Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard for March 25, 2021

These sound like Cliff questions. Pam should have nailed this yesterday.

Dr Mel is trying to think of a way that uses Kilbots.

Cliff is wondering how there could be a river on a spacestation.

Pam is about to ask if she can shoot the wolf.

Brewster is just trying to remember what he had for breakfast.

Stink outside the box exercise? That’s what bad kitties do!

Box their ears.

It’s easy. Take the goat across first, then come back for the wolf. Take it across, but load the goat back onto the boat and take it back, then drop off the goat and take the cabbage across, then go back and get the goat again and take it across.

Just want to relate a session of “Team Building” I experienced some years ago where I worked. The instructor (an outside consultant) wanted the group of about 15-18 people to use a length of rope to make geometric shapes (squares, circles, etc.) with one person trying to organize the effort. Of course, it was difficult to get the whole group to coordinate properly, so the shapes looked pretty ragged. Came my turn as the “leader” and we were to form a triangle. I simply chose three people to hold the rope, told everyone else to step back, and then had the people with the rope stretch it out until it was taut. I told the instructor, “OK, there’s your triangle.”

The instructor blew a fuse, telling me I was suppose to involve EVERYBODY in the activity. My response was, “Why? Involving too many people simply messed up the process.” Of course, those who followed me in this exercise went back to using everyone, with the predictable results. I guess the lesson learned was it’s the methods that are important, not so much the results.

Sell them and take the money across.

My money is STILL on the teleporter.

It’s less funny when you’ve worked with morons.

Looks like Agent X might need some Rx for this

Team Building for Idiots. Out in bookstores now.

McCoy: “Lieutenant, you are looking at the only cadet in the history of Starfleet to beat the no-win scenario.”

Can we put the chicken in the box? Do we even care if the goat eats the cabbage?

like I said. This is way to complicated for the meager minds of the crew of R.U. Sirius! Give them instructions in comic-book form. Something like this from the US Army ….https://arma15.com/ar15-rifle-blog/50-clear-a-jam-ar15-m16-m4-misfire

Tranquilize the wolf and the goat and take them over in any order you want! ☺

Agent X should have known better than to start with such a difficult problem. Relatively speaking of course.

The wolf eats the guy; the goat eats the cabbage, and everyone’s happy (well, almost everyone).

I’ve got to give credit for whoever wanted to use the box as a boat. No functional fixedness for that person!

It’s not a practical situation – the cabbage is small and can be easily carried no matter which critter is in the boat. Just do two trips – one with the wolf and the cabbage, and then one with the goat – and forget all the wasted time and effort to make one-by-one trips!

I actually got asked that “brain teaser” at a job interview once, and I pointed out that yeah I could do the multiple back and forth trips required to satisfy the artificial constraints… but do you really want to hire somebody who takes unnecessary time and spends extra resources? Got the job – they liked my version of “thinking outside the box”.

I’m impressed. Usually I just read a cartoon and either laugh or don’t laugh. This time, I had to stop and figure it out. Perhaps I’m obsessive, but I had to solve it. Had to, couldn’t stop till I had it. Some good creative solutions too. Gee, a cartoon that engages my mind. Ai yi-yi.

By now the wolf has killed you & the goat. You should have taken the boat & got out of there. Who needs a cabbage, goat or wolf?

Wolf cabbage goat

Brain teasers require a brain to tease.

Oh, for Heaven’s sake!!

Take the goat over.

Go back and take the cabbage over.

Go back with the goat, and take the wolf over.

Go back and get the goat, take him over last, and continue on your way.

Put the Cabbage in the Boat and tie ropes around the animal’s necks.

When you get to the other side, haul the animals across using the ropes.

Brewster should eat the cabbage; it still is technically on the other side if it is in his stomach. Then let the wolf eat the goat while he takes a nap. Then load the wolf into the boat and Brewster can start making his way across. The wolf will probably eat Brewster too. And that is how you solve the problem without having to row-row-row the dang boat back and forth all day—if you’re the wolf. *Wolves can swim, so this was always more of a buffet for them.

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones

It’s a (very simple) logic puzzle and has nothing at all to do with thinking outside the box.

There’s no simple way to tease their brains… or is there?

So you gotta ask yourselves: What would Kirk do?

There was a box, but the goat ate it.

I think you end up dead when you’re alone in a row boat with a wolf