******* The Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network******* >From The Desk Of
Maury Maille Puzzler Tower Car Talk Plaza Hahvahd Squayah Our Fair City This Week's Puzzler: Attack of the Bucolic Plague RAY: This puzzler came to us a while ago-- January 1999, to be precise. It's from Professor Bruce Robinson at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Of course, I had to make a few modifications... TOM: He won't even want to be associated with it, once you're finished. RAY: I'm sure he'll send us an e-mail asking to have his name expunged. Here it is: "A dreaded new disease is sweeping across the countryside. It's called 'The Bucolic Plague.' If you're afflicted with it, you begin wandering around the woods aimlessly, until you finally collapse and die. The remedy is to lock yourself in the bathroom for two or three days, until the urge passes. "A test has been developed that can detect whether you have the disease. The test is 99 percent accurate. That is, if you have the disease, there is a 99 percent chance that the test will detect it. If you don't have the disease, the test will be 99 percent accurate in saying that you don't. "In the general population, 0.1 percent of the people have the disease-- that's one-tenth of one percent. "You decide to go for the test. You get your results: positive." Should you lock yourself in the bathroom and ask for a constant supply of magazines, or should you not be worried? And, the real question is, what is the probability that you actually have the Bucolic Plague? Think you know? Drop us a note via http://www.cartalk.com/email/email.html If you're right and we select your answer, we'll ship you a $26 Shameless Commerce Gift Certificate. Want to listen to Raymond obfuscate the puzzler in person? Listen anytime, at http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/ ************ Remember last week's puzzler? Ray's Wife Proves He's All Wet RAY: This week's puzzler is from the realm of home repair and maintenance. My wife and I have had a long-standing debate about drinking water. One result is that we now have an under-the-sink filter, and a little spigot on the sink that dispenses just drinking water. TOM: I think that's bogus. RAY: I do, too. In fact, I think all those things that come through your tap, like the cyclospora, arsenic, fecal-coliform and mercury are probably good for you, and help build a nice strong immune system. Anyway, the filter is kind of a pain in the neck to change, because it's underneath the sink, and it's got a big canister. So, I always avoid changing it. She says to me one day, "The filter needs to be changed." I say, "Well, how do you know? I turn it on, water comes out, it tastes good and it seems clean. I can't tell that there's anything wrong." She says, "I know it needs to be changed. It's supposed to be changed every year, and it's been two years." Still not convinced, I said, "Look, if it wasn't working, no water would come out." She responded, "I know it isn't working, because the water isn't cold anymore. That's the sign that the filter needs to be changed." So, I reluctantly get under the counter, spend half an hour getting saturated, and put the new filter in. I open the spigot, and it works. She says, "See? The water is colder!" And that's my question: How is a new filter refrigerating the water? Here's how: http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/ So, did you figure it out? Yours in weekly puzzler torment, Maury Maille Puzzler Dissemination Specialist Car Talk Plaza ******************* Doing some car research? Via our lousy, little homepage you can... *Check important safety recalls *See what your car is worth right now *Check rebates and incentives on new cars *Search your town for new or used cars for sale *Place an ad to sell your car that'll actually be seen by people in your area *Research and compare new vehicles *Get the latest car news *Kill time until 5:00 p.m. rolls around and you can pack it in. *It's all at http://www.cartalk.com *********************************** Got more time to kill? This past weekend's new, lousy Car Talk show is now on the web site, at http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/Show/ ******************** Help Ray lose the night sweats he's been getting, trying to come up with a decent puzzler each week. E-mail him your suggestion any time, via http://www.cartalk.com/email/email.html ******************** Puzzled out? You can unsubscribe to the Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network anytime at http://www.cartalk.com/ct/maillist.jsp?puzzler_list=subscribe#psychic We'll forgive you.
