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By Israel Zwick, CN Publications
Author’s Note: The following story was adapted from Classic Logic Puzzles (Sterling Publishing Co., 2003). The story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is completely coincidental.
Once upon a time there was a little town in the desert called Greenfield. The Greenfielders were mostly poor immigrants who were struggling hard to build better lives for themselves and their families. They succeeded in developing their small desert town into a flourishing community.
However, near Greenfield was a small strip of land called Azan. The people of Azan believed that Greenfield was rightfully their land so they decided that they would drive out the Greenfielders by force. To do that, they started shooting rockets at Greenfield on a daily basis. The rockets were specifically aimed at the civilian population: at schools, homes, and businesses. Some of the rockets fell harmlessly, some caused property damage, some caused injuries, and occasionally they caused deaths.
The Greenfielders were frightened of these rockets because they never knew where they would land, they could land anywhere. They had only 15 seconds to seek shelter once a rocket was detected. Their lives were in constant turmoil. Children were afraid to play outdoors and mothers were afraid to go shopping. Many Greenfielders fled the town for a safer environment.
Finally, the Greenfield Town Council decided to have a meeting to decide what to do about the incessant rockets. They decided to hire three tanks that would go into Azan and finally destroy the rocket launchers. So the next week, three tanks lined up on the Azan border ready to attack Azan as soon as they received the orders. The tanks were named Emunah, Chochmah, and Gvurah. However, as soon as the international community detected the tanks, there was a big outcry of protest.
An aging, former leader of the country Yoo-Essay, went to visit the Azan leaders and came back saying, “The Azan people want peace with the Greenfielders. The only reason that they are shooting rockets is because the Greenfielders are constantly harassing and irritating them. So if the Greenfielders stop their harassment, the Azans will stop their rockets. If the Greenfielders attack the Azans with their tanks, that would constitute collective punishment against an innocent civilian population so they must not be allowed to do that.”
The leader of a peace organization called the Yoo-Enn, said,” If the Greenfielders attack the Azans it would be a violation of international law and result in unlawful occupation of Azan territory. They cannot do that”
The leader of the Eey-Yoo said, “If the Greenfielders attack the Azans with three tanks it would be considered disproportionate and excessive retaliation against mostly harmless rockets. The Greenfielders must show restraint.”
The Azan leaders warned the Greenfielders, “If you attack us with your three tanks, we will retaliate with our most advanced weapons – our digital video camera with video imaging software. We will produce a video showing children and goats lying in pools of blood with wailing women kneeling over them. We will use Yoo-Toob to distribute this video to millions of people around the world. All the human rights organizations and trade unions will condemn, vilify, and boycott you. You will be finished.”
The Greenfielders were very concerned about these threats so the Town Council decided to meet again. After a lengthy debate, they decided that they would show restraint to the international community. They resolved that they would attack with only one tank, leave another tank at the border for backup, and send the third tank back to the military base.
Using the information below, determine which of the three tanks would attack, which would stay at the border, and which would withdraw to the base.
For solution, click on the link below.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts, Zwick's Picks on June 22, 2008 - י"ט סיון תשס"ח at 12:01 am
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(Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious. It is presented as a mental exercise for amusement only.)
Acting on a tip from an informant, Israeli troops invaded a school building in Ramallah operated by UNRWA, and seized nine schoolbags. Eight of the nine bags had schoolbooks but the ninth had a bomb in it. The task for the troops was to quickly identify the bag with the bomb and return the other bags to the children. The bags couldn’t be opened because that would risk detonating the bomb. However, the soldiers brought a scale with them. Let’s assume that the eight bags with schoolbooks had identical weights but the bag with the bomb weighed more.
What is the minimum number of weightings needed to identify the bag with the bomb and how was it done? For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on March 20, 2007 - א' ניסן תשס"ז at 9:11 am
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Special to CN Publications
(The following story is fictitious; it is presented to stimulate thought and discussion)
An Israeli commando unit went into Nablus to capture two known terrorist leaders. However, since the terrorists hide among the civilian population, an innocent Arab civilian was also captured with the two terrorists. The names of the three were Ahmed, Bashaar, and Saleem. The commandos brought the three captives to Shin Bet for questioning. The interrogator knew that one was from Fatah, one was from Hamas, and one was an innocent civilian, but he didn’t know which was which. However he knew that the civilian would always tell the truth, the Fatah terrorist always spoke falsely, and the Hamas terrorist makes statements that are alternately truthful and false. The Shin Bet agent allowed each of the captives to make two statements. They made the following statements:
Ahmed: 1. Saleem is from Fatah
2. Bashaar is not a civilian
Bashaar: 1. Saleem is not a civilian
2. Ahmed is from Fatah
Saleem: 1. Bashaar is from Hamas
2. I am not from Fatah
The Shin Bet agent released the civilian and escorted the other two to prison. How did he identify them?
For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles, Recent Posts on December 21, 2006 - ל' כסלו תשס"ז at 11:13 am
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Special to CN Publications
Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious. It is presented to stimulate thought and discussion.
