Forums > Social Chat > someone help me solve this riddle.

Login/Join to Participate

Astarmember
1,591 posts
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada.


Posted:
Heres the problem.

When magellan circumnavigated the globe leaving from spain and arriving back in spain his crew put a notch on the rail for everyday they were out to sea.

Back in the port in spain a person counted everyday on the calendar that they were gone.

When magellan returned the day's recorded were off by a day.

Remember these are navigators who are extreamly good at what they do, record keeping was neccesary for their survival. They didn't make a ny mistakes with the recording of days.

Explain the discrepancy in days

By the way this is a true story and I don't know the answer.

TheBovrilMonkeySILVER Member
Liquid Cow
2,629 posts
Location: High Wycombe, England


Posted:
I'm a bit too tired to work it properly, but I think it's got to do with crossing the date line.

The men on magellan's ship wouldn't notice when they crossed the date line, it'd just be another day to make another notch in the rail - the sun would rise and set at pretty much the same time as normal as far as they're concerned since they're not moving that quickly.

However, by constantly moving around the world, each new time zone would put them slightly out of sync with spain - a small amount of time from each time zone around the world would add up to a day, but they'd only notice when they had something to compare it to that hadn't been moving.

Hmm, that probably doesn't explain it very well, but I'm going to bed

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
or a magical cow floated down from the sky on a bed of cartoon slippers and using her magical pencil, rubbed out one of the notches.,..

either way works for me..


here is one that has been pissing me off for ages...originally from the Batman series...then sampled in a song by Fingaathing (or the tip top rippity rhubarby dj shadow)

there a 3 men in a boat with 4 ciggerettes and no matches....how do they manage to smoke?

i think they might use a lighter...

Red_RaveNGOLD Member
Neo - Hippie
358 posts
Location: Sala, Slovakia


Posted:
quote:
Originally posted by THE UNTIED CHINS OF FUR:
here is one that has been pissing me off for ages...originally from the Batman series...then sampled in a song by Fingaathing (or the tip top rippity rhubarby dj shadow)

there a 3 men in a boat with 4 ciggerettes and no matches....how do they manage to smoke?

i think they might use a lighter...

Well they pull their **** out and... uhh...
*starts feeling bad about having stupid thoughts*
y´know...
...
...
...

Okay I´ll cut it out...

Smile.. It confuses people..:)

Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.


CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
Bovril is mostly right.

Assuming that their original point was on the Greenwich Meridian and they left at 12.01pm.

If they left spain and headed left round the world/anti clockwise/whatever each timezone they pass through would effectively lose them one hour.

So by the time they have sailed completely round the world they will be one full day (24 hrs) behind.

Hope this made sense to some one.


UCOF - they had a lighter. That's also how they lit their candles (in anohter version of the riddle). But thinking about it they must've had a lighter..... how else would they light their poi?

But to cook the pop tarts the must've had a toaster.....

Meh


CheshireCatmember
51 posts
Location: London or Wiesbaden, Germany


Posted:
mm..poptarts...*walks off into the general direction of her kitchen*..
(not that that comment does anyone any good...)
UCOF, a bed of slippers?! whats that supposed to be? youve got it all wrong...he was WEARING the cartoon slippers and the bed was made of cotton candy...*shakes head*

It aint broke...It just lacks large amounts of duct-tape!


Astarmember
1,591 posts
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada.


Posted:
My teacher gave this riddle to us like 6 months ago. In the same class he told it to us me and another guy came up with enochs theory of "chaseing the sun" combined with even more inaccuracy because oh the time spent going around the tip of south america and africa, where daylight hours would be shorter due to the extreme southern lattitude.

The teacher told us we were wrong. We tried to convince him and the class again we were right in a couple of other classes between now and then.

After makeing the thread here and kworld and another forum I frequent someone found this

"The survivors of Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world were perplexed. They returned to Spain on Sunday, September 7, 1522, when they thought it was Saturday. They had departed three years earlier and must have assumed they made an error in counting the days. Reviewing the log, every day was correctly accounted for. A Renaissance geek figured it out. By chasing the sun west around the globe, they undid one rotation of the Earth, experiened one less sunset, and one less day. That lost 'day' was effectively spread out over the three years of their journey."
https://www.asa3.org/archive/asa/199712/0289.html
and this
https://www.naciente.com/essay63.htm

So I am guessing my teacher will always tell everyone who comes up with any answer including the right one that they are wrong.
Because he is an asshole and wants us to keep guessing forever.

