wu :: forums
        (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        riddles >> what happened >> An alien in our midst
        
(Message started by: dudiobugtron on Jan 25th, 2017, 5:33pm)
Title: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 25th, 2017, 5:33pm
An alien lands on Earth.  While she is still inside the craft, she is excited to think about how she will soon be able to see humans for the first time with her own eyes.

Then she exits the craft in full view of a large crowd of humans. However, nobody takes much notice of her, and she doesn't notice them either.

What happened?
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 26th, 2017, 7:49am
A solar eclipse. Or they are all blind. Or she is one ugly alien. Did she take form of Oprah?
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by rloginunix on Jan 26th, 2017, 9:22am
"She" is [hide]in her parent's womb[/hide]?
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 26th, 2017, 10:19am
She is among babies or imbeciles?
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 26th, 2017, 11:08am
Alien's first answer and rloginunix's answer are both good, especially rloginunix's neat idea. (That would have to be one precocious alien, though!)

Although it might not be clear from the way the riddle is worded, I intended "in full view" to mean there was nothing obstructing their view of her, which would perhaps preclude these answers, however.

No intended answers yet. (An ugly alien would surely attract more attention, no?)


on 01/26/17 at 07:49:08, alien2 wrote:
Or they are all blind.

The humans are just a generic bunch of humans.  So some are male, some female, some young, some old etc...
Some might be imbeciles or babies, but not that many.  At least one of them is blind, but certainly not all of them.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by pex on Jan 26th, 2017, 6:51pm
[hide]Size mismatch? This particular alien species is about the size of a grain of sand. So the humans don't notice her, and she has a hard time seeing them through all the sand / grass / whatever.[/hide]
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 27th, 2017, 12:10am

on 01/26/17 at 11:08:24, dudiobugtron wrote:
(...) (An ugly alien would surely attract more attention, no?)

Not if you go blind for the rest of your life.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 27th, 2017, 12:25am

on 01/26/17 at 18:51:54, pex wrote:
[hide]Size mismatch? This particular alien species is about the size of a grain of sand. So the humans don't notice her, and she has a hard time seeing them through all the sand / grass / whatever.[/hide]

This certainly fits all of the parts of the riddle; she might [hide]not be able to see the forest for the trees[/hide].  Not the expected answer, but I think it should count as an alternate answer.

In my answer, she has done her research properly and so [hide]no unexpected events occur[/hide].
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 27th, 2017, 1:42am
Is it at all possible that she looks just like a human? If she looked like Godzilla everyone would have noticed her.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by pex on Jan 27th, 2017, 2:30am
[hide]Wavelength mismatch, then? Her "eyes" aren't sensitive to the light reflected by humans, and vice versa.[/hide]
Edit: Although this might contradict "having done her research properly"...
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 27th, 2017, 3:06am

on 01/25/17 at 17:33:04, dudiobugtron wrote:
What happened?

You posted a riddle.

Or she is a bitch. Dog, I mean.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 27th, 2017, 8:05pm

on 01/27/17 at 02:30:35, pex wrote:
[hide]Wavelength mismatch, then? Her "eyes" aren't sensitive to the light reflected by humans, and vice versa.[/hide]
Edit: Although this might contradict "having done her research properly"...

Neat idea!  I think we would definitely notice a non-visibly-reflective shape - although perhaps not if the craft was also similarly unreflective!

You'd have to wonder how the craft managed to land, though, if that were the case!


on 01/27/17 at 01:42:42, alien2 wrote:
Is it at all possible that she looks just like a human?

This explains why the crowd of humans didn't notice her, and is compatible with the expected answer. Now it's time to flesh it out :)
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 28th, 2017, 12:53am
By 'alien' you simply mean that she is an Englishman in New York. She just returned from the Moon. Nobody really cares about her astronautic accomplishment because we landed on the Moon long time ago. Therefore it is not a giant leap for mankind anymore, rather one small step, although, being an emotional woman, she feels as if it were a giant leap.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 28th, 2017, 1:09pm

on 01/28/17 at 00:53:22, alien2 wrote:
By 'alien' you simply mean that she is an Englishman in New York.

Precisely :)


Quote:
She just returned from the Moon. Nobody really cares about her astronautic accomplishment because we landed on the Moon long time ago. Therefore it is not a giant leap for mankind anymore, rather one small step, although, being an emotional woman, she feels as if it were a giant leap.

How does this explain why she didn't notice the crowd?
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by alien2 on Jan 28th, 2017, 1:54pm

on 01/28/17 at 13:09:31, dudiobugtron wrote:
(...) How does this explain why she didn't notice the crowd?

How would I know? I am not a mysterious woman. I am just an alien.
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by towr on Jan 29th, 2017, 9:51am
[hide]Before she can see other people, she first needs an operation.[/hide]
Title: Re: An alien in our midst
Post by dudiobugtron on Jan 29th, 2017, 10:40am

on 01/29/17 at 09:51:38, towr wrote:
[hide]Before she can see other people, she first needs an operation.[/hide]

Oui!  The puzzle is solved :)


Powered by YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.4!
Forum software copyright © 2000-2004 Yet another Bulletin Board