The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: Flickr user MAURO CATEB)

Mrs. Emery was disappointed. She had assumed that dealers at a gem exposition would know how to dress. But the room was filled with fashion mistakes. Rodney Dipp from Boston had on a polyester shirt; not the good, new kind of polyester, but something left over from the seventies. Julia Kidd from Atlanta wore sneakers and something resembling an upscale jogging suit. Even Klaus Braun from Diisseldorf, usually known for his style, was wearing one brown sock and one blue sock.

"Well, at least I'm maintaining my standards," Mrs. Emery huffed as she laid out her unmounted gems.

The display was not as impressive as it had been in years past. The only great gem she had left for sale was an exquisite emerald. She did her best, nestling the brilliant stone in an arrangement of loose gems—aquamarines, sapphires of poor color, lowly garnets, and a few bloodstones—hoping that the emerald's luster might somehow reflect into the lesser stones.

The theft took place during a diversion. A minor but noisy traffic accident drew the crowd out onto the street. When the insatiably curious Mrs. Emery returned to her display table, she found it all gone—everything from the almost worthless garnets up to the most prized gem at the show, her beloved emerald.

"The thief obviously had an accomplice," the police captain told the robbed gem dealer. "Someone who staged the diversion. Unfortunately, we don't know who that was. But we do have this."

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad.  These mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?

(Image credit: إبراهيم الشعيبي)

Morton was a bad influence. So was Archie. And that's probably why they were such good friends. The two playboys had simultaneously squandered their trust funds and now were facing the consequences.
"I suppose I'll have to start selling things," Morton said with a shiver. He had just arrived home from a night on the town. "Want to come in for a drink, old man?"

Never one to say no, Archie followed his friend inside. Morton's trusted valet, Gene, was there to pour their drinks and watch as his employer removed his diamond cufflinks and tossed them into an empty vase in the library.

Archie stayed for one drink, complained about his own financial straits, then headed out into the damp night air. Morton exited the house a minute later, taking his German shepherd for a walk that they both felt they could use.

It was only a short while later when a police squad car passed by on a routine patrol and spotted a suspicious-looking character on the terrace.

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces.

The battle over the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. lasted longer -and at time seemed more contentious- than the war itself.

THE FORGOTTEN WAR

In June 1950, President Harry S. Truman agreed to send U.S. troops to Korea to fight the North Korean army. Three years later, a truce was signed between North and South Korea, -a truce that remains uneasy to this day- the fighting stopped, and U.S. troops went home.

Compared to what the United States had experienced during World War II, the Korean War seemed like a mere dalliance. Some insisted on deeming it a “conflict” and even Truman called it a “police action.” More than one soldier has told the story of how, on returning home, old friends would say “Where have you been? Haven’t seen you around lately.” When the soldier explained that he’d been in Korea, his pals responded with blank looks. Many folks stateside had never heard of the place, let alone that a war had been raging there for three solid years.

Yet in those three years, American casualties in Korea numbered more than 54,000 dead, 8,000 missing in action, and 100,000 wounded. Hundreds of thousands of American men and women served and fought in the Korean War. Something needed to be done to commemorate their bravery, to honor their service. America needed to build a Korean War memorial in Washington, D.C.

HERE’S AN IDEA- OR TWO

This organ is 110 years old, but with new programming (on paper strips), it can play the relatively modern "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a uniquely majestic way.

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The instrument is a Marenghi Organ with 81 keys and 350 pipes, from the collection of Bill Nunn. It was used in a dance hall in Antwerp, Belgium, for the first half of its life. -via reddit

Cole and Marmalade teamed up with Big Cat Rescue to illustrate the many ways house cats and big cats are alike.

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However, big cats need bigger diets, bigger prey, and bigger territories. So if you ever decide you want a big cat, do yourself a favor and get a house cat instead. You’ll benefit both a homeless cat you take in and some big cat you don’t take in. Everyone benefits -except the mice in your house. -via Tastefully Offensive

See more of Cole and Marmalade.

What if Commander William Riker got his own spinoff show after Star Trek: The Next Generation? It might go something like this fan edit that puts Number One in the star position. It’s the beginning of what may be a continuing series, with the next episode coming in about a month.

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Those who occupy a certain strange corner of the internet might recognize this style as the work of Jan van den Hemel, who worked together with fellow video editor Andrew Hussie to make dozens of hilarious The Next Generation edits back in the late 2000s. Riker is the first new TNG video from Hemel in nearly five years, and if you're a fan, you'll be glad to hear that more are on the way.

