Lateral Puzzles • View topic

by **hominid** » Sun May 31, 2020 10:57 pm

A businessman was just trying to make a little extra money. But he ended up coming in second to Greta Thunberg.

by **Doriana** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:01 pm

Did he try to make extra money by selling something? investing in something?

TIME Person of the Year relevant? Was the businessman a runner-up to Thunberg?

by **hominid** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:04 pm

Did he try to make extra money by selling something? yesish. investing in something? no.

TIME Person of the Year relevant? Was the businessman a runner-up to Thunberg? no to both.

by **Doriana** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:50 pm

Yesishly selling... a product? a service? a company? stocks?

by **hominid** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:05 am

Yesishly selling... a product? thisish. a service? a company? stocks?

by **Doriana** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:05 am

a patent? an idea for a product?

by **hominid** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:07 am

a patent? an idea for a product? neither of these. I think it can be called a product; the "ish" is very small.

by **Balin** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:05 am

Is rental relevant?

by **hominid** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:20 am

Is rental relevant? no.

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:22 pm

BLOOPER

I didn't realize this, but TIME Person of the Year is relevant to this puzzle. Although the businessman was never considered for it.

by **Doriana** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:57 pm

Is the 2019 TIME Person of the Year award relevant? If so, relevant that Thunberg got it? Relevant who didn't get it? Relevant who was considered?

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:28 pm

Is the 2019 TIME Person of the Year award relevant? Yes. If so, relevant that Thunberg got it? Yes. Relevant who didn't get it? No. Relevant who was considered? No.

by **Doriana** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:37 pm

Did he come in second to Thunberg in a direct competition? In some kind of ranking? If it's a ranking, is it based on an opinion (e.g. "2019's most loved/hated people")? Or on a metric? If the latter, number of twitter followers? number of awards won? number of headlines the person appeared in? how often people googled the person?

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:40 pm

Did he come in second to Thunberg in a direct competition? No. In some kind of ranking? Yesish. If it's a ranking, is it based on an opinion (e.g. "2019's most loved/hated people")? No. Or on a metric? Yesish. If the latter, number of twitter followers? No. number of awards won? No. number of headlines the person appeared in? No. how often people googled the person? No, but OTRT.

by **Doriana** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:43 pm

Internet relevant? Search engines? Social media? Wikipedia?

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:56 pm

Internet relevant? Yes. Search engines? Yes. Social media? No. Wikipedia? No.

by **Doriana** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:20 pm

Being the first google hit for something relevant? Is Thunberg the first result that comes up when you search for a specific term, and the businessman is the second?

Is the businessman's attempt to make extra money directly related to Thunberg? Has the product he sells anything do to with Thunberg? with climate change? with climate activism?

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:25 pm

Being the first google hit for something relevant? Yes! Is Thunberg the first result that comes up when you search for a specific term, and the businessman is the second? Yes!

Is the businessman's attempt to make extra money directly related to Thunberg? No; in fact it probably happened long before Thunberg was well-known. Has the product he sells anything do to with Thunberg? with climate change? with climate activism? No to all.

by **Doriana** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 9:34 pm

Is the businessman still alive? relevant?

Greta Thunberg's name relevant at all? Is the businessman's name similar to "Greta" or "Thunberg"? The product's name?

Before Thunberg was well known, would the businessman have been the top result for the search term? When people enter this term into a search engine, do they expect to find information about Thunberg? about the businessman? Is the search term related to Sweden? to climate change?

by **hominid** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:03 pm

Is the businessman still alive? I don't know. relevant? No.

Greta Thunberg's name relevant at all? No. Is the businessman's name similar to "Greta" or "Thunberg"? I don't know/irrelevant. The product's name? No.

Before Thunberg was well known, would the businessman have been the top result for the search term? Not necessarily, but it's possible. When people enter this term into a search engine, do they expect to find information about Thunberg? No. about the businessman? No. Is the search term related to Sweden? Not specifically. to climate change? Yes in a general sense, but that isn't why Thunberg comes up first.

by **JenBurdoo** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:20 am

Is the businessman named Thunberg?

Is language relevant? Syntax? Spelling?

A different prize, such as the Nobel?

by **hominid** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 11:47 am

Is the businessman named Thunberg? Irrelevant.

Is language relevant? Broadly yes, but not really in any way that hasn't been discovered yet. Syntax? No. Spelling? No.

A different prize, such as the Nobel? No.

by **GalFisk** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 7:48 pm

Did he want to be the first Google hit? Was he ever that? Did he want to make money on climate activists?

by **hominid** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 8:39 pm

Did he want to be the first Google hit? Assume no. Was he ever that? Irrelevant. Did he want to make money on climate activists? No.

by **Doriana** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 8:44 pm

Would it help us to find out more about the product? Could it be categorized as (related to) food? drink? electronics? sports equipment? software? clothes? furniture? transportation? music?

by **hominid** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:03 pm

Would it help us to find out more about the product? Yes, that's the main piece of the puzzle that's missing. Could it be categorized as (related to) food? drink? electronics? sports equipment? software? clothes? furniture? transportation? music? I wouldn't really describe it as related to any of these.

by **Doriana** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:10 pm

Is the product a tangible object?
Is it a product that's marketed directly to customers? to other businesses?
Is it a product you could buy at a brick-and-mortar store? on amazon?

by **hominid** » Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:29 pm

Is the product a tangible object? No.
Is it a product that's marketed directly to customers? Possibly. to other businesses? More likely this.
Is it a product you could buy at a brick-and-mortar store? No. on amazon? No.

by **Hobbsicle** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:39 am

Is his product related to the Internet? To search engines? Websites? Domains?

