Shed some light...(questions you never knew the answers too)

[bean_and_legumes]

what came first.... the oyster or the shell?

[dc]

The Oyster. Obviously.

This is not a chicken and egg question - the oyster can produce the shell but the shell can't produce the oyster.

Next?

[bean_and_legumes]

alright clever clogs...

[dc]

Sorry.

Oh and by the way, on the other question, apparently it's the egg (I love the LONDON, England bit) http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/05/26/chicken.egg/

LONDON, England -- It's a question that has baffled scientists, academics, pub bores and contributors to the East Dulwich Forum in East Dulwich, LONDON, England (OK I added that bit) through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now a team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.

Put simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal's life.

Therefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg.

So what is the meaning of life..... anyone?

[mightyroar]

42

but why does a watched pot never boil?

[Brendan]

Why are deserted forests full of the sound of falling trees.

[Ted Max]

Four (Peckham Rye-related) questions here. I'm going No, No, Maybe, Unlikely.

And did those feet in ancient time

walk upon England?s mountains green?

And was the holy Lamb of God

on England?s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine

shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

among these dark Satanic Mills?

[*Bob*]

Several years ago, I sat perplexed and silent and thinking in a pub after a so-called friend layed 'The Monty Hall Question' on me.

So, for anyone who wants to sit perplexed silent and thinking for a while, is desperately trying to not do any work and who hasn't heard it before, here it is:

Monty Hall, quiz show host, offers his contestant a choice of three doors, behind each of which a prize is hidden. Behind one door is a sports car, behind the other two, booby prizes.

The contestant selects a door, which remains closed.

Monty then opens one of the remaining doors, behind which he knows there is a booby prize.

The contestant is then give the choice of either sticking to his first choice, or switching.

Should he switch, or stick?

[TillieTrotter]

Stick IMHO

[Ted Max]

I have heard this before, I'm afraid. Will keep schtum for now.

[Mark]

Those who have read Derren Brown's book should know this one...

I'll keep schtum for now too

[edited once]

[SeanMacGabhann]

Switch

[david_carnell]

Switch. 2/3 chance you'll get the car.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

[Brendan]

If you are the kind of person who entertains themselves by putting cats in boxes the car exists behind both doors and is also not behind both doors until you open one of them.

All possibilities are real and coexist until it is determined which one we experience.

[Brendan]

A woodchuck would chuck lots of wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood

[bignumber5]

*Bob* Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Several years ago, I sat perplexed and silent and

> thinking in a pub after a so-called friend layed

> 'The Monty Hall Question' on me.

>

> So, for anyone who wants to sit perplexed silent

> and thinking for a while, is desperately trying to

> not do any work and who hasn't heard it before,

> here it is:

>

> Monty Hall, quiz show host, offers his contestant

> a choice of three doors, behind each of which a

> prize is hidden. Behind one door is a sports car,

> behind the other two, booby prizes.

> The contestant selects a door, which remains

> closed.

> Monty then opens one of the remaining doors,

> behind which he knows there is a booby prize.

> The contestant is then give the choice of either

> sticking to his first choice, or switching.

>

> Should he switch, or stick?

Good question: sorry to be an anorak, but I have to bring this down to the mathematics of probability.

Statistically, answer should be switch - the original probability of getting the right door was 1/3. now that a booby trap has been eliminated, the odds of the other door being the prize are, technically, 1 - 1/3 = 2/3, not 1/2 and 1/2. So switch.

_______________________________

Donald Duck never wears trousers. but always wraps a towel round his waist after bathing - why?

[SeanMacGabhann]

this puzzler always comes to mind when I hear people on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire say OUT LOUD what they think the answers MIGHT be before going 50/50 (whatever the producers say)

[Ted Max]

I know a question setter on WWTBAM. Even he doesn't think the "computer take away two random wrong answers" is random.

[Ant]

Not sure that's right bignumber5, as that reasoning could just as easily be applied to the stick option.

Basically you're being asked to choose again from fewer options, so it is 50-50.

[DaveR]

Re: Monty Hall, you definitely switch.

Think of it this way - if you stick, you have 1 door. If you switch, you have 2 doors. There is 1/3 chance the car is behind each door, so by switching you have 2/3. The fact that one of the 2 has a booby prize doesn't change anything.

[dc]

The key is that the two choices you are given at each stage are not random events - the probability is affected by the fact that the host knows where the booby prizes are and knowingly removes one.

You have a 2/3 chance of choosing the booby prize in the first place and, if you do, switching guarantees you will win the car because the other booby prize has been removed. If you stick you keep your original 1/3 chance - switching doubles your chances of winning to 2/3.

[bean_and_legumes]

i request more questions like "Donald Duck never wears trousers. but always wraps a towel round his waist after bathing - why?"

and less well known, mathematically and logically solvable problems like the three doors probability pooper..

what have you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask?

[bloop]

hi everyone, i am new of the forum...

about the oysters... by the way, i love oysters...

I do not know l?gumes... though, I do know about internet signals...

[mlteenie]

Sorry to lower the tone somewhat, but why do you feel cold when you need a piss, yet warmer afterwards? I think we need to know.