Ships’ Cats

British sailors had some furry help during World War II. Tiddles (left) spent his whole life aboard Royal Navy aircraft carriers, traveling some 30,000 miles with them. He was born at sea on HMS Argus and was later promoted to captain’s cat on HMS Victorious. He’s pictured in July 1942 at his favorite station, on the after capstan, where he could play with the bellrope.

Convoy, the ship’s cat on HMS Hermione, was so named because he often accompanied the ship on convoy escort duties. He was listed in the ship’s book and given a full kit, including his own hammock. He went down with 87 of his shipmates when the Hermione was torpedoed in 1942.

“In a cat’s eyes,” runs an English proverb, “all things belong to cats.”

June 5, 2009September 10, 2010 | History · Oddities

Unquote

Always eat grapes downwards–that is, always eat the best grape first; in this way there will be none better left on the bunch, and each grape will seem good down to the last. If you eat the other way, you will not have a good grape in the lot. Besides, you will be tempting Providence to kill you before you come to the best.

This is why autumn seems better than spring: in the autumn we are eating our days downwards, in the spring each day still seems ‘very bad.’ People should live on this principle more than they do, but they do live on it a good deal; from the age of, say, fifty we eat our days downwards.

— Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

June 4, 2009December 17, 2010 | Quotations

A Curious Conversation

You’re standing with your friends Val and Colin when a stranger approaches and shows you 16 cards:

A♥ Q♥ 4♥
J♠ 8♠ 7♠ 4♠ 3♠ 2♠
K♣ Q♣ 6♣ 5♣ 4♣
A♦ 5♦

He shuffles the cards, selects one, and tells Val the card’s value and Colin the card’s color. Then he asks, “Do you know which card I have?”

Val says, “I don’t know what the card is.”

Colin says, “I knew that you didn’t know.”

Val says, “I know the card now.”

Colin says, “I know it too.”

What is the card?

	Select Click for Answer
It’s the ace of diamonds. If Val couldn’t name the card knowing only its value, then it must be an ace, a queen, a 5, or a 4, as these are the only values that appear more than once. If Colin knew that Val couldn’t name it, it must be red, as all the red cards have values (A, Q, 5, 4) that appear more than once. When Val understands that the card must be red, she can exclude from her list of possibilities the queen, the 5, and the 4, as each of those cards appears in a black suit. That leaves only the ace of diamonds. Adapted from Julian Havil’s Impossible?, 2008. UPDATE: Wait, this is cooked. Havil gives the problem but not the solution, and my solution above isn’t valid. Thanks, Ben and Andrew, for pointing it out. If anyone can find a valid solution, let me know and I’ll post it here. I don’t think one is possible. FWIW, this is based on a more famous “impossible puzzle,” which is soluble but spectacularly hard. UPDATE 2: In Canada or England, does the word “colour” mean “suit”? If so, the problem is soluble. It seems to have appeared originally on page 14 of a paper [PDF] by University of Victoria philosopher Audrey Yap. The first two steps above are right — Val can deduce that the card is red and must be A, Q, 5, or 4. The fact that she’s able to say “I know the card now” at this point means it can’t be an ace (because that value appears in both red suits). And the fact that Colin can then say “I know it too” means that it must be the five of diamonds. So, from the top: Val says, “I don’t know what the card is.” (She knows it’s a 5, but there are two 5s.) Colin says, “I knew that you didn’t know.” (He knows it’s a diamond, and thus an A or 5; but as each of these values appears more than once in the deck, he knows that Val won’t have enough information yet to identify the suit.) Val says, “I know the card now.” (Colin’s remark has just told her that the card is red, because all the red cards in this deck have values that appear in multiple suits. And the only red 5 is 5♦.) Colin says, “I know it too.” (He knows that Val was looking for an A or a 5, and that learning the card’s color was helpful. Thus she can’t have been looking for an A, as both aces are red. That leaves 5♦.) So, if “colour” means “suit,” the answer is 5♦. If “colour” means “color,” then I still think it’s insoluble. Thanks to the many smart people who wrote in about this, especially Helge.

Click for Answer

It’s the ace of diamonds.

If Val couldn’t name the card knowing only its value, then it must be an ace, a queen, a 5, or a 4, as these are the only values that appear more than once.

If Colin knew that Val couldn’t name it, it must be red, as all the red cards have values (A, Q, 5, 4) that appear more than once.

When Val understands that the card must be red, she can exclude from her list of possibilities the queen, the 5, and the 4, as each of those cards appears in a black suit.

That leaves only the ace of diamonds.

Adapted from Julian Havil’s Impossible?, 2008.

UPDATE: Wait, this is cooked. Havil gives the problem but not the solution, and my solution above isn’t valid. Thanks, Ben and Andrew, for pointing it out. If anyone can find a valid solution, let me know and I’ll post it here. I don’t think one is possible.

