Speaker:
John Nutkins ( Crossword Maestro )

Workshop will include a brief history , types of cryptic clues , exercises and competition with prizes.

Ideal for beginners and regulars , especially those who want to sharpen their understanding of cryptic deconstruction.

Participants will get a bound file of all presentation material for easy reference.

Time:
2pm to 5pm

Entry fees:
RM40 ( include tea and snacks)

Limited to 50 pax. (So do not delay!)

For details download forms or call Jay at 012-4201364

Title:
Puzzler’s Challenge
- Teams of 2 compete to solve a variety of puzzles
- Limited to 20 teams
- About 4 hrs

Time:
8am-12pm

Entry fees for a team of 2:
RM40 (include tea and snacks)

Limited to 20 teams only! 10 prizes!

For details download forms or call Jay at 012-4201364

More about him and his art can be found here.

optical illusions
ambigrams
hidden images
impossible images
puzzles
wordplay
ambiguous images

Check Planet Perplex.com out and have hours of fun!

You will have the opportunity to explore exciting new ideas in the world of creativity. Everyone, from the earliest caveman to the rocket scientists of today, needs to develop a more creative mind, both for their own benefit and the betterment of mankind. With various points of view from three speakers, you will have the opportunity to see different perspectives of creativity development from contemporary theory and hands-on workshops to Energy Psychology and the Tao of Creativity. This program consists of talks and fun workshop activities. It will be a weekend of fun and games for all.

Title:
Mensa Creativity Seminar / Workshop

Date:
July 26, 2009 (Sunday)

Registration fee:
RM35/participant inclusive of lunch and drinks.
RM40/participant without reservation.

The fee consists of direct expenses only and there are no professional fees involved. A presentation of this nature would normally cost a few hundred Ringgit per attendee.

Number of Participants:
A maximum of 30 participants based on first come first serve basis, so make your reservation before July 17.

Time:
9.30am to 5.30pm

Venue:
Auditorium, Masyarakat Penyayang (Caring Complex, Penang)

Open to:
Mensa members, MINDS members, and guests

Medium of seminar:
English

Prerequisite of Participant:
Proficiency in English

Speakers:
Dr. Terence Ooi, PhD: How to be creative? Learn the tools of creativity.
Nick Miller, MBA: What is creativity? See the world in a new perspective.PC Sim: Energy psychology and ancient Tao model of creativity.

Please confirm your reservation before 17 July, 2009 by contacting PC Sim(012-4052157) or email simpueichun@gmail.com

Thank You.

Date: 28 June 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 10:30am to 1pm
Venue: Balik Pulau, Penang (meet at Tesco Extra, Jalan Sungai Dua, at 10:30am)

We welcome you and your family and friends to join us.

Take up the challenge. Here’s some fodder for your grey matter to feed on. The questions may look straightforward but the answers will surprise some.

Q1. There is a man that lives on the top floor of a very tall building. Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the building to go to work. Upon returning from work though, he can only travel half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless it’s raining! WHY?
Answer

Q2. A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies on the scene, but the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon says, “I can’t operate on this boy, he is my son!” How can this be?
Answer

Q3. A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, jumper, gloves and balaclava. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its light off too but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?
Answer

Q4. One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother, Terry, celebrated his birthday. How’s that possible?
Answer

Q5. A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other people there. They were all naked and all looked as they did at the age of 21. He looked around to see if there was anyone he recognised. He saw a couple and he knew immediately that they were Adam and Eve. How did he know?
Answer

Q6. A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?
Answer

Q7. Bill met an old friend whom he hadn’t seen for years! “How are you?” exclaimed Bill. “Wow, you look great!” “I am married now, to somebody you don’t know,” said the friend. “This is my daughter.” Bill smiled down at the little girl. “hi, young lady. What’s your name?” “It’s the same as my mama’s,” said the girl. “Is that so,” said Bill, winking at his friend. “Then your name must be Cindy!”

How could he possibly know this?
Answer

Q8. Once there was a tennis player.
In the tennis game, she played very well and won great fame.
Jane was her first name,
What was her last name.

Find Jane’s last name.
Answer

Q9. A man lived in a town where people make so many creative rules, one of which was that only women had the right to sing songs. He was told one day by his wife not to leave the town for 4 years. Then, 3 years later, he wrote on a piece of paper to give to his wife, “I am going to check and see how good of a singer I am.” He did what he said he was going to do, but he did not break the rules that they had in the town. How is this possible?
Answer

Came across any good ones? Please e-mail to me and I’ll put it up if I like it.

