Each Friday I pose a riddle or what I like to think of as a “brain teaser” for those who like that sort of thing. I freely admit, I’m often stumped, but perhaps you’ll figure out this week’s riddle. I’ll confirm answers in the afternoon to give everyone a chance.
This week’s brain teaser: There is a barrel with no lid and some beer in it. “This barrel is more than half full,” said Chuck. “No it’s not,” say Joe. “It’s less than half full.” Without any measuring implements and without removing any beer from the barrel, how can they easily determine who is correct?

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I think that if you put barrel in water the empty portion will float above the surface allowing you to approximate more or less then half.
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Tip the barrel till the beer reaches the rim. If they can see the bottom, the barrel is less than half full. If the bottom is not visible, it is more than half full.
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Ethan you get the gold star! You are correct.
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May be make a hole in the middle and be ready with a plug..If beer starts to spill out, plug it and Chuck is right….
OR if you have access to another barrel which is exactly half full, you can transfer its contents to this one and see if there is anymore beer left after this one is full….:)
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Good guess, but there is no second barrel.
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Pull out the little plug-thingy in the middle of the barrel. If beer runs out, it’s more than half-full. If no beer runs out, it’s less than half-full.
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What if the”little plug-thingy” isn’t there? There is another way. I like the way you are thinking though.
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Look inside to see how much beer is actually in there. No Lid.
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You do need to look inside but you need to do more than just that…
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Joe is correct, the barrel is less than half full. Chuck’s optimism is clearly the result of inebriation.
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Nice try… Love your logic though.
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