Community Magazine August 2012

THE HOMEWORK SCHEDULE The homework policy for most schools states that students should not spend more than 90 minutes per night doing homework. But most policies don’t go into detail as to how this time should be budgeted if the student desires to achieve good grades in his/her classes. The following is a helpful guide explaining how most successful students spend their homework time: 15 minutes looking for assignment. 11 minutes calling a friend for the assignment. 23 minutes explaining why the teacher is mean and just does not like children. 8 minutes in the bathroom. 10 minutes getting a snack. 7 minutes eating it. 6 minutes telling parents that the teacher never explained the assignment. 10 minutes sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Mom or Dad to do the assignment. M. Esses PROPER NAME A parent of a first grader at a local public school in Kansas City is irate because no one can pronounce her child’s name properly. The young girl’s name is Le-a. Some people wrongly say Leah, some Lee-A, some Laya, only to be told that they’re not even close. Finally, the principal formally asked the family how the name is supposed to be pronounced. The mother responded in a matter-of-fact manner, Her name is “Ledasha. The dash don’t be silent.” David Ashkenazi DRIVER’S EDUCATION A teenage boy who had just passed his driving test asked his father when they could discuss his use of the car. His father made a proposal. “You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your scriptures a little, and get your hair cut. Then we’ll talk about the car.” The boy thought for a moment, and finally gave his consent to the deal. After about six weeks, his father said, “Son, you’ve brought your grades up and I noticed you’ve been studying your scriptures, but I’m disappointed that you haven’t had your hair cut.” The boy said, “You know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve noticed in my studies of the scriptures that Samson had long hair.” Dad replied, “Did you also notice that Samson walked everywhere he went?” Rachel Betesh A PROFESSOR’S PROPOSITION After receiving the midterm schedule, a student comes to his chemistry professor’s office and closes the door. With a serious expression on his face he says, “Sir, I would do anything to pass this exam.” “Anything?” replied the professor. “Anything,” replied the student emphatically. “Well then, there is one thing you can do,” the professor says as he reaches for his briefcase. “What is it?” asks the boy. The professor’s voice turns to whisper as he leans in and says, “You can study!” Shirley Farca Riddle: Blushing Secretary SUBMITTED BY: Abe Schweky The school secretary is preparing a mailing to students when she realizes that among the twelve envelopes which were already sealed, one of them – and she’s not sure which – was accidentally stuffed with her wedding invitation instead of orientation documents. Since she’s getting married in a few weeks, the secretary doesn’t have time to open all the envelopes. But she knows that the problem en- velope will not weigh the same as the others, it will either be heavier or lighter. Using a balance scale, how many times will the secretary have to weigh the envelopes to identify the one that is either lighter or heavier than the others? Last Month’s Riddle: Bogus Gummy Bears 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? Solution: David uses 51 gummy bears, taking 0, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, and 24 bears from the respective cartons. David weighs the bears, subtracts the re- sult from 510 (the expected weight if all gummy bears were real), and finds the unique combination of 3 numbers from the above list (since there are 3 imitation cartons) that equal the difference. The trick is for the sums of all combinations of any 3 of the values to be unique. The resulting sums range from 3 to 44 inclusive with 7 sums missing: 4, 23, 34, 36, 40, 42, and 43. Junior Riddle: Laundry Queen SUBMITTED BY: Pamela Sutton Mariana is doing the laundry when there is a blackout. She has three baskets in front of her, one with whites, which is supposed to be on the left, another with darks which is supposed to be in the middle, and a third with unsorted (whites and darks), which is supposed to be on the right. Mariana knows that none of the baskets are ever in the right place. Pulling out an item from only one basket and looking at the color of one of its contents Mariana correctly rearranges the baskets. Which basket did she reach into? And, how did she rearrange the baskets based on the results? Last Month’s Junior Riddle: Chicken Wing Shortage 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? Solution: Moses didn’t take any chickens on an ark (Noah did), so the farmer had 34 wings – 18 wings on live chickens + 16 wings on dead chickens. Solved by: Kim Haber, Daniel Dilamani, Hadassah Sunitsky, Chani Andy, Eily Saadia, Joe Chehebar, Sarah Esses, Esther Esses, Marc Saadia Trivia: Road Scholar 29%: Estimated increase in likelihood of a fatal crash during a weekend pre-dawn rain shower in August– statistically the most dangerous time to drive. (NHTSA report 2009) $ 1,522: Annual estimated cost per US driver for all vehicular accidents, totaling $299.5 billion – and including an average of $6 million dollars for each of the almost 33,000 motorists fatally killed each year. (Source: AAA Report 2011) 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. ! AV 5772 AUGUST 2012 89