Disclaimer: The above questions are not my original but interesting ones I came across in other publications.Webmaster

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Answers to Puzzles – 2

A1. The man is very, very short and so can only reach half way up the lift buttons! However, if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him and so can press the higher buttons with it.

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A2. The surgeon is the boy’s mother.

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A3. It was daytime.

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A4. At the time she went into labour, the mother of the twins was travelling by aeroplane flying westwards. The older twin, Terry, was born first in the first minutes of March 1st. The aircraft then crossed the International Dateline and Kerry, the younger twin, was born on February the 28th. Therefore, the younger twin celebrates her birthday two days before her older brother on a leap year.

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A5. He recognised Adam and Eve as the only people without navels because they were not born of women, they had never had umbilical cords and therefore they never had navels. This one seems perfectly logical but it can sometimes spark fierce theological arguments

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A6. They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets etc.)

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A7. Bill knew the little girl’s name because it was the same as his friend’s name. His old friend, to whom he was talking, was named Cindy, and she was the little girl’s mother.

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A8. The first and last names are given in the last two lines of the poem.
Jane was her first name,
What was her last name.
The two lines make one complete sentence, and there is a period at the end of the sentence, not a question mark.
So the sentence doesn’t ask a question. It tells you that Jane was the first name and that What was her last name.
Her name was Jane What.

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A9. The man meant a completely different word that is spelled the same way as “singer = one who sings” but pronounced differently. The word he meant was formed from “to singe” and means “one who singes”.

Contributed by: “Jimmy Lowell”

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Q1. Can William, 70, marry his widow’s beautiful 20 year old sister Susan?
Answers

Q2. A man lies dead in a field. The field is completely empty except for the grass and an unopened package beside him. No weapons are found and there was no one nearby within a 50km radius at the time of his death. How did he die?
Answers

Q3. Johnny and Jonathan, 8 year old identical twins, were playing in an old garden shed. Johnny’s face was clean but Jonathan’s was covered with dirt. Yet it was Johnny who went to wash his face instead of Jonathan. How come?
Answers

Q4. A man saw the sun rise in the west. He was not on the moon or in space, nor anywhere near the North or South Poles. He saw the real sun rise from the western horizon. How?
Answers

Q5. A butcher had a brother who died. But while he was alive, the butcher’s brother never had a brother. How come?
Answers

Q6. There are 3 sealed envelopes. One contains two $5 notes, another two $10 notes and the third a $5 and a $10. Unfortunately, all three envelopes have the wrong amount marked on the outside. How could you correct all three markings by opening only one envelope and looking at only one note?
Answers

Q7. My daughter has many sisters. Each sister has the same number of brothers and sisters, but each brother has twice the number of sisters as brothers. How many sons and how many daughters have I got.
Answers

Q8. If you drove a bus with 43 people on board from Chicago and stopped at Pittsburg to pick up 7 more people and drop off 5 passengers and at Cleveland to drop off 8 passengers and pick up 4 more and eventually arrive at Philade lphia 20 hours later, what’s the name of the driver?
Answers

Q9. How many animals of each species did Moses take with him in the Ark?
Answers

Q10. Some months have 30 days,some months have 31 days. How many months have 28 days?
Answers

Q11. There are 2 pieces of string. Each piece is made of a different material and are of different lengths. Both pieces of string takes exactly 1 hour to burn from 1 end to the other. The speed of burning is not uniform throughout, so it can burn quickly first then slowly at the end or any random way.
If you are given only these 2 pieces of strings and a box of matches, how do you measure 45 mins? The solution only requires you to burn the strings. No other actions like cutting, measuring, etc is involved.
Answers

Q12. A very rich farmer was getting bored and decided to count his cows. After counting them he discovered that the number of cows could be divided by 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. What is the MINIMAL number of cows this farmer has?
Answers

Q13. The distance between two places X and Y is 105 km. A and B separately starts at the same time from X and Y respectively in the opposite direction. A is driving at the speed of 40 km/hour. After one hour and 45 minutes, A meets B, and then both A and B continue on their journey. After three minutes, A meets C who is driving in the opposite direction. C later overtakes B at place Z.
If A`s speed were 20 km/hour, and B’s speed were 2 km/hour faster than the original speed, and A and B were separately starting from X and Y at the same time, then A and B would have met at place Z. What is the speed of C?
Answers

