Kookaburra Stew

Four Kookaburras are planning a stew for dinner. Each one likes different ingredients. Using these delicious clues, determine which ingredient each kookaburra prefers and how much of it. Also, figure out the name of each bird and where each is from.

Conversion Chart: 1 pint = 0.47 liters; 1 quart = 0.94 liters; 1 gallon = 3.76 liters

1. The stew calls for a pint more scampi than perch.
2. The kookaburra from Wollongong prefers sardines.
3. The kookaburra from Wagga Wagga prefers scampi.
4. The recipe calls for 1.175 liters more perch than angleworm.
5. The kookaburra that likes angleworm in his stew is from Kangaroo Island.
6. Neither the bird from Wollongong, nor Agustus, prefers angleworm.
7. The kookaburra from Wollongong recommends 2.585 liters more of his ingredient than Caeser does of his.
8. Plato likes perch.

The Answer:
1. Agustus is from Wagga Wagga and adds a half-gallon of scampi to his stew.
2. Plato is from Gympie and adds 3 pints of perch to his stew.
3. Cesar is from Kangaroo Island and adds a half pint of angleworm to his stew.
4. Pluto is from Wollongong and adds 3 quarts of sardines to his stew.

Did you get it?

Ale of a Problem

A man has three jugs of three different sizes. The first jug holds 8 gallons, the second jug holds 5 gallons, and the third jug holds 3 gallons. The 8 gallon jug is full of ale. The man wishes to divide his 8 gallons of ale into two equal amounts… 4 gallons for today and 4 for tomorrow. Using only his three jugs, can the man divide his ale equally?

The Answer: In order for the man to ration his boozing into two equal days of fest, it will take him seven steps. Even for a sober thinker, this task is a doozy so try and keep up. First, the man will pour ale from the 8 gal. jug into the 5 gal. jug, filling it, so that there are 3 gallons remaining in the 8 gal. jug and 5 in the 5. Next the man fills the lonely 3 gal. jug with ale from his 5 gal., leaving 2 gallons in his 5 gal. jug. He then pours the entirety of his 3 gal. jug into his 8 gal. jug so there are 6 gallons in the 8, and still, 2 in the 5. Next the man pours the 2 gallons in the 5 gal jug into the 3 gal. jug, and then fills the 5 gal. jug with ale from the 8 gal. jug. So now the division is: 1 gallon in the 8 gal. jug, 5 in the 5, and 2 in the 3. He’s almost done. The man takes his 5 gal. jug and fills the rest of the 3 gal. jug, so he has 1 in the 8, 4 in the 5, and 3 in the 3. Finally, the man takes the full 3 gal. jug and pours the ale into 8 gal. jug, resulting in 4 gallons in the 8 gal. and 4 gallons in the 5 gal., and after all of his calculated efforts, I’m sure, he celebrates with a drink.

Hats on a Death Row

You are one of 20 prisoners on death row with the execution date set for tomorrow. Your king is a ruthless man who likes to toy with his people's miseries. He comes to your cell today and tells you:

"I'm gonna give you prisoners a chance to go free tomorrow. You will all stand in a line before the executioner and we will put a hat on your head, either a red one or a black one. Of course you will not be able to see the color of your own hat; you will only be able to see the prisoners in front of you with their hats on. You will not be allowed to look back or communicate together in any way (talking, touching, etc.)

The prisoner in the back will be able to see the 19 prisoners in front of him. The one in front of him will be able to see 18…

Starting with the last person in the row, the one who can see everybody in front of him, he will be asked a simple question: WHAT IS THE COLOR OF YOUR HAT?

He will be only allowed to answer "BLACK" or "RED". If he says anything else you will ALL be executed immediately.

If he guesses the right color of the hat on his head he is set free, otherwise he is put to death. We then move on to the prisoner in front of him and ask the same question and so on…

Well, good luck tomorrow, HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Now since you all can communicate freely during the night, can you find a way to guarantee the freedom of some prisoners tomorrow? How many?

The Answer: The night before the execution, the men agree that the first man asked will respond "black" if he sees an odd number of hats in front of him, and "red" if he sees an even number. This man's life is therefore up pure chance, as he has a 50/50 chance of saying the color of his own hat. The men in front of him, however, will all be able to deduce the color of their own hats by looking at the number of odd hats in front of them. So, at least 19 of the 20 men will live. Get it?

Hamster Love

You have a pair of male and female hamsters, and the female is ready to give birth on January 1st. She will have exactly six offspring every 40 days, half of the litter will be male, and half of the litter will be female. If the female offspring are ready to give birth at 120 days old, and they also will have six offspring each - half male, half female - how many total hamsters will you have at the end of the year?

The Answer: There are several ways to arrive at an answer to this problem, but this is how we did it. On January 1st you start out with 4 female hamsters and 4 male hamsters. We're going to ignore the males until the end, because they will never bear additional hamsters. 40 days in another litter is born which includes 3 more females born to the orignial mother. 80 days in another litter is born which includes 3 females born to the original mother. 120 days in 12 females are born to the original female and her original 3 daughters who are now mothers. 160 days in 21 females are born to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, and her second 3 daughters who are now mothers. 200 days in 30 females are born to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, her second 3 daughters and her third 3 daughters who are now mothers. 240 days in 66 females are born to to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, her second 3 daughters, her third 3 daughters, her fourth 4 daughters who are now mothers and 9 of her granddaughters who are now mothers. 280 days in 129 females are born to to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, her second 3 daughters, her third 3 daughters, her fourth 3 daughters, her fifth three daughters who are now mothers and 18 of her granddaughters, 9 more of whom are now mothers. 320 days in 219 females are born to to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, her second 3 daughters, her third 3 daughters, her fourth 3 daughters, her fifth three daughters, her sixth 3 daughters who are now mothers and 27 of her granddaughters, 9 more of whom are now mothers. Finally, 360 days in 219 females are born to to the original mother, her original 3 daughters, her second 3 daughters, her third 3 daughters, her fourth 3 daughters, her fifth 3 daughters, her sixth 3 daughters, her seventh 3 daughters who are now mothers, 36 of her granddaughters, 9 more of whom are now mothers, and 27 great granddaughters who are now mothers. The total of these female births is 903 leaving us with 904 females when you include the original mother. Also, we must double this number to account for all the male hamsters who were born along side all of these females and the original father. Therefore, we have a total of 1808 hamsters. Sound right?