Wednesday, January 16, 2008

A Discovery! And Answers


"Fossil hunters have uncovered the greatest rodent that ever lived!"

My god! They've discovered Rodents of Unusual Size! They've found the Fire Swamp. "The Princess Bride" is true!

I just watched that movie the other day with my daughter. I love it, it never gets old. Since I was reminded of "The Princess Bride" I have to tell you my favorite Mandy Patinkin story. A few years back my wife and I went to see Mandy Patinkin in concert in Tampa, FL. At some point early in the performance a fan sitting close to the stage wished him a happy birthday. He thanked them and acknowledged that, yes it was his birthday. Someone from back stage produced a large sheet cake and the whole audience broke out into happy birthday. He blew out the candles and offers cake to everyone. Then he says, no, wait, we have a show to do let's wait until after the show. Anyone that wants cake stick around and come up on stage after the show. We're all thinking, yeah right, they're going to give cake to the whole audience in the Tampa Center for the Performing Arts. He goes on with his brilliant performance. After the show the lights come up and people start to leave. As we're walking from our seats we notice that indeed, some people are going on stage. So we stayed and joined them. On stage Mandy Patinkin is personally cutting and serving cake to anyone that wants it. I would guess that less than a fourth of the audience stayed but that man cut cake, spoke to, signed autographs for and posed for pictures with every single person that was there. On his birthday. We were never rushed and he actually mingled with people. As if that wasn't cool enough, the person in front of us asked him to do THE line from "The Princess Bride". We were two feet from he when he said "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." That went way beyond cool. And the cake was good too.

Okay. Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz questions:

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator.
Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles.How do you manage it?
Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.


According to Andersen Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four year old.

With the exception of remembering to take the giraffe out before putting in the elephant, my kids got these right last night. Maybe thay were assuming a really big refrigerator.

15 comments:

Mike said...

After you posted that quiz yesterday I googled it. I went to the website and they had the quiz along with the answers. I was completely blown-away with the beauty of that quiz and the amazingly simple answers. Companies these days love to over-think everything that comes along. I've always believed that the simpler a solution is, the better it is.

Kitty said...

Hahahaha - love the answers to the quiz. I just asked the questions to my smalls - their answers were even more bizarre than anything I could think of :-O

Oh, and I've never seen The Princess Bride. Is this something I should address? x

Hungry Mother said...

I'm glad I'm no longer interested in a job, since I'm obviously unqualified. My excuse for not getting 1 and 2 is that I've stopped using the fridge for my gatorade because I'm trying to toughen myself up. My excuse for 3 is my inexcusable arrogance. My excuse for 4 is that I'm a dumbass.

Bruce, a work in progress said...

I felt the same way Mike. I've always been a firm believer in the KISS principle.

Kitty, out of the mouths of babes. You just never know what they're going to say.
Oh you should definitely see The Princess Bride. It's a fairy tale that was made back in the 80's. It's funny and charming.

HM, excuses excuses. You're not a dumbass, you've just been soaking up too much of that Florida sun lately. It slows down your thinking. I was there for 15 years. Imagine what it did to me.

Malicious Intent said...

I think their test sucked! I liked my answers better!

Rant over.

:)

Bruce, a work in progress said...

Oh MI, you're just cranky because you can't be president of Hershey Park, Wisconsin - the land of chocolate covered cheese.
Actually, as I recall, your answers were very close to these.

Anonymous said...

I have no clue what is going on here.

And who am I?

Malicious Intent said...

Mike,
I am upset over the lack of pixie dust!

PP, we have no idea what is going on here either, we just make this shit up as we go. Poorly.

Bruce, a work in progress said...

You don't need to know what's going. MI's right, just makin' it up. Just show up and the party starts. And you are Prepo, hear you roar. Missed you lately. Everything okay? How's the little guy?

MI, we'll see if we can round you up some pixie dust.

Malach the Merciless said...

I love me Mandy!

Bruce, a work in progress said...

You said it Mal. Mandy is awesome.

Moooooog35 said...

Great.

Now I'm hungry for elephant.

Bruce, a work in progress said...

M...G, you'd better hurry and have some. It doesn't keep long in the fridge.

Tequila Mockingbird said...

HA! i used to live like right by there. but i never got any cake *sighs*

I SO HEART the princess bride. like, if i was a dude, i would probably have a hard on for it. yes, i like it THAT much.

BBC said...

All tests like that are flawed and I don't take them.

But I'm getting old enough to be considered a fossil. It's okay, I've been down a lot of roads and not all of them were paved.

It's been an interesting journey and I'm interested in how it will end. Ever get interested in how you will die?

I think that it will be the next most interesting I do.