Witticism and Sturgeon's Law
Jul. 5th, 2006 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_tectonicWhile hanging out at the barbecue last night, I managed to get some humorous mileage out of Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crap").
Chris: I'm not sure I buy that. How does that work with the fact that 75% of my body is water? Aren't I made mostly of water, not crap?
Me: It just means that 90% of the water in your body is shoddily-built, poorly-designed, sub-standard crap! It's lousy water that's overpriced and doesn't work very well!
...
Me: And 90%, that's a hard number. It's exact. It's exactly 90% of everything.
Neal: Right! And if you get a number that's not 90%, that means you've either included too much or not enough, and you have to adjust.
Me: No! It means that your arithmetic is crap, too!
Chris: I'm not sure I buy that. How does that work with the fact that 75% of my body is water? Aren't I made mostly of water, not crap?
Me: It just means that 90% of the water in your body is shoddily-built, poorly-designed, sub-standard crap! It's lousy water that's overpriced and doesn't work very well!
...
Me: And 90%, that's a hard number. It's exact. It's exactly 90% of everything.
Neal: Right! And if you get a number that's not 90%, that means you've either included too much or not enough, and you have to adjust.
Me: No! It means that your arithmetic is crap, too!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 06:01 pm (UTC)Neal's Arithmetic...
Date: 2006-07-05 08:40 pm (UTC)Well, I've split checks with Neal, so I can tell you [how good his math is].
Re: Neal's Arithmetic...
Date: 2006-07-05 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 08:28 pm (UTC)oh me me me
Date: 2006-07-05 08:37 pm (UTC)ah,well, ya know, I've read Sturgeon, and most of it is Crap...
(ducks)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 06:57 am (UTC)