Photograph: Alamy
Is there such a thing as an eco-friendly labour-saving device?
Yes. A husband who does the dishes.
Margaret E. McPhee
Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Many men would say: Yes. They call it a wife.
Felicity Oliver
Ostermundigen, Switzerland
• One that is saving the world already, of course: any nuclear power plant, that emits no noxious gases, doesn’t require diversion of funds, and more. But the Guardian Weekly only prints its opinions.
John Graham,
Hoogstraten, Belgium
• Careful research will show that 99% of the time, 99% of all Off switches fit that description!
Hartmann Doerry
Tübingen, Germany
• The hoe enables one to obtain vegetables without the plastic wrap.
Ian Crawford,
Victoria, BC, Canada
• A hammock made from fallen palm leaves. (By the way; a computer is the most timewasting labour-saving device ever invented!)
Eli Kerin,
Dunedin, New Zealand
Penultimate more important
What is the ultimate algorithm?
Don’t wait to be told, just get on with it.
Lawrie Bradly
Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Ultimate? Clearly, that’s the algorithm that decides to launch the nuclear weapons. More important, which is the penultimate algorithm?
Ian Stokes,
Richmond, Vermont, US
• Shakespeare knew: “To be or not to be.”
David Isaacs,
Sydney, Australia
• The meaning of life – it’s quite simple (but we don’t want everyone to know): 42.
Pat Phillips,
Adelaide, Australia
• My husband, a maths professor, says the ultimate algorithm is making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Open the pantry, take out the peanut butter jar, take out the jelly jar, open the peanut butter jar, open the jelly jar, take the bread out of the bag, get a knife from the cutlery drawer, spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread and the jelly on the other, put the two slices together, cut the sandwich in half if you so desire (it doesn’t affect the outcome), then eat it.
Jennifer Lewis
Ellensburg, Washington, US
Forget the interior decorator
Why do women paint their faces? Why do men generally not?
Vanity, of course, in both cases. Women use makeup because we believe it enhances our appearance. Men, presumably, grow beards for the same reason, which doesn’t leave room for further decoration.
Joan Dawson
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Men think you cannot improve on perfection.
Stuart Powell, St Albans, UK
• No rouge for men – they are too busy painting the town red.
David Tucker,
Halle, Germany
View from the other side
Which of the world powers is the most delusional?
It’s definitely the US. Even their “enlightened president” thinks it is the envy of the world.
Linda Walley, Vancouver, Canada
• The one that would buy the Trump House dream.
R De Braganza
Kilifi, Kenya
Any answers?
Why do so few of the regular N&Q correspondents pose questions?
Terence Rowell
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Why did it have to be Judas?
R De Braganza,
Kilifi, Kenya
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
