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XMAS Riddle

Look, anyone who can make a sleigh and reindeer fly, can hit every house on the planet in 24 hours, can manufacture and transport gifts (with no identifiable source of income, I might add), is sufficiently advanced to teleport across the damn chasm.
 
I agree with DRUID6900, If Santa can deliver presents through chimineys, he could get across a canyon with the blink of an EYE.
 
Druid6900 said:
Look, anyone who can make a sleigh and reindeer fly, can hit every house on the planet in 24 hours, can manufacture and transport gifts (with no identifiable source of income, I might add), is sufficiently advanced to teleport across the damn chasm.
Click to expand...

Actually, I would tend to agree with that. I would certainly have a difficult time explaining how to make a sleigh and reindeer fly using highschool physics. (Though I'm willing to give it a try /evil grin) Unfortunately, the original riddle was framed in newtonian terms so wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the answer should remain within the same realm?
 
Druid6900 said:
Look, anyone who can make a sleigh and reindeer fly, can hit every house on the planet in 24 hours, can manufacture and transport gifts (with no identifiable source of income, I might add), is sufficiently advanced to teleport across the damn chasm.
Click to expand...

I was actually thinking tonight, it would be ~30 Billion to make all those gifts. He must be running his own mint :o
 
Santa exists because people believe in him. 3 presents = 3 children that believe. That's all that is needed. HAVE FAITH


David
 
Sorry about that... I thought I had posted the link! :(

Even though it has been pointed out that the official answer does have some rather large holes in it.... :)

The prize winning solution to it can be found here.... Linkage
 
It's obviously not important anymore regarding the riddle. :) That's water under the bridge. However, I'm just wondering how some people apparently saw the link and others didn't. There was another link here recently which was not visible to many. I'm just wondering if there is a bug in the forum software, or if some people are using specialized software.
 
:thewave:

Stand on your bathroom scale and watch your weight.

Now let your body fall vertically (by bending your knees)
for a few inches while you are watching the meter. Do it
with a jerky motion.

The meter shows a weight higher than your actual weight .

Now with bent knees try to straighten your body with a
jerky motion.

Again the meter shows a weight higher than your actual weight.

When any mass is moving, it has momentum, and when you try to
bring it to a halt, that mass is going to exert a force on you. When
any mass is stationary and you try to give it a momentum, that
mass is going to exert a force on you.

On a bumpy road, the suspension system will have to withstand
severe punishment that is much higher than the actual weight of
the vehicle when stationary. That is the difference between
"static load" and "dynamic load".

When Santa throws a package in the air :juggle: , the package will
exert an inertial force on Santa's hand that makes it heavier than
its actual weight; and again, when Santa catches a falling package,
the package will feel a lot heavier than its actual weight. How much
heavier will depend on how fast the package is thrown in the air.

So....if our beloved Santa, tries to follow the rules of Sir Issac Newton,
then he is not gonna make it; but as the story goes with the "flying bees",
because Santa doesn't know physics, he shall merrily walk across the chasm,
and all will be well...:xmas2:

:biggrin:
 
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AHA! I knew it, Santa cheated the laws of physics...

Actually, the argument fails on a logical level on top of the obvious physical flaw(s). It assumes facts not in evidence (Satan's juggling ability).

I cry foul!

--T
 
Although one of my possible solutions also relies on the prior assumption of the presence of helium balloons, I would argue 'common knowledge', as I have seen many mall Santas over the years, and they often have a large supply of such balloons on hand. OTOH, the common knowledge defense doesn't hold up with juggling, as I have never, and I doubt many others, have ever seen a juggling Satan, therefore, not common knowledge. QED!

--T
 
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No one responded to my previous post suggesting a bug, so perhaps I'm just loosing it, but to me the real magic here is how some people seemed to be aware of the official answer, either via a link which is not visible to all, or through some other form of "sufficiently advanced technology". :) Perhaps some things will always remain unexplained.
 
Ole Juul said:
No one responded to my previous post suggesting a bug, so perhaps I'm just loosing it, but to me the real magic here is how some people seemed to be aware of the official answer, either via a link which is not visible to all, or through some other form of "sufficiently advanced technology". :) Perhaps some things will always remain unexplained.
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Hey Ole Juul, how goes it? :)

I'm sorry, I should have explained better. I originally "thought" I had posted the link to the official answer, and in fact, I actually did compose a short little off line reply which did included the link to the official answer, but unfortunately I never "actually" posted it.

My bad, please accept my apology.
 
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