Riddles engage our brains in creative problem-solving by encouraging us to think outside the box, thus enhancing critical thinking skills.
The truth is, however, that while some people find them fun, others hate them. The reason why is that riddles, particularly the more challenging ones, are rather frustrating as the answer is hard to pinpoint or find right away. At the same time, they quite often require unconventional reasoning, which some of us consider confounding.
One particular riddle that left many scratching their head is the one with a woman in a boat.
It’s short, confusing, and doesn’t reveal a lot of information.
Basically, it’s a seemingly straightforward brain teaser that goes like this: “There is a woman in a boat, on a lake, wearing a coat. If you want to know her name, it’s in the riddle I just wrote. What’s her name?“
If you think you can crack it, give it a shot! Unlike other riddles that require math skills, this one is more about unraveling a mystery.
The trick is at reading it slowly and carefully. The name you are looking for isn’t a typical moniker, so try to replace some of the words with another name in order to see if it will work and help in solving it.
Once you uncover the answer, you might feel a bit embarrassed for not figuring it out earlier.
Did you manage to solve it already? If not, take a look at the answer below.
The opening line says, “There’s a woman in a boat,” which many people dismiss as mere background information. However, if you replace “woman” with a common name like “Kate,” it reads: “Kate’s a woman in a boat.” This subtle wordplay reveals the woman’s name.
The woman’s name is “There.” So, there you have it!
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Social life is an important aspect of every person’s personal growth. Having friends and spending quality time with them is important for building strong relationships, but what happens when your friends take advantage of you?
A person took to Reddit to share how he handled his friends who would always order extremely expensive meals at a restaurant and then expected the bill to be shared eaqually.
Although splitting the bill can help avoid awkwardness and ensure fairness if everyone’s orders are roughly equal in cost, paying for someone’s expensive taste might feel unfair to those people who ordered much less.
Here’s the man’s story.
“I(27M) have been a part of a small friend group, around 8 people total, basically since college. For some background, 2 people from the group, Susan and Greg, are just absolute leeches. Going out for lunch? Expect them to order the most expensive on the menu, then feed you some sob story about their finances, and then dumb half the bill on you.
“Last weekend, Dan, one of the people from the group, told me about a casual dinner. I told him how if Susan or Greg were there I wouldn’t be able to come. He tells me that they would be there but I should just put my opinions aside and come just once. This is kind of where I might be a bad guy. l agreed with him and told him I would be there. I show up and we all get to talking. Everyone began putting in their orders, most of them spent about $40. There were only about 6 people there. When it gets to Susan and Greg, they both order expensive dishes, around $200.
“When it was my turn to order, everyone looked at me, but I just pick up the menu and point to the $4 drink and sent the waiter away. Dan asked why I hadn’t ordered anything and all l said was that I lost my appetite. The other 2 friends got up as well to cancel their orders and just have drinks. After the main courses came out, I saw Susan and Greg picking at their food. The waiter then brings over the check. Greg then grabs the waiter and asks him to split the check 6 ways. I stand up and correct him saying the check was to be split 3 ways. Greg looks at me confused and asks why since we always split the bill. I reminded him that the 3 of us had not eaten any food so we would just be paying for our drinks.
“So basically at the end of the night, Dan, who probably only ate around $50 worth of food, was stuck with a $146.98 check at the end. (Yes, I remember the exact number.) I swear I saw his jaw drop when he picked that receipt up. I slid a $10 towards the check, said goodbye everyone, and walked out.
“The next morning, I found my phone full of texts from Greg and Susan telling me I was a bad guy for not ordering any food and forcing them to pay more than they had accounted for. I honestly laughed because the steaks alone were more than what they had paid but to each their own right? I also got a lot of messages from Dan saying that I could have just not came instead of pulling that stunt and getting him stuck with an outrageous bill.”
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think this man handled the situation well and fair?
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Some songs are meant to last forever. They are so powerful that even years after being released they still trigger strong feelings, whether that’s love, nostalgia, sadness, or happiness.
When we think of such everlasting pieces of music, one of the songs that comes to our mind is More Than a Name on a Wall. Sang by the Statler Brothers consisting of Don and Harold Reid, Phil Balsley and Lew DeWitt, this tune brings millions to tears. It honors the soldiers who fought during the Vietnam War, which took more than 50,000 lives, through the story of a grieving mother who visits the Vietnam Wall and prays her son is more than just a name written on that wall.
