Puzzler of the week

[Scott MacLean]

This week's puzzler:

It was an early fall evening, when my wife drove our '94 Explorer. About three blocks from home, it started making a great screeching, screaming noise, with smoke coming out from under the hood. My wife turned off the car, and, of course, called me for help.

I was home in my jammies, but I got in my car and drove over there. Being the guy, I was obliged to open the hood, and I tried to look for something wrong...even though it was dark. It was, after all, a dark and stormy night.

On a hunch, I reached in and touched something that should have been cool. Instead of touching something cool, though, I got a second-degree burn on my finger. Wounded and whimpering, I walked home, while my wife continued her trip in my car, leaving the Explorer smoking and smoldering by the roadside.

After putting ice on my finger, the pain subsided enough so that I could think straight. I walked back to the Explorer. I adjusted something on the dashboard, started the engine, and drove home with no problems.

So, what did I do?

Last week's puzzler:

Jimmy was born at the exact midpoint of the century, and died before the new century began. He was a teenager when Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States, right after the assassination.

He was born in the same house he died in... though he died in a different state than the one in which he was born. The house was not moved, and, in fact, was in the exact same location for the entire century.

Where was he born, and where did he die?

Last week's puzzler answer:

We know you want us to believe that this took place around 1950. And nothing works out if you do that. But it works out if it was 1850. There were two Johnsons sworn in after assassinations. Lyndon Johnson was sworn in, naturally, when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 -- but when Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson was sworn in. And that's the period of time that we're interested in.

He was born in the midpoint of the century, born in 1850 and died before 1900, and the reason he was born in the same house that he died in, and it was in two different states, is that Virginia became two states. Virginia became Virginia and West Virginia, and his house, even though it was never moved, wound up in West Virginia.

So he was born in Virginia and died in West Virginia.