Island on Fire

New puzzler time.

Here it is. This is long so pay attention.

Imagine you are kidnapped and unceremoniously dumped on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.

You don't see anyone. Not even the cast of Gilligan's Island.

This island is basically 10 miles long and about 100 yards wide, and it's completely covered with grass and palm trees.

Your captors have been nice enough to give you a few things to assist you in surviving.

They given you supply of water. A life size poster of Ginger from Gilligan's Island to keep you company. They've given you a flashlight, a box of matches and a blankie.

The first day, you walk around the island and you notice that you've got no chance of escape, because the island is a sheer drop off all around 500 feet onto sharp rocks, into shark nfested waters.

So there is no escape from this island.

You go to sleep that first night under your blankie, and you're awakened the next morning by the sound of thunder and the bright flash of lightning.

And you realize that lightning has struck the far end of the island. You're approximately in the middle so the strike happens five miles away from you. Lightning has struck and has set the grass and palm trees on fire.

And as luck would have it, there's a breeze blowing from the fire towards you, so it's pushing the flame in your direction.

You realize that everything on the island is going to go up in flames unless you think of something really quickly.

And the puzzler question is, what do you do to save yourself?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Pulsing Brakes

This one is definitely automotive in nature.

Here we go.

Years ago, a guy walked into the shop with a Volvo. The guy complains of a strong pulsing in his brake pedal when he applies the brakes.

The mechanic looks over the car and finds that the front disc brake rotors are warped.

The mechanic installs new ones and sends the fellow off on his way.

Well, 5000 miles later, the same car owner comes back to the shop and complains that the pulsing is back.

The mechanic is suspicious because he knows his work on the car was excellent.

The mechanic asks the owner a few questions to try to get to the bottom of the issue.

Do you ride the brake? Have you tightened your lug nuts with a high powered air wrench? Have you bought new tires?

The owner answers no to all these questions.

The mechanic is at a loss and replaces the warped rotors again.

After another 1000 miles, the guy comes back with the exact same problem.

This time, the mechanic asks straight up, what the heck he's doing to the car that could be causing this problem, knowing that there's nothing wrong with the parts and nothing wrong with the installation. This should not be happening.

And the fellow says, "I don't know. I go on a lot of long car trips, and it's always the day after I arrive home from these trips that I start feeling the pulsing. But it never happens during the long time, only on the day after."

The mechanic asks him one question. And then he knows the answer to the puzzle.

What question did the mechanic ask?