******* 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: The Kitchen Carpentry Cure RAY: This puzzler was sent in by Jerry Galloway. Here it is: My friend had purchased a piece of slate to put into the floor in the hearth in front of his fireplace. The slate was 3/4 of an inch thick, by 10 inches wide, by 48 inches long, and weighed on the order of 175 pounds. He had cut a hole in the oak floor that was the same size as the piece of slate. TOM: He had to plunk it right there, and get his fingers out of the way as fast as possible! RAY: The depth of the hole was exactly 3/4 of an inch, the same as the slate. And, of course, there was the sub-floor underneath. When he put one end of the slate into the hole in the floor, he realized that he would have to drop the other end to get the slate into the hole. He realized that if he dropped the brittle slate, even half an inch, it would break. Not only that, but it wouldn't go in the hole, anyway. There was so little clearance that he couldn't even use that thin fishing line to lower the end of the slate. So, he sat there for the longest time, drinking beers and pondering this dilemma. After his 5th or 6th trip to the kitchen he returned with something from that solved the problem in elegant fashion. What did he find there that allowed him to lower the slate into the hole without risk of breaking it? 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? Bobo's "Don't Look Back" Tour RAY: This puzzler was submitted by Dennis Michaud, from an outfit called Mathworks. The best thing about it? I don't have to obfuscate-it's pre-obfuscated! Here it is: The company that Bobo works for just finished a new product. They wanted to promote it across the country. Bobo was asked to travel by car to each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states to promote the product. He was told that he could visit each state in whatever order he chose, but the company wanted him to start in Delaware, at their headquarters. They asked that he visit each state only once. He could not go back into a state he had already visited-this was the "Don't Look Back" product tour. So, Bobo sat down at his desk and began to plan his trip. He realized immediately that it was going to be one long car trip. At that moment, his boss stopped by and said, "Hey, I'm going to join you when you reach your last state. I was born there and I've been looking for a reason to go back and visit. You can leave your rental car there, and I'll fly you back in my private jet." Since Bobo hadn't planned his trip yet, how did his boss know which state was going to be Bobo's last state? And, which state would that be? Ready for the answer? Here you goŠ 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 ******************* USEFUL INFORMATION ALERT: Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit that lobbies against environmental causes? Check out Better World Club. It's an auto club with genuinely decent values-- unlike some others we could name... whose initials happen to be AAA. Better World Club cares about... *Your environmental interests--it gives 1% of its revenue to environmental clean up and advocacy. *Your consumer interests. It even has discounts on hybrid rental cars. *And, it has the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance program. Dump your AAA membership and join Better World! If you join via the Car Talk web site, you'll even get an extra month's membership. Check out Better World Club now 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.
