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See If You Can Solve This Tricky Coin-Flipping Riddle

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Make sure your head is in working order before trying to solve this riddle from TED-Ed, because it’s a stumper.

Here’s the scenario: You’re an explorer who’s just stumbled upon a trove of valuable coins in a remote dungeon. Each coin has a gold side and a silver side, each with an identical scorpion seal. The wizard who guards the coins agrees to let you have them, but he won’t let you leave the room unless you separate the hoard into two piles with an equal number of coins with the silver side facing up in each. You’ve just counted the total number of silver-side-up coins—20—when the lights go out. In the dark, you have no way of knowing which half of a coin is silver and which half is gold. How do you divide the pile without looking at it?

As TED-Ed explains, the task is fairly easy to complete, no psychic powers required. All you need to do is remove any 20 coins from the pile at random and flip them over. No matter what combination of coins you choose, you will suddenly have a number of silver-side-up coins that’s equal to whatever is left in the pile. If every coin you pulled was originally gold-side-up, flipping them would give you 20 more silver-side-up coins. If you chose 13 gold-side-up coins and seven of the silver-side coins, you’d be left with 13 silver coins in the first pile and 13 silver ones in your new stack after flipping it over.

The solution is simple, but the algebra behind it may take a little more effort to comprehend. For the full explanation and a bonus riddle, check out the video from TED-Ed below.

[h/t TED-Ed]

Leon Neal, Getty Images

The Best and Worst States for Online Dating, Mapped

Leon Neal, Getty Images

If your online dating experience is more awkward than romantic, maybe you have geography to blame. An AT&T retailer called All Home Connections recently crunched some data on the online dating landscape, and let’s just say we hope you aren’t trying to Tinder in New Mexico.

The southwestern state turns out to be one of the worst for online dating prospects, at least according to this methodology, which looked at dating opportunities, demographics, and safety. It took into account the state’s percentage of singles and gender balance, along with things like unemployment rate and median earnings, percentage of people with smartphones, data on whether or not people there say they are even interested in online dating, and the violent crime rate.

According to this data, if you want to find love online, you should head to the Northeast: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine topped the list. That may not be surprising considering the data that went into the calculation—those states have some of the highest incomes in the U.S., and fairly high rates of educational attainment.

By contrast, the lowest states on the list, New Mexico and Arkansas, both come out looking pretty bad by those standards. So if you’re not looking for a rich spouse with a bachelor’s degree, you might not necessarily agree with some of rankings. (Although those states also have some of the highest violent crime rates, so you might want to do a little extra online sleuthing to background check your dates before you meet up there.)

Here are the 10 best states for online dating, according to the data:

1. New Hampshire 2. Massachusetts 3. Rhode Island 4. Connecticut 5. Maine 6. North Dakota 7. Washington 8. Minnesota 9. New York 10. New Jersey

And these are the 10 worst:

1. Arkansas 2. New Mexico 3. Mississippi 4. Louisiana 5. South Carolina 6. Tennessee 7. Alabama 8. Oklahoma 9. Texas 10. Nevada

For those still struggling to find a Valentine, the map might be a little comforting, in a way. If you’re not finding the love of your life on Tinder in the South, know that you might not be the only one struggling. It’s not you; it’s the state.

Cheryl Gerber, Getty Images

Who Gets to Ride on Mardi Gras Floats?

BY Jay Serafino

February 9, 2018

Cheryl Gerber, Getty Images

Mardi Gras is pure sensory overload, and no attraction defines the celebration better than its parades. Every year, the city of New Orleans is awash in garish greens, yellows, and purples as armies of ornate, bombastic floats roll through the streets. But if you think drunkenly asking for a seat on one of these floats is going to work, well … it’s a bit more complicated than that.

The dozens of Mardi Gras parades are thrown by groups called “krewes,” which are basically the organizations that stage these events. There are krewes with all sorts of themes: there’s the Krewe of Cleopatra, which was originally formed just for women; the Krewe of Mid-City, with their tinfoil-decorated floats; the Krewe of Orpheus, founded by Harry Connick Jr., whose floats usually feature a celebrity or two; and plenty more.

Members of these krewes are who you see riding on the floats throughout the season, decked out in masks and costumes. In fact, float-riders are required by law to wear a mask to keep up the festival’s mystique. To get on these floats you have to be a member, which involves a whole other process, depending on which krewe you choose.

