Second Guessing
— Answer Key



Rate yourself as follows:
0-10 Years ahead of your time
11-20 "Hour" hero!
21-30 Nine days' wonder
31 and over Running late


1. With your rubber flippers on, how long would it take to swim around the equator?

8.7 MONTHS

2. You have just won a billion dollars in the Super-Zorch Megabucks Lottery.   You can't collect interest on your money, but that's OK.   You still plan on spending $3,000 a day until the money runs out.   How long will it take until you have spent your last two bits?

9.1 CENTURIES

3. How long would it take you to write the first and last names of one million people?

2.3 MONTHS

4. You have a loud voice.   In fact, your voice is so loud that when you yell, "hello" from New York City, a friend in Los Angeles can hear you.   After you yell, "hello," how long does it take before your friend hears your voice?

3 HOURS

5. What is the average life-span of an ordinary housefly?

4 WEEKS

6. A cement company has just built a sidewalk from your front door to the sun.   After you've put on your hiking boots, how long will it take you to walk to the sun?

35 CENTURIES

7. How long would it take you to count all the beans in an eight-ounce can of baked beans?

5 MINUTES

8. One by one, how long would it take you to pullout every hair on the average human's head? (Ouch.)

15 HOURS

9. Congratulate yourself.   You are moving to Los Angeles to become the Regal Hoo-hah of the "I Love Los Angeles" fan club.   Your first job is to award membership medallions to each of Los Angeles's 3 million people.   If you shake hands very fast and you don't spend much time chatting, you can present one award every 10 seconds.   How long will it take you to adorn the new members?

11.6 MONTHS

10. How long would it take Samuel Slugg, a Parisian snail, to climb the Eiffel Tower?

2.6 DAYS

11. You're relaxing on the moon and gazing toward Earth, whence a friend is supposed to send you a signal by special, very powerful flashlight.   How long after your earth-bound friend turns on his flashlight will you be able to see the light beam?

1.3 SECONDS

12. Every day for 18 years, you take one foot of 8mm film of your son Howie.   Today is Howie's 18th birthday, and you're going to show the film in its entirety.   How long will it take to run?

5.8 HOURS

13. How long would it take to walk across the United States and back?

2.1 MONTHS

14. You are ordered to deliver a secret document to the exalted Chief Bel zap, who lives just a few miles past Jupiter.   If you travel from Earth to Jupiter at the speed of light, how long will the chief have to wait?

33 MINUTES

15. You're sunning yourself on the roof of a building that is as tall as Mount Everest, which is more than five miles high.   If you were to drop a bottle of suntan lotion from the top of this building, how long would it take the bottle to hit the street below?

42.6 SECONDS

16. If you throw a ball straight up into the air as high as you can, how long will it take before the ball hits the ground?

3 SECONDS

17. How long would it take you to read all the books in the Library of Congress?

114 CENTURIES

18. How long does it take for a 2 1/2 inch birthday candle to burn itself out?

11 MINUTES

19. You own a square mile of land.   If one-tenth inch of rain falls on your land and you catch all the water before it hits the ground, how long will it take you to drink all the water?

15.9 CENTURIES

20. A fellow named Seymour is bitten by a tropical bug.   He contracts a very rare disease called the heebie-jeebies.   When Seymour has a spell of the heebje-jeebies, his only symptom is a slight temperature.   However, it is the nature of the disease that the 18th spell is fatal!   If the amount of time between the first and second spells is one day, and the amount of time between the second and third is two days, and the amount of time between the third and fourth is four days, and the amount of time between each of the remaining spells continues to double, how long will Seymour live?

3.6 CENTURIES




Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher