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Re: PAM-5 fairy tale




Kardont,

This sounds very much like the test that we used in high school to weed out the
"want-to-be" honor students from getting into the advanced science studies
group.  To add to your story, there was a forth, call him Paul.  He studied the
river for a short while, went and got a boat with an outboard motor that could be
directly steered.  He used vectors to steer the boat into the river in such a way
that he went across in a straight line.  He got there before Jaime, who went down
stream and left with the princess, and long before Oscar's large ship even got
built.  As for Rich, ?????.  The moral of the story, being safe does not always
win, but being wise, and willing to adapt other technologies, without overdoing
it, does.

Thank you,
Roy Bynum

Kardont@xxxxxxx wrote:

> (only for PAM-5 fans with a sense of humor)
>
> Once upon a time three engineers were given the following problem:
>
> You stand in front of a 500 meter wide river and you want to cross the river
> to meet your princess that waits for you at exactly the opposite point where
> you are now. This river is very treacherous and strong currents run through
> it. What would you do ?
>
> The first man, Oscar, being a brilliant engineer with experience in the Navy
> and a person of vast resources, hired a large staff to build a $10 million
> fortified Tomlinson ship that would take him, through a fiercely battle
> against the current, in a straight line directly to the opposite side of the
> river. In parallel, he ordered another team of engineers to build a spacious
> Equal-spa on the other side of the river where he could recover his physical
> shape and appearance after the difficult crossing, before meeting his
> princess.
>
> The second man, Rich, was the audacious-type of person. He built a small and
> stylish T-canoe and off he threw himself into the river hoping to be carried
> safely to the other side with the help of the current. He was never seen
> again.
>
> The third man, Jaime, was the cautious-type. He looked around to find a
> better point to cross the river. And there, a few hundred yards down the
> river he saw that the river divided itself into three small and quiet streams
> of shallow water, 160 meters wide each, separated by stretches of land. Off
> he went, swam safely through the quiet waters and returned on the other side
> of the river to meet his princess.
>
> Whether the princess was waiting for them on the other side of the river is
> another story ...