Some krewes will bring you on board for a small entry fee, though this probably means you’ll be helping put together the floats, buying your own costumes, etc. Others—especially for the larger and more established krewes—have a bigger fee and even hold reviews by senior members. Some of these krewes have been established within the past decade or two, while others, like the Krewe of Rex, have been around since the 19th century.

All membership requirements are unique. For the Krewe of Morpheus, for example, you would have needed to put in your $100 deposit in January to reserve a spot on a float (krewes have multiple floats of varying size). In total, their dues for the season are $550, which will get you a “Ride in the parade; Costume; Morpheus Bash (Pre-Parade Party); Post-Parade Party; & 1 Membership Medallion.”

The Krew of Pygmalion, a krewe started in 2000, offers a similar process, with an online application and a tiered membership system that begins at $450 with $150 down, all the way to $1375 with $300 down. Smaller, grassroots krewes have even cheaper dues, like the sci-fi-themed Krewe of Chewbacchus which charges $42 and once had Giorgio Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens fame as the king of its float.

Many times, the larger krewes, like the Krewe of Muses, simply don’t have room for any more members. And even if there is an opening on some of these select krewes, you’d have to know a guy who knows a guy to even be considered for membership. So if you’re not from New Orleans (or a celebrity) and want to get into one of the notable krewes, it’s a tall order.

If you’re planning a Mardi Gras trip this year, you’ll likely have to settle for walking the streets instead of riding down them. But, it’s never too early to start sending out those applications for 2019.

Have you got a Big Question you’d like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at [email protected].

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So every year, around this time in March, this one thing called the “NCAA Tournament” comes around and makes everyone waste all their time as they root for their favorite team and fill out their bracket in hopes of winning their local pool.  Then when their team loses/their bracket falls apart completely (as it always does), they go back to whatever the hell they were doing before this all started.  But until that moment, it’s all basketball.

I am in this same boat.  I fill out my bracket every year, and I cheer for the teams I’ve got a rooting interest in.  This year, my Minnesota Golden Gophers inexplicably made it in, which makes my rooting interests ostensibly clear—but they’re going to lose extremely hard, so what’s the use.  Instead, I tend to cheer for as much chaos as possible—as many buzzer beaters as possible, as many underdogs prevailing.  It works.  I have fun, until the Dukes and Indianas of the world prevail.

Anyway.  I explain this every year I write about it, but when I fill out my predictions for the tournament, I tend to coin flip the entire tournament.  And for the past couple years, my ladyfriend has gotten in on the fun, as she predicts based on the school’s name.  It’s a good system—not in the sense that it gives me any shot to win any tournament pool I might enter, but in that it allows me to revel in any chaos that might occur. 

See, what happens every year is that people tend to base their tournament selections on concepts such as basketball knowledge, and sound judgment.  But when something happens like—say a #3 seed finds themselves losing to a #14 seed, they tend to freak out as they realize that their Final Four selection might end up losing in the first round.  Which seems completely against the point of the whole tournament—to me, at least.

My coin flipped bracket allows me to cheer for whoever the hell I want to, since I know that I have absolutely no chance of winning any pool anyway.  PLUS—if I do end up getting a preposterous selection correct, I get to gloat about it and tout myself as an extraordinary visionary whose basketball IQ should compel rank amateurs to give up watching the sport entirely.

Speaking of this…

LAST YEAR—two #2 seeds (Duke and Missouri) found themselves losing in the first round to #15 seeds, which had only happened four times previously.  You know who predicted both of those upsets to happen?  I DID.

TWO YEARS AGO--#11 seed Virginia Commonwealth shocked the entire world when they made an inexplicable run towards the Final Four, tying them for the lowest seeded team to make it to the Final Four.  Who predicted that as well?  Me.  (Although to be fair, my ladyfriend accurately predicted both Virginia Commonwealth and UConn to make it to the Final Four.)

So I have a strangely OK track record in terms of predicting the improbable storylines over the past couple years.  Which doesn’t mean that you should take my coin-flipped bracket seriously—but you could, most definitely.

So.  As for this year’s bracket…

Well, it sucks.

My Final Four teams are as follows: #4 Saint Louis, #5 Wisconsin, #2 Georgetown, and #8 NC State, with Saint Louis going over Georgetown in the finals.  Which… is strangely plausible for my bracket.  I mean, NC State might be a stretch, but Saint Louis is being touted as a sleeper choice for the Final Four, Georgetown is solid and has an easy region, and Wisconsin is Wisconsin—so who the hell knows. 

