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   Easy: Willywutang & burning island
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   Author  Topic: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  (Read 180769 times)
mrbahl
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #125 on: Aug 5th, 2008, 3:48am »
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I have the following solutions.
1) if the island is at sea level willy can stand in water or stand in sand. sand wont burn, and water will keep him safe from heat.
 
2) if the island is lot above sea level then he can hang by the sides of the island.  
 
willy does not need to hang on to the edge for a long time. maybe only for 15-30 mins..and if he can clim toward point A he can cross the fire. The above will have to be the scenario the island is not at sea- level because the island is very narrow.
 
3) if the island is at sea-level but there are no beaches and only rocks  
 - even then he can stand on the rocks on the edge.
 - or he can dig a trench but not accross the entire island.. just around himself kinda like this.
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hamzak
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #126 on: Nov 14th, 2008, 5:42pm »
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alright you have to remember he is on a island which has a beach which should contain sand and if you can't take the fire out with the dry sand you can put it out with the moist sand under it. Also he could wade around the water if he can't swim.
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rmsgrey
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #127 on: Nov 15th, 2008, 8:58am »
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on Nov 14th, 2008, 5:42pm, hamzak wrote:
alright you have to remember he is on a island which has a beach which should contain sand and if you can't take the fire out with the dry sand you can put it out with the moist sand under it. Also he could wade around the water if he can't swim.

 
Not all islands have beaches. You could have sheer rock cliffs on all sides...
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Grimbal
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #128 on: Nov 15th, 2008, 9:26am »
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Here is your "long and narrow" island:
http://www.friedrichs.us/Vietnam-Photos/3-192-T-HaLong-R.jpg
 Grin
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Fremont1
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #129 on: Aug 2nd, 2011, 4:30pm »
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Willywu's location, A or B, is not identified in the scenario.  Therefore, Willywu may possibly be behind the fire since he started it.  The fire is blowing away from him.
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Grimbal
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #130 on: Aug 3rd, 2011, 2:47am »
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But it says he will burn in 10 hours if he doesn't do anything.
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wolfmanjack
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #131 on: Aug 9th, 2011, 12:49am »
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on Jul 31st, 2002, 6:21am, jmlyle wrote:
I don't think that any one has explicitly said this yet, but the problem people seem to be having with the solution is that fire spreads, like a ripple in water. I have no doubt that a strong enough wind will be able to keep the fire moving in one direction, like a strong enough current can keep the ripples from actually going upstream (a little bit different, because, in that case, the ripples look like a doppler effect, with the source point travelling along with the current).  
 
But again, I think that there is no way that a 2 mph breeze will stop fire from spreading upwind.
 
I don't see any problem with increasing the speed of the wind to make the problem more believable, though....
 
--jmlyle

That is what i thought when i first read this puzzle. I wondered what the 2 mph wind had to do with anything since it would not be strong enough to influence the direction of the fire. Anyone that set an additional fire would find himself trapped between the two fires. The riddle should state that wading around was impossible due to a sharp dropoff all around the island. in any case is there anyone who can't dog paddle? Or get a log to float on ?
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wolfmanjack
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #132 on: Aug 9th, 2011, 12:56am »
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face it guys he is either going to drown or burn to death unless he has some tools to build a fire break. If it is heavily forested the trees where the fire first started would take longer then 10 hours to completely burn. No starting a second fire no ashes to stand on because the fire would not burn out by time the 10 hours is up. Find a log and get to floating.
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #133 on: Aug 9th, 2011, 1:02am »
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Hello, wolfmanjack.  
 
That's definately an approach. There is a degree to which this riddle is intended to be abstract, but by the same measure actually doing this does seem to work.  
 
I like the point about a 2mph wind, it being a large forest, and it taking 10 hours to burn... perhaps the parameters should have been a little tighter...
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #134 on: Aug 9th, 2011, 1:42am »
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My kids play "what if" with me and they are always trying to figure out a way around what was presented instead of staying with the spirit of the question. I remember doing the same when i was a kid and I see most posters doing it here.  I would bet $ to donuts that the OP's answer was based on wrong assumptions like the people posting about using a back burn. back burning works if the conditions are right but often go awry when the wind changes direction. Take the Yellowstone park fire several years ago that burned almost the entire park.
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #135 on: Aug 12th, 2011, 12:38am »
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Will we ever find out the right answer? Or is it going to be kept secret till someone finds out.
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wolfmanjack
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #136 on: Aug 12th, 2011, 1:25am »
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maybe the OP does not know the answer and posted to find out LOL
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #137 on: Aug 12th, 2011, 4:42pm »
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on Feb 7th, 2004, 5:36am, snaily wrote:
Backburning is so not the answer. Most of these answers aren't the answer now that I think about it. The conditions of the riddle are that:
 
1) Willy is on the island (could be anywhere, so worse case scenario is that he is at point B).
 
2) The island is covered in dense jungle/forest (no mention on beaches, easily diggable dirt, or any shallow wading pool areas).
 
5) Willy is apparently a normal man who is subject to the realities of life (such as getting tired).
 
6) Willy cannot be allowed to burn to death.
 
7) Why does everyone assume that Willy knows the island is on fire? It doesn't say that he's aware of the fire and now ready to jump into action. It just says that he's on the island and the island is on fire ... assuming he immediately sets about a plan in the first 10 seconds is a pretty hefty assumption.
 
