Puzzles Etc.

wow

10:24 PM

So that question, from before, has an answer, but only if you consider it an opinion question - at which point, it is "primarily opinion-based"

teehee

which?

Q: The Mysterious Multi-Purpose X

21

I was on my computer last night and I happened to be thinking of something very useful to me that I will call X. I was hungry so I added 15 to it like this: $15 + X$ That did the trick. Later on, I wanted to go for a walk. I added 14 to it: $X + 14$ And enjoyed my walk very much. It m...

I never saw this puzzle!

oh and um...

27

Q: Which offer is better?

You are to make a statement. Of these two offers you have to choose one; which one is more profitable to you, and why? If the statement is true, you get exactly 10 dollars. If the statement is false, you get either less than or more than 10 dollars but not exactly 10. Regardless of whether the...

liars

oh yeah

I still stick by my statement that the second option is better

I was surprised to get a response to my comment, tbh

because you will get at least $10.01 without even having to think about it

10:27 PM

I still stick by mine that it has no answer, hehehe

Not as a logic problem, at least

I feel like the accepted answer involves assuming that you can control the outcome

Philosphically - maybe

According to his response to me..

it's a question that would, you know, never actually come up in real life

It's because he feels that most people would find the amount they can pick to be the most profitable.

Which...I simply don't agree with =D

and true

It'd be my luck to run into that genie..

I mean, I value thought experiments, to some degree

10:29 PM

cough Not a puzzle cough

but a lot of times they end up being used in really wanky ways

true enough

like, the prisoner's dilemma is a good example of a thought experiment that is only used by people who are trying to engineer an outcome

which is fine, and has its uses, but is still ultimately unpredictable

You talking about the one with the hats?/

Prisoner's dilemma

The prisoner's dilemma is a standard example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W. Tucker formalized the game with prison sentence rewards and named it, "prisoner's dilemma" (Poundstone, 1992), presenting it as follows: Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The...

10:32 PM

oh right

and like, it's good for literal games where you (would hope) that people would choose the "middle" option

but plenty of people, irl, would choose one of the other two

plenty of pairs of people, that is

Am I missing something, or...

Is there no solution for if B betrays A and A remains silent?

no no, the solution for that is just that B goes free and A serves time

like, the reverse of the second option, basically

Ah, okay

Oh

I didn't read the consequence for Sit. 2

yeah, a betrayal + a silence = one goes free, other serves a longer term

10:36 PM

I don't think I've even seen this puzzle in a LONG time

Had forgotten about it

basically the idea is that, not knowing the other person's action, it's "more rational" to betray

because at worst, you'd get two years, at best you'd get set free

whereas staying silent, at best you'd get 1 year, at worst you'd get 3

Yeah, it's purely philosophical

but "rational" isn't a thing to bet money on, when it comes to people

yeah

it's great as a "thought experiment", but wouldn't really be useful in practice with actual stakes

That's when you set up a plan with the other guy, before you get caught: "If we both get caught, say nothing!"

Of course, then you have to trust him to do what you said - but I'm joking anyways

yeah

and honestly, I would think most criminals would be less likely to talk, just as a rule

snitches aren't terribly popular, in or out of jail

10:40 PM

Yeah, especially knowing the other guy's only gonna get 2 years

the hat thing is funny this way too

OH yeah, lol

imagine trying to get a bunch of people to act in a "purely logical" way in a life-or-death situation

Not only that, but....

the puzzle doesn't state whether or not you die instantly.

So if you decide to suicide just to get someone else killed

....

oh! were you around for that "the guard who has to convince five prisoners not to move" fiasco?

because that was the same kind of thing

10:43 PM

Where there were like 3 puzzles about it in 2 days?

lol

it was a puzzle about a guard with one bullet

yeah

I think that was around when I got here

and like... yeah, all you'd need is for one person to risk it (because, again, in the "real world", the guard probably isn't an instantly-lethal shot), and everybody goes freee

worst case, the person who risks it dies, and everybody else goes free

yeah

so it's cool as a purely logical puzzle, but at that point it might as well be 1s and 0s

10:44 PM

haha

Omg

I wonder if there's a good way to do that =D

part of the reason I never look stuff up on meta on SE is that there's no sense of consensus or finality to any answer

people will post a link to a meta question in response to something I say or ask, but if you actually read the question, answer(s), and comments on the question and answer(s), there is almost never a solid thing to take away from it

"thing" I really couldn't think of a better word :/

especially not on this site

Q: Any way to send a personal message to another user?

sometimes there's a solid answer, but that's usually in cases where the question itself seems unnecessary

387

There has been quite a few times that I wished I could send a message to another user on SO - not ask a question for everyone to see, but just a short message informing them of something or requesting them to do something. Are there any plans to allow this to happen in the future? Related: Ho...

feature-request status-declined private-messaging

lmfao

out of the four examples the answerer gave, two were literally, explicitly "declined without comment"

this is sort of the meat of what I was getting at earlier with that hitler thing - it makes me somewhat uncomfortable that mods get away with just completely stonewalling people

Q&A/Sex-Change web sites

I had to read that 4 times before I figured out what he meant!