You can see their earlier Star Trek: TNG videos here. -via Uproxx

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When you are two years old, there’s nothing more impressive than a big truck that comes to your house. And this one comes every week! Little Deacon Ross looked forward to seeing O.D. and his garbage truck every Friday. And the sanitation worker made friends with the toddler. But now the family is moving away, and USA Today showed up for O.D.’s last run by Deacon’s house. -via Viral Viral Videos

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Our friends at Bad Lip Reading took a perfectly normal group of superheroes -The Avengers- and put them into a redneck reality TV show world in this horrible lip reading video. The title would work just fine on TLC or Discovery or a John C. Reilly movie, for that matter.  -via Uproxx

Chris from Lunarbaboon is getting used to the idea of having two children. The second one will be a girl, and the implications of having a daughter can be daunting to a father -whether he’s experienced in such matters or not. My husband has six daughters, and he will tell you that there are far more things to worry about than you realize when they first arrive.  

It’s been 30 years since Rambo: First Blood Part II sent veteran John Rambo back to Vietnam. Although the movie was a sequel to 1982’s First Blood, it was a much bigger hit, and gave Sylvester Stallone a second iconic character in addition to Rocky. Strangely, Stallone didn’t really want the role …at first.

More than 26 screenplay drafts of the story were written during the decade of development and dozens of actors signed on and dropped out of the role of Rambo including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, John Travolta, and Dustin Hoffman.

Stallone was brought on when director Ted Kotcheff offered him the part because of his popularity in the Rocky franchise, but Stallone turned him down because he felt that the role passed through too many actors and the movie would never really get made. He later committed to the role when he was offered the opportunity to rewrite the screenplay (his $3.5 million salary may also have helped) in order to make Rambo more sympathetic as opposed to the PTSD-crazed madman the character resembled in the novel.

That’s just one of 16 stories behind the making of Rambo: First Blood Part II that you can read at mental_floss.

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Now you don’t have to watch all those Star Wars movies! Still, a commenter pointed out that this is BS, because it depicts a Storm Trooper actually hitting what he is aiming at. This animation is from Zach at Extra Fabulous Comics.  -via Geeks Are Sexy

Toys tied to movies existed long before Star Wars, but George Lucas’ 1977 space opera changed movie merchandising forever. Lucas always wanted toys to accompany the movie, but response from manufacturers was tepid, because investing design resources and factory output in a movie that may or may not be popular was a risky move. Even Kenner, who signed up to make action figures and other toys, vastly underestimated what a hit Star Wars would be.

Star Wars released in May 1977 to rapturous approval, becoming an overnight sensation — and kids didn’t just want to see the movie; they wanted toys. Kenner were caught flat-footed at the demand, finding that they wouldn’t even have figures out for the lucrative Christmas period of that year. To do nothing would have meant losing out on millions of dollars.

So they made a decision that was, by all accounts at the time, completely ludicrous: They sold people an empty box. The Early Bird Certificate was a box containing a cardboard display stand featuring the characters from the film, stickers, and a certificate for kids to mail away to Kenner to receive four figures in 1978: Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Princess Leia and Chewbacca. The box was savaged by the media, and although sales were poor, the move kept Star Wars figures in the public’s mind, ready for their 1978 release.

That was only the first of many controversial and sometimes disastrous moves from the toy industry regarding Star Wars. Read about the ups and down of Star Wars toys over 38 years at io9.

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It’s strange how one’s relationship with their phone varies according to age. These Millennials gave up their phones for a week to make a video about the experience, and their lives completely changed. They had spent their formative years becoming dependent on their devices for keeping in touch with others, finding their way around, doing business, and internet use. A person who is somewhat older might think of turning to a computer for many of those things. I still use signs, maps, and spoken directions to find my way around (plus an awesome sense of direction honed by many years of experience). I also have a calendar for appointments. My mother has a cell phone, but no one knows the number, because she only turns it on when she’s on the road and needs assistance.

But the difference goes even deeper. Using a phone for all those things is not bad in itself, but these folks noticed a difference in their concentration, attention span, and engagement with the real world when they adjusted to living without constantly “checking in” for messages as they’d become used to. How would doing without your mobile device affect your life? -via Buzzfeed

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These guys made a plane out of cardboard. It’s not just a folded paper airplane, but a remote-controlled model with flaps and propellor and everything -made out of a cardboard box. They think it’s a ridiculous concept and are quite surprised that it will fly at all. Now watch the video and try not to laugh. -via b3ta

The question is, which cards do you turn over to test the truth of the statement? Try to select the fewest cards that will do it. The Wason Selection Task was developed by English psychologist Peter Wason to study how people think. They often don’t think rationally.

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I found the most difficult part was finding my answer among the multiple choices, because there are a lot of them. More than 90% of Wason’s original subjects selected the wrong answer. Maybe we are doing better in the 21st century, because when I snagged this video, 20,626 people had viewed the puzzle video, and 5393 had viewed the correct answer. However, that number may have been skewed by people checking out all the answer videos. I didn’t bother checking the incorrect answers. You can read about Wason’s research into the human tendency to select irrational paths at Nautilus. -via Digg

Update: Oh, okay, I clicked a wrong answer, and the video it went to gives you the option of seeing the correct answer video. That explains why the correct answer had much more than 10% of the views of the original.