Q14. 4 men must cross a bridge on a dark night in 17 minutes. All four men begin on the same side of the bridge. There is one only one flashlight. A maximum of two people can be on the bridge at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 person, must have the flashlight with them. The flashlight must be carried back and forth by a man,it cannot be thrown, etc. Each person walks at a different speed when alone but a pair must walk together and at the speed of the slower man’s pace. The time taken by each man to cross the bridge is:

Adam: – 1 minute to cross
Bono: – 2 minutes to cross
Carl:- 5 minutes to cross
Dave: – 10 minutes to cross

For example: if Adam and Dave walk across first, 10 minutes will have elapsed when they get to the other side of the bridge. If Larry then returns with the flashlight, this will take another 10 mins, a total of 20 minutes and the mission would have failed. Can you help them to cross the bridge in 17 minutes?
Answers

Q15. Think carefully. Which comes first, chicken or egg?
Answers

Disclaimer: The above questions are not my original but interesting ones I came across in other publications.Webmaster

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Answers to Puzzles – 1

A1. No. As Susan is his widow’s sister, it therefore means that William is dead.

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A2. The unopened pakage is a parachute. The man died because it did not open.

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A3. Being identical twins, they looked alike, so Johnny upon looking at Jonathan’s dirty face assumed his own was also dirty and therefore washed it. Jonathan on the other hand thought his own face was clean when he looked at Johnny’s and so did not wash his.

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A4. The man was a Concorde pilot. He took off just after sunset. Flying due west, his plane “caught up with” the sun and he saw it rise over the horizon in front of him – in the west.

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A5. The butcher is a woman.

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A6. Take one note from the envelope marked $15. If it is a $5 the other note left inside must also be a $5, and thus the envelope marked $20 must contain a $5 and a $10. Same procedure if the note picked is a $10.

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A7. 3 sons and 4 daughters

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A8. Your name! YOU are the driver.

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A9. None. It was Noah, not Moses.

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A10. All of them. Every month has at least 28 days.

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A11. Burn first string from one end and 2nd string at both ends.
2nd string will be completely burnt in half an hour ( double rate burning from both ends ).
At that time the first string will have half hour burning time left.
Light up the other end of 1st string and it will be completely burnt in another 15 mins.
Half hour plus 15 mins….q.e.d.

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A12. 2520

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A13. 23.157894…. kph

At 40 kph for 1.75 hrs, A meets B at point 70 km from X ( lets call it E )
B thus travelled 35 km in 1.75 hrs giving speed of 20 kph.
A meets C after travelling 3 mins at 40 kph which would be 2 km, at point 72 km from X ( F ).
If a travelled at 20 kph and B at 22 kph they would meet at Z which is 50 km from X.
C thus covered distance of 22 km ( F to Z ) in 57 mins, giving speed of 23.157894…. kph

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A14. Adam & Bono (1 min and 2 mins) cross………………2 mins
Adam returns………………………………………………………….1 min
Carl & Dave (5 and 10 mins) cross……………………..10 mins
Bono returns…………………………………………………………..2 mins
Adam & Bono cross……………………………………………….2 mins

total…………………………………………..17 mins

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A15. Chicken before egg, alphebetically

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By Lee Yee Dian

1. How many birthdays does the average Malaysian have in his/her lifetime?
A. 1
B. 60 ~ 70
C. > 70
D. I don’t know.

2. Some months have 30 days, some have 31 days. How many have 28 days?
A. 1
B. 6
C. 12
D. I have no idea.

3. If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. Don’t ask me any maths.

4. We know there are twelve 1-cent stamps in a dozen, but how many 3-cent stamps are there in a dozen?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 12
D. I said no maths!

5. I had to change flight 2 times at different airports before I finally flew into Buenos Aires. How many airports did I go through?
A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. I don’t travel.

6. How many animals of each species did Moses bring into the ark?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. Nothing on religion, please.

7. There are ______ things wroong with this questian.
A. 0
B. 1
C. 3
D. None of the above.

8. What is the minimum number of ducks that can swim in the following formation : 2 ducks behind a duck, 2 ducks in front of a duck, and a duck in between 2 ducks?
A. 3
B. 5
C. 7
D. Very confusing!

