From bursar@c2i.net Mon Apr 30 11:44:20 2001 Date: 21 Mar 2001 02:35:38 GMT From: Roy G. Ovrebo Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Re: TAN: That's _Professor_ OilCan to You, Punk Laura M. Parkinson wrote: >jsn@concentric.net (John S. Novak, III) rhapsodized in blue: > >>On Tue, 20 Mar 2001 23:37:48 GMT, Laura M. Parkinson >> wrote: >> >>>>"You're in a room with three switches. In another room are three light >>>>bulbs..." >> >>>Grr... stop doing that! Finish the question. :p >> >>...You can flip any of the switches you like as long as you're >>in the room and the door is closed, but once you open the door, >>the switches freeze. Explain how to determine which switch goes >>with which bulb. > >Um.. is there something more to this? Ah, you're missing the subtleties. >Otherwise, why couldn't you just >flip one on, go out and look, then flip that back and flip another >one, go look, and repeat for the last one? Because clearly, as Novak pointed out, you don't use light bulbs in a modern house. This house is probably several hundred years old, and yes, those stains on the floor are exactly what you suspect. Flick switch #1. *ZZZZAP* *OWWW* Fuck, fuck, fuck. Flick switch #2. *Click* *Click* *Crack* That old bakelite was brittle. Flick switch #3. *KerZPLAFF* And you've now blown the fuse. The solution is to rip out the old wiring and get it modernised, preferably with light switches in the _same_ rooms as the illuminating devices. -- Roy G. Ovrebo