In classic mythology, there is the story of the Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman.
The Sphinx lay crouched on the top of a rock along the highroad to the city of Thebes, and stopped all travellers passing by, proposing to them a riddle.
Those who failed to answer the riddle correctly were killed.
This is the riddle the Sphinx asked the travellers: "What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs in the evening?"
This is part of the story of Oedipus, who replied to the Sphinx, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff."
Morning, day and night are representative of the stages of life.
The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.
Paul is 20 years old in 1980, but only 15 years old in 1985. How is this possible?
The years are in B.C., not A.D. as you probably assumed. Based on the system we use to number the years, the years counted down in B.C. (but they weren't counting backwards back then).
Shadow drove into the Speedy Service Station and pulled up to the pumps. "Fill it up, please," said Shadow. "
This may sound strange," said the owner, "but I'd rather fill two cars from out of town than one car from this town."
Shadow looked across the small town and replied, "I know just what you mean."
Why would the owner feel this way?
The owner would rather fill two cars from anywhere than one car from town because he would make twice the amount of money.
A blind man walks into a hardware store to buy a hammer. There are hammers hanging behind the front desk, but obviously the blind man isn't able to see them. And yet a few minutes later, he happily walks out of the store, having just purchased a new hammer.
How did he do it?
He walks up the the front desk where the clerk is working and says "I'd like to buy a hammer."
Count the number of times the letter "F" appears in the following paragraph:
FAY FRIED FIFTY POUNDS OF
SALTED FISH AND THREE POUNDS
OF DRY FENNEL FOR DINNER FOR
FORTY MEMBERS OF HER FATHER'S FAMILY.
It appears 14 times. Make sure to count the "F"s in the word "OF", which people commonly miss.
