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DeMark
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To sleep like a baby
« on: Mar 1st, 2004, 11:11am » |
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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!!!
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Cathos
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #1 on: Mar 1st, 2004, 11:14am » |
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I think He's calling 'time' for some reason, not sure why though.
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John_Gaughan
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #2 on: Mar 1st, 2004, 11:30am » |
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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 
Edit: yes, the riddle says "11PM," not "midnight." I messed up.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 2nd, 2004, 5:36am by John_Gaughan » |
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Speaker
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #3 on: Mar 1st, 2004, 9:36pm » |
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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).
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. <Ben Franklin>
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Chewdog
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #4 on: Mar 1st, 2004, 10:32pm » |
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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. 
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Cathos
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #5 on: Mar 1st, 2004, 10:50pm » |
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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.
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John_Gaughan
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #6 on: Mar 2nd, 2004, 5:35am » |
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I missed the part about "11PM" in the riddle, sorry. But the answer could still work, by changing "midnight" to "11PM" 
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #7 on: Mar 2nd, 2004, 8:00am » |
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No gypsy fortune tellers. Nobody's hit by a bus. It's pretty simple, just think a bit more.
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John_Gaughan
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #8 on: Mar 2nd, 2004, 8:22am » |
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Did he call someone having a baby? Did he sleep like a baby because he is happy about a birth in the family?
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #9 on: Mar 2nd, 2004, 11:03am » |
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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?
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John_Gaughan
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #10 on: Mar 2nd, 2004, 11:17am » |
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on Mar 2nd, 2004, 11:03am, 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? |
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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.
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BNC
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #11 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 1:40am » |
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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...
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How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #12 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 9:18am » |
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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?
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John_Gaughan
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #13 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:09am » |
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on Mar 3rd, 2004, 9:18am, DeMark wrote:| No werewolves in typical life situations, eh? |
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What kind of weird world do you live in? They're everywhere! At least on TV 
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #14 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:21am » |
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We all live in a weird world... 
What do you do in the evening? And in the night?
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Cathos
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #15 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:47am » |
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Did he call the hotel lobby and request a wake up call?
[Just noticed I made junior member - woohoo!!]
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| « Last Edit: Mar 3rd, 2004, 11:48am by Cathos » |
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Speaker
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #16 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 4:51pm » |
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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
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SWF
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #17 on: Mar 3rd, 2004, 7:54pm » |
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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.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 3rd, 2004, 8:01pm by SWF » |
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #18 on: Mar 4th, 2004, 4:49am » |
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The answer is similar to your last guess... You are very close, SWF...
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bobcat
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #19 on: Mar 4th, 2004, 7:47pm » |
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I think the neighbour was snoring. The phone call woke him up which stopped the snoring and allowed the man to get to sleep.
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Cathos
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #20 on: Mar 4th, 2004, 10:52pm » |
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Why would snoring make him sweaty and nervous? I was thinking he had amourous neighbhors, but I dismissed that for the same reason.
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Speaker
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #21 on: Mar 4th, 2004, 11:03pm » |
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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.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 4th, 2004, 11:04pm by Speaker » |
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. <Ben Franklin>
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DeMark
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #22 on: Mar 5th, 2004, 5:36am » |
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Well done. Man was trynig to get to sleep, and the neighbour was snoring so loudly that was just impossible.
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Cathos
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #23 on: Mar 5th, 2004, 9:29pm » |
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Oh dear, I sure put my foot in my mouth this time. 
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?
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Sir Col
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Re: To sleep like a baby
« Reply #24 on: Mar 6th, 2004, 3:32am » |
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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.
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| « Last Edit: Mar 6th, 2004, 3:52am by Sir Col » |
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