Source: YouTube screenshot
The song peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
The Statler Brothers started their singing career as back up vocals for Johnny Cash, whose attention they caught while playing at the Roanoke Fair in Salem, Virginia, but went on to make a name for themselves. Many of their songs are huge hits up until this day.
The story behind the collaboration between Cash and the Statler Brothers, who combine the sounds of country with gospel melodies, says they were hired by him “on a handshake.” At the time he met them, he was promoting his 16th album.
Speaking of Cash, Reid said, “John was a walkin’, talkin’, singin’ musical encyclopedia.”
During the following 10 years, the group performed by Cash’ side, who helped them rise to prominence as hitmakers under Columbia Records.
In 1965, their genre-blending hit Flowers on the Wall topped both the country and pop charts, surpassing the Beatles’ Help! and the Supremes’ Stop in the Name of Love. This success earned the Statler Brothers two Grammy Awards: Best New Country and Western Artist, and Best Contemporary Performance (Group).
The song regained its popularity in 1994 when Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction featured it in a scene where Bruce Willis’ character, Butch, runs down Samuel L. Jackson’s character while the song plays on the car radio.
The group hosted their own variety show on The Nashville Network (TNN) from 1991 to 1998. In 1992, the show, which highlighted the comedic skills of founding member Harold, became the network’s most popular program and set a record for the highest ratings in TNN’s history.
In one episode, a poignant rendition of the song More Than a Name on the Wall moved audiences, bringing tears to viewers across America.
Jimmy Fortune, who replaced DeWitt after he left due to medical reasons and then died in 1990 and wrote the song, spoke of the inspiration behind it.
“You look at it. You look at each one of those lines from a distance, you look at it and see those lines stacked on top of each other, and they seem like they go on forever, and forever, and forever,” he said of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. “I realized that was a mother’s child. That was someone’s husband. Just all the stories and all the memories of that child…It just hit me that they are more than a name on a wall.”
Listen to them singing More Than a Name on a Wall in the video below. It will give you goosebumps.
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Some couples just kind of know that they are meant to be together, some just believe that it is pure fate that brought them together forever, then there is Ed and Heidi Savitt.
They first met each other in 2011, when they were both students at the Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Ed was a student in a house that Heidi used to live in, he really needed some help with the dryer…
He texted Heidi to ask how the dryer worked, and ever since he sent that text, they have come to be completely inseparable, eventually, of course, it led to their wedding.
They got married at the lovely but young age of 26-years-old.
It seems that when Heidi’s mom, Kay Parker, met Ed for the first time, she got a funny kind of feeling, she though that she knew him somehow.
There was kind of something about him, she just couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, she tired as hard as she could, but, she couldn’t figure what it was. She really wanted to get work out what her feeling was, so she decided to investigate!
At the dinner party, the one in which Ed’s mom, Fiona, was also at, Kay decided to mention something in passing, it was a story about a family sailing trip they took to Turkey when Heidi was only 6 years-old.
Heidi had a sweetand cute “boyfriend” while they were on the holiday, Kay recalled, one whose name also happened to be ‘Ed.’
She said:“The two cuties played together and held hands during the entire two-week break in Turkey!”
Fiona thought too that it was a bit if a coincidence, she even smashed her wineglass about the name being the same, but then she didn’t give it much thought again.
Kay, on the other hand, did give it a lot of thought, when she arrived home, she thought that she was going to find out once and for all, one way or another!
Kay went investigating in the attic looking for the old photographs of Heidi. Then in her pile of Heidi photos, she found something interesting: a photo of Heidi and Ed taken 20 years ago!
Kay showed them to Heidi, who had forgotten about her childhood romance all that time ago.
With her was little six-year-old Ed, his face was still absolutely recognizable even with an awful unfashionable bowl haircut.
Heidi said:“I was screaming, it was just unreal. It’s crazy to think we could have got married, shared our lives together, but then never found out about this.”
Then Kay showed Fiona what she’d found out, the groom’s mom shouted out:“Oh my goodness, that’s Ed!”
Heidi never imagined that there was such a thing as fate, but she has now changed her mind, she is a believer. Fate must have worked its magic and brought them back together again!
Kay thinks that when they met they somehow knew deep down that they had met before and shared an amazing experience together, she believes this is what likely drove them together again, Heidi agrees, plus she now says that the moment she met Ed, she knew he really was the one!
It just proves that fate can really bring two people back together again, please SHARE this lovely and touching story with everyone you know!
