In the spirit of sharing
Posted: Fri May 15, 2020 2:04 am
What with being cooped up and faced with a multitude of projects and every one of them being some sort of 'infinite regression' (meaning that sixteen other things have to happen first), I felt that it's time to share this story of disaster and hubris.
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An old guy walks into a pet shop and notices that there are two parrots for sale that look identical but have wildly different prices. One for $25 and one for $500. He asks and the owner tells him that the expensive one is a rare subspecies that has a slightly shorter beak and thus is much desired among pet fanciers. A one millimeter difference.
The old guy says, “Sell me the cheap bird and I’ll file down his beak and make a lot of money.” The shop owner answers, “Can’t be done. there’s a nerve just below the end of the beak and if you hit it the bird dies.”
The old guy say, “ I know what I’m doing. I have a steam boat. I just set the valve gear last week. I do fine work with a file every day. Sell me the cheap bird.”
The next morning he is back waiting for the shop to open. “Got any more of those $25 birds?”
“Aha!”, says the owner. “Filed too far?”
“No. It’s embarrassing. I crushed his head in the vise.”
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An old guy walks into a pet shop and notices that there are two parrots for sale that look identical but have wildly different prices. One for $25 and one for $500. He asks and the owner tells him that the expensive one is a rare subspecies that has a slightly shorter beak and thus is much desired among pet fanciers. A one millimeter difference.
The old guy says, “Sell me the cheap bird and I’ll file down his beak and make a lot of money.” The shop owner answers, “Can’t be done. there’s a nerve just below the end of the beak and if you hit it the bird dies.”
The old guy say, “ I know what I’m doing. I have a steam boat. I just set the valve gear last week. I do fine work with a file every day. Sell me the cheap bird.”
The next morning he is back waiting for the shop to open. “Got any more of those $25 birds?”
“Aha!”, says the owner. “Filed too far?”
“No. It’s embarrassing. I crushed his head in the vise.”