“Mixed Bag” Questions May 2017 – Answers

1. Fletch; Fletch Lives

2. 200 (approx 180)

3. The Beatles; The Maharishi

4. Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan

5. 7 (Six plus goalkeeper)

6. North and South Korea

7. organist

8. c. After Christmas Day. Boxing Day is the first of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

9. The Great Barrier Reef

10. c. South China Sea

HARDER:

11. China

12. A dialect of German spoken in Brazil

13. Spectacled Bear aka Andean Bear aka jukumari, ukumari or ukuku, scientific name Tremarctos ornatus

14. Lost sponsor and sponsorship due to Canada’s cigarette advertising bans

15. It comes from horses

16. Animals that have displayed “conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defence Units” (British)

17. Steve Elkington (1990). The Wyndham Championship is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S., and was originally called the Greater Greensboro Open.

18. A rhetorical question / a question that didn’t require an answer

19. The daughters of William Shakespeare with married surnames.

20. A rattle used in herding sheep

May 2017 Logic & Maths Problems – Solutions

1. Suzie.
Since Suzie always lies and Samantha always tells the truth, neither lady would ever say that her own name is Suzie. Therefore the woman on the left must be lying about what the other lady said. The lady on the left is therefore Suzie.

2. 1101

3. From strongest to weakest: Laura, Lance, Lenny, Lulu

4. He makes a mound of earth and stands on it to reach the skylight

5. 78

6. The house numbers

7. Mother 73, daughter 37

8. Bob, Ed, Dave

9. Mr Red worked for Green & Co
Mr Green worked for Blue & Co
Mr Blue worked for Red & Co

10. a = 21 b = 20

Puzzles for April 2017

Our Crossword this month has Paranormal Pastimes as its theme, and we return to a choice of standard or cryptic clues.

April 2017 Skeptical Crossword Puzzle (HTML format)

or

80 April 2017 Crossword Paranormal Pastimes (.pdf format).

There are ten new April 2017 Logic & Maths Problems (HTML format)

or

57 Logic and Maths Puzzles April 2017 for pdf (.pdf format);

and a new set of  seven Picture Puzzles and twenty “Mixed Bag” questions at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE

Enjoy!

A Skeptic’s Guide to the Scientific Method

This article first appeared here in July 2011. You can also download the latest .pdf version here: Scientific Method . Our full range of  Skeptics Guides can be accessed using the USEFUL INFO tab at the top of this page.

“Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What’s left is magic.

And it doesn’t work.”

– James Randi

The term “Scientific Method” is used to describe the way scientific research is designed, performed and reviewed. Good science depends on rigour – strict and unfailing adherence to basic principles.

In simple terms, as a scientist,  you would:

1. Make some observation about something that is going on in the universe. View More A Skeptic’s Guide to the Scientific Method