Futility Closet
I’ve found a new blog that I quite dig: Greg Ross’ Futility closet, which he describes as “An idler’s miscellany of compendious amusements.” It consists of a massive — and daily updated! — archive of anecdotes, epigrams, illusions and wonders, puzzles, prodigies, sublimities and horrors.
For example, did you know that it’s possible to have $1.19 in coinage, and yet still not have change for a dollar? It’s true:
If that was too easy, consider this: “I had two solid cubes of lead, one very slightly larger than the other. Through one of them I cut a hole (without destroying the continuity of its four sides) so that the other cube could be passed right through it. On weighing them afterwards it was found that the larger cube was still the heavier of the two! How was this possible?”
If you liked these puzzles, you’ll get a kick out of the rest of the site.