Chimeramember
35 posts
Location: NC, USA


Posted:
Sorry to get of topic but has anyone else ever made a pop-tart blow torch? Put strawberry pop-tarts in a toaster (that you don't care about) plug it in and secure it so they won't pop up... Not to be tried inside. If you're lucky you can get a good 3 foot flame. Ok, maybe it's just me but it does provide some slight entertainment when bored.

sarah...member
339 posts
Location: Central coast / Sydney, Australia


Posted:
mmmm, dj shadow... mmm poptarts.
you could light your poi off that blowtorch
does it smell any good? like strawberries?
mmm strawberries.

teachers always tell you youre wrong, so you go off and question yourself until youre either concrete about your answer, or you develop a complex about always being wrong... i guess its good for you in some ways...?

~love and light~

Fire... A bushmans telly


simian110% MONKEY EVERY TIME ALL THE TIME JUST CANT STOP THE MONKEY
3,149 posts
Location: London


Posted:
RIDDLER: there are 3 men in a boat with 4 cigarettes and no matches....how do they manage to smoke?

ROBIN: They throw a cigarette overboard and made the boat a cigarette lighter

RIDDLER: Correct, Boy Wonder!

"Switching between different kinds of chuu chuu sometimes gives this "urgh wtf?" effect because it's giving people the phi phenomenon."


Nathdaninjamember
271 posts
Location: Manchester, England


Posted:

I spot a fingathing fan

boing...boing...When the naive man admits his naivete, he is no longer naive.Thus, all people are regarded by society as either ignorant or a liar.Wonders never cease, as long as you never cease to wonder.


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
It's more of a qwirk than a riddle.

If Magellan's crew had kept track of the day using accurate time pieces, they wouldn't have lost the day as they would have remained on Spanish time the whole time.

But they kept track of the day using the rotation of the earth (the sun passing across the sky) so they unrotated once.

If they'd have gone the other way, they'd have gained a day.

Cool, thanks Astar.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


Pele'sWhippingBoymember
442 posts
Location: Rochester, NY, USA


Posted:
A cigarette lighter? *groan*

Riddle:
The maker does not want it.
The buyer can not use it.
The user can not see it nor feel it.
What is it?

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson


Red_RaveNGOLD Member
Neo - Hippie
358 posts
Location: Sala, Slovakia


Posted:
A coffin : o )

what is it that belongs to you but is used mostly by others..?

the more that there is, the less you see?

you have a barrel of water. what must you add to make it lighter.?

have fun, they are easy but it´s at least somethin´

Smile.. It confuses people..:)

Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.


Pele'sWhippingBoymember
442 posts
Location: Rochester, NY, USA


Posted:
quote:
Originally posted by White RaveN:
A coffin : o )
Yeah, but it really got me the first time I heard it.

quote:
what is it that belongs to you but is used mostly by others..?
I'd rather not say, this is a family friendly site.

quote:
the more that there is, the less you see?
Darkness?

quote:
you have a barrel of water. what must you add to make it lighter.?
A hole?

What gets wetter, the more it dries?

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson


Red_RaveNGOLD Member
Neo - Hippie
358 posts
Location: Sala, Slovakia


Posted:
quote:
I'd rather not say, this is a family friendly site.


umm... wrong... It´s something different...
the other two are correct : o )

and the answer for you would be sponge : o )

Smile.. It confuses people..:)

Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.


Pele'sWhippingBoymember
442 posts
Location: Rochester, NY, USA


Posted:
quote:
what is it that belongs to you but is used mostly by others..?
Your name.

And a sponge works, I had always heard a towel but it's the same answer.

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
{Puts on own head}

Actually, if you're bored... do a search. There are some pretty good riddles hidden in previous threads. OK, they're not hidden but it sounds cooler that way.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
quote:
you have a barrel of water. what must you add to make it lighter.?

Adding a hole works, but so does adding heat (if you add enough of it).

you can also add white paint to make the barrel 'lighter' than it was before.

Oh, yeah and you could add helium filled balloons to it.

Being pedantic, you could also add enough extra water on top to flood the area it is in to make it lighter when submerged (or half submerged).

Not that I'm pedantic or anything...

HoP Posting Guidelines
* Is it the Truth?
* Is it Fair to all concerned?
* Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
* Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?


Red_RaveNGOLD Member
Neo - Hippie
358 posts
Location: Sala, Slovakia


Posted:
quote:
Originally posted by Charles (INFERNO):
quote:
you have a barrel of water. what must you add to make it lighter.?

Adding a hole works, but so does adding heat (if you add enough of it).

you can also add white paint to make the barrel 'lighter' than it was before.

Oh, yeah and you could add helium filled balloons to it.

Being pedantic, you could also add enough extra water on top to flood the area it is in to make it lighter when submerged (or half submerged).

Not that I'm pedantic or anything...

not pedantic, but rather crazy..
no nice answers but holes is the oficcial one

Smile.. It confuses people..:)

Wonders never cease as long as you never cease to wonder.



Similar Topics Server is too busy. Please try again later. No similar topics were found
      Show more..

HOP Newsletter

Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more...