Things to Ponder

[Claudya]

too gross

*gasp*

 

[Sparkey]

They are both turvey over topsey.

Okay - what two words in the English language have three repeated letters in them. Example 1: "book" has 1 set of repeated letters. "Letters" also has 1 set of 'repeated' letters. To be considered letters that are repeated for this purpose, they much be located directly next to each other. So "letters" has one and only one set. Which two words have 3 sets? And by the way? I don't know the 2nd word right off hand but I saw it with my own two eyes about two days ago and was like:

(*gasp*) and ed!

Old memory may fail me, but then again, maybe not?

Oh! It should also be three consecutive repeated double letters for extra points. So words like Mississippi count, but don't count for extra.

 

[Sparkey]

Mississippi don't count?

It counts and the one that I do know is pure. The one that I recently saw isn't -because like Mississippi it does not have the "consecutive" element in it. The one that I saw (and still can not recall, but will continue to "seek") is not "pure". But it was new, there are less than a dozen and some of them must be "fudged" to work. The "fudge factor" comes when you don't properly spell hyphenated words. That's not the kind that I recall. But for this purpose? Grace above judgment. They too will count here.

 

[Sparkey]

I probably know them but I can't bring them to mind.

I only know of one. Bookkeeper. I've wanted to make a new word from that for awhile: Bookkeepper. Like a Dr Pepper bookkeeper. But it doesn't work. There are words that are properly hyphenated like "sweet-tooth" and if you ignore the hyphen, they would would. 'Bookkeepers' is a derivation so it can't also count as a separate entry but is worth a mention. There are more that are not "pure" but not many.

You're up for the next "stumper," please.

P.S. regarding "triplets" there are triple words (triplets) mentioned in the Bible for emphasis. Doublets too, but triplets few. Know them?

 

[Claudya]

Tennessee and Chattahoochee and Mississippi since you say that counts.

Those don't sound like English words....

As for the three consecutive double letters I cheated and googled it. Because I was thinking as a foreigner I'm disadvantaged here.
There are only two words and both of them aren't very difficult though. I could have figured them out. *facepalm*

 

[Knotical]

Those don't sound like English words.

Yup, those are actually indian, or native american, words that we have incorporated into our lexicon.

 

[Sparkey]

prolly heard this before, it's an old one

Too much typing to answer that one. (Did Sparrow actually say that? Hurry quick - take a screenshot of that, nobody will believe it.)

But have you heard of 'Game Theory' and the Prisoner's Dilemma? This one isn't a riddle. Google up. It's about why people will not trust others and will not cooperate even though it is mutually beneficial to do so. It's about betrayal. It's about Geeks who say the sad things that they think are true.

 

[Claudya]

A man is on a trip with a fox, a goose, and a sack of corn. He comes upon a stream which he has to cross, and finds a tiny boat which he can use for the same. The problem though, is that he can only take himself and either the fox, the goose, or the corn across at a time. It is not possible for him to leave the fox alone with the goose or the goose alone with the corn. How can he get all safely over the stream?

Yeah I heard that before.
Hm let's see...

You shoot the goose, cook a nice dish of goose and the corn, share it with your buddy the fox and then.... you are too full and heavy and the tiny boat will sink, causing you both to drown. Problem solved.

Or.... you tell that freaking lazy fox to swim, and that dang lazy goose to fly over the river, put the corn in your boat and row to the other side?
Hm...

Er.... I think that wasn't really the right solution.
But the right solution requires rowing back and forth between both shores several times. That's no fun.

 

[Knotical]

Take the goose across first, then come back for the corn, when you deliver the corn, bring the goose back with you and take the fox next, leaving the goose on the original shore, once the fox is over come back for the goose one last time.

It may be runon sentence, but sometimes they save lives...and corn.

 

[Claudya]

You have a three gallon container and a five gallon container and need only four gallons exactly. What do you do? What DO you do?! lol.

We had to solve stuff like that in math class in school a lot. I wish our teachers had come up with an exciting cover story like disarming a bomb.

1. Fill the 3gal bucket.
2. pour the entire content into the 5gal bucket.
3. Fill it again. Fill as much into the 5gal one as you can, leaving you with 1 gal inside the 3gal bucket.
4. pour out the whole water from the 5 gal bucket
5. Fill the 1gal into the 5 gal bucket
6. Fill the 3 gal bucket and pour the entire water into the big bucket on top of the 1gal.
7. Good luck.

 

[Claudya]

I misread this at first, this is correct!

OF COURSE IT IS!

 

[Sparkey]

Your spider looks hungry to eat that grumpy guy...

 

[Claudya]

LOL
No my guardian spider is just hungry to eat people that falsely claim my solution is wrong.

 

[Claudya]

Hm, I'm a bit stumped by that.
Important question, does the light bulb only have 2 states (on or off) or does it have some kind of third state inbetween (like an old fashioned light bulb which's wire would still glow faintly for a minute after switching it off? or heats up? or like those energy saving bulbs that need a minute to reach their full luminosity?)

 

[reba]

turn them all on and walk in

 

[Sparkey]

"Turn them all on and walk in " haser

You have to find out which switch controls the light bulb

 

[Knotical]

Open the door, then try the switches without actually walking in the room until the light is on.

 

[Knotical]

I guess it will be important to ask if there is a door to the room and where it is relative to where the switches are?

 

[Claudya]

Have you ever had to chase down a circuit, and you're the only one on site?

Didn't know circuits can run.

It's like a system of two equations system with three unknow variables. There must be some foul trick here. Maybe you have to switch on one switch for a month and then wait for the electricity bill. If it is higher you found the right switch, if it's unchanged you will need another month to find out....

Or... 5 minutes ago I discovered the first two mosquito bites on my arm in this spring. I have the light on and the window open at night, that's quite like a dinner invitation for mosquitos.
So that leads me to the following idea (that I think is most likely wrong): You wait for summer or spring for the experiment. You open the window of the room, then walk out, lock it, and you switch on the first of the switches, then wait for a whole night, switch it off and walk in to check. If you get eaten alive by mosquitos right upon walking in the switch you used was the right one.
Not like this knowledge is gonna help you much in that situation.

Note to self: go buy mosquito repellents tomorrow.

 

[Claudya]

Did you know, that under the right circumstances, that water can run uphill? (A slight hill).

Maybe if you are chasing it it's so scared that it runs back up the hill it came from....