Lateral Thinking Questions

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ANSWER: L.T.Q. #63  !
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Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1997 12:49:08 -0500 (EST)

Here is this week's question:

John and his pet duck, Saltene, were watching television. Just after the midnight news there was a weather forecast: "It is raining now and will rain for the next two days." This made Saltene very happy. "However," the forecast continued, "in 72 hours it will be bright and sunny." John laughed. "Wrong again!" He was correct, but how did he know?

ANSWER:

In 72 hours (3 × 24) it would be midnight again, so it could not be "bright and sunny."

There was wonderful answer from oddlystrange that delved into the mysteries of the Flintstones, the Munsters, the Addams Family, and such, that was so long and convoluted that I felt it deserved a special posting.

Eleanor, who always seems to try to disprove the Answer, said "Midnight? Sunny? Unless it's mid-June at latitude 85 degrees North!" She also suggested that "somewhere in the world it could be sunny, couldn't it?" I began to wonder why John might be watching the weather forecast for some distant land, and realized that a) satellites let someone in Toronto watch television superstations in Atlanta, Boston, or Los Angeles, and b) I myself have developed a strange obsession with the weather in Kansas.   8-)

Lynne also thought of the Alaskan potential, but ruled it out as "very unlikely. Besides someone who lives in Alaska would know that a duck is a stupid pet. Food yes, pet no." Hey, I said "no Peking!"

Bhupinder pointed out that he is from India. "Well actually from my point of view John was wrong, because it would have been bright and sunny in India. (A difference of nearly 12 hours between India and U.S.)" The question didn't say where John was located.

Bonus points were awarded for the title of the Late Night Movie that came on after the news. It was one of Saltene's favourites.

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