FWIW, this is based on a more famous “impossible puzzle,” which is soluble but spectacularly hard.

UPDATE 2: In Canada or England, does the word “colour” mean “suit”? If so, the problem is soluble. It seems to have appeared originally on page 14 of a paper [PDF] by University of Victoria philosopher Audrey Yap. The first two steps above are right — Val can deduce that the card is red and must be A, Q, 5, or 4. The fact that she’s able to say “I know the card now” at this point means it can’t be an ace (because that value appears in both red suits). And the fact that Colin can then say “I know it too” means that it must be the five of diamonds. So, from the top:

Val says, “I don’t know what the card is.” (She knows it’s a 5, but there are two 5s.)

Colin says, “I knew that you didn’t know.” (He knows it’s a diamond, and thus an A or 5; but as each of these values appears more than once in the deck, he knows that Val won’t have enough information yet to identify the suit.)

Val says, “I know the card now.” (Colin’s remark has just told her that the card is red, because all the red cards in this deck have values that appear in multiple suits. And the only red 5 is 5♦.)

Colin says, “I know it too.” (He knows that Val was looking for an A or a 5, and that learning the card’s color was helpful. Thus she can’t have been looking for an A, as both aces are red. That leaves 5♦.)

So, if “colour” means “suit,” the answer is 5♦. If “colour” means “color,” then I still think it’s insoluble. Thanks to the many smart people who wrote in about this, especially Helge.

June 3, 2009September 24, 2017 | Puzzles

Limerick

There was an old lady from Slough
Who developed a terrible cough.
She drank half a pint
Of warm honey and mint,
But, sadly, she didn’t pull through.

(Thanks, Rikki.)

June 3, 2009June 1, 2009 | Humor · Language · Poems

Truth in Advertising

http://www.agilitynut.com/mim/5a.html — Image: agilitynut.com

The United Equipment Company sells bulldozers — but you might have guessed that from its headquarters building in Turlock, Calif., which is shaped like an oversized yellow Caterpillar D6. Built in 1977, it’s two stories tall and contains six rooms. See also Yogi Bear’s Dream.

June 2, 2009June 16, 2013 | Oddities

Trivium

The fastest temperature drop in history occurred in Rapid City, S.D., when the mercury plunged 47°F (26°C) in 5 minutes on Jan. 10, 1911.

Interestingly, the fastest temperature rise in history occurred in the same city 32 years later, when it jumped 49°F (27°C) in 2 minutes on Jan. 22, 1943.

June 2, 2009February 16, 2011 | Trivia

“Wonderful Battel of Starlings”

Dubious but worth recording: A tract dated 1622 reports a vast war of starlings over Cork, Ireland, Oct. 12-14, 1621. Armies of birds had reportedly converged from the east and west some four or five days before, and on Oct. 12 “they forthwith, at one Instant, took Wing, and so mounting up into the Skies, encountered one another with such a terrible Shock, as the Sound amazed the whole City and the Beholders,” until “there fell down in the City, and into the Rivers, Multitudes of Starlings or Stares, some with Wings broken, some with Legs and Necks broken, some with Eyes picked out, some their Bills thrust into the Breast and Sides of their Adversaries, on so strage [sic] a Manner, that it were incredible, except it were confirmed by Letters of Credit, and by Eye-Witnesses with that Assurance which is without all Exception.”

The birds adjourned, for some reason, on Sunday, though visitors from Suffolk reported seeing a similar war over remote woods there. On Monday the fight resumed over Cork, and this time the dead included a kite, a raven, and a crow.

I can’t find the original pamphlet, but it’s referenced by Johns Hopkins (1905), the London Library (1888), the New York State Library (1882), and the Bodleian Library (1860), among others. Starlings do have a colorful history — see Oops and Fragments of Night.

June 1, 2009June 1, 2009 | Oddities

Marketing Challenge #194782

Okay, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ve found a safe source of fresh air for people trapped in high-rise hotel fires. The bad news is that they have to feed a breathing tube into a vent pipe in the sewer line.

William Holmes’ 1981 brainstorm probably would have saved many lives, but even a guest surrounded by toxic smoke has some natural squeamishness.

June 1, 2009September 10, 2010 | Technology

In a Word

muliebrity
n. the state of being a woman

May 31, 2009May 31, 2009 | Language

Rimshot

‘As I was going over the bridge the other day,’ said an Irishman, ‘I met Pat Hewins. “Hewins,” says I, “how are you?”

“Pretty well, thank you, Donnelly,” says he.

“Donnelly,” says I, “that’s not my name.”

“Faith, then, no more is mine Hewins.”

‘So with that we looked at each other agin, an’ sure enough it was nayther of us.’

— Melville D. Landon, Wit and Humor of the Age, 1888

May 31, 2009May 31, 2009 | Humor