Ken's blog

One fine evening, Jack and Jill were dining at the Fu Manchu Magic Noodle House, their favorite Chinese restaurant. They sat at a round table served by their regular waitress, Wang Shu.

A number of dishes containing delicious tidbits for plucking off with their chopsticks were situated in front of them on a rotatable round tray.

Jack and Jill sampled the many delectable Chinese morsels to their heart’s content.

“Pick a fortune cookie, Jack,” said Jill, pointing at the decorated cookie jar in the center of the table.

“The cookie says: ‘Good fortune. Soon get special dessert’,” said Jack.

“Hmm,” said Jill, “what does it mean, Wang Shu?”

“Now, special desert,” announced Wang Shu while clearing up after dinner.

Wang Shu placed four dishes containing fried ice cream balls and spicy chocolate truffle balls – delicious Chinese desserts.

In each of the first three dishes there were two fried ice cream balls and eight spicy chocolate truffle balls. The fourth dish contained six fried ice cream balls and four spicy chocolate truffle balls.

“Fortune cookie offer special dessert,” said Wang Shu.

“How generous,” replied Jack.

“Bring it on, Wang Shu,” said Jill.

“Close eyes,” said Wang Shu, “you too,” addressing Jill. Wang Shu spun the dessert tray with the four dishes.

“Please, keep eyes closed and pick one dessert from dish,” said Wang Shu to Jack. Jack picked a dessert ball, which Wang Shu quickly replaced from a large pot containing both dessert types.

Jack opened his eyes and saw a fried ice cream ball melting in his hand, which he promptly ate to his great satisfaction.

“You guess which dish ball from, you no pay. Boss say special promotion,” informed Wang Shu.

“We like that,” said Jill.

Jack scratched his head and then wrote some figures on a napkin, Jill peeping on. Then Jack pointed to a dish.

“Correct dish you choose. Boss say, this time free, next time you pay plenty,” said Wang Shu with a big smile.

Jill was already busy munching away at the balls on the dessert dishes.

“Doggie bag, please,” said Jack.

Was Jack just lucky or had he worked out a probable dish to pick?

Which of the dishes do you think Jack chose?

At the Lucky Duck casino Nick, the dealer, was sitting at a green felt table and practicing fancy acrobatic shuffles with a deck of cards when suddenly one card flew away and sailed into a nearby plant bed with some petunias and foliage.

“I’ll bet ya 100 bucks you can’t figure out if da card dat just flew away from your deck is a red or a black one,” said Carmine, the floor overseer who happened to be walking by and observe the event.

“You’re on,” said Nick, “on one condition.”

“What’s dat,” replied Carmine with some suspicion.

“That I draw 13 cards from the deck at random,” said Nick.

“Ok, sure,” said Carmine, “no problem, Nick, go ahead an pull dem.”

Nick then drew 13 cards at random from the deck and they all turned out to be black cards.

Then Nick pulled out a calculator, a notepad and a pen and got busy making some calculations.

After some minutes had passed Nick proudly announced: “The card is red, Carmine, go and check it out.”

Carmine walked over to the flower bed and picked up a red card.

“Jeez, Nick, how did ya figger dat out?”

“Give me the 100 bucks and buy me a beer and I’ll tell you all about how to make a pretty sure bet,” said Nick.

Can you figure out how Nick knew that the card most likely was a red one?

Jack was sitting at a café table reading a magazine when Jill sat down and ordered some pastries and a hot chocolate.

“What are you reading with such a puzzled look on your face,” said Jill, munching a delicious apple strudel with a flaky crust.

“It’s a puzzle about a guy who is given a bag with 100 dice and told that one of the dice is faulty since it has six dots marked on all of its faces,” said Jack. “Then he is told to reach into the bag and pick one die.”

“So what’s the puzzle all about, then?” asked Jill, taking a small sip of her hot chocolate.

“You’re supposed to work out how many sixes in a row the guy has to throw before he can be 90% sure that the die he is throwing is the faulty one,” said Jack.

“Hmm… since there are 100 dice, it seems to me that you’d have to throw an awful lot of sixes to be sure the die was faulty,” said Jill.

“Maybe,” said Jack, “but we have to give mathematical proof of the solution to the puzzle.”

“What’s the prize?” said Jill finishing off her apple strudel and taking a large sip of her not so hot chocolate.

“Jill, it’s ten thousand dollars for the correct answer,” said Jack.

“What are we waiting for, Jack!! Why don’t you get busy on figuring out the solution,” said Jill enthusiastically, “then we can rent an apartment in Mambo Bay for a great vacation.”

“Hmm…,” said Jack, “’Bay’ gives me an idea.”

On another fine evening, there was a heated discussion at the Royal Flush Card Club as to how many occurrences of Full House and Straight would occur in the course of 30 throws of five poker dice.

Bing Jones III was betting $100 against Franz Fingerflitzer that he would get at least two instances of a Full House, the latter claiming at least two Straights during the trial – ties leading to a rematch until a winner emerged.

Lots of paper was expended and the whisky flowed freely while members of the Royal Flush Card Club busied themselves calculating the probabilities involved for throwing a Full House and a Straight.

However, accuracy and interest faded rapidly as whisky was poured, and this task was abandoned in favor of registering bets and proposing exuberant toasts, expectations rising to a high pitch, as if prior to a championship horse race.

Who do you think won the bet, Bing Jones III or Franz Fingerflitzer?