The Last Man in the Trunk

Alright, an “automotive” puzzler, emphasis on the trunk:

Vinnie Goombatz’s cousins, Rocco and Throckmorton, find themselves locked in the airtight trunk of a car.

Rocco panics, he bangs, yells, and uses up a lot of air.

After a while… he dies.

Throckmorton does the oppositehe stays calm, barely breathes, and waits.

Hours later, he hears someone bang on the trunk and is rescued—still alive.

How could Throckmorton survive for hours after Rocco had already used up all the air?

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

The Intentional Backfire

Alright, an aviation puzzler—don’t worry, it still kinda smells like motor oil:

Back in the early days of aviation, mechanics noticed that airplane engines would regularly backfire through the carburetor—loud bangs, flames, the whole works. Bad for the engine, worse for your nerves.

They checked everything… and eventually discovered: Nothing was wrong with the plane.

In fact, the pilot was doing it on purpose.

Which raises the obvious question:

Why would a pilot intentionally make the engine backfire, scaring himself silly and risking damage when it seemed completely useless?