Tag: thinking

How Smart Are You? – A Test

animals

In these troubled times, the one thing we can draw strength from is we’re all in this together.  And we are.  And I can prove it.  Here is a very simple test.  It has only 4 questions.  However, over 90% of ordinary people do not answer even one of the questions correctly!  Take the test. (Don’t cheat by scrolling to the answers or consulting Google.) If you answer even one of the questions correctly, your problem-solving skills are better than the vast majority of people on this planet.  Be careful, and good luck!  (At the end, I’ll tell you which segment of the population consistently gets the highest scores on this test.)

Question 1 — How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

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The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator door.  Put in the giraffe.  Close the door.

If you did not answer this question correctly, it shows that you do not possess simple problem-solving skills.

Question 2 – How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

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If your answer was “Open the refrigerator door.  Put in the elephant.  Close the door,” you are wrong.  You have missed a vital piece of information.

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator door. Remove the giraffe. Put in the elephant.  Close the door.

If you did not answer this question correctly, it shows that you do not possess complex problem-solving skills.

Question 3 – The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, and all the animals attend — except one.  Which animal does not attend the Lion King’s conference?

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The correct answer is: The elephant who is still in the refrigerator.

If you did not answer this question correctly, it shows that you have difficulty accessing your short-term memory.

Question 4 – You are travelling to see the animals at the Lion King’s conference.  You come to a world-famous, crocodile-infested river.  There is no bridge, and you have no boat.  How do you cross the river?

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If your answer is: I go to the refrigerator, opens the door remove the elephant and ride him across the river, you are wrong.  You cannot ride a wild elephant.

The correct answer is: I jump in the river and swim safely across because all the crocodiles are attending the Lion King’s conference.

If you did not answer this question correctly, it shows that you think you have problem-solving skills, but, unfortunately, you do not review the facts, forget important information and are easily sidetracked by over-complicating your problems.

And who gets the highest scores on this test?  The vast majority are children under 8 years old.

Time to remember your inner child!

(Inspired by CJ Hartwell’s Elephant jokes)

(And feel free to re-post this all you want.)

A Few Myths About Food

food myths

People believe all kinds of stupid crap, stuff that doesn’t really make any sense but somehow gets passed around as absolute truth.  Mostly these things are harmless, like poinsettias are poison or bananas grow on trees, but sometimes they get a lot more traction than that and start causing trouble.  For example, here are a few “facts” that don’t have a lick of evidence to support them, but people believe they are the key to a healthy life.

You should drink 8 glasses of water every day.  There is absolutely no evidence to support this myth.  Think about it!  Why eight?  How big are the glasses?  Can you drink them all in the morning and take the rest of the day off?  What happens if you drink nine?  Do you OD and start swimming upstream?

Smoothies are healthy.  Not necessarily.  If you make your own, you’ve got a fighting chance (depending on how much chocolate sauce you use) but if you buy them commercially, you’re getting sugar – lots of sugar.  That’s why they taste so good.

Salt is bad for you.  Wrong!  Banishing salt from your diet can hurt you just as much as eating too much.  Here’s the deal: use your head!  There’s no need to be a sodium evangelist, but you shouldn’t flash the salt shaker around like maracas, either.

Low-Fat is a healthy alternative.  If you eat like Henry VIII, maybe, but regular people need a certain amount of fat in their diet.  The other thing to remember is stuff that’s labelled Low-Fat is only low-fat by comparison.  Compared to what, you ask?  Good question!

You need to walk 10,000 steps a day.  Once again, there is no evidence to support this.  However, unlike most modern myths, this one actually has an origin.  One of the slogans to promote fitness before the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo was Manpo-kei which, literally translated, means 10,000 steps.  Somehow, it got morphed into a fitness fact.

Energy drinks are healthy.  Not even close.  Read the label/do the math. They’re loaded with enough sugar to qualify them as junk food.  Plus, there have to be some serious chemicals in there to turn the liquid you’re drinking bright blue, or neon green.

And finally:

Organic food is chemical free.  No it isn’t.  First of all, on our planet, the wind blows, and very few organic farms are hermetically sealed.  Secondly, there are all kinds of chemicals that are allowed in “certified organic” food; it’s just that nobody mentions them.  And finally, “organic” is a term that has a slippery definition, so slapping it on a label doesn’t mean much.

We’re All The Same

crowd

These days, everybody seems to be pissed off at somebody, and there are a whole pile of people out there who are making a career out of being angry.  Folks!  We need to calm down because, like it or don’t, we’re all in this together.  Let me demonstrate.  Here are just a few things that prove humans are one species and we all share a common experience.  Everybody … EVERYBODY … has done these things – probably more than once.  And, BTW, if you haven’t, you’re either lying or not from this planet.

You see a piece of lint or dirt or something on the kitchen floor and instead of bending down and picking it up, you kick it under the fridge.

You negotiate with yourself over how many cookies to eat or how many more episodes to watch — as if you can cut a deal with your own brain.

You madly clean the house before somebody comes over because you don’t want them to think you actually live like this.

You’ve experienced that nanosecond of panic when you think the Internet is out.

You buy extra stuff when you shop online just to avoid shipping charges — even though the extra stuff probably costs twice as much.

When you’re driving around looking for an address, you turn the music off — as if that’s going to help.

Sometimes, you forget a person’s name right after you’ve been introduced – and you fake it for the rest of the evening.

When you fill your gas tank, you try your damnedest to end on an even number — even if it means three or four extra jolts.

You’ve given that phony little laugh when you’re in a group and you’re the only one who doesn’t understand the joke.

At the grocery store, when someone is in front of the thing you want, you stand around, pretending to look at something else — until they leave.

You’ve excused yourself from a group of people at a party because you needed to find a secluded place to fart.

You press the “walk” button a couple of extra times as if that’s going to make the light change faster.  (This doesn’t work for elevators, either.)

You try to channel The Hulk and carry all the grocery bags into the house in one trip – every time.

You give the tongs one or two little test drives before you use them.

When you see someone you kinda/barely know on the street, you avoid eye contact so you don’t have to have a conversation.

On occasion, when you’ve been invited somewhere, you say, “Sorry, I have other plans” — even when you don’t.

You’ve eaten a candy bar in the car (or the closet) cuz you don’t want to share.

When you hear an old song you like but don’t actually remember the words, you compensate by singing the chorus really loud.

When the remote doesn’t work the first time, you stretch your arm out closer to the TV – like that’s going to make a difference.

And finally:

When someone shows you a picture of their kid, you say it’s cute — even if it looks like Satan and Medusa had a baby.