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        riddles >> what happened >> To sleep like a baby
        
(Message started by: DeMark on Mar 1st, 2004, 11:11am)
Title: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 1st, 2004, 11:11am
It's 11 PM. There is a man, in his flat. He is nervous. He is sweating. So he decides to take a phone, he makes a call, waits for about 10 seconds, hangs up, and goes to sleep. And he slept like a baby!!!
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 1st, 2004, 11:14am
I think [hide] He's calling 'time' for some reason, [/hide] not sure why though.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by John_Gaughan on Mar 1st, 2004, 11:30am
A few days ago he went to see a gypsy fortune teller. She informed him that he would die on a specific day. He wakes up, goes about his business, albeit more carefully. He lay awake in his bed, when the power goes out. Scared that he will die of a heart attack or stroke with seconds to go, he calls the time service. He finds out that it is now past midnight, and he knows the gypsy was lying. He goes to sleep, happy.

The next day, he is hit by a bus and dies :P

Edit: yes, the riddle says "11PM," not "midnight." I messed up.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Mar 1st, 2004, 9:36pm
How can it be midnight, the riddle states that it is only 10 seconds after 11:00.

I think that his wife is pregnant. She has gone back to her home country to be with her parents and trusted family physician. The man, terribly nervous, nevertheless has to wait until the sun comes up in his wife's homeland, which coincides with 11:00 pm in his hometown. So, if he is living in a flat, (not an apartment) then maybe he is in London, so that would place his wife in Hong Kong, or maybe Tokyo. Where it would be 5:00 or 6:00 AM, which is the earliest he will allow himself to wake up his father-in-law. His father-in-law tells him that a healthy baby was just born and mother and child are doing splendidly, and his mother-in-law will stay at the clinic for the rest of the day. The call only lasts 10 seconds because his father-in-law speaks very little English, and the man absolutely no Chinese (or Japanese).
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Chewdog on Mar 1st, 2004, 10:32pm
I agree with John_Gaughan, except I think the fortune teller gives him a specific date and time... the time being 11:00 and after he calls the time service and finds out that is now 11:00 and ten seconds. The Gypsy was wrong! Then he gets hid by the bus. 8)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 1st, 2004, 10:50pm
Not that I agree (or disagree) with the given answers, but it says 11PM not 11:00 PM.  So, with a little bit of a stretch, we could look at it as the hour of 11 PM (11:00-11:59), not necessarily 11:00 exactly.

Perhaps it's the mayor of a town, in which a man was recently convicted of a horrendous crime.  The mayor is the one who actually commited the crime, so he knows the other man is innocent, but nobody else knows this.  It's been eating at his concience for days, because the man is set to be executed shortly after 11:00 today.  So he calls and has the man pardoned, which relieves his concience.  The police will probably trace the crime to him tommorow, but at least he'll sleep well tonight.  :P
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by John_Gaughan on Mar 2nd, 2004, 5:35am
I missed the part about "11PM" in the riddle, sorry. But the answer could still work, by changing "midnight" to "11PM" :-)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 2nd, 2004, 8:00am
No gypsy fortune tellers. Nobody's hit by a bus. It's pretty simple, just think a bit more.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by John_Gaughan on Mar 2nd, 2004, 8:22am
Did he call someone having a baby? Did he sleep like a baby because he is happy about a birth in the family?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 2nd, 2004, 11:03am
No baby in the family. By the way, that baby on your picture is so cute!
It doesn't matter if the time is 11:34 or 11:58 or 10:42 or 12:01. It's important because it's in the evening. Why would he be so nervous- in the evening? In the night, we could also say?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by John_Gaughan on Mar 2nd, 2004, 11:17am

on 03/02/04 at 11:03:31, DeMark wrote:
No baby in the family. By the way, that baby on your picture is so cute!
It doesn't matter if the time is 11:34 or 11:58 or 10:42 or 12:01. It's important because it's in the evening. Why would he be so nervous- in the evening? In the night, we could also say?

Thanks, that is my son, Jack.

