Tuesday 7 October 2014

Today's Daily Brain Teaser (Oct 08, 2014)

Letter Removal



There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word - from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?





Check Braingle.com for the answer.





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Like A Gypsy

yd3






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25 Things That Were Huge When 'Twin Peaks' Was Last On

Russian Road Rage Motorist Gets A Nasty Surprise

Motorists! Need to deal with a fellow driver who's got a touch of road rage?



Why, simply wind down the back window of your car...

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One of the Vatican’s own astronomers…

One of the Vatican’s own astronomers, and the curator of of the Vatican’s meteorite collection, dismisses creationism as “…a kind of paganism”.






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A fully loaded Kindle weighs 10^-18…

kindle A fully loaded Kindle weighs 10^-18 grams more than an empty one.






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The documents that “proved” Iraq sought nuclear weapons…

The documents that “proved” Iraq sought nuclear weapons in 2002 are known forgeries, and the forger has never been caught.






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London Underground Busker Gives An Amazing Rendition Of A Bach Violin Concerto.... On The Harmonica

Jazz pianist John Turville spotted this harmonica player performing Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor on the London Underground - and as he says: "This is why this is the best city in the world." Indeed...













No sooner had Turville posted the video to Facebook, than the comments revealed who the busker was: Philip Achille, a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music who has performed at the Royal Albert Hall:







But Achille doesn't just play classical music. Here he was giving commuters a stonking rendition of 'Spain' by Chick Corea while busking at Canary Wharf station:







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California paid $1M towards the extermination…

California paid $1M towards the extermination of Native American tribes. Later, CA paid a bounty of $5 a head for any Native.






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Dogs sneeze to communicate to other dogs…

Dogs sneeze to communicate to other dogs that they’re not being aggressive.






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J.R.R. Tolkien opposed holding Catholic mass in English…

Tolkien_1916 J.R.R. Tolkien opposed holding Catholic mass in English – to the extent that he loudly responded in Latin whenever priests spoke the liturgy in English.






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Eritrea, not North Korea, scores…

Eritrea, not North Korea, scores as the country with the least media freedom in the world.






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1-in-4 people of the Doma tribe in Zimbabwe…

doma-people-ostrich-footed-cropped 1-in-4 people of the Doma tribe in Zimbabwe have only two toes on each foot. This is due to a law that forbids marriage outside of the tribe, thus propagating the mutation due to a limited gene pool.






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Smalls Are Beautiful

An unsettling scourge has landed on the Pickwick house. Normal service has been disrupted following the delivery of a M&S Menswear catalogue largely made up of undergarments modelled by the British model David Gandy. This has led to the Pickwick females moving from their normal state of kick-ass 21st Century women of substance to flighty and distracted girls willing to offer their child bearing potential (or indeed anything that they have power to give) to the chiselled featured Adonis pictured on numerous pages. In these, he is wearing sparkling white, figure hugging pants which would not have been out of place on his grandfather.



I have nothing against Mr Gandy although I do find the sight of him in his smalls a little too much for my gentle disposition. Fortunately too, this is also the view of Mrs Pickwick although it has not stopped her from keeping a copy of Mr Gandy's catalogue by her bed. I have awoken frequently wondering whether Mrs Pickwick has reached for David during the night, instead of drawing towards me in search of warmth which she had done before David arrived. I remain concerned though that should there be bare knuckle fight between Mr Gandy and I (with him in his granddad pants and me in my "where's Wally" pants), Mrs Pickwick would side with Mr Gandy.



