Everyone knows which creature walks on 4 limbs then 2 then 3, but do you know your ABC’S? If A is the sky and B is the ground, then C would be E5. However, if A was the ground and B is the sky, would C be DC? No. C would be QNC. Now for a given A and B, would you be able to figure out what C is? Here’s another example. If I arrange 3 equally sized cans on a table in an equilateral triangle pointing exactly north with Pepsi as the north can, Coke as the east can, and Coke zero as the west can and I am sitting on the south side facing north, if A is the Pepsi and B is Coke Zero, then C would be the normal Coke. However, if I move to the north and I were to ask what C was if A was Pepsi and B was Coke Zero, then would C be me? No. C would be the Coke Zero. But C would also be me.
Regardless of the rules governing the supposed alphabetic mapping of objects, one must realize that *gnOMEs {isN’t it ‘are gRAhpS “si” ]sHrettINg (am) &tOTaLLy &hOw*.
If you found the last two examples challenging, here’s one that may be easier to get. Molly likes grass, but not plants. Molly likes communism, but not democracy. Molly likes Co-op but not Jobmine (in her defense, she’s not alone). What is the rule that dictates what Molly does or doesn’t like?
There’s a real answer behind all of these, whether or not the answer that you come up with that would satisfy the particular examples is the “real” answer is slightly out of my control. But either way, the answer to all of these are much simpler than you think. Throughout your years here you’re going become convinced that no problem has a simple solution. However, sometimes the simplest solution can be the most efficient. So don’t just challenge convention without a better alternative in an “out of the box into the box that is outside of the box” way. Any person can flip a clock around and call it original. But not many realize that if they make their clock go counterclockwise and make the 12 start at the regular 3 position it would not only be challenging common convention, but would be more consistent with the mathematical convention of how we view positive angles in polar and Cartesian coordinates. Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful semester and I wish you best of luck on exams. And remember: If you imagine you’re in a dark locked room, the easiest way to escape is to stop imagining you’re in that room.
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