The man was bitten by a werewolf and it is a full moon outside. Since full moons are up roughly from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM, he would be nervous about changing into his other form that evening. He is near the edge of the time zone, so the time is not precise. Anyway, he is relieved when the time passes and he does not change, apparently the werewolf did not bite him badly enough.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by BNC on Mar 3rd, 2004, 1:40am
1. A close family member of his is traveling, and he's worried about traveling at this time. He calls the destiny, where his family member answers, and therefore is happy and goes to sleep.

2. The man is not very smart. He thinks his wife is cheating on him. He calls her work, and when she, rather than her supposed lover, answers, he is sure all is fine...
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 3rd, 2004, 9:18am
A werewolf? Nooo.... No freaky-deaky stories.
It's so simple... to me, because I know the answer, heh heh.
Just kidding, it really is simple. It's a typical life situation. No werewolves in typical life situations, eh?  :)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by John_Gaughan on Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:09am

on 03/03/04 at 09:18:47, DeMark wrote:
No werewolves in typical life situations, eh?  :)

What kind of weird world do you live in? They're everywhere! At least on TV ;-)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:21am
We all live in a weird world...  ;D
What do you do in the evening? And in the night?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:47am
Did he call the hotel lobby and request a wake up call?

[Just noticed I made junior member - woohoo!!]
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Mar 3rd, 2004, 4:51pm
Cathos, I was also thinking of a hotel. I had him call to have the air conditioner turned on so that he would not be all sweaty and nervous. (Just nervous) Then he could get to sleep. But, it says he is in an apartment, maybe he called the superintendent?? Janitor???
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by SWF on Mar 3rd, 2004, 7:54pm
Although not common place, how about:  He placed an enormous wager on a basketball game, and could not bear to watch or even check on the progress of the game.  The stress made him sweat. After he was sure the game was over he called the sports score information line, found out he won his bet and with great relief easily got to sleep.

Or, he was trying to get up enough nerve to ask a particular girl out on a date. This guy is the very nervous type. He finally made the call, but nobody was home-  what a relief!

Or, he has a terrible fear of the dark, and even the thought of going to bed makes him sweat. Fortunately his hynotheripist has hypnotized him to go to sleep when he hears a certain cue, which his theripist prerecorded for him on his answering machine.

Or, it is time to go to bed, but the new neighbors are playing loud music. The man is afraid to complain because the new neighbor looks like a bully . Finally he gets up the courage to call the neighbor. Turns out the neighbor is nice, and he shuts off the music allowing the man to get some solid sleep.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 4th, 2004, 4:49am
The answer is similar to your last guess... You are very close, SWF...
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by bobcat on Mar 4th, 2004, 7:47pm
I think the neighbour was snoring.  The phone call woke him up which stopped the snoring and allowed the man to get to sleep.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 4th, 2004, 10:52pm
Why would snoring make him sweaty and nervous?  I was thinking he had amourous neighbhors, but I dismissed that for the same reason.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Mar 4th, 2004, 11:03pm
I think that bobcat is right. The answer is simple enought to satisfy Occam's razor. Also, you might be nervous (and sweat because of the nervousness) if you were worried about waking up your neighbor just to satisfy yourself. Some people would consider it rude. Rude or not, it is more clever than banging on the wall, and provides less risk of getting caught.  ;)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by DeMark on Mar 5th, 2004, 5:36am
Well done. Man was trynig to get to sleep, and the neighbour was snoring so loudly that was just impossible.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 5th, 2004, 9:29pm
Oh dear, I sure put my foot in my mouth this time.  :-X
I see now how someone would be nervous about that, though it seems like a silly thing to worry about.  Speaker - I'm not familiar with 'Occams Razor', though I've heard the term referenced before.  Would you care to explain what exactly it is?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Sir Col on Mar 6th, 2004, 3:32am
I'll include the Latin, Cathos, because of your signature: So what are you? [sum arbor = I am a tree/squid]  ;)


It's named after William of Ockham (14th century), and he wrote: "pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate", which translates literally: "plurality is not to be put without necessity," meaning: "A large number is not to be put before what is necessary."

Later scholars expressed it as: "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem," which translates: "entities are not to be multiplied in front of necessity," meaning: "Things known are not to be made more complex if not necessary."