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:41 am

Is his product related to the Internet? Yesish. To search engines? No. Websites? Yesish. Domains? No.

by **GalFisk** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:14 pm

Is it software? A service? Middleware? Web design?

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:26 pm

Is it software? A service? This would be the closest; still not right though. Middleware? Web design?

by **GalFisk** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:28 pm

Is he selling information? Secrets? Passwords? Hacking tools? Anything illegal? Immoral?

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:48 pm

Is he selling information? Secrets? Passwords? Hacking tools? Anything illegal? Immoral? No to all.

by **Doriana** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:54 pm

Website localization/translation relevant? Online shops relevant?

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Website localization/translation relevant? No. Online shops relevant? Yesish.

by **GalFisk** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:56 pm

Payment processing relevant? Shipping?

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 7:09 pm

Payment processing relevant? Shipping? No to both.

by **hominid** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 7:21 pm

RECAP

A man (it's not really important that he's a businessman) sold something. This resulted in him being the second result on Google for a certain search term. The first result was Greta Thunberg, because she was TIME Person of the Year in 2019.

What was the search term?
What did the man sell that resulted in him being the first result?

by **Doriana** » Thu Jun 04, 2020 7:26 pm

Did he literally sell time?

by **hominid** » Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:23 am

Did he literally sell time? No. The search term is related to TPOTY, but what he was selling isn't.

Also I think there might be a slight FA; clearing that up might help.

by **Hobbsicle** » Sat Jun 06, 2020 2:53 am

Is he selling advertising? Is the search term related to teens? Girls? Sweden? Magazines? News? Same qs for his product.

by **hominid** » Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:40 pm

Is he selling advertising? No, although it could be used for this. Is the search term related to teens? Not specifically. Girls? Not specifically. Sweden? No. Magazines? No. News? No. Same qs for his product. His product is not directly related to any of those.

by **Doriana** » Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:03 pm

Did he sell webspace?

by **hominid** » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:26 pm

Did he sell webspace? No.

by **GalFisk** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 5:31 am

Was he the first result because he was the most relevant result? Because of search engine optimization or manipulation? Because he was the only result? Or among very few results? When he sells something, does it need to: exist before the sale? Be copied? Be created? If so, by him? Be modified? Assembled? Customized? Is the thing he sells used as a part of something else? Such as selling graphics that people can use on their websites? Or services they can connect to?

by **hominid** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:27 pm

Was he the first result because he was the most relevant result? No, although he is certainly a perfectly good result. Because of search engine optimization or manipulation? No. Because he was the only result? No. Or among very few results? Quite the opposite. When he sells something, does it need to: exist before the sale? Not for very long. Be copied? In a way. Be created? Yes! If so, by him? Yesish! Be modified? Not relevantly. Assembled? Not relevantly. Customized? Not relevantly. Is the thing he sells used as a part of something else? Yes. Such as selling graphics that people can use on their websites? Yes, it is a form of this. Or services they can connect to? No.

by **Doriana** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:32 pm

Does he sell logos? background images? stock photos? placeholder images?

by **hominid** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:51 pm

Does he sell logos? background images? stock photos? This! Well, one stock photo. placeholder images?

by **Doriana** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:53 pm

Is the man himself in the photo?

Relevant what's in the photo? Does the photo come up when people search for the relevant search term?

by **hominid** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:57 pm

Is the man himself in the photo? Yes.

Relevant what's in the photo? Yes, see above. Does the photo come up when people search for the relevant search term? Yes.

All that's left to guess now is the search term, but if no one can guess in a reasonable amount of time, I'll go ahead and post the spoiler.

by **Doriana** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 2:00 pm

Is the search term one word? two words? three words? more than that?

Are there any other people in the photo? relevant objects? is the man doing anything relevant in the photo?

by **hominid** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:11 pm

Is the search term one word? This. two words? three words? more than that?

Are there any other people in the photo? No. relevant objects? No. is the man doing anything relevant in the photo? No, just smiling at the camera.

by **Doriana** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:13 pm

Is the search term "person"?

by **hominid** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:55 pm

Is the search term "person"? Yes!

************************SPOILER************************

The man sold a picture of himself to be used as a stock photo. The photo ended up being used by yourdictionary.com as an illustration of the word "person". As a result, his picture comes up as the second result when you type "person" into Google images, with the first result being Thunberg, the 2019 TIME Person of the Year. Or at least that was true when I posted the puzzle. As I'm writing this, he's actually in third place at least for me, with Thunberg occupying spots 1 and 2.

Nice work solving and asking most of the questions, Doriana, and thanks for playing, Balin, JenBurdoo, GalFisk, and Hobbsicle!

by **Doriana** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:18 pm

Interestingly, the picture does not come up on Google images at all when I search for "person", and Greta Thunberg is only the 9th hit - I guess that's due to region/language settings. Nice puzzle!

[Hominid] This man

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