The Barometer Problem

October 15, 2007 · Filed Under Legends · Comment 

The barometer comnundrum!It is one the urban legends doing rounds around the internet. It has attained such a longevity that it pops up over and over again in different versions, sometimes attributed to a celebrity to bestow it a bit of respectability!

Here is the story:-

Some time ago I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the system were not set up against the student: The instructor and the student agreed to submit this to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.

I went to my colleague’s office and read the examination question: “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.”

The student had answered: “Take a barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”
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Not so elegant, but most read!

March 5, 2005 · Filed Under Techno-Bab · 2 Comments 

Slashes our eyes with dots!
Content is the King. Ok
But design is the Queen!

Usability, contrast, style, ease on the eye are also departments that add value to the content. But have a look at Slashdot, which is perhaps the most popular (geeky) website of all. So, content is everything!

Just read at Slashdot:-

What? SCO needs money?

Perhaps SCO can sue itself to raise cash.

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