The whole experience has exposed examples of inequality in how things are packaged. There is no doubt Mr Gandy has a well-defined body. His "six pack" provides evidence of hours in the gym. His "pecs" too show careful attention. I cannot compete with his "six pack" - where there is careful compartmentalisation of his stomach muscles creating the washboard effect, in my case, my washboard has disappeared like a finally cut diamond into the ripples of a lake only to re-emerge should the lake be drained. Adjacent to the rippling expanse of my stomach stand two well defined mounds which in the wrong light could be referred to as man boobs or "moobs". But the same is true of Mr Gandy. Working out has developed them for him but eating out has developed them for me. Impressive pecs thus can only be easily recognised when accompanied with a washboard stomach. The difference between Mr Gandy's and mine can be represented by success in cooking soufflé - if you do it right, it rises with a well sculpted peak; if you do it wrong, it wobbles around the plate trying to find another recipe to become part of.



In a bid to damage David and re-assert my authority on the Pickwick household, I have commenced a programme of disinformation against him. My opening position that David is the errant great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, a man known for making fashion statements in white cotton and being photographed topless was accepted suspiciously. I blew it when I took this to the extreme explaining that David was a vegetarian, applied a doctrine of non-violence and was shortly to be played by Sir Ben Kingsley in a biopic of his life.



Fortunately, Mahatma Gandy has an Achilles heel. He is from Billericay, a leafy Essex town standing on a green hill a dignified distance above the cultural Hades of the region of Essex which reaches out to Southend before ending its days in the muddy shores like a swarm of demented lemmings advancing very slowly toward their demise. While I am pleased that Mahatma has escaped from the seven circles of Hull in search of a better life, I have not heard any evidence of his ability to speak. I can therefore draw the inevitable conclusion that his accent displays the gloopy-ness of the Essex dialogue bereft of consonants and prepositions and his topics of conversation are more Top Gear than Top notch.



In the interests of balance, there is a shade of hypocrisy in the position I am taking. If I was presented with Scarlet Johansson in any form (including sculpted out of Lego), I would be stopped in my tracks rendered speechless. And to make matters even better, she has a voice so mellifluous and warm that it was used in its own right as the voice of a futuristic computer operating system whose owner fell in love with in the recent film "Her", an experience which caused the external hard drives of every geek in the land who watched it to reach full capacity within a nanosecond.



In contrast, the womanhood of the World remain sorely disappointed that they will never experience the same as the rumour that Mahatma's voice was used to sponsor the announcement "unexpected item in the bagging area" at the start of Tesco's check outs was a cruel joke.



I remain jealous of Mahatma's power over women even in a two dimensional form. Mrs Pickwick has complemented me on parts of my body but neglected to comment on the rest. While it is nice to accept compliments, it's a bit like explaining why Michelangelo's "Statue of David" is without arms because Mr Angelo could not do them. In Mahatma's case, his bits are all perfectly formed and capable of starting wars. In my case, my bits in three dimensional form are passable with a bit of work but too close attention lead adoring women's minds to drift off to adding lard to their shopping lists or remembering that they have to dig out the compost heap



I have no hard feelings towards Mr Gandy despite being assaulted by images of him in white pants. If we met in a pub, I would not consider turning as genetic make-up has hard-wired me towards the fragrant, skirted ones (by which I do not mean Grayson Perry or Scottish men). We would talk awkwardly and I would wish him well. If I met Scarlett in a pub, that would be a different matter particularly if she drinks pints. The likelihood of either event occurring is thankfully remote. In our search for joy, Mrs Pickwick and I will continue to admire Mahatma and Scarlett remotely. But our flaws, flab and lack of finesse mean that Cupid hit the bullseye when Mrs Pickwick and I were visited. I do not have to reach for Mahatma's undergarments for continued marital bliss as the continuing search for Wally on my own will always be a force for positive momentum in my relationship with Mrs Pickwick. http://ift.tt/eA8V8J



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Brain Teaser 10/7/2014

Suppose you’re in a hallway lined with 100 closed lockers. You begin by opening every locker. Then you close every second locker. Then you go to every third locker and open it (if it’s closed) or close it (if it’s open). (Let’s call this action toggling a locker.) Continue toggling every nth locker on pass number n. After 100 passes, where you toggle only locker #100, how many lockers are open?