9. If 3 cats can kill 3 rats in 3 minutes, how many minutes will it take for 100 cats to kill 100 rats?
A. 3
B. 33 1/3
C. 100
D. Very violent!

10. A shepherd had 19 sheep. All but 9 died. How many did he have left?
A. 0
B. 9
C. 10
D. Never been a shepherd!

11. 37 crows were sitting on a tree. A hunter shot 1 down. How many birds were left on the tree?
A. 0
B. 36
C. 37
D. Any clues?

12. A rooster laid 3 eggs in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. But 4 of them were stolen by the fox. How many eggs were left?
A. 0
B. 5
C. 9
D. Foxes don’t eat eggs, I think.

13. Divide 30 by 1/2 and add 5. What do you get?
A. 20
B. 35
C. 65
D. Too many maths questions!

14. The temple bell was sounded at an interval of 3 seconds between every 2 gongs. How many seconds did it take to sound 10 gongs?
A. 27
B. 30
C. 33
D. Never heard a temple bell!

15. There are 10 blue socks and 10 red socks in a bag. It is pitch-black, you don’t have a light, and you can’t see a thing. What is the minimum number of socks you must draw from the bag to be sure of getting a matching pair?
A. 2
B. 3
C. 10
D. 20, to be really sure!

16. You have a round cake. What is the minimum number of cuts in order to get 8 equal pieces?
A. 3
B. 4
C. 8
D. Depends on the cake’s size.

17. How much dirt is there in a hole measuring 1/2 meter by 1/2 meter by 1/2 meter? Answer in cubic meters.
A. 0
B. 1/8
C. 1 1/2
D. Too ‘deep’ for me!

18. I went to bed at 8pm, wound up my clock and set the alarm to sound at 9 o’clock in the morning. How many hours of sleep would I get before being awakened by the alarm?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 13
D. No alarm can wake me!

19. A child playing on the beach had 6 1/6 sand piles in one place and 3 1/3 in another. If he put them together, how many sand piles would he have?
A. 1
B. 9 1/2
C. 11
D. He hasn’t learned to count!

20. Finally, yet another maths question : compute 3 + 4 times 5 + 2
A. 14
B. 25
C. 49
D. I give up!

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Answers to Queer Quiz

1. Answer: (A) 1
Everyone is born once in his/her lifetime, and so we only have one birthday. What happens every year is that we celebrate or commemorate our birthday as we become a year older.

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2. Answer: (C) 12
Every month has 28 days, or more. If the question had asked how many months have only 28 days, the answer would have been 1 (in a non-leap year, of course).

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3. Answer: (B) 2
The question says that you take away 2 apples, and so you have 2 apples with you.

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4. Answer: (C) 12
A dozen of anything, whether apples or 3-cent stamps, is 12.

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5. Answer: (C) 4
The airport I departed from, plus 2 airports where I changed flights, plus the airport where I arrived. That makes 4 airports. Incidentally, traveling to some smaller cities in Europe or USA often requires me to do just that, especially when I need to take a shuttle flight from KLIA to Changi Airport, to catch a long-distance SIA flight. Has anyone amongst you ever experienced the need to go through 5 airports to get somewhere?

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6. Answer: (A) 0
Moses did not take any animal into any ark. It was Noah. For a really trivial fact and speaking of Noah, did he have to take 2 animals of each species into the ark? Actually for some species, albeit very few, only 1 animal would be enough. If you know your biology well, you would be aware that there is such a thing as asexual reproduction in lower animals. Hermaphrodites such as flatworms do not need a partner to reproduce. Apparently, asexual reproduction also occurs in insects such as aphids and in a few unusual vertebrates such as whiptail lizards.

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7. Answer: (D) None of the above
There are 2 obvious spelling mistakes in the sentence. That’s 2 things wrong. The answer is therefore ‘none of the above’. Some may claim that there is a third thing wrong with the question, in the sense that the correct answer is not given (that ‘none of the above’ is not really an answer). If so, then the answer should be (C) – 3 things wrong. But then if there is now a correct answer as in (C), then the basis of the third wrong thing no longer stands. Hence, we are back to just 2 things wrong.

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8. Answer: (A) 3
1 duck in front, 1in the middle, and 1 at the back. This will satisfy the last condition of ‘a duck in between 2 ducks’.

