any year now

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sasha
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any year now

Post by sasha » October 7th, 2018, 9:37 am

A physicist from UCLA is walking along the beach one day when an object half-buried in the sand catches his eye. He stops to investigate, and pulling it free, discovers it to be an old brass Arabic oil lamp. He rubs off some of the grime with his thumb, and to his astonishment a genii issues forth from within.

The genii bows and says, "For freeing me from the lamp I shall grant you a single wish, whatever you want."

The physicist thinks a moment, then produces a pocket atlas. Opening it to the Middle East he points and says, "I'd like you to bring lasting peace to this part of the world."

The genii takes the map and studies it closely. For several minutes he frowns in silent concentration, but in the end he heaves a remorseful sigh. "I'm afraid that is one wish I cannot grant," he says, sadly shaking his head. "The divisions go too deep, and have festered for too long. Not even I can undo the hatred of centuries." He hands the atlas back. "Perhaps you should choose something else."

After another moment's thought the physicist says "Well, I'd like to see controlled nuclear fusion a commercial reality by the end of the decade."

The genii sits and ponders this, muttering aloud as he does. "Tokomak or laser implosion... toroidal confinement... plasma pinch, kink instabilities, filamentation..." He thinks long and hard, but after about 10 minutes gives an exasperated shake of head, looks up and says,

"Let me see that map again."
.
"Falsehood flies, the Truth comes limping after it." - Jonathan Swift, ca. 1710

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