Solution

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ENTERTAINMENT COLLECTIBLES: Shop for Collectibles & Fine Art, Movies and TV, Music, Theater and Sports Collectibles.





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Boxer Gives Its Owner A Death Stare, Becomes Our New Favourite Internet Dog

Stop everything. We just found our new favourite internet dog.



It's TD Stoppenhagen's boxer - and as you can see, s/he gives the best look of disgust ever:







Of course, Stoppenhagen and his dog don't just listen to disco. They also listen to Tears For Fears... although the dog doesn't seem to much care until the word 'squirrel' is mentioned:







And of course, you know what that reminds us of, don't you...











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Smart least






Photo courtesy of Andrew Bullington.

Found on a child in Zhoushan, China.








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German Musician Anna-Maria Hefele Demonstrates Polyphonic Overtone Singing, And It's Amazing

"Overtone singing is a voice technique where one person sings two notes at the same time," explains German musician Anna-Maria Hefele.



Hefele is an 'open throat' singer - and her amazing ability has seen this video go viral. Not least because the sound of a vocalist holding a low note (the 'fundamental') while simultaneously singing a scale of high notes (the 'overtone scale') is utterly bizarre, and somewhat Twilight Zone-ey.



She also teaches this technique - and if you're interested in learning it (and fancy a trip to Austria), she's shortly running a workshop in Salzburg, 25-26 October. You know what to do, polyphonic overtone singing fans! http://ift.tt/eA8V8J



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10 Life Lessons Nobody Ever Taught You

'Where's Beyoncé?!' Cody The Teenager Is VERY Confused After His Wisdom Teeth Surgery

"This is my 17 year old son who just came out of dental surgery," explains Christine Livingston of North Carolina. "He had his wisdom teeth removed. He is upset because his idol Beyoncé never showed up."



Understandably, I'm sure you'd agree.



Yes, it's the latest in the 'post-wisdom teeth surgery' canon of YouTube videos: 'Beyoncé After Dentist'. It begins with this wonderful exchange between Christine and Cody:



"Who are you looking for?"



"Where's Beyoncé?!"



"Beyoncé couldn't make it."



"She told me she'd be here!"



"It's gonna be OK."



"She lied to me!"




And goes on to include Cody being very alarmed by his own burps (and blood), thinking he's going to Africa (although he hates it) and being convinced that the FBI are manning a road block.



Bless you, poor Cody. We hope you become a very big star as a result of your mum making (gentle) fun of you. And we hope Beyoncé gets to see this video and finally shows up.

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Today in History for 7th October 2014

Historical Events


1864 - Naval Engagement at Bahia Harbor, Brazil - CSS Florida vs USS Wachusett

1942 - Yvon Robert beats Bill Longson in Montreal, to become wrestling champ

1947 - Larry MacPhail resigns as Yank GM after final game of World Series

1950 - William H Jackson becomes deputy director of CIA

1960 - 2nd JFK and Richard Nixon debate

1962 - 8th LPGA Championship won by Judy Kimball


More Historical Events »


Famous Birthdays


1911 - Vaughn Monroe, Akron Oh, singer/orchestra leader (Vaughn Monroe Show)

1916 - Walt W Rostow, NYC, economist (Politics and Stages of Growth)

1919 - George Duby, historian

1929 - Robert Westall, British author (d. 1993)

1945 - Kevin Godley, Manchester England, rock vocalist (10cc)

1985 - Evan Longoria, American baseball player


More Famous Birthdays »


Famous Deaths


1653 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic priest (b. 1581)

1708 - Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Sikh Guru (b. 1666)

1780 - Patrick Ferguson, English major in SC, dies in battle at 36

1906 - Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, mayor of Montreal (b. 1848)

1925 - Hubert Platt Main, composer, dies at 86

2005 - Charles Rocket, American actor (b. 1949)


More Famous Deaths »






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