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9. Answer: (A) 3
If 3 cats can kill 3 rats in 3 minutes, it follows that 1 cat will still take 3 minutes to kill 1 rat. Hence 100 cats will also take 3 minutes to kill 100 rats.

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10. Answer: (B) 9
‘All but 9 died’ means that 9 sheep survived.

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11. Answer: (A) 0
The sound of the gunshot would have driven all the birds away. A similar riddle goes like this: there are 10 cats on a boat; 1 cat jumps into the river, how many cats are left on the boat? The answer is 0, because they are all copycats.

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12. Answer: (A) 0
Roosters don’t lay eggs. Hens do.

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13. Answer: (C) 65
Try using a calculator and key in 30 / 0.5 + 5. You will get 65.

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14. Answer: (A) 27
There are 9 equal intervals of 3 seconds between 10 gongs. Hence total time taken would be 9 x 3 = 27 minutes.

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15. Answer: (B) 3
If you are lucky, after 2 draws you get a matching pair. If you are not so lucky, after 2 draws you end up with 2 socks of different colours – one blue and one red. In this case, on the third draw the third sock will definitely match either the blue or the red one you already have.

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16. Answer: (A) 3
First do a vertical cut through the center of the cake.
Next do another vertical cut perpendicular to the first
cut. The third cut – this calls for lateral thinking – is a
horizontal cut parallel to the plane of the table.
Alternatively, you could do 1 vertical cut and 2
horizontal cuts.

For a follow-up question, what is the minimum number of cuts to get 7 equal pieces (not necessarily of equal shape)? I believe 4 cuts would suffice.

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17. Answer: (A) 0
Theoretically a hole is empty and you are not expected to find anything in there. The size of the hole is ‘immaterial’ (pun intended).

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18. Answer: (B) 1
From the question, you should realize that this is an old-fashioned wind-up clock and not a digital one. He went to sleep at 8pm, and set the alarm at 9. The clock’s alarm would sound 1 hour later.

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19. Answer: (A) 1
If he puts all those piles together, he gets 1 big pile.

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20. Answer: (F) 25
Sorry about the typo in this question, but it doesn’t affect the problem posed. Based on the BODMAS rule, we were taught to do division and multiplication first before addition and subtraction. Hence 4 x 5 = 20 comes first, then 20 + 3 + 2 = 25. The fact that the symbol ‘x’ is replaced by the word ‘times’ can be misleading for some people.

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Friday 15 May 2009

3.00 pm onwards: Check-in Hydro Majestic Batu Ferringhi Penang

4.00 pm – 6.00 pm: Ice-breaker session

Saturday 16 May 2009
9.00 am – 9.30 am: SPEAKER 1 & 2
9.30 am – 10.00 am: SPEAKER 3 & 4
10.00 am – 10.30 am: SPEAKER 5 & 6

10.30 am – 11.00 am: Coffee Break

11.00 am – 11.30 am: SPEAKER 7 & 8
11.30 am – 12.00 pm: SPEAKER 9 & 10
12.00 pm – 12.30 pm: SPEAKER 11 & 12

12.30 pm – 2.00 pm: Lunch
2.00 pm – 3.30 pm: AGM
3.30 pm – 4.00 pm: Coffee Break
4.00 pm – 4.30 pm: SPEAKER 13 & 14
4.30 pm – 5.00 pm: SPEAKER 15 & 16
7.00 pm – 10.00 pm: Gala Dinner

Sunday 17 May 2009
9.00 am – 11.00 am: Sudoku & Grabble competition
11.00 am – 11.30 am: Prize Giving & END

Gala Dinner Program
7.00 pm – 7.15 pm: Speeches by Organising Chairman & Chairman
7.15 pm – 8.15 pm: Dinner
8.15 pm – 9.00 pm: Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon’s Keynote Address & History of Malaysian Mensa
9.00 pm – 9.30 pm: Recognition
9.30 pm – 10.00 pm: Performance

This will be a 3day,2night program for all Mensans and their family and friends.

If you would like to join us, the rates are:
RM320 per person (hotel accommodation for 2 nights + 2 breakfasts + 1 lunch + 1 gala dinner)
RM260 per person (hotel accommodation for 1 night + 2 breakfasts + 1 lunch + 1 gala dinner)
RM130 per person (2 breakfasts + 1 lunch + 1 gala dinner)

The talks are all open to the public.
To join, please contact Fintan (016 4540 393) or email kaluifish@yahoo.com.sg