After five long years of pain and suffering for the tragic loss of her daughter and her son-in-law, Miriam felt like she needed some time for herself. Yet, the thought of never seeing her daughter again shattered her heart into a million pieces over and over again.
No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t overcome the sorrow that settled in her soul after her daughter’s passing following a car accident.
The trip Miriam took was a gateway from the reality that haunted her. What she didn’t know, however, was that the trip would change her life forever.
Once at the reception, the receptionist asked for her ID. She took it out and handed it to the worker, who began tapping away at the computer. While she waited, Miriam’s gaze wandered.
To her disbelief, she spotted a couple who resembled her daughter and her-son-law.
Midjourney
At first, she thought she was only imagining things, but as she looked closer she realized that the woman was in deed her daughter Pamela, and the man next to her was Frank, her son-in-law. But how could that be? They were both tragically killed. She buried them, and cried over their loss for five long years. What was going on, how could they be alive and where were they all those years.
Miriam started shaking, but she still gathered strength to go after them.
When they spotted her, they sped up their pace, but Miriam yelled: “Stop or I’ll call the police.”
It was then that Pamela and Frank stopped and turned towards Miriam. Pamela started crying, and said, “Mom, I can explain everything.”
Miriam was beyond angry and confused. She was happy her daughter wasn’t dead, but she couldn’t possibly understand how she could fake her own death and let her mom and the entire family suffer and mourn her loss.
Midjourney
“Start talking,” Miriam demanded firmly.
Frank then said, “Miriam, it was never our intention to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” Miriam let out a bitter laugh. “I buried both of you. I mourned for five years. And now you’re here, telling me you never intended to hurt me?”
Pamela started to apologize. She tried to explain to her mother that they had their reasons. But what reason is good enough to fake your own death and leave your own mother mourn?
As they started telling their story, they confessed that they did what they did because they won the lottery. It was a lot of money and they wanted a fresh start. They believed that if their families learned about the money they would start asking for it, and they didn’t want any obligations.
Miriam couldn’t believe her ears. How could her daughter be so selfish?
What obligations were they talking about? Paying back the money they borrowed from Frank’s parents? Being there for their cousin’s kids after they parents died? Were those the obligations they ran away from?
Miriam was beyond shocked and disappointed. She somehow knew that one of the real reasons for Pamela and Frank’s stupid and selfish decision was to avoid paying taxes and once she mentioned that to them they started shifting the blame onto each other.
Miriam had it enough. Her vacation was already ruined so she decided to return home and have no contact with her daughter and her son-in-law.
Midjourney
She thought hard and the thought of what they did haunted her, but she eventually decided not to tell anyone about Pamela and Frank and not to report them to the police.
Three years passed by, and one cold and rainy night someone knocked on Miriam’s door. When she answered it, she saw her daughter, all wet and shaking.
“Mom, I have nowhere to go, please let me stay with you.” Miriam was hesitant. The last time she saw Pamela she wore expensive clothes and now she had an old shirt and ripped jeans on.
After a few minutes, she let Pamela in.
“Mom, Frank got involved in some bad investments. He lost almost all of the money and left with what was left. I have no idea where he is now,” she explained. “I miss you, Mom. I’m so sorry. For all of it.”
Pexels
Miriam needed time to process that information. She was mad at Pamela, but at the end of the day, she was her daughter and Miriam was determined to make her do the right thing.
Explaining to Pamela the severity of the decision to fake her own death and avoid paying taxes, Miriam convinced Pamela to talk to the authorities although she was aware she could get prison time. But those were the consequences she was supposed to pay for forcing her mother and the entire family go through an ordeal.
Pamela agreed it would be for the best if she went to the police, because no matter the aftermath, that was the only way she could get the chance for a fresh start in life.
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Julián Ortega, the star of the Netflix series Elite died aged 41 after allegedly collapsing on a beach in Spain earlier this week.
His sudden passing was announced by Spain’s national union of actors and actresses.
“Actor Julián Ortega dies at the age of 41. Rest in peace. From the Union of Actors and Actresses, our most sincere condolences to the actor’s family and friends,” their statement read.
The moment Ortega went into cardiac arrest, emergency services were alerted by beachgoers. Paramedics tried to revive the actor for 30 minutes, but failed to save his life.
The tragedy happened below a beach bar on Zahora Beach in Barbate, south west of Marbella, Spain.