I feel like part of the responsibility of being a moderator somewhere should be to provide users with some transparency, so that it doesn't look like moderators are just acting completely capriciously

also, re: that specific question: I don't see how having private messaging turns a site into a social networking site. sometimes you just want to have communication that isn't broadcast to everyone (there are plenty of valid reasons for this, not the least of which is ... capricious moderators who might act on something they don't like and not have to explain themselves)

10:59 PM

heh

same reason anonymity is necessary for some people

yeah

re: sex change

I assume that was a joke about expertsexchange?

I don't think so...

oh.

11:04 PM

I assume he meant "Stack Exchange"

But maybe....doesn't seem like it, in context.

ok

I just remember that being a thing that people pointed out

ahh

not that I ever used that site, it seemed like an awful quagmire

I refused to pay for it, so never had a reason

I also sort of feel like the email option overdoes it

11:08 PM

yeah

I don't necessarily want to put an email address in my profile - and contextually, it seems weird. I don't want to use email for something that only exists on one website

does that make sense? it makes sense to me from a structural/design standpoint

Yes, that's annoying

especially since like, chances are, I'd really only ever need to use the private message feature for < 5 messages at a time

our boy chris cudmore is in those comments, making a good-as-hell point

"This has been suggested many, many times" And you continue to deny it. Your users want it. — Chris Cudmore Oct 24 '13 at 22:11

heh

I've said stuff like that, and I've seen other people say stuff like that, tons and tons of times. If you're noticing that a bunch of your users "keep bringing the same thing up", maybe it's time to either a) listen to them, or b) tell them what is, in this case, the truth: you don't care what they want

If you claim to run a "user-driven site" or whatever, let the users' input actually matter. If you can't listen to your users (and there's no shortage of well-reasoned arguments being made by said users), don't claim that users have any voice or control

anyway, sorry, I don't mean to soapbox, it's just frustrating

11:16 PM

np, only half here, atm, sorry

OK so weirdly: in windows chrome (i.e., on this laptop and on my work computer), some people's avatars show up and others' don't. On my mac in chrome, everybody's avatars show up (specifically talking about in chat)

don't get me started... lol

at first I thought it was just my work computer, something to do with our utterly inscrutable web filtering

but it seems to be a windows (or windows chrome) thing

11:48 PM

Hello

how do @you do

I'm fine.

Why, @You....

Testing out the mobile view. :)

I just updated my mobile app, yesterday, but haven't tried it. I understand it finally has chat in it?

Because being forced to the website for it is annoying.

11:50 PM

🙃

And that symbol didn't show up

I'm sort of on the website.

bah

But still in the app

weird, the symbol showed up as a square here

11:51 PM

The symbol is an upside down smiley face.

Q: Read closely, or you will fail

And this...

0

You might not get this right. I will say in a comment if it is right or not. Jason's mother had 4 children. Three of their names were Penny, Nickel, and Dime. What was the fourth child's name? If you need a hint, you are very lucky for one:

riddle

Is not a puzzle, but a brain teaser.

An extremely common one, too

Yeah. Everyone asks me that question.

Meanwhile.

Anyone know who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

either "grant" or "nobody"

hehe

11:53 PM

I've heard both given as the "right" answer to that

you know, it's funny

I've never actually been to grant's tomb

and I've lived here for over a decade

hah

I think I just assumed for a long time that it's in DC or VA or something

I had no idea

but nope

manhattan, of all places

Ahh

Wait a second...

Hah, okay

I wondered if you had any comments/etc on my puzzle that involved manhattan

11:56 PM

do tell

oh?

Q: My name does me injustice; I've not done any harm

4

Don't take me so literal, I never damaged the view. I've a number of friends Well.... More than a few. My father was in insurance, in a city of du Sable. He wasn't very tall, sure But he did what he was meant A famous brother never sleeps in a borough oft ...

riddle word rhyme

From a while back

(I don't actually live in manhattan, but I do live in nyc)

One of my first

Ahh

oh!

yeah

It was fun trying to find a way to call Chicago something other than "The Windy City"

11:57 PM

that was one of those puzzles that I missed when it was posted and didn't see until after it was answered

Obvious, much?/

haha

Ahh

and I'm really bad about reading puzzles closely if they've already been answered

Q: Find posts without accepted answers

Me, too

Or cilcking them at all

I did like finding about that new search trick, though

7

The unanswered tab works well on most other SE sites since having an answer is more indicative of the question being solved (not guaranteed though). On this site since you are allowed to make a well thought out guess as an answer, it is very likely answered posts haven't actually been solved unle...

discussion feature-request