Questions, questions, questions

Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball? It is there to help with velocity and makes it react better with the strings of the racket. It effects the balls performance much like the strings on a baseball.

List five words that describe your character? This is truly personal, it is interesting to see how people see themselves and for me it was very interesting to read words that people thought described my character. Thank you very much. I think everyone should have the opportunity to see themselves through someone else's eyes.

How many times do a clock's hands overlap in a day? Most people realized that the answer has to be 24, give or take. The issue is nailing down that give or take part. I imagine that engineers and others with a tech background have formulated that there is actually 11 overlaps in a twelve-hour period. Doubling 11 gives 22 overlaps in a twenty-four hour period. Twenty-two is the answer unless you want to split hairs and count the overlap at midnight that begins the day and the midnight that ends the day, then the answer is 23. Ouch! My brain hurts.

How would you weigh a plane without scales? I recieved several suggestions for this one. I liked this one. Place the plane on an aircraft carrier and then mark the water line on the side of the ship. Remove the plane and add weights until the ship once again has the same water line. I think there would be tons of variables to contend with to actually make this work however the theory sounds good.

With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes. This one is especially difficult. In most cases the descriptions were too complicated and wordy. One said that is why Velcro was invented.

Tell me 10 ways to use a pencil other than writing. My mind reels at the variety of ways people can use a pencil.

I think each of these questions and the new trend towards "puzzle interviews" is to see if people can think out of the box and to make sure that imagination is still alive and well in the world. Personally, I am not sure whether these questions or exercises help to match the candidates to the job but it is more interesting than the standard questions used during interviews.