Journal Entries
A true story
Posted Oct 5, 1999
Some friends of my mother's recently went on vacation. At the end of the trip, on their drive home, they made a stop at one of those "African Safari" parks, where you drive your car through an area with animals running loose. Midway through the park they came upon an elephant blocking the roadway. His rear was towards them and he seemed oblivious or indifferent to their presence. After several honks of the horn, the elephant looked back at them, then stepped backwards and sat on the hood of the vehicle, partially crushing it.
At about this time, one of the park employees showed up to shoo the elephant away, with whatever means park employees used to shoo elephants. Their vehicle, a pickup with one of those camper attachments on top, though damaged, was still driveable, so they decided to continue on towards home.
As it grew dark, they flicked the headlights on, only to discover that one of them had been destroyed by the elephant incident. Not 10 minutes later, they were pulled over by a policeman for having a headlight out. When the husband, who was driving, related the story of the headlight's demise, the officer escorted them to the police station and called the park to confirm their story, firmly believing that they were making it up. Upon confirmation from the park, the couple was released amid much police laughter.
The delay at the police station had turned it into a late night, so the couple pulled off at the next rest stop so the husband could catch some sleep in the camper while the wife drove. He got out, she slid over, a car door next to them shut, she thought it was the back, and proceeded to drive away, leaving the husband at the rest stop.
Another man at the rest stop, seeing what had happened, offered the husband a ride, as he was travelling through the same city, anbd off they went. Meanwhile, the wife stopped to buy coffee, allowing the pursuing husband to pass her on the freeway, consequently arriving home before her. His house keys were with his car keys, with his wife, so he sat on the porch to wait for her.
When she pulled on, so utterlky and completely flabbergasted was she to see her husband sitting on the porch, that she drove through the garage door.
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Latest reply: Oct 5, 1999
A paradox
Posted Sep 14, 1999
An interesting puzzle from Lewis Carroll:
If you are in London at noon on Tuesday, and travel with the earth's rotation at the speed of the earth's rotation, so that you reach each new time zone at precisely noon on Tuesday, by the time you reach london again, it will be 24 hours later, or, noon on wednesday. At what point does tuesday turn to wednesday? If it's noon wherever you are at, at some point, logically, you must travel from noon tuesday to noon wednesday in the space of a single time zone, which, obviously, is not the way it works. So how does it work?
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Latest reply: Sep 14, 1999
Wick
Researcher U91563
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