Comments on: Ten more sucker-bets you can't lose!

By: Traska

Traska — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:52:00 +0000

Internationally, a period is often used instead of a colon, so 9.50 there is 9:50 here.

By: phuzz

phuzz — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:45:00 +0000

It’s not really a common usage, but in a context that makes it clear that it’s a time (like your example) would probably be ok.
Usually though brits either use the colon; “4:50″, or in text, spell it out; “ten to five”.

By: John Clavis

John Clavis — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 01:03:00 +0000

I wonder if the “9.50 = 101010″ bet would still work if you said “you can add one dot and one line”. This way, you could change “9.50″ to “9:50″ and “101010″ to “10T010″ and it would work for us Yanks. (Who am I talking to?)

By: Ty Myrick

Ty Myrick — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:10:00 +0000

In reply to relawson and Hegelian, I believe the British commonly use a decimal, rather than a colon, to designate time. See Agatha Christie’s 4.50 to Paddington http://www.amazon.com/4-50-Paddington-Agatha-Christie/dp/1405046260/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360696002&sr=1-4&keywords=4.10+agatha+christie

By: Hegelian

Hegelian — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:11:00 +0000

Good point, but I think it is overridden by relawson’s point that 9.5 is decimal equivalent of the
Sexigesimal 9:30, so changing the equation to “9.50 = Ten to Ten” is not a valid answer.

By: relawson

relawson — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:51:00 +0000

well, and the fact that 9.5 is 9:30, your suggestion is the only correct one!

By: gauch0

gauch0 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:46:00 +0000

I had the same thought about the equal sign.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:01:00 +0000

Shutup shutup shutup! It’s magic!

By: Jeremy Hughes

Jeremy Hughes — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:17:00 +0000

Wiseman.

By: morkl

morkl — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 09:34:00 +0000

If one crosses the equal sign, its not really an equation anymore, so it might be invalidated depending on how "make it correct" is interpreted.

By: Robert Fiore

Robert Fiore — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:52:00 +0000

I remember a number of these from a paperback called “Ed McMahon’s Barside Companion” that I bought when I was a wee tad.

By: Hegelian

Hegelian — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:40:00 +0000

I may have beaten you to the punch but your delivery is way snazzier. :-) I guess it is really the more obvious solution. I wonder if Weisman omited or truncated phrasing that would have precluding crossing the equal sign?

I have to say that this latest video is a lot weaker than the first, and as haineux implies, it seems that Weisman has just lifted them from some old book, and did so in a pretty sloppy fashion. There is value added in making a video demonstrations of the bets taken from print sources ( and value to Weisman in adding it to the Weisman marketing and aggrandizement stack) but not so much if the bets are improperly phrased or potentially dangerous as Matthew Urso notes the thumb in the hand trick can be.

By: semiotix

semiotix — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:05:00 +0000

Show your friends this equation

9.50 = 101010

and challenge them to make it correct by adding just one line.

9.50 ≠ 101010

Et voilà!

EDIT: DAMMIT, that would have been more impressive if Hegelian hadn’t CLEARLY gotten to it first. I partially retract my implied claim to awesomeness.

By: Daneel

Daneel — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 05:17:00 +0000

Does anyone ever actually place these bar bets? I can safely say that if someone offered me a bet that looked like I couldn’t lose, I’d expect a scam.

By: haineux

haineux — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 05:04:00 +0000

Pretty sure I saw all these in a Dover Publishers puzzle book from my childhood.

By: Hegelian

Hegelian — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:19:00 +0000

Actually, Weisman looses the thread and ice cube bet, which was to lift the ice cube using “only the thread.”He used the thread **and** salt so he failed the bet. (Well, and he used his hand, too, but that one he can probably get away with…) The bet has to be phrased as “using the thread”.

Also, there is another way to make the 9.50 = 101010 equation correct with the addition of a single line. Simply change = to ≠ (does not equal) by putting a line through the equal sign.

The ten pence coin through the hole bet lacks the qualifier that the paper can not be torn. The way the bet is phrased, to push the coin through the hole, doesn’t preclude ripping the hole–and given that these are all trick bets you can’t claim that is an “understood” part of the bet.

By: Matthew Urso

Matthew Urso — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:13:00 +0000

i’ve seen the thumb trick go very wrong when someone tried to smack the persons hands in 2 different directions