In modern science Occam's Razor is generally stated as, "Given two different ideas/theories, which both make equivalent predictions, the simpler is to be preferred."

Isaac Newton said it best, "We shall accept no more explanations of natural causes than is absolutely necessary." In other words, if what we have explains it, don't go looking for more complicated reasons.

It could be argued that Einstein and other scientists ignored that and as a result we made significant progress?! That is, Newton's simple and rigid deterministic explanation of the universe stifled our ability to obtain a greater understanding of the world.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Cathos on Mar 6th, 2004, 12:43pm
Indeed, I am a tree. (though squid would make just as much sense, I didn't realize the word had 2 meanings)
I took about 3 1/2 years of Latin, and that was some time ago, so most of the quotes are lost on me.  Mostly I just remember simply vocabulary and some expressions, which I try to put to use so I sound smart.  ;D

So, referencing Occam's Razor is just a sopisticated way of saying "the simpleist answer is probably the best answer".  Why 'Razor'?  Why not Occam's Principle, or Occam's Theory or whatever? I guess Eistein took Newton's use of Occam's Razor cum grano salis, eh?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Sir Col on Mar 6th, 2004, 2:00pm
Indeed!  ;D

But interestingly, Einstein also said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

It's called "razor" because, as a principle, we shave away what is superfluous, reducing it to what is absolutely necessary.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by SWF on Mar 6th, 2004, 2:49pm
Waking up a snorer makes some sense, but I also think it doesn't fit with being nervous and sweating. He should become even more nervous after calling, if it occurs to him that they neighbor may have caller ID on his phone.  

Is it still Occam's Razor if you shave off some of the conditions of the question?   :)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Mar 7th, 2004, 7:26pm
SWF, that always seems to work for me, just change the question to suit your answer.  ::)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by pedronunezmd on Jun 20th, 2004, 5:56pm
In medical school, we use the expression "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" as our version of Occam's Razor. (When in USA of course, think horses, but when in other parts of the world, maybe zebras.)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Three Hands on Jun 20th, 2004, 9:33pm
Ironically enough, although Occam's Razor is often associated with philosophy, it is very rarely actually used in philosophical discussions (at least, I haven't run into it much at all during the first year of university, and a lecturer did comment about this). Instead, it is a much more popular tool in science.
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Jun 20th, 2004, 9:36pm
Not only science, but detectivology also.  ::)
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Grimbal on Jun 21st, 2004, 5:43am

on 06/20/04 at 21:36:52, Speaker wrote:
Not only science, but detectivology also.  ::)

Isn't it also science?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Speaker on Jun 21st, 2004, 10:48pm
Sure, its a science. Actually, I was trying to think of some concrete examples of detectives using this technique, but couldn't.

Sherlock Holmes eliminated the impossible in order to find the truth, no matter how improbable.

Hercule Poirot based his detections on human nature, and the theory that; it is impossible to go against our own human nature.

Columbo badgered people into confessing...

Can anybody think of some examples?
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by towr on Jun 22nd, 2004, 12:57am
They explicitly mentioned Occam's razor in CSI once, I think..
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Bwa! on Jul 21st, 2004, 6:42pm
I was also thinking snoring, but I thought he was just a very nervous man in general, so he thought the snoring was some kind of night-beast. Really, your own imagination is the scariest thing you can ever see.
Like right now...If it's dark, just imagine a zombie closing in behind you...Don't turn around...it's all muddy, and disgusting, with sharp claws, it looks like it wants to eat you alive at any cost, don't turn around...now...I can see it...its hands are closing in...closing in around your neck, closer, closer...
*typical public domain scream*
Now if you imagine that in a scary voice, in a serious darkness...
Well, that actually scared me while I was typing it. :-[
Title: Re: To sleep like a baby
Post by Icarus on Aug 9th, 2004, 8:17pm

on 06/21/04 at 22:48:30, Speaker wrote:
Sherlock Holmes eliminated the impossible in order to find the truth, no matter how improbable.


But I have to agree with Dirk Gently: Sometimes the impossible makes far more sense than the highly improbable.

I.e. When the only possible solutions are highly improbable, it is time to re-examine whether the "impossible" might be possible after all.


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