Manhole covers are back in the news again... sadly, it's because they're being stolen and sold at metal scrap yards for cash. But while we're on the subject: When asked "Why are manhole covers round?" many smart people would reply that, if the covers were square or rectangular, they could fall in to the manhole. While this is certainly true, there's at least one other valid (and similarly logical) reason... What is it? HERE'S one answer. ONE ANSWER: Due to its weight, a manhole cover... READ ON

There aren't too many regular English words that contain five consecutive consonants, but three of them will be uttered fairly often during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Can you identify these three words, where the asterisk represents any number of missing letters? *RTSWR* *CKSTR* *NDSPR* HERE'S the answer. ANSWER: SPORTSWRITER, BACKSTROKE,... READ ON

Today's Brain Game is rather taxing; it's a puzzle I've had in my head for some time and finally brought out to see the light of day. It has to do with old-fashioned LCD/LED digit indicators. You know the type, with seven bars that combine to make all the digits from zero to nine: The middle horizontal segment stopped lighting on an older digital clock I had some years ago, and it became impossible to tell exactly what time it was, since some numbers looked alike. That always made me wonder if any of... READ ON

As usual, we're gonna take it a little easy (at least mentally) on Friday. For today's Brain Game, you'll try to decipher these five song-and-artist "sound-alike" combos, just like the party game Mad Gab. The answer to the first one is provided as an example. Good luck! EXAMPLE: COAL DARTED by PAW LAB DUEL = "Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul 1. CRIME EAR IF HER by JOKE AH CUR 2. GEM DAN DEE by BLAH COE CAR KIN SAW 3. PEEN COW SAYS by JUNK OOH CARMEL INK AMP 4. YOURS ECKSTEIN by WREN GHOST... READ ON