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"Telling Time"
A man is strolling past the mental hospital and suddenly remembers an
important meeting. Unfortunately, his
watch has
stopped, and he cannot tell if he is late or not.
Then, he
notices a patient similarly strolling about
within
the
hospital fence.
Calling out to the patient, the man says, "Pardon me, sir, but do
you have the time?"
The patient calls back, "One moment!" and throws himself upon the
ground, pulling out a short stick as he does. He
pushes the
stick into the ground, and, pulling out a carpeter's
level, assures
himself that the stick is vertical. With a compass,
the patient
locates north and with a steel ruler, measures
the
precise
length of the shadow cast by the stick. Withdrawing
a slide rule
from his pocket, the patient calculates rapidly,
then swiftly
packs up all his tools and turns back to the
pedestrian,
saying, "It is now precisely 2:37 PM, provided today
is May the
twenty-second, which I believe it is."
The man can't help but be impressed by this demonstration, and sets his
watch accordingly. Before he leaves, he says to
the patient,
"That was really quite remarkable, but tell me,
what do you do
on a cloudy day, or at night, when the
stick
casts no
shadow?"
The patient holds up his wrist and says, "I suppose I'd just look at my
watch." |
Charles Mims
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