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Haim
Posts:
7,807
Registered:
12/6/04
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Re: Position Announcement: Univ. of Alabama
Posted:
Jun 18, 2012 8:54 AM
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Paul A. Tanner, III Posted: Jun 16, 2012 1:21 PM
>Again: It's the other way around. And I can yet again
>prove that it is the other way around by your words - in
>the following and throughout the thread it is in I
>address this claim of yours by addressing a slip of
>yours:
>
>"Re: The quality of public school teachers in the US"
>http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=7502307
Paul,
Thank you for that so appropriate citation. You remind me of an old joke.
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A young family moves into a suburb of NYC. Early on his first day to work, the young man climbs aboard the commuter train, settles into the very quiet car, and observes that all his car mates are somewhat older men who have clearly been doing this commute for a few years.
They ride along in silence for some time when, much to the surprise of the young man, one of the older men calls out "Eighteen!" and there is a ripple of laughter. A little while after, a second man calls out "Fifty-two!" and there are some good natured groans. This goes on a few more times until they reach their destination. Naturally, the young man was puzzled by this inexplicable behavior.
On the next day, and for several days thereafter, he observes the same odd behavior. Finally, after more than a week of this, and feeling a bit more comfortable with his new crowd, the young man turns to the older gentleman sitting next to him and asks for an explanation, which the older man was happy to provide.
"You see," said the older man, "most of us have been commuting like this for many years. In the first few years, we would pass the time by telling jokes. But, after some time, everyone became quite familiar with all the jokes, so we numbered them.
The young man was astonished by this story but, after all, it made sense.
The next day, the young man climbed aboard the train in the usual way and the commute proceeded normally. The car had remained quiet for an unusually long time so, thinking to ingratiate himself with the new crowd, the young man called out, "Twelve."
Silence.
The perturbed young man turned to his seat mate and asked what happened. With a pained expression on his face, the older man explained, "Telling a joke is all about timing."
- -----------------------
Haim
Shovel ready? What shovel ready?
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