A swan sits at the center of a perfectly circular lake. At an edge of the lake stands a ravenous monster waiting to devour the swan. The monster can not enter the water, but it will run around the circumference of the lake to try to catch the swan as soon as it reaches the shore. The monster moves at 4 times the speed of the swan, and it will always move in the direction along the shore that brings it closer to the swan the quickest. Both the swan and the the monster can change directions in an instant.
The swan knows that if it can reach the lake's shore without the monster right on top of it, it can instantly escape into the surrounding forest.

How can the swan successfully escape?

There is a river to cross using a river raft and there are eight people (father, mother, policeman, thief, 2 daughters and 2 sons). No one knows to operate the raft except the adults and also excluding the thief. Only two people can go in the raft at a time. The raft should keep coming back and forth in order to pick and drop the people.
Rules to be followed:
Father: the father cannot stay in the raft or outside the raft without the presence of the mother.
Mother: the mother cannot stay in the raft or outside the rat without the presence of the father.
Thief: the thief is not allowed to stay with any of the family members unless there is a policeman.
Policeman: the policeman can travel with anyone.
2 sons and 2 daughters: they are not allowed to travel in the raft without the presence of an adult. They cannot either travel in the presence of only thieves without the policeman. The sons cannot be with their mothers without their father's supervision. The daughters are not allowed to be there with their fathers without the supervision of their mothers. But the daughters and the sons can be left unsupervised (as long as the other rules are applied).
What is the sequence that the people should follow in order to cross the river through the raft keeping in mind all the rules?
The rules are applicable not only in the raft but also outside the raft.

What number comes next in this sequence:
7 8 5 5 3 4 4 _

If we change the South-East direction into North and North-East into West and all others similarly.
Can you find out which direction will be in the place of South-West direction?

Today, I celebrated my 32nd birthday but I was born in 1972.
How is this possible?

You are playing as white and given four rooks to checkmate the black king in four moves with the following rules 1. You can place one rook every move and ensure the black king should be in check position.2. After four moves the black king should be in the checkmate position.

Evil warlock dislikes dwarfs and therefore he selects four of them and buries them. The dwarfs are buried in the ground and they are in such a way that except for their heads, their body is inside the ground. The dwarfs cannot move their body and they can view only forward. They are all buried in a line, and amongst the four, one of the dwarfs is separated by a wall. All the dwarfs are in the same direction. The last dwarfs can see two heads of friends in the front and a wall. In the last second dwarf can see one head of his friend and a wall. The second dwarf can see only the wall. The dwarf can see nothing.
Warlock comprehends the situation and tells the dwarfs that he has placed hats on their heads. There are two blue hats and two red ones. In all four dwarfs, one of them has to say what colour hat he is wearing. If the dwarf says the correct colour of the hat, they will be left free. If the answer is wrong, then they will be dug inside the ground till the very end.

What will be the answer by the dwarf and how will they answer?

You have two buckets of 11 liters and 6 litres.
How can you measure exactly 8 litres?

A man wants to cross the pit of fire which is 25 feet in length and he has 2 planks(fire resistant) 19 feet in length. How can he cross the pit of fire alive?

There is a jar in which there are two types of candies.
20 blueberries and 16 strawberries. You perform the following steps:
1) You take out two candies.
2) If the two candies are of the same flavour, you add a blueberry one otherwise, you add the strawberry one.

You repeat these two steps till there is just one candy remaining in the jar. Which flavoured candy will be left?