Since Hamas took control of the Palestinian Terrorist Authority (PTA), it has become increasingly difficult for them to get the cash needed to finance their terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip. So they learned from the Muslim conflicts in Africa that it’s easier to smuggle diamonds than cash. Consequently, one of the Hamas terrorist leaders went on a journey to collect diamonds from Hamas supporters in various countries. As he completed his collection in Antwerp, Belgium, he called a private limousine to take him to the airport. When he entered the limo, he was greeted by two Israeli Mossad agents pointing their guns at him. They made him an offer,” Give us the diamonds and tell us where you got them, and we’ll let you go free. Otherwise, we’ll arrange for you to meet your 72 virgins.” The terrorist wisely chose the first option. He gave the diamonds to the Mossad agents and told them, “One-quarter of the diamonds came from Saudi Arabia, one-third of the diamonds came from Iran, one-sixth of the diamonds came from France, one-twelfth came from Norway, and the last 22 diamonds I picked up here in Belgium. How many diamonds did the terrorist give to the Mossad agents?
For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on December 13, 2006 - כ"ב כסלו תשס"ז at 11:08 pm
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Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious. It is presented to stimulate thought and discussion.
The Rabbi of a small Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn developed a life-threatening clinical disorder. He required expensive medical procedures to save his life. Having devoted his career to the study and practice of Torah, the Rabbi didn’t have the means to pay for the medical expenses. The local Bikur Cholim charity organization was able to reduce the Rabbi’s costs to $10,000. Yet this was still too much for the Rabbi to pay. So four of his devoted yeshiva students decided that they would try to collect money from the other congregations in the neighborhood to pay for the Rabbi’s medical expenses. The names of the students were Beryl, Mendel, Yankel, and Heshel.
After several weeks of pounding the pavement, the students were able to collect $9,400 and gave it to their Rabbi. Mendel collected $1300 more than Beryl, who in turn collected $500 less than Yankel. Heshel collected $300 more than Mendel. How much money did each of the students collect for their Rabbi?
For solution click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on December 3, 2006 - י"ב כסלו תשס"ז at 5:50 am
Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious, presented for amusement only.
One day King Solomon decided that he needed a new crown. So he went down to his vault, punched in his PIN Code, and entered the huge vault containing his treasures. He saw that he had four bars of gold that were exactly identical. He took one bar of gold and gave it to the royal goldsmith to fashion a new crown. When the goldsmith returned with the finished product, the wise king suspected that the goldsmith removed some of the gold and replaced it with a lighter, cheaper metal such as copper. So King Solomon put the crown on a balance scale with one of the other identical gold bars and found that they balanced exactly. Neverthless, the king had the goldsmith arrested and thrown in the dungeon.
How did King Solomon know that the goldsmith was guilty?
For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on November 12, 2006 - כ"א חשון תשס"ז at 1:36 pm
Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious, it is presented as a mental exercise for amusement only.
Five Israeli Shin Bet agents were assigned to a search and arrest mission to find an Islamic Jihad leader. The five agents were Avi, Baruch, Chaim, Dov, and Eitan. Their main problem was that this terrorist leader was known to change his location frequently. So they had to search each possible location without giving him a chance to escape. So each agent boarded a separate Israeli APC and all five vehicles set out together to search the locations.
1. Avi, Boruch, and Chaim together covered 9 km between them.
2. Dov, Eitan, and Boruch together covered 16 km.
3. Dov. Avi. and Boruch, together traveled 12 km.
4. Chaim and Dov together traveled 7km.
From this information, determine how many kilometers Dov traveled in his APC.
For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on November 11, 2006 - כ' חשון תשס"ז at 7:18 pm
Editor’s Note: The following story is fictitious. It is presented for amusement and to stimulate thought and discussion.
A world-renowned Israeli violinist was invited to perform in France in order to improve cultural relations between the two countries. After a virtuoso performance in a Paris concert hall, a lavish reception was held to honor the violinist. Following the reception, the violonist returned to his room at the concert hall. When he opened the closet door to hang up his coat, he noticed that his priceless violin was missing. The Paris police found no evidence of a break-in so they arrested four French citizens who were employees of the concert hall. Their names were Ahmed, Nabil, Waleed, and Shiqar. Under interrogation, each of them made only one statement. The police inspector knew that the guilty one’s statement was false, but the other suspects spoke the truth. The suspects made the following statements:
Ahmed: I couldn’t have stolen the violin. I was at a meeting at my local mosque where we discussed the tragic kidnap, torture and murder of a French Jew.
Nabil: Waleed is the one who stole the violin.
Waleed: Nabil is lying
Shiqar: Waleed is telling the truth.
Which one is guilty?
Hint: The guilty suspect’s statement is false, the other statements are true. Assume that each suspect in turn is guilty. In each case, is this consistent with the statements by the other suspects? For solution, click here:
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles on November 10, 2006 - י"ט חשון תשס"ז at 6:15 pm
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Israeli Soldier Outsmarts Hamas Captors
Note: The following story is fictitious, it is presented as a mental exercise for amusement only.
An Israeli soldier is kidnapped in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. After a lengthy, brutal interrogation, his captors tell him, “We will allow you to make one more statement. If your statement is false, you will be hanged. If your statement is true, you will be drowned.” How did the soldier respond in order to save his life?
For solution, click here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Logic Puzzles, Recent Posts on November 5, 2006 - י"ד חשון תשס"ז at 10:42 am
(Author Unknown)
Below are four (4) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly. You can’t take your time, answer all of them immediately. Ready?
Find out just how clever you really are….
Ready? GO!!!
First Question:
You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?
Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are
absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second!
Try not to screw up next time.
Now answer the second question,
but don’t take as much time as you took for the first question, OK?
Second Question:
If you overtake the last person, then you are…?
Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST Person?
You’re not very good at this, are you? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Humor, Logic Puzzles on November 4, 2006 - י"ג חשון תשס"ז at 11:11 am
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