Who comes to your thanksgiving dinner?

Kottke points to an amusing set of logic questions posted by "3 Quarks Daily" with the (silly - you'll see why) suggestion that it might make good dinner table conversation this Thanksgiving (in the US , of course 🙂

I won't repeat Kottke's quote of the Rope Burning Question, but you should check it out. The scenario is about two ropes which burn at different rates, but take always take exactly an hour, and you have a lighter. It ends with: "Now you are asked to measure a period of 45 minutes. How will you do it?"

I thought about it for about 60 seconds. Clearly the answer is: "I use a stopwatch."

I don't think that's the answer that Kottke or Abbas Raza had in mind, but that's the kind of crowd that sits around my table… You?