Okay so the answers given were original, funny, interesting, but ultimately none hold any water. I'll explain:
 
Since we don't know where he starts on the island we have to allow for worst case scenario ... point B. Now at point B Willy is 10 miles from the fire. Ideally he would teleport to it, get a flaming stick, and teleport to a safe spot to light a second fire. Unfortunately our Willy has to actually move his legs. So Willy first needs to realize that there is a fire. Hypnosis and pain control an unknown length of time like "x" minutes. Say he decides to try backburning. He first has to run through dense forest for nearly 10 miles minus how far the fire gets in the meantime. This could easily take an hour. But honestly we don't know how long the running would take. "x" minutes + "n" running time = how long to get to the fire (f). x + n = f. So how long is that? 2 hours? 3 hours? Who knows.  
 
Then Willy, exhausted from running, gets a stick and ignites it for use in the second fire. Now he has to run back the other way keeping the flaming stick burning and not accidentally setting the jungle on fire along the way. It would suck to have 8 or 9 fires going by the time he got to the backburning spot. Now since he doesn't have any way of measuring how far he ran away he doesn't know how far he is from the fire when he sets the second fire. Assuming the stick is still lit. If it goes out he has to run back to get it burning again. He also doesn't know how long it will take for the second fire to turn the first few yards of jungle into ash and then cool down enough for him to walk on. The first fire goes 1 mph, but that doesn't mean the second fire will.  
 
 
 
You can't rely on starting behind the fire at point A, since the riddle doesn't specify location. You can't rely on digging either. First off, some soil is so hard that you need to use special tools just to loosen the topsoil. Secondly, you'd be crazy to trust an aborigine shallow hole technique on an island that you don't know anything about. Third, if you dig a trench to stop the fire, what happens if the island is a mile wide? An object that is ten times longer than it is wide is still pretty narrow. A mile is a long way to dig without a shovel (or with one). And building a raft isn't something you can just "do" when you're born. That takes skill. Plus it might be hard cutting down trees with your fingernails and then carrying the heavy things down to the water only to realize you don't have any rope anyway.
 
Climbing a tree as one person said is risky. You could try drifting away on a log or wading in the water, but the water could be cold and you'd freeze to death. Actually, dying by drowning/freezing in the water or suicide (hanging self in tree perhaps) is the only thing that really satisfies the conditions of the riddle with constant results. Everything else requires a big "what if", amazing luck, or some sort of weird condition/preparation. So as far as I'm concerned the answer "must" be to just have him die some other way. In that sense it could be looked at as a trick question and a whole mountain of red herrings.  
 
However, since finding odd answers (even if they don't really work) is part of the fun I'll through in a couple that Willy could try ...
 
a) Just wait at point B on the very tip of the island. When the fire is right in front of Willy he can close his eyes and hope he doesn't die ... thus meeting the riddle requirement ... if he got lucky.
 
b) Willy can run screaming like a banshee at the wall of flames, plunge right through them and keep running. Then he can stop drop and roll in a pile of ash until he's burnt but not "to death". Then he can dehydrate to death in a puddle of his own charred flesh (he'd die of thirst before starvation, and after being flash boiled that wouldn't take long).  
 
c) Willy could train crabs or other marine life to harvest seashells from the bottom of the ocean floor and he could then use those shells to erect a wall across the island high enough that it forms an impenetrable barrier between the fire and himself.
 
d) He could always flag down a ufo.  
 
At any rate, backburning is the non-thinkers answer. They hear it, it seems to make sense, so they repeat it. And eventually it becomes the "answer". It's actually more far-fetched than say ... having him summon a pod of whales to blow water onto the fire. At least that just requires a leap in imagination. The backburning requires that the guy be a marathon runner, a forest ranger, a master strategist in fire emergency, and also omnipotent (I guess he just spider-senses the fire from 10 miles away and knows exactly what to do in a split second).
 
Heh, I should probably just stop thinking about it now.

 
I think the backburning is not as unrealistic as you think, although I suspect that it would burn towards him as well and in reality compound the problem. I think making use of the water implied by the fact that he's on an island is his best bet. Grabbing water from the surrounding water via homemade buckets or the like is probably his best bet. If he could find a small trench and widen it a bit and fill it with water, he might be able to continually douse any flames that start igniting the foliage around him as well as keeping him cooler (note that he could boil if he doesn't manage the flame directly around him enough, but it will prevent him from igniting). At any rate, Willy's in for a rough time.
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #138 on: Aug 12th, 2011, 7:41pm »
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I would think that a large fire like this would also create oxygen problems for anyone trying to ride it out in a trench. The fire would consume massive amounts of oxygen as fast as it can be replaced.
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #139 on: Aug 15th, 2011, 7:24am »
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on Aug 12th, 2011, 4:42pm, farsing wrote:

 
I think the backburning is not as unrealistic as you think, although I suspect that it would burn towards him as well and in reality compound the problem. I think making use of the water implied by the fact that he's on an island is his best bet. Grabbing water from the surrounding water via homemade buckets or the like is probably his best bet. If he could find a small trench and widen it a bit and fill it with water, he might be able to continually douse any flames that start igniting the foliage around him as well as keeping him cooler (note that he could boil if he doesn't manage the flame directly around him enough, but it will prevent him from igniting). At any rate, Willy's in for a rough time.

Welcome to the Forum.
 
You might want to check your machine for viruses - somehow a spam link appears to have embedded itself in the quoted text of the post you quoted in your post.
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #140 on: Dec 28th, 2011, 10:54pm »
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yea .. thats true ..
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Re: Easy: Willywutang & burning island  
« Reply #141 on: Feb 2nd, 2012, 7:36am »
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The answer to this is something that has been done to control fires for a long time, called 'backburning'.  Paying attention to the way the wind is blowing, start a fire, then start a controlled second fire some distance downwind of it.  The two fires should move at approximately the same speed if you've done it right, and when the first fire gets to where the second fire started, it has nothing to fuel itself with and dies.  Pretty common in Australia (irrelevant link removed by moderator)
« Last Edit: Feb 2nd, 2012, 8:36am by Grimbal » IP Logged
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