Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!hao!seismo!harvard!wjh12!genrad!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!lutton From: lutton@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.jokes Subject: Professions and faulty logic Message-ID: <1677@inmet.UUCP> Date: Tue, 25-Sep-84 00:43:02 EDT Article-I.D.: inmet.1677 Posted: Tue Sep 25 00:43:02 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 28-Sep-84 05:44:30 EDT Lines: 20 Nf-ID: #N:inmet:4500152:000:839 Nf-From: inmet!lutton Sep 23 23:36:00 1984 <> <> The spurious methods of proof (proving all horses are the same color) reminded me of the following story. I suppose it's not really a joke, as the punch-line is rather weak. Maybe it's a shaggy-sheep story. Anyway, here goes: An anthropologist, an astronomer, and a logician were riding a train from London to Edinburgh. None had been out of England before. As they crossed the border they saw a sign, "Entering Scotland," and just beyond it a single black sheep grazing. The anthropologist said, "Interesting. All sheep in Scotland are black." The astronomer said, "We can't conclude that on the evidence. All we can say is that some sheep in Scotland are black." The logician said, "Or more precisely: There appears to exist in Scotland at this moment at least one sheep that is black on at least one side."