A binary engineering worldview, DoubleQuoted with Explanation
[ by Charles Cameron — humor, and please forgive me if you have have seen it before ]
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Here’s the DoubleQuote:
And here’s the expanation — you may of course have seen it, but hey, anyway:
via Frank Loveless
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It never occurred to me before, but maybe, just maybe, I could get a doctorate in engineering?
Ya think?
October 9th, 2015 at 12:14 am
Ahem. As an engineer, I have to say, that this sums it up –
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A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.
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Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
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Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!
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A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
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“What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”
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So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”
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The man sent a bill that read:
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Tapping with a hammer………………….. $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap…………………….. $ 9,998.00
October 9th, 2015 at 5:19 am
Excellent!
October 10th, 2015 at 11:27 pm
“It never occurred to me before, but maybe, just maybe, I could get a doctorate in engineering?
Ya think?”
I think you sell yourself too short.
October 11th, 2015 at 2:48 am
You’re very kind to say so, Larry.
October 11th, 2015 at 5:25 am
Kind? Is the person kind who points to your short falls?
If I was kind I would say that age has brought you great wisdom that surpasses the need of either duct tape or WD40, which, at times, all engineers will eventually need.
October 11th, 2015 at 6:40 am
You’re very kind to say so, Larry.
: )
October 12th, 2015 at 5:46 am
Today I ran across a variant on Scott’s story in an August WaPo article, This algorithm can create a new Van Gogh or Picasso in just an hour:
Yesterday, my friend Derek Robinson noted that Scott’s tale was essentially the same as the zen story of a master-painter commissioned by the Emperor to paint a goldfish. When years have passed, and increasingly powerful emissaries sent to the painter demanding the painting forthwith, the Emperor himself arrives at the painter’s doorstep accompanied by armed guards, and demands the painting immediately, under pain of death. The artist quickly paints a goldfish with quick sweeps of his brush, and the Emperor is inclined to have him executed for his insolent procrastination. At which point, the painter opens a cupboard, and out tumble dozens upon dozens of preliminary goldfish paintings, none of which had been deemed fit by the painter for the Imperial commission.