, and the alchemist falls dead of his own secretly-ingested P1. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/29 "2000-03-29T06:08:00Z")
Yoop, good job, that’s correct! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/30 "2000-04-14T04:36:00Z")
Here’s one: A man is in bed having trouble sleeping. He gets up and makes a phone call. When he hears “Hello” on the other end, he hangs up without saying a word, and falls asleep immediately. I’ll post the answer next, so don’t scroll down until you want it. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/31 "2000-04-14T04:38:00Z")
He was in a hotel. The person in the next room was snoring, keeping him awake. So he called over there, woke the other person up, and went to bed. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/32 "2000-04-14T20:43:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by JonF: > \*\* Any point 1 + 1/(2_pi_n) miles from the South Pole, n = 1, 2, 3, … > \*\* JonF, this doesn’t follow. In order to walk south, he must be 1 mi away from the pole. Thus he walks 1 mi south. Now how does he walk east? Any direction will be north, not east. Assume you assign an arbitrary “East” (based off the prime meridian, perhaps), and count walking along that longitude from the south pole. Okay, then how does he walk 1 mi north after that? It doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Audi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Audi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audi)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/33 "2000-04-14T20:56:00Z")
“The one about the guy leaving home, making a right turn then 3 left turns, and returning home, only to be met by a masked man (or something to that effect) drove me crazy for the longest time.” The question is who are the 2 masked men waiting for him…the catcher and the umpire he is a baseball player running the bases ---
**Author:** ![Audi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Audi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audi)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/34 "2000-04-14T21:00:00Z")
What is it that the people who make it, don’t want it; the people who buy it, don’t use it; and the people who use it, don’t know it? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/35 "2000-04-14T21:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Irishman wrote: > In order to walk south, he must be 1 mi away from the pole. Thus he walks 1 mi south. > Now how does he walk east? Any direction will be north, not east. It does work. For the n=1 case, he starts 1.159 miles from the South pole (1+1/(2pi)). He walks one mile South, leaving him 0.159 miles away. He then walks one mile East, which takes him in a circle around the pole, then one mile North to his origin. For the n=2 case, he traces a circle 0.0796 miles in radius, but does it twice. ---
**Author:** ![lablonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@lablonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lablonde)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/36 "2000-04-14T21:28:00Z")
These two I heard in high school. Pretty easy 1. SUICIDE In the forest the ranger walked into a cabin and saw a man hanging from the rafters by a rope and not a stick of furniture in the place. How did he do it? 2)MEDICAL PROTOCOL A child and his father are in a serious car accident. They are take to a hospital where the other the lead surgeon is forbidden to operate on them. Why? Sorry if these fail to entertain, or I’ve not supplied enough clues. High school’s been out for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/37 "2000-04-14T22:16:00Z")
suicide - the man stood on a block of ice. medical protocol - I’ve heard it phrased like this. A father and son are in an automobile accident. The father dies at the scene, and the son is rushed to the hospital, and the emergency crew wheel him immediately into an operating room. The surgeon enters, sees the boy on the table, and, shaken, exclaims “I can’t operate on him, he’s my son!” Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/38 "2000-04-14T22:41:00Z")
The surgeon is the child’s mother. * * * stoli “There’s always a little dirt, or infinity, or something.” -Feynman ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/39 "2000-04-14T22:46:00Z")
A certain man lives on the tenth floor of an apartment building. Every morning, he takes the elevator from the tenth floor to the first and exits through the lobby. In the afternoon, if it is a sunny day, he takes the elevator up to the fifth floor and then takes the stairs the rest of the way his apartment on the tenth floor. If it is a rainy day, he takes the elevator all the way up to the tenth floor. Why does he behave this way? * * * stoli “There’s always a little dirt, or infinity, or something.” -Feynman ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411/40 "2000-04-14T22:56:00Z")
The man is a short person who can’t reach the tenth floor button, except on rainy days when he has his umbrella. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-riddle/10411.md?page=3)