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| Swiss cheese. |
1) The Swiss Cheese Paradox
Swiss cheese has lots of holes, so the more cheese you have, the more holes you have. However, the more holes you have, the less cheese you have.
So the more cheese you have, the less cheese you have!
2) The Arms Paradox
"If I was faced with a choice between having my arms removed and getting cystitis, I'd wave goodbye to my arms quite happily."
...Louise Wener
I think you might find that a bit hard, Louise.
3) The Impossible Paradox
If everything is possible, then is it possible for something to be impossible?
4) The Corona Paradox
Here are a couple of signs which perfectly capture the clueless stupidity of our governments over the last couple of years...
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| "Proof of a negative test is required before entering the testing centre." |
5) The Pencil Paradox
It doesn't matter how fast a pencil is moving, it will always still be stationery.
6) The Prune Juice Paradox
Prunes are dried plums, so how is prune juice even a thing?
7) The Fortune Cookie Paradox
Whoever created this fortune cookie didn't think things through...
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| "Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow." |
8) The Football Commentator Paradox
Here's a paradoxical quote from football commentator Martin Tyler...
"He had an eternity to play that ball, but he took too long about it."
9) The Multiple Choice Paradox
What are your chances of answering this multiple choice question correctly?
A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 0%
D) 25%
10) The Smart People Paradox
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| An overnight hut similar to the hut that Oscar and Finlay stayed in (except theirs only had three walls). |
"If you're smart, you won't try anything clever."
Finlay understandably questions Oscar's advice.
"If I'm clever I won't try anything clever?"
Does that mean only stupid peple can try something clever? And if so, does that mean they're not in fact stupid, they're actually clever? And if so, does that mean they won't try anything clever? And if that's the case, is it because they're not clever, they're actually stupid? Aargh! My head's spinning!
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As you may have noticed, for some of the examples I was a little flexible with the definition of the word 'paradox', but I did warn you it was light-hearted!
More paradoxes:
Paradoxes (part 1)
Paradoxes (part 2)
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Time travel is a subject which thows up many paradoxes, and it's also the theme of my short story 'Ranieri and the Eight Planets' available for kindle from Amazon.
That wasn't why I wrote a blog post about paradoxes, by the way. I didn't do it just to plug my short story. I just happened to think a short story about time travel tied in with the theme of paradoxes, so a brief mention seemed appropriate.
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