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Did You Know?

When three-letter airport codes became standard, airports that had been using two letters simply added an X. Alaska is the only state that you can type out its name using only one line of a keyboard.

If you start counting at one and spell out the numbers as you go, you won’t use the letter “A” until you reach 1,000.

Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “set” has the most definitions, with 464. The word “run” runs a distant second, with 396 definitions.

No word in the English language rhymes with month. A normal, relaxed blinking rate is 6-8 blinks per minute, and the eyes are closed for about 1/10th of a second.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called “aglets.”

Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.

There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum). If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

Riddle me this?

You are given a 5-gallon barrel and a 3-gallon barrel. You are told to go to the sink and fill the 5-gallon barrel with 4 gallons of water. You don’t have any measuring devices. What do you do to make sure the 5-gallon barrel has only 4 gallons of water using the items you have?

See answer below

Answer to Riddle Me This: You fill the 5-gallon barrel up and pour it into the 3-gallon barrel. Then dump the 3-gallon barrel out and pour what was left in the 5-gallon barrel into the 3-gallon barrel so that you have 2 gallons in the 3-gallon barrel. Then fill the 5-gallon barrel up and pour it into the 3-gallon barrel to fill it up. Now you have 4 gallons in the 5-gallon barrel.

Mensa Quiz

So you think your IQ is in the top 2% of the population and you belong in the Mensa Society? Here are 10 sample Mensa questions. See whether you really belong:

1. How many four-sided figures are in this diagram?

10)20

Parachute

years from now, Jane will be 16 and Sam will be 12 9)

Answers 

8) 12 — 4 years ago Jane was 8, Sam was 4. In 4 4) B - Both grow in the ground

No 7)

6) 8

DAY 5) 3) 9 p.m.

CON

25 2)

1)

2. Which same three-letter word can be placed in front of the following words to make a new word?

SIGN, DONE, DUCT, FOUND, FIRM, TRACT, DENSE

3. If it were two hours later, it would be half as long until midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it now?

4. Pear is to apple as potato is to: (a) banana, (b) radish, (c) strawberry, (d) peach, (e) lettuce.

5. The same three-letter word can be placed in front of the following words to make a new word:

LIGHT, BREAK, TIME

6. If a circle is one, how many is an octagon?

7. There are 1,200 elephants in a herd. Some have pink and green stripes, some are all pink, and some are all blue. One third are pure pink. Is it true that 400 elephants are definitely blue?

8. Four years ago, Jane was twice as old as Sam. Four years on from now, Sam will be 3/4 of Jane’s age. How old is Jane now?

9. What is the following word when it is unscrambled: HCPRAATEU

10. If you count from 1 to 100, how many 7’s will you pass on the way?

Wisdom Key 

8-10 correct (in approximately 10 minutes): Genius alert! Umm, check out Mensa...for real.

5-7 correct: You probably won’t make the cut, but you are smart enough for people to believe you if you tell them that you are a member. (Essentially, I am telling you that if you are a liar, this would be a great lie for you to say.) 2-4 correct: Not exactly a genius but you got enough correct that you are free to let your hair grow out in all directions, especially if you have a good bald spot.

0-1 correct: You are the Albert Einstein of our time! You should also see if you can sign up for the Mickey Mouse society; it’s real prestigious.

You gotta be kidding

Seymour comes running into shul one night, all out of breath and very excited. “What is happening, Seymour?” asks Yankel.

“Oh, you would never believe it, Yankel,” says Seymour. “I was trying to catch the bus back from work and I missed it. So I chased it to the next stop, and I missed it again. I kept missing it, and before I knew it, I chased it all the way to here.”

Yankel says, “So, why are you so excited?”

Seymour replies, “What do you mean? It’s amazing! I got here and saved the money that I would have had to spend on the bus.”

Yankel shoots back, “You should have chased a taxi. You would have saved a lot more money!”