Month: June 2006

  • "Who's On First" -- new version


    George:   Condi!  Nice to see you.  What's happening?

    Condi:   Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.

    George:   Great.  Lay it on me.

    Condi:   Hu is the new leader of China.

    George:   That's what I want to know.

    Condi:   That's what I'm telling you.

    George:   That's what I'm asking you.  Who is the new leader of China?

    Condi:   Yes.

    George:   I mean the fellow's name.

    Condi:   Hu.

    George:   The guy in China.

    Condi:   Hu.

    George:   The new leader of China.

    Condi:   Hu.

    George:   The main man in China!

    Condi:   Hu is leading China.

    George:   Now whaddya' asking me for?

    Condi:   I'm telling you, Hu is leading China.

    George:   Well, I'm asking you.  Who is leading China?

    Condi:   That's the man's name.

    George:   That's whose name?

    Condi:   Yes.

    George:   Will you, or will you not, tell me the name of the new leader of China?

    Condi:   Yes, sir.

    George:   Yassir?  Yassir Arrafat is in China?  I thought he's dead in the Middle East.

    Condi:   That's correct.

    George:   Then who is in China?

    Condi:   Yes, sir.

    George:   Yassir is in China?

    Condi:   No, sir.

    George:   Then who is?

    Condi:   Yes, sir.

    George:   Yassir?

    Condi:   No, sir.

    George:  Look Condi.  I need to know the name of the new leader of China.  Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. on the phone.

    Condi:   Kofi?

    George:   No, thanks.

    Condi:  You want Kofi?

    George:   No.

    Condi:   You don't want Kofi.

    George:  No.  But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk.  And then get me the U.N.

    Condi:   Yes, sir.

    George:  Not Yassir!  The guy at the U.N.

    Condi:  Kofi?

    George:  Milk!  Will you please make the call?

    Condi:  And call who?

    George:  Who is the guy at the U.N?

    Condi:   Hu is the guy in China

    George:   Will you stay out of China?!

    Condi:   Yes, sir.

    George:   And stay out of the Middle East!  Just get me the guy at the U.N.

    Condi:  Kofi?

    George:  All right!  With cream and two sugars.


     

  • A WATER BRIDGE . . . . . . . OVER A RIVER


    Even after you see it, it is still hard to believe !


    Water Bridge in Germany.... What a feat!


    Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long.......now this is engineering!


    This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.


    To those who appreciate engineering projects,  here's a puzzle for you arm-chair engineers and physicists:  Did that bridge have to be designed to withstand the additional weight of ship and barge traffic, or just the weight of the water?


    Answer:  It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water!  Why?  A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship,  regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded. Remember your high school physics, and the fly in an enclosed bottle project?  Similarly, the super sensitive scale proved that it didn't make any difference whether the fly was sitting on the bottom, walking up the side, or flying around.  The bottle, air, and fly were a single unit of mass and always weighed the same.