So basically, depending on how scoring goes in any pool I enter, I could possibly not finish in last for possibly the first time.

I would say that this might complicate my rooting interest lying in every underdog, but some of my other selections go like this: -#1 Louisville losing to #16 (whoever wins this play in game (ESPN doesn’t allow me to choose this game)) -#1 Gonzaga losing to #16 Southern U. -#15 Iona and #15 Pacific upsetting #2 Ohio State and #2 Miami respectively.  Pacific makes it to the Elite Eight, while Iona makes it to the Sweet Sixteen. -#14 Valparaiso going to the Elite Eight, #14 NW State going to the Sweet Sixteen. -And other, uninteresting upsets.

Why don’t we just discuss my ladyfriend’s bracket?  It’s more interesting anyway. 

So again, she decides the winners by how the school name sounds.  So something can impress her by sounding lyrical and stately, or it can be completely ridiculous and fun to say.  And if you have a relatively boring name, then sucks to be you.  (Duke goes out in the first round every year.)  Last year’s winner was St. Bonaventure, and the year prior was Wofford.  She has done other brackets in years before as well, but I have no way of knowing what they were.  Probably a combination of Gonzaga, Villanova, and Xavier won.

We’re breaking it down by region:

MIDWEST: This was an easy bracket to figure out.  Oregon made a surprising trip to the Elite Eight, beating out the likes of Louisville and… well, Fill-In-The-Blank State schools… which almost never catch her fancy.  But in the end, this was all Valparaiso.  Nothing else could compare to Valparaiso.

WEST: This is Gonzaga’s region, so one would think that it’d be an automatic shoo-in to win based on years’ prior.  But what I am noticing is that strong contenders from years’ prior lose a bit of their luster as they make repeat appearances, so a more novel name might catch the ear moreso than a constant stream of Gonzaga.  So in the end Gonzaga bows out in the Sweet Sixteen, to a somewhat surprising Boise St.  Again, she has tended to automatically opt against taking ____ State teams, but the bouncy sounding Boise was apparently enough to get it by the Gonzaga juggernaut.  In the end, though… it met its match in the Elite Eight against Iona, which is making its second straight appearance in the Final Four in her bracket.  So… congrats, Iona.  You have no chance in the actual tournament, but you should take any victory you should get.

SOUTH: Couple things happened here.  One, Minnesota made its way to the Elite Eight, which I should stress HAS NO LIKELIHOOD OF HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE, AS THE GOPHERS ARE TERRIBLE AND WILL LOSE BY  20 IN THE FIRST ROUND.  Otherwise, former Final Four contestant VCU (or as it was referred to as when making the selections, Virginia Commonwealth) squared off against perennial favorite Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen.  But ultimately, Villanova succumbed to that growing sense of been-there-done-that that ultimately decided Gonzaga’s fate.  So VCU made another trip to her Final Four.

EAST: Not the strongest region, as there was a lot of state named schools in this section—which can make runs, of course, but you would tend to opt for the less commonplace names in general.  That said, Montana was able to make it to the Elite Eight.  But it wasn’t able to withstand Bucknell, who possibly had tougher opponents in every other round in Pacific (Sweet Sixteen), Marquette (2nd round), and Butler (1st round).  Well, maybe Montana’s better than Butler.  Nonetheless, Bucknell completes our Final Four.

MATCHUP #1: VALPARAISO VS. IONA

I thought this was going to be a shoo-in for Valparaiso, since Iona had made the Final Four last year.  But, with some exclusive commentary from my lady herself: “Iona’s just very lyrical, very melodic.  Valparaiso’s a little harsher with that “Z” sound.”  So there you go.

MATCHUP #2: VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH VS. BUCKNELL

MORE EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY: “I was really appreciating Bucknell for that staccato feeling it had.  But Virginia Commonwealth is just a full mouth phrase, there’s just so many sounds there.  It sounds very complete.”

And finally:

CHAMPIONSHIP: IONA VS. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH

I tried getting some exclusive commentary on  this matchup, but around the point she started talking about something she called the “voiced labiodental fricative ‘V,’” I lost track of what she was saying.  She then stopped talking to me.  In the end, it’s a matchup of former Final Four participants, and Virginia Commonwealth prevailed, partly due to that “voiced labiodental fricative “V.”