the wrong side of the bed
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
humor, ar ar!
From my boy:
A sociologist, a physicist and a mathematician are each locked in a
prison cell and given a supply of canned food, but no can opener. After
thirty days, the cells are unlocked. The sociologist's cell has dents in
the walls, and smashed cans and food everywhere. He threw the cans at
the walls randomly until they burst open, and salvaged enough food to
survive. The physicist's cell wall is covered in calculations, and one
corner is heavily damaged. He calculated the optimum way to throw the
can at the wall to make it burst open reliably (to within a reasonable
margin of error), and he too survived. The mathematician's cell wall is
likewise covered in calculations, but there are no dents in the walls.
In fact, inside the cell sit the pile of cans, unopened, and the corpse
of the mathematician. He was able to derive a nonconstructive proof that
showed there was a way to throw the can of food at the wall, but could
not find the solution.
Academics! Bah!
A sociologist, a physicist and a mathematician are each locked in a
prison cell and given a supply of canned food, but no can opener. After
thirty days, the cells are unlocked. The sociologist's cell has dents in
the walls, and smashed cans and food everywhere. He threw the cans at
the walls randomly until they burst open, and salvaged enough food to
survive. The physicist's cell wall is covered in calculations, and one
corner is heavily damaged. He calculated the optimum way to throw the
can at the wall to make it burst open reliably (to within a reasonable
margin of error), and he too survived. The mathematician's cell wall is
likewise covered in calculations, but there are no dents in the walls.
In fact, inside the cell sit the pile of cans, unopened, and the corpse
of the mathematician. He was able to derive a nonconstructive proof that
showed there was a way to throw the can of food at the wall, but could
not find the solution.
Academics! Bah!
Labels: academics
8:58 AM
1 Comments:
Few know that an artist was also put in the prison. After thirty days they found him dead but all around his corpse were paintings and silkscreen prints, all created during his incarceration and all with the same subject matter: the primary source of his profound frustration and ultimately the thing what led to his sad death - the impermeable canned food he was given and could not open. For his only sustenance was his art and his only inspiration... those damnable cans - the image of which he produced over and over again, ad mortem. Yes, you've guessed it, the famous Andy Warhol starved to death in this very same prison.
