Party tricks

You know those questions that pose hypothetical situations to which the answer seems obvious but the question has been constructed in a deceptive form, so that the obvious answer reveals some subtle aspect of perception? Some of those questions seem painfully contrived, like: A man driving on a twisty country road, hits a deer and his headlights are smashed. Ten minutes later he's phoning his wife, after diving to a town (obviously he doesn't have a mobile). How did he drive to the town with no headlights?

I answered with, 'He just drove there,' I think I was supposed to infer a night time incident from the context but it didn't work. The person asking got a bit mift at this point, she was never the brightest light on the Xmas tree,  not dim exactly, she just put too much faith in rote, one of those folk with predicable thought processes who accepted answers depending on the status of their source. Anyway I tried out the question myself, for curiosity's sake, guess what, it didn't work then either. She must've been asked the question herself at one point, for her to be as impressed by its implications as she seemed. So I started to wonder, was the question posed to her with a more effective wording or did she fail it deliberately? By deliberately I mean, appear to make the assumption of a night time context in the question, for the sake of social acquiescence, then use self deception to convince herself that her assumption was genuine. That might seem a little tenuous but the nature of her reaction, when I failed to make the elicited assumption, was something akin to that which follows from a break in social etiquette, it was if I was being rude.

A much better question of this ilk is: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? Yeah that question, this one went so far over my head that I always dismissed it as some zen type thought mangling, that needed sufficient drug induced cerebral hindrance to be effective. It wasn't until it was pointed out, that the word sound, a bit like the word colour, can be, and is often interpreted as reference to a sensory phenomena, that the penny dropped for me.

So here's another question, that falls somewhere between the forest question and the equivocal wording of the car hits deer question. Here it goes: there are three people travelling together, each of them has just applied for a job as a bus driver. The first person is a good driver and got the job. The second person is a fair driver and didn't get the job, the third person can't drive. Who wins?

Party Tricks

Here's a neat trick question to pose if the opportunity presents itself, in such circumstances as a genteel gathering with family members, one where such pastimes as charades and word games might be practiced:

Who was the first person to be appointed Prime Minister in the British Parliament?

Make sure you write the question down because Robert Walpole, is the answer that will spring forth from all the smart alecs in the room. Although he's is reasonably considered to be the first Prime Minister, the actual title of such, that is: Prime Minister, didn't become official until much later, the official title being, First Lord of the Treasury. You need to write the question down of course, to quell the dissent and quibbling over your wording, when you, oh so graciously, enlighten your companions with the correct answer, that being: Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

Campbell-Bannerman was Scottish of course, so it seemed rather apt to me, on this auspicious day, to highlight his contributions to political life, which were not at all meagre. Campbell-Bannerman was the sane man in the monkey house when the nation was gripped with war fever and its his opposition to and resolution of, the second Boer War that most resonates with me.

I wonder how history would've played out without his contribution? It's impossible to draw any conclusions of course, other than those born from speculation but it seems to me that his, methods of barbarism, speech is a pivotal point in our history.

Superhero quiz

Your results:
You are Batman

Batman 80% Hulk 70% Green Lantern 70% Spider-Man 60% Iron Man 55% Superman 45% Catwoman 45% Robin 44% Wonder Woman 42% The Flash 40% Supergirl 32%

You are dark, love gadgets and have vowed to help the innocent not suffer the pain you have endured.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Uncanny this result because I am The Batman, shame about the crummy picture though, I might have to do something about that.

A quickie

Here's a little game, unfortunately this only really works if you're male and you're also old enough to remember Dad's Army. You can still have a go but it's probably not going to work.

Choose a character from Dad's Army that most represents yourself, you know, the kind of person you are, it can be any of the characters? When you've chosen press the button marked go.