Riddle me this.. Riddle me that.

[Skye1013]

Pretty sure the lack of a door would make it impossible before the lightbulb's power does... just saying

[bldavis]

petition to ban dihydro-monoxide is passed to you.
claims it is the leading cause of burns in children, has lead to the sinking of hundreds of ships, is a main component of acid raid, and is worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in gas form.

should you sign?
(ok i know this is easy if anyone knows basic chemistry but in one city they actually voted to ban this)

I love the Bull$hit episode they did with this petition getting a bunch of "green" hippies to sign the petition

it all started with a kids science fair project to get this substance banned....and they did with over 1/2 the city signing and almost 7/8 of the votes to ban it
/palm

it was after they voted that the ban was repealed when the kid explained to city council what it was....

[Arnock]

petition to ban dihydro-monoxide is passed to you.
claims it is the leading cause of burns in children, has lead to the sinking of hundreds of ships, is a main component of acid raid, and is worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in gas form.

should you sign?
(ok i know this is easy if anyone knows basic chemistry but in one city they actually voted to ban this)

If I'm remembering my chemistry right, wouldn't it be dihydrogen monoxide? Or even Hydroxic acid?

[bldavis]

probably is dihydrogen monoxide


for those that havent solved it yet, the answer is something every human needs to survive, as well as every living creature on earth...

[Levantine]

Seems fairly obvious that Dihydrogen Monoxide is water, but then again, I did chemistry in year 10.

[bldavis]

/grumble
spoil sport

but yes dihydrogen monoxide is H2O

[Fivelives]

I'm still waiting for someone to try and answer mine :p

[fuzzygeek]

I'm still waiting for someone to try and answer mine :p

I've been thinking about it off and on, but can't come up with anything.

[Xenix]

What can be held by any, but owned by none?

First thought when you posted it was "your breath" but it could also be a grudge or a meeting or any number of intangibles like that.

[Fivelives]

You got it the first time, Xenix. It's breath.

[Xenix]

Just realized I answered without posting a new one. To keep with the princess riddle theme, I'll go with an old one I heard years ago (on Car Talk, I think, so if you listen to their puzzler regularly, don't answer. ).


A king has a daughter who falls in love with a blacksmith's son, who she knows her father will not approve of. To, they decide to elope and eventually get caught. The king is furious but decides to give the kid a "chance". He tells his court that he'll put two pieces of paper in a hat, one with the word "princess" on it, and one with the word "death" on it - the blacksmith's son will get to pull one piece out. If he pulls out the one with "princess" on it, he lives and can marry her. If he pulls out the one with "death" on it, he will be executed.

Now, the boy knows the king has cheated and both pieces of paper actually say "death", but no one would believe him if he just accused the king. How does he survive and get the girl?

[bldavis]

pulls one out and doesnt look at it, pulls the other out and opens that one, sees the word death and says this one says death, so this one *holds up the un opened one* must say princess

am i right?

edit: oops i did it too

ok heres one, it has roots that none can see, yet is taller than any tree

[Arnock]

ok heres one, it has roots that none can see, yet is taller than any tree

Mountain?

[bldavis]

yep

[Xenix]

pulls one out and doesnt look at it, pulls the other out and opens that one, sees the word death and says this one says death, so this one *holds up the un opened one* must say princess

You're on the right track, but he can only pull out one piece (after all, who knows what trickery he might pull if he got his hands on both of them).


Another for the mathematically inclined:

A farmer (Bob) has a 40 lb stone that he uses to weigh his grain on a balance scale. One day, he loans it to another farmer (Joe) who drops the stone while moving it, whereupon it breaks into four pieces. When Joe brings the pieces back to Bob, he expects Bob to be angry that he broke his stone but it turns out quite different. After examining the four pieces, Bob says that Joe did him a favor since he can use those four stones to weigh grain in any amount from 1 to 40 pounds. (assuming the grain is in 1-pound increments). How heavy are each of the four pieces of rock?