Community Magazine July 2012

CHINESE WISDOM Back when I was working as a graphic designer, I often grabbed lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I’ll never forget a bit of wisdom from a fortune cookie I received one day: “In case of fire, keep calm, pay bill, then run!” Jack V. Grazi ROTTEN TOMATO RECIPE Vinnie walked into the town’s grocery store and said to the produce clerk, “I want all the rotten tomatoes you have.” “What do you want with rotten tomatoes?” asked the grocery clerk “Unless you’re going to see that new comic who’s appearing in town this week.” Looking slyly at the grocery clerk, Vinnie replied, “I am the new comic.” Eddie Cohen SUITABLE SUB SANDWICH My Italian American friend is very self- conscious about his height, or lack thereof. So I always steer clear of the subject. One day, he and I went to lunch at a sub shop. “I’ll take the Italian Sub – salami, pastrami, and peppers,” my friend ordered. “Do you want a full hero or half?” came the reply. “Ah... gimme a half,” my friend said. After placing our orders, we took our seats to wait. A few minutes later, my friend frowned when we heard, “Small Italian, your order is up!” Sarah Dweck WHERE IS TALL MAN? “Did you hear that the world’s tallest man got fired from the circus?” Howie announced at the dinner table “Yeah,” replied his twin brother Tommy. “He was concerned about his cholesterol, so he switched from butter to Crisco. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize it was shortening.” Abhu Cohen KEEPING COMPANY WITH OLD FRIENDS Sam is sitting on a park bench and sees nearby a group of elderly men chatting and laughing. They are enjoying themselves so much that he listens in to hear what the fun is all about. After eavesdropping for a few minutes, he realizes that they aren’t having an actual conversation. Rather, one person calls out “number 9” and everyone laughs, and then as soon as they stop laughing another person calls out “number 32” and they all crack up again. So Sam asks one of the men to explain what is going on. He says, “We’re such old friends that we already know each other’s jokes, so we just refer to them by number instead of telling the whole joke.” Sam is fascinated and decides to join in. At the next lull in the laughter, he calls out, “number 16,” but to his disappointment, only a few people laugh. When he asks what he did wrong, one of the men explains, “You just didn’t tell it right.” M. Esses Riddle: Bogus Gummy Bears SUBMITTED BY: Isaac Gindi Real gummy bears weigh 10 grams, while imitation gummy bears weight 9 grams. David has 7 jumbo cartons of gummy bears, 4 of which contain real gummy bears, the others imitation. Using a scale only once and the minimum number of gummy bears, how can David determine which cartons contain real gummy bears? Last Month’s Riddle: Voluntary Segregation A group of 80 people are given hats to wear that are either white or black. Each person does not know the color of his or her own hat, but they can see the colors of everyone else’s hats. The people must then separate themselves into separate groups of white hat wearers and black hats wearers. Each person can only decide which for himself or herself which group to join and may not direct others. Using only logic (and no cheap mirror tricks or signals, how do they know to separate? Solution: Person 1 and 2 separate from the crowd to start a new group. If their hats match, person 3 comes to join their group. With this, persons 1 and 2 will know they have matching hats. This If person 3’s hat is differ- ent from person 1 and 2’s they leave him and together form a new group. Person 3 will then know his hat color as well. If person 1 and 2 did not have matching hats in the first place, person 3 would start his own group instead of walking to them. Persons 1 and 2 would then understand that they do not have matching hats, learning the color of their own hat in the process. The applicable person will then join person 3 in the other group. Persons 4-80 will then one by one join one of the groups. If the groups walk away, they will know to join the other group. Solved by: H. Soleimani, Tikva H. Junior Riddle: Chicken Wing Shortage SUBMITTED BY: David Cohen An ancient farmer had 17 chickens, and all but 9 died. How many chicken wings were left after subtracting the number of chickens Moses took on the ark? Last Month’s Junior Riddle: The Baseball Mystery During a world series game, the bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at zero. After taking three balls and two strikes, the batter hit a long fly ball that sailed over the centerfield wall. The home team won the game, but no man scored, and no man was out. How is this possible? Solution: It was a women’s baseball league. Solved by: Abraham Kassin, Marisa Cohen, Michelle Massre, Michael Stein, Zalman Cohen, Michelle Sutton Trivia: Food Fright 5: Number of separate chemicals in chocolate which react with the brain and make the smooth brown substance the most addictive food according to some scientists. (Dr. Ronald Cohen) 20: Percent of drug users addicted to food, which is far lower than the 34 percent of American adults who are obese, suggesting that food is more addictive than drugs. (National Institute on Drug Abuse) SEND YOUR SOLUTIONS! mobile: Scan the QR code at right online: go.CommunityM.com/riddle email: riddles@Community M .com facsimile: 718-504-4246 postal mail: 1616 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11223 Correct solutions received by the 20 th of each month will be noted in the next issue. ! 104 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE