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        riddles >> what happened >> Island
        
(Message started by: alien on Apr 29th, 2006, 7:39am)
Title: Island
Post by alien on Apr 29th, 2006, 7:39am

You are in topnotch health on an island from which you want to leave. There is nothing on the island, no objects or living forms, except for the life rocket in working order right beside you. Suddenly, you see the ship passing in distance that you eagerly want to board. Then you look at the life rocket with strong desire to use it to get the attention of the ship, but despair overwhelms you and you do nothing. Why??    
Title: Re: Island
Post by themattharp1 on Apr 29th, 2006, 7:52am
By "life rocket" do you mean a flare gun?
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on Apr 29th, 2006, 8:23am
Yes, loaded flare gun is a better choice..  
Title: Re: Island
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on Apr 29th, 2006, 10:17am
Then the only solution that I can think of is:

[hideb]Since you can see the boat, it is likely during the day.  You think to yourself, a flare gun used during the night would be much more noticable than one used in the day.[/hideb]

If it's not that, I'll just keep thinking.
Title: Re: Island
Post by Bamaboys on Apr 29th, 2006, 10:41am
Is it [hideb]  a pirate ship?  [/hideb]  

Or   [hideb]  Any ship where the passengers may cause some kind of harm to you?  [/hideb]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on Apr 29th, 2006, 11:17am

on 04/29/06 at 10:41:01, Bamaboys wrote:
Is it [hideb]  a pirate ship?  [/hideb]  

Or   [hideb]  Any ship where the passengers may cause some kind of harm to you?  [/hideb]

No. It is a friendly ship.





on 04/29/06 at 10:17:45, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:
Then the only solution that I can think of is:

[hideb]Since you can see the boat, it is likely during the day.  You think to yourself, a flare gun used during the night would be much more noticable than one used in the day.[/hideb]

Nice try, but it is, actually, pretty dark so no.  
Title: Re: Island
Post by graphia on Apr 30th, 2006, 1:16am
I guess it depends on whether it's a rocket or a flare gun - [hide]if it was a rocket, then you have no means of lighting it and it wont go off.[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on Apr 30th, 2006, 7:35am
just disregard life rocket and replace it with a flare gun, as I am not familiar with the mechanism of life rocket..
Title: Re: Island
Post by Grimbal on May 2nd, 2006, 9:01am
[hide]
It says "for crew use only".

And I just ate the last crew member yesterday.


(Well, initially the logic was that I can not use the flare since I am not a crew member, but now that I think of it, it also makes sense that I can not get the attention of the boat before hiding all evidence of my killing of the crew.)
[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 2nd, 2006, 11:55am
Nice try, but there is nothing else on the island except for the fore mentioned flare gun, so this, actually, excludes corpses also. And let us say that you are naked just to remove possibilities like, say, strangling them with your belt
Title: Re: Island
Post by Icarus on May 2nd, 2006, 2:58pm
My idea is that the ship cannot pick you up for some reason, such as your island being surrounded by some very nasty reefs that not even a raft can get through. The problem with this is that there is no reason not to at least let the ship know of your presence, so that they can radio for a helicopter or other means of rescue.
Title: Re: Island
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on May 2nd, 2006, 9:00pm
Whoops.  Have a good idea.  What if...
[hideb]You can see the name of that boat from the island.  When you look at the flare gun, you realize that the name of the boat is also printed on the flare gun, meaning that this boat is either the one you were initially on, or another boat that is adrift.[/hideb]
Seems possible to me.  Especially since [hide]the despair seems to stem directly from looking at  the flare gun.[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 3rd, 2006, 3:25pm
Not bad, not bad at all, but I said that you see the ship in distance, so even if [hide]it were not dark, heh, the distance is such so you could not make out its name[/hide]  ;)






no nasty reefs either..
Title: Re: Island
Post by JiNbOtAk on May 3rd, 2006, 8:49pm
Could it be that

[hide]You don't know how to use the flare gun ?[/hide]

The riddle said you're healthy, it says nothing bout your iq level..  ;)

On the other hand, if there is nothing on the island, except for the flare gun, and your naked self, how did you get there in the first place ? And what do you eat ?

Dang, sure hope you didn't eat the flare gun..  :o
Title: Re: Island
Post by Astrix on May 4th, 2006, 6:26am
Would the date by any chance be a significant clue?
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 5th, 2006, 11:15am

on 05/03/06 at 20:49:48, JiNbOtAk wrote:
Could it be that

[hide]You don't know how to use the flare gun ?[/hide]

The riddle said you're healthy, it says nothing bout your iq level..  ;)

I sure hope you are not THAT stupid  ;D



Quote:
On the other hand, if there is nothing on the island, except for the flare gun, and your naked self, how did you get there in the first place ?

   this is a good question..       ;)




on 05/04/06 at 06:26:36, Astrix wrote:
Would the date by any chance be a significant clue?
No. I dont thinks so.
Title: Re: Island
Post by Astrix on May 5th, 2006, 12:51pm
I figured it might be [hide]the fourth of July or Guy Fawkes Day or Cinco de Mayo...and the boaters would just assume the flare was holiday fireworks.[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 5th, 2006, 1:36pm
Not bad, but the date is of no importance.
Title: Re: Island
Post by graphia on May 5th, 2006, 5:00pm
Ok so this is an island on the ocean right, the type of island you'd think of when you say "island"?

Ohhh wait hang on I know ;D

[hide]You're the captain of the ship and the crew just mutineed, putting you down on the island with only a life rocket so they're unlikely to turn around and rescue you if you set it off[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by ChunkTug on May 5th, 2006, 5:02pm
[hide]Pirates left him buried up to his neck in the sand with the flare gun next to him to taunt him?[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 5th, 2006, 5:52pm

on 05/05/06 at 17:02:27, ChunkTug wrote:
[hide]Pirates left him buried up to his neck in the sand with the flare gun next to him to taunt him?[/hide]

Yes. [hide]They recently buried him like this and left.[/hide]
Title: Re: Island
Post by graphia on May 5th, 2006, 6:30pm
Damn, I was sure I had it ???
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 5th, 2006, 7:18pm
graphia your answer is real good,  but why would they not leave you any food if they give you a chance with the flare gun to survive and leave this island? Unless they do not have food or they do not give a damn. If there is a mutiny, it is unlikely that all will be against you, since you must have at least some supporters that did not get killed in the mutiny, especially of higher authority.
Title: Re: Island
Post by graphia on May 5th, 2006, 10:18pm
Okay, rebuttal :P

I figured that it wouldn't be that uncommon to leave someone stranded with nothing on a desert island with a flare to get help, especially if it was a shipping lane.  One would assume that if you're going to throw someone off your ship you wouldn't be too worried about their survival.  Besides, it fits with the image of pirates that I know, where people would just get stranded if they were unpopular enough.

It wouldn't surprise me that the captain was the only one left if it was his immediate underlings that organised things - anyone much lower than them would be more likely to go along with the scheme, especially if they were threatened to keep quiet.  Or perhaps they were just locked up or whatever and the captain was left behind because he was the figurehead.  Of course, it could have just been a stowaway or someone who's broken the rules, the captain was just a poetic example.

As for "suddenly", I just thought that was a figure of speech to say you'd spotted the ship.  On the other hand, because of currents or rocks and whatnot they may have needed to head out beyond sight and then double back around the island so you see them again.

And I'm sure the captain would love to be back on *his* ship, even though he might not be too keen on the company :P  All in all I thought my answer was quite reasonable ;)
Title: Re: Island
Post by alien on May 6th, 2006, 1:57am
You know, I just realized crap I said before, so I quickly deleted it.  :-[ The riddle does leave room for other possibilities, your answer especially graphia, as I cannot say with confidence that my answer is the only plausible answer. But even so, ChunkTug's answer seams like the winner to me. What say you?
Title: Re: Island
Post by graphia on May 6th, 2006, 4:16am
Yeah my answer requires too much explaining whereas ChunkTug's clicks right away.
Title: Re: Island
Post by Grimbal on May 10th, 2006, 12:55am
I had another explanation.

The island is surroundeed by coral reefs.  That is the reason you are stranded there initially.  Attracting the boat would make it break on the coral.  That would just increase the number of stranded people.  Angry people.
Title: Re: Island
Post by william11141 on Jan 6th, 2007, 8:14pm

 The "leaving someone on an island to die" talk is sounding suspisously like Pirate's of the Carrbean. hehe, but still, is the riddle solved, or no?


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