Two Interesting Riddles

I came across a couple of interesting riddles lately.  One was introduced by a good friend, Barak Paztal, who just returned from Beijing (welcome back Barak and Irit), the other was told on the radio.  I thought they are worth sharing.  I will share the solutions (and some insights) next week.  Anyone cares to take a crack at the riddles?  Any insights?

1. If one wanted to surround the earth with rope, he will need roughly 40,000 km of rope.  What if he wanted to have the rope 1 meter away from the ground, how much additional rope is needed?

2. A father of three was on his deathbed.  He was the owner of seventeen camels.  He wrote a will: “please give half my camels to my older son, a third to the middle son, and two ninths to the youngest”.  The brothers were utterly and totally confused.  They didn’t know how to execute the will.  Finally they went to a wise lady who lived close by.  She solved the problem for them.  Can you guess what her solution was?

As I said, solutions and insights next week.