******* 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: Saving Dougie from Chronic Laziness Disease RAY: Our erstwhile Producer,Dougie Berman, was diagnosed recently with a rare disease -- chronic laziness. If not treated, it could be fatal. The doctor, prescribed two different kinds of pills, and said, "They have to be taken simultaneously, at bedtime, every night. Take one from one bottle, and one from the other. It's the interaction of the two pills that is the key." Dougie's got 10 pills in each bottle. But, if he makes the mistake of taking two of the same pill, he's done for. TOM: What if he only takes one pill? RAY: Done for, again. He decides to convalesce at his remote mountain cabin, and he begins the six-hour drive to get there. But his car breaks down, and he has to walk the last 20 miles clutching these two bottles of pills -- the only thing between him and the Grim Reaper. He arrives after dark. He's so weak that delirium has begun to set in. TOM: How would he know? RAY: Good question. As he makes his way to the kitchen sink, he stumbles and falls and, you guessed it, he spills all the pills. When he wakes up, he finds that one of the containers has two pills in it, the other container is empty, and there are 18 pills scattered all over the floor. He begins to gather up the pills. As he's looking at them he discovers to his horror that they all look alike. They're the same color, shape and size. There's no way to tell them apart. He's getting weaker by the minute. But, he remembers that he has his very own, very accurate, "analytic" scale-the kind that a pharmacist would use. But, by the time he weighs the 11th pill, his worst fear is confirmed. Not only do they all look and feel and smell alike but they all weigh the same. There's absolutely no way to distinguish one pill from another. Is there a way for him to take the recommended dosage and save his life, or should we let the Grim Reaper in and start looking for a new producer? Can you save our Producer from certain doom? 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? Busting the Midnight Siphon-ist RAY: This puzzler is historic, folkloric, automotive-and, hopefully, not idiotic or pathetic. It was sent in by Laura Adamson. Laura writes, It took place in the early 1970s, during the first gas crunch, when there were long lines at gas stations, and Toyotas started looking really good to people who owned Detroit gas-guzzlers. My friend Maryann lived in a rural neighborhood in upstate New York, and someone was sneaking around late at night in the inky shadows, siphoning gasoline, while the honest people were asleep. Maryann and the sheriff got together and hatched a plan to catch the thief. It involved using Maryann's car, and its full tank of gasoline as the bait. Unlike many of her neighbors, Maryann did not own a locking gas cap, so her tank was very siphon-able. The idea wasn't to catch the thief with a secret alarm, hidden cameras, or anything like that. They would catch the thief just by allowing him to siphon the gas and take it home for use in his own car. The thief did strike and siphon her gas, and it was the end of the gas thefts. The question is, what trap did they lay, and what was it about Maryann's car that made it easy to figure out who the gas thief was? 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.
