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1. In the late 19th Century, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan wrote fourteen comic operas. They're populated by a cast of characters with endearing and amusing quirks. Which character claimed "a pretty taste for paradox" among his many accomplishments?
2. There is a surrealist painting of a pipe with the French phrase for "This is not a pipe" (Ceci n'est pas une pipe) painted underneath it. This is, of course, true. The work isn't a pipe, it's a painting of a pipe. Which artist painted this apparent exercise in contradiction?
3. Douglas Hofstader coined the term "strange loop" to describe a situation where following cause and effect returns a person to the beginning of the cycle. He points to a particular artist's lithographs as examples of this paradox. Who's this artist?
4. A lot of pictures of Adam and Eve contain strategically located fig leaves. One of the reasons for the strategic vegetation is to cover up the naughty bits. However, in a lot of pictures, the leaf or leaves also provide cover for something that, if shown, creates a theological paradox. What is it?
5. There is also such a thing as a "veridical paradox" in which the correct answer is at odds with our common sense. A famous example is drawn from a game show, where the host allowed the contestant to choose one of three doors. Behind one of the doors was a valuable prize. Behind the other two were either worthless prizes or a prize worth far less. After the player chooses a door, the host opens one of the remaining two doors, revealing a worthless prize. He then offers the player the choice of sticking with their original choice or trading it for what's behind the other door. The paradox is that it's always in the player's best interest to make the trade. What's the name of the host and thus the paradox?
6. In 1962, the New York Mets were an expansion team, and so were able to draft players from other teams. In one exchange, the Mets took Harry Chiti from the Cleveland Indians, for which the Indians received a player to be named later. The end result of the trade was almost paradoxical. What was it?
7. This one came up in my high school algebra class, and is another example of veridical paradox. Let's assume a group of people at a party. Assuming that any day is equally likely to be someone's birthday, how many people have to be at the party for the odds to be at least 50% that two of them share the same birthday? (NOT the same birthdate, just the same day of the same month).
8. Gambling has a lot of things that appear to be paradoxes, mostly related to people's cognitive and psychological biases. One of the examples has to do with the fact that given even a 50% chance of winning, a gambler who plays long enough at the same stakes will inevitably lose all of his or her money. What's the name for this exercise in probability?
9. A lot of riddles depend on apparent paradoxes. So, what gets wetter as it dries?
10. So far as we know, a perpetual motion machine is impossible. However, if conventional wisdom were accurate, one could produce one by strapping a piece of buttered toast to the back of a cat. Why?
11. An optical illusion is what happens when our eyes see something that our brain interprets as difference from objective reality. One well-known one is called the "Moon Illusion," where the moon appears to change an aspect of its appearance as it crosses the sky from rising to setting. What's the aspect?
12. Economics is rife with paradoxes. One of them deals with the tendency of a company's success to sow the seeds of its own downfall. Danny Miller, the economist who discovered the paradox, gave it an appropriate name from Greek mythology. What is it?
13. In 1886, Holland & Holland introduced the "Paradox Gun." The gun is a shotgun with grooves, or rifling, cut into the last couple of inches of the barrel. The gun is thus able to fire pellets as a shotgun and special bullets as a rifle. Why is "Paradox Gun" a good name for the firearm?
14. A source of humor, both intentional and unintentional, is the juxtaposition of two contradictory words, such as "jumbo shrimp," "military intelligence," and "objective opinion." What's the name for this figure of speech?
15. There's a famous O. Henry story where a couple exchange paradoxical gifts. What's the title of the story?
Source: Author
Correspondguy
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gtho4 before going online.
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