h a l f b a k e r yA riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a rich, flaky crust
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To install Schrodinger's Alarm Clock, you
first need to ensure that your bedroom is
completely sealed and soundproofed. It is
therefore suitable only for relatively large
rooms.
Before retiring, simply place one atom of
yttrium-93 into the small receptacle on
the top of the alarm clock.
As soon as
the atom decays, a radiation monitor will
trigger the release of a hammer, which will
fall on the tail of a cat, whose complaints
will wake you. You can then rise, dress,
and open the bedroom door to begin your
day. Given the half-life of yttrium-93, you
can expect to have (on average) a 10-hour
sleep before being awoken. However,
statistically, you could be woken at any
moment.
Until you open the bedroom door, the
state of the yttrium atom remains
indeterminate from the perspective of an
external observer. Therefore, you may or
may not have been woken, and may or
may not have gone to work. Therefore,
your employer can never conclude that
you have overslept - he can only be
certain that you have woken and arrived
for work.
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Nice, but I had expected better. |
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//Nice, but I had expected better.// True.
This one is marked for d. Nice umlauts,
UB. |
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Copy and paste UB's umlauts into the title. |
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I thought it wasn't that bad an idea, but
there