h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Aphid's reproductive cycle is so fast that females are born pregnant

It's physically impossible for a pregnant female aphid to...

Never mind...

you bastard, you'll have me worrying about this all day!

This is like the quaker on the side of the packet of Quaker oats, who is holding a packet of Quaker Oats upon which is a Quaker...


I'll never get this out of my mind now, you do realise that?

Here, hold these two mirrors.

Thank you.

is this a Golden Void I perceive in these two mirrors, denying my humanity?

The thing about female pahids being born pregnant.... it's like Russian dolls, isn't it?

Yup, but they may turn into males later...

i don't get it, what's all the fuss about? what's this about Quakers? eh?

Well, it's like this.

The principle is called "Infinite Recursion" (and now I'm at home with a bottle of good Belgian beer at 6.8 proof inside me, I can face it more easily).

Like Russian dolls, or the picture of the Quaker holding a box of Quaker Oats on which is a picture of a Quaker, or indeed multiple reflections bouncing back and forth between two mirrors which are reflecting each other, imagine the statement "All Female Aphids Are Born Pregnant".

If your aphid is born pregnant, she is carrying a cargo of infant aphids. The female half of which will, ipso facto, be pregnant themselves and carrying THEIR cargo of foetal aphids, who will in their turn be pregnant and carrying a 50% female load of offspring...

The mental images involved gave me some grief earlier as I tried to resolve the paradox. It must be possible, but I haven't managed it yet, and you know what? I'm going to have another Leffe beer, I think at 8.7 alcohol this time.

Cheers!

It's best to remove the beer from the bottle before ingesting it.

Always a good one, as glass is insoluble and it makes it harder to retrieve the empties for recycling!

Beer - helping people resolve paradoxes and get used to the artwork of MC Escher since 3000 BC. You can't beat it.

beer: helping ugly people have sex since.. bout 2am.. maybe 3...depends

>> The female half of which will, ipso facto, be pregnant themselves and carrying THEIR cargo of foetal aphids, who will in their turn be pregnant and carrying a 50% female load of offspring...
(AgProv)


Your explanation is correct, except that ALL aphids are born female, though some will inevitably alter their sex at a later date

It does boggle the mind though

Leffe

The king of hearts lost his mustache due to copying errors.

I thought it was because the razor slipped.

In America they call pencil sharpeners 'pencil sharpeners'.

Why, come to think of it, yes we do.

Remember the banjo boy from Deliverance? His name's Billy Redden and here's his IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0714681/

Some trivia:

He didn't play the banjo in Deliverance.

He was the only genuine local in Deliverance.

He now works at a cafe.

yeah.. he has to be famous for something.......

can he..... no. on second thoughts i dont wanna know..