Okay, it’s Legend, But I Don’t Care!
Claim: A physics professor gives a final examination that requires his students to explain how to measure the height of a tall building using a barometer. Instead of the expected answer (i.e., measure the barometric pressure at the top and bottom of the building, then use those readings to calculate the altitude), one student provides several unique but technically correct alternative solutions to the problem.
I heard this many years ago, as, I suspect, did you. Someone submitted it to
Snopes (where the above excerpt came from) for verification, naturally enough, and no conclusive proof could ever be obtained, so Snopes decided to call it ‘legend,’ rather than true or false.
Personally, I am not invested in whether or not it is true. What I love about it is the imagination shown in compiling the series of different answers, and the precociousness - the anti-authoritarian contrariness - in avoiding the ‘expected’ or ‘right’ answer.
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It reminds me of a movie I saw during my school years, the year I lived in Germany. We went to see a movie about a fellow named Kaspar Hauser. While Hauser existed, details of his life are in dispute. That is fine, too. It was an interesting movie, about a fellow the movie suggested was raised almost completely devoid of human contact for a number of his formative years. The case was interesting because some felt it was a real life case permitting exploration of the old nature versus nurture argument, as Hauser was the proverbial ‘blank slate.’
Hauser was taught language and then studied by scientists, according to the film. One investigator wanted to explore his ability to apply logic to an existing problem. The problem posed was to determine who was telling the truth, when individuals could come from either of two places, a village where everyone always told the truth, and a village where everyone always told lies. What question could Hauser ask that would immediately illuminate which village the person came from?
The question the investigator HOPED to extract from Hauser was, If I were to ask you whether you came from the truthful village or the liar’s village, what would you say? The truthful person, of course, would tell the truth either way. The liar, in theory, would normally answer from the truthful village, but was then obligated to lie about what he would have said, thus revealing the truth.
In the movie, the question Hauser came up with had me cheering in my seat.
Below is my recollection of his answer, translated. I have not seen that movie in forty plus years, so it is almost certain to be inaccurate.
‘I’d ask him if he was a frog. If he said no, he would be from the truthful village. If he said yes, he would be from the liar’s village.’
I am not a great fan of ‘right’ answers. ::wink::
On to tonight’s comments!
From Nattiq:
This comment from JayRaye (sadly out of recommendability) deserves attention, congratulating Justina for a fine diary (that was picked for rescue, and subsequently rec-listed)!
From Puddytat:
Don't miss this short but pithy comment from DownstateDemocrat!
From eeff:
I found this comment from TriSec in this post, and got a good laugh!
From Aji:
In this morning's edition of New Day - This Week In American Indian News, one of the stories I covered was the fundamentalist preacher in Oklahoma who is suing over the state's use of an image of the late Indian artist Allan Haozous's (Houser's) sculpture on its license plates. For context, the sculpture itself is entitled "Sacred Rain Arrow," and it depicts a Chiricahua Apache warrior shooting an arrow into the sky. I thought elfling's response was the best I've seen yet.
From Samer:
Make sure you have nothing in your mouth while reading these comments (this one, from TLS66, and its successor(s)), in Adam B's diary on AZ voter suppression.
From BeninSC:
Flagged by merrywidow, this comment by Vita Brevis shines for its ... earthy textures! ::wink::
Flagged by Ginny in CO, this comment by Steveningen in last night's TC diary! (Rec quickly! Recommendable for 12 more min!)
Flagged by Pluto, this comment by Funkygal just contains a link, but sometimes there is magic in such sharing!
Top Mojo, courtesy of
mik!
1) I hope your son has been able to by Ginny in CO — 132
2) But we WERE promised CHANGE... by Love Me Slender — 120
3) It seems neighborhood watch groups by grannycarol — 101
4) That's only part of Obama's problem by recontext — 82
5) All in for the sekritarmy by kerflooey — 81
6) Thank you, and yes, we had NO idea how by bkamr — 80
7) Hahaha by joanneleon — 76
8) Happy Father's Day everyone by Denise Oliver Velez — 74
9) Funny...during 2008, I thought Obama was... by Love Me Slender — 73
10) Sadly, sometimes the neighbors are the problem. by welso — 71
11) Just wow by SilverWillow — 70
12) sekritarmy hears the call by carolanne — 70
13) Figures . . . by jg6544 — 70
14) There is supposedly a ruling by Richard Lyon — 68
15) um. Thank you for sharing - but I by Denise Oliver Velez — 67
16) This is already wide spread: by 4CasandChlo — 66
17) I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's son. by bkamr — 65
18) I really enjoy the D'var Torah series by Free Jazz at High Noon — 65
19) It's not just the watch groups by Serendipity — 64
20) I cannot tip and rec this enough. Jan Brewer is by mrsgoo — 62
21) I can change a lot more in the world by MrJayTee — 62
22) Exactly by Horace Boothroyd III — 62
23) I'll add some other reasons by joanneleon — 61
24) Good morning derail! by tytalus — 61
25) Hat-tip to Kossak cosette by Denise Oliver Velez — 60
26) Intelligent people can hold more than one thought by NoFortunateSon — 59
27) Joanne, there's already a DKos contingent... by bobswern — 58
28) Relentless... by Shippo1776 — 58
29) I'm sorry you had to go thru this by Hugh Jim Bissell — 58
30) I'm sorry to hear this, but not really surprised by Radiowalla — 58
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Thank you for visiting tonight!