Jam Press
According to the obituary, the late actor was a graduate of Madrid’s Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático. He appeared in six episodes of Elite as the manager of the beer and burger joint La Cabaña. He also appeared on the shows like Caronte, Velvet, and Netflix’s Cable Girls, the miniseries Untameable and the 2018 romcom MyLove Lost, among the rest.
Tributes came pouring in from Ortega’s colleagues.
His El Pueblo co-star Paco Collado shared his condolences, saying: “It was a great pleasure @julianortega_7 to play your father in @elpuebloserie you left us with sympathy, generosity and professionalism, many hugs friend and also to your family, a real shame in the prime of your youth, RIP Julian.”
Jam Press
Fernando Tejero wrote: “Life can be so cruel sometimes. I’m heartbroken, dear friend. You were such a great actor and an even better person, Julian Ortega. Fly high.”
Actress Sílvia Marsó posted: “Today the profession loses an exceptional colleague, an incredible actor, and an unforgettable human being. A big, big hug to your parents Gloria Muñoz, José Antonio Ortega, and all their family, friends and colleagues. Always our heart, dear Julian.”
Rest in peace, Julián Ortega.
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Siblings Willow Bryant, 2, and Wyman Bryant, 4, who were reported missing on August 14, 2024, were located by the authorities, though it remains unclear where the young brother and sister were found. An Amber Alert was issued by the California Highway Patrol a few days later.
The children were abducted by their biological parents, Tiffany Bryant, 39, and David James, 53, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
During the past year, the children were in the foster care system after their youngest sibling was tested positive for drugs at birth. The suspects have been taken into custody.
Nina Glass, the director of a Texas-based nonprofit that aided in the search, told Newsweekthat the parents abducted Wyman and Willow during a supervised visit with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in South Los Angeles. They exited the facility through an emergency exit, leaving their youngest child, just 15-months-old, behind.
“They are the type of people that can live off grid, if that makes sense. They like to be out there in the middle of nowhere,” Glass said of the parents. “State parks – we always say RV parks, rest areas, you might see them at truck stops because they’re nomadic. They live out of their car. They don’t really have an address.”
This wasn’t the first time Bryant and James to abduct their children.
The first occurrence happened last summer when their third child was born, and the children were located two months later. Allegedly, they regained visitation rights after that but under supervision.
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Following severe infection, music icon Sir Elton John has been left with “limited vision” in one eye.
The 77-year-old singer took to Instagram to share details of his condition, stating he’s recovering.
“Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.”
Getty Images
The “Rocket Man” crooner added that he was “so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me.”
Fellow musicians and fans sent their well wishes. “Prayers for healing, Sir Elton. ❤️🩹❤️🩹,” a fan wrote. Another person shared similar sentiments, “Praying for healing for your eye🙏.” Someone else showed their support with, “Love❤️and prayers🙏❤️🩹🙌❤️.”
Designer Donatella Versace commented: “Sending you so much love Elton! Feel better soon. Love you.” Tennis legend Billie Jean King wrote: “Sending our love and support your way. Feel better soon, friend.”
This isn’t the first time the musician to experience health issues.
Back in 2017, he was diagnosed with cancer, and in order to prevent it from spreading any further, he chose surgery over chemo treatments. Once known for working at a 120-show-per-year pace, Sir Elton John said he found himself “24 hours from death,” and that forced him to reconsider his priorities in life.
“Effectively my kids made the decision for me. I didn’t like the idea of cancer hanging over me—us—for years to come: I just wanted rid of it,” he wrote in his 2019 memoir, simply titled Me.
Sadly, some ten days after the surgery, he began to develop agonizing pain resulting from a complication with his lymph nodes which caused them to leak fluids, as reported by Yahoo. He was on and off hospital for around two and a half months before doctors accidentally cured him. “A routine colonoscopy shifted the fluid permanently, days before my 70th birthday,” John wrote in his book, which was serialized in The Daily Mail.
Sadly, as he thought his troubles were over, he contracted a major infection in South America and was close to death.
“In a strange way, it felt like the time I spent recuperating was the answer to my prayers: if you want more time, you need to learn to live like this, you have to slow down,” the singer said. “It was like being shown a different life, a life I realized I loved more than being on the road,” John added. This made him make a decision to stop touring. “I want to be there for all of it,” he said of spending time with his sons.
In 2023, the five-time Grammy winner experienced another health issue when he fell at his villa in Nice, France, leading to a brief hospitalization. He was later discharged.
We wish Sir Elton John a speed recovery.
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