Constant learning is important, but often times a very boring process. To tackle this issue, the guys from Kurzgesagt have started releasing new, engaging, educational videos every few weeks. Some of the puzzling topics they cover are A.I. (artificial intelligence), finance, the Big Bang, and many others. Both the quality of the production and the content itself are very high, so we recommend all of our friends to watch these videos.
So, do not waste time and go check Kurzgesagt’s website by clicking the image below, or simply visit the official YouTube channel.
FLEB is a passionate puzzler and a popular YouTuber. To his YouTube audience, he regularly presents various interesting puzzles he has collected over the years. FLEB is a former TOP10 finisher in the US Puzzle Championships and also a regular participant in the MIT Mystery Hunt. Recently, he released his first puzzle video game – RYB. You can see FLEB’s favorite puzzles on his official YouTube channel.
Interview
Q. Hi FLEB! Is this your real name? If not, where does it come from and what does it mean?
A. Hi, my real name is Paul Hlebowitsh. At MIT, people oftentimes call each other by their Kereberos (computer system) usernames. Mine was “phleb”, which when pronounced sound like FLEB! That’s where that comes from.
Q. When and how did you get into puzzles?
A. When I was young, I would often check out books on brainteasers and puzzles. I was a big fan of the “Encyclopedia Brown” books and there was a series of “Clue” books that were similar. When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to know some people who were involved with the MIT Mystery Hunt and I was able to solve it remotely through the internet with their team!
Q. Talking about the MIT Mystery Hunts, what is the name of your team? How did you choose your teammates?
A. The small puzzle team I hunt with is mostly friends of mine from college, who also got into puzzles. We use a bunch of different names, but the most recent one was “The Sweatiest Tryhards”.
The big Mystery Hunt team that I’m a part of is called “Death and Mayhem”, which started way before I joined it. It’s the merger of two teams “Death From Above” and “Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem”. I joined “Death From Above” around 2008, but it was around for a long time before that. I’m not sure where the name comes from!
FLEB’s favorite puzzles
Q. How many puzzles do you have in your collection?
A. Oh gosh, I’m not sure. Probably close to a thousand, but I haven’t counted. I know I own around a hundred Hanayama puzzles alone!
Q. That’s a lot, we definitely need to catch up here! Do you remember the first puzzle you ever got?
A. My first puzzle was a Rubik’s cube, which my parents bought me for my birthday when I was young. It’s a good one to start with!
Q. Which is your favorite mechanical puzzle?
A. For my wedding, a bunch of my puzzle designer friends built me a custom 4’x2’x2′ puzzlebox, which is simultaneously the biggest puzzle I’ve ever had to solve, along with the most complicated. It includes a working telephone which plays messages after you’ve solved individual puzzles!
Q. Sounds very inventive. And what about your favorite brain teaser, or game?
A. For brainteasers, I think I’m going to cheat this question a little bit and choose a collection. I think “What is the Name of this Book?” has the best brainteasers out of any book I’ve seen. They’re all in the “liars and truth-tellers” types of brainteaser, but he slowly guides you to answering ones about people who answer randomly and in a language you don’t understand.
When it comes down to games, I really like “The Talos Principle”. I think that’s the best puzzle game I’ve ever played. Then I think it’d be “The Witness”, “Linelight”, “The Room”, and “Hexcells” in some order.
Q. You are a TOP 10 finisher in the US Puzzle Championship, which is a great achievement. What does your preparation for puzzle championships look like? Do you have any tips for others who are getting into competitive puzzle solving?
A. Mostly it involves creating and solving puzzles. If you want to get into competitive logic puzzle solving, one of the most important aspects is learning how to create logic puzzles! Creating puzzle is a great way to understand new logic puzzle types.
Q. How did you decide to start making youtube videos? Did you expect to make your channel so popular?
A. I wanted to share my joy of puzzles with others! I didn’t expect it would be so popular at all!
Q. What are your future plans for it?
A. I’d love to cover more aspects of puzzles in the future, such as puzzle history and design, but I’d also like to cover some brainteasers and more puzzlehunt puzzles.
Q. We are looking forward to this. What other hobbies do you have, apart from solving puzzles and playing board games?
A. I really like Rocket League! I’m terrible at it, but it’s fun. In the fall, I also love college football. Almost every Saturday during the fall I watch a game or two!
Q. As a last question, what would you recommend to our readers, which want to improve their overall analytic and problem solving skills?
A. Puzzles are a great way to get entertainment!
Q. We completely agree with that. Thank you for the interview, FLEB.
Who says science jokes are not funny? Below you can see some of the best Engineering jokes we know, along with short explanations to the more obscure of them.
Do you know any funny Engineering jokes yourself? Let us know in the comment section below.
The optimist sees the glass as half full. The pessimist sees the glass as half empty. The engineer sees the glass as twice as big as it needs to be.
A graduate with a Science degree asks, “Why does it work?” A graduate with an Engineering degree asks, “How does it work?” A graduate with an Accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?” A graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, “Would you like an apple pie with that?”
Explanation Liberal Arts generally tend to get lower salaries than other majors.
“What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers?” “Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Civil Engineers build targets.”
Explanation Civil Engineers are occupied with constructing various buildings. A dark humor joke. Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
An electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and software engineer are on their way to a trade show when their car stalls and they are forced to pull over to the side of the road. The mechanical engineer says, “It’s probably a mechanical problem. I’ll get my tool-box out of the trunk and I can fix it.” The electrical engineer says, “No, I’ll bet it’s an electrical problem. I have my multimeter with me and I’ll go check it out.” Finally, the software engineer says, “I have the solution! Let’s all get out of the car and then get back in. I’ll bet we’ll be back on the road in no time.”
Explanation Rebooting is usually one of the first things to do when you have a software issue.
An engineering student designed a robot who would take his exams for him. The other designed a robot who could cheat off the first robot.
“What do engineers use for birth control?” “Their personality.” One day an engineer was crossing a road, when a frog called out to him and said, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.” He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week.” The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I’ll stay with you and do anything you want!” Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, “What is the matter? I’ve told you I’m a beautiful princess, that I’ll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me?” The engineer said, “Look I’m an engineer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, that’s cool.”
“How can you tell an outgoing engineer?” “He looks at your shoes when he’s talking, instead of his own.”
An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, “Ah, you’re an engineer, you’re in the wrong place.” So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they’ve got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is becoming a pretty popular guy. One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and asks with a sneer, “So, how’s it going down there in hell?” Satan replies, “Hey, things are going great. We’ve got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next.” God replies, “What? You’ve got an engineer? That’s a mistake, he should never have gotten down there, send him up here.” Satan says, “No way! I like having an engineer on the staff, and I’m keeping him.” God says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue.” Satan laughs uproariously and answers, “Yeah right. And just where are you going to get a lawyer?”
Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, ”Where did you get such a great bike?” The second engineer replied, “Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, “Take what you want.” The first engineer nodded approvingly, “Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit.”
Three men were sentenced to be executed by guillotine – a priest, a Muslim, and an engineer. First was the priest and he asked that he face upwards so he could look at Heaven and his Creator. His wish was granted and the blade fell but stopped 1/2 inch from his neck. The executioner said that since the guillotine spared him, his life was spared as well, and he was allowed to leave. Next was the Muslim and he asked that he also be allowed to face upwards to look to Allah before his death. Again the guillotine stopped just short and his life was spared as well. The engineer was last and he too asked to face upwards given what happened with the first two. As he lay there, he looked up at the mechanism and said, “Aha, I see the problem!”.
An architect, an artist, and an engineer were discussing whether it was better to spend time with their wives or mistresses. The architect said, “I like spending time with my wife building a firm foundation of a marriage.” The artist said, “I enjoy the time I spend with my mistress because of all the passion and energy.” The engineer said “I enjoy both. If you have a wife and a mistress, both women think you are with the other so you can go to work get more done.”
You are on your way to visit your Grandma, who lives at the end of the valley. It’s her birthday, and you want to give her the cakes you’ve made.
Between your house and her house, you have to cross 7 bridges, and as it goes in the land of make-believe, there is a troll under every bridge! Each troll, quite rightly, insists that you pay a troll toll. Before you can cross their bridge, you have to give them half of the cakes you are carrying, but as they are kind trolls, they each give you back a single cake.
How many cakes do you have to leave home with to make sure that you arrive at Grandma’s with exactly 2 cakes?
SOLUTION
You leave with 2 cakes. Every time you cross a bridge, you give one of them to a troll, and then get it back. Eventually, you will arrive at your grandma with exactly 2 cakes.
A candy shop lets children exchange 3 chocolate wrappers for a brand new chocolate. Willy is walking around town collecting chocolate wrappers from people. How many wrappers must he collect in order to eat 10 chocolates?
SOLUTION
He needs only 21 wrappers. He uses them to get 7 chocolates. After he eats them, he is left with 7 wrappers, which uses to get 2 more chocolates. After he eats these, he is left with 3 wrappers, which are enough to get one more chocolate and make them 10 in total.
