UKC

A question sent to me by a friend recently - it made my brain twitch for about 24 hours.

Without using the internet - "How many countries or territories that have never been part of the British Empire drive on the left?"

There are 9 of them - i gave up at 7 and googled to avoid going quietly mad.

Enjoy!

Is the answer 9?

A spoiler alert would have been nice!

Yes yes very good - name them.

I only knew 2 non British Empire/Commonwealth etc.

So I looked it up, I didn't find a list that made it clear which were former empire burning counted 10 by the time I got to T and I may have missed a couple. So are you sure about 9?

Edit : I rechecked and now I only get 7 including one tenuous one.

It would be nice if you'd tell us what they are because I, for one, haven't a clue.

Ruins it for others. Just look at the Wikipedia page for LHD / RHD.

Basically everyone was LHD and the Napoleon and the Yanks messed it all up. So it's mainly former colonies of European countries, and it's declining as small nations switch to make car importing easier.

There are only a couple of odd ones and usually thats due to British or other European engineering influence, eg for railways.

That's interesting, thanks. Particularly the impact of Napoleon on the world, even today.

I'm not sure how this qualifies as 'brain twisting'. Like any other quiz question you either know them or you don't or you might be able to make an educated guess or two.

Here's a brain twister for you then. I have 4 palomino horses. The fastest is not the tallest, the slowest is not the shortest. The tallest is not the slowest and the shortest is not the fastest.

If their value is the sum of a figure 1 to 4 for speed and 1 to 4 for height...

what colour are they?

Easy but don't want to spoil it for others.

The answer is clearly nothing to do with their speed or height, and all to do with their being Palomino horses. (I've Googled for the answer.)

Yep. So did I.

Well done. My 4 year old can Google, so if you divide 4 by your age and multiply by 100 it will calculate your IQ. Do you get to 150 - for Mensa.

Do share.

Well, I'm not intelligent enough to follow your line of reasoning.

Do you include the countries which once drove on the left like S..... But changed over to the rhs......some years ago??

I've been to a couple of countries where it would appear to the casual observer that there was no discern-abl rule about driving on either side.

I think he's suggesting you're just under 3 1/3 years old.

Or something...

Nothing so rude.

I was joking that Googling the answer to a puzzle is no test of your ability to answer it.

But it's not a puzzle. It's a general knowledge question (very, very thinly) disguised as a puzzle.

So you want a hard puzzle, that doesn't require much general knowledge.

The day before yesterday I was 18 and the next year I will be 21. What date is it today.

Edit : And what date is my birthday.

As it's been a while.

I got : Japan and Malta (incorrectly)

Using Wikipedia

Japan, Thailand, Nauru, Nepal, Suriname, East Timor, Indonesia

What other two did you find?

In the UK we used to drive on the left of the road, now we drive on whats left of the road.

I can't work it out.  I got too drunk last night having a double celebration.

Martin

That's a vocabulary test!   Need to read more cowboy stories or join the pony club!

Born 31.12., date 1.1. ?

Here are couple of classic puzzles that I find rather interesting for different reasons:

- You are given 12 outwardly identical balls, one of which differs in weight from the others. Find the ball and determine whether it is lighter or heavier using three measurements with a simple balance.

- Arrange six matches so that they form four identical equilateral triangles (edges one match in length).

CB

Which was my answer two posts up at 15.03 - only I put it cryptically so as not to totally give the game away.

Martin

Would you accept a 3 dimensional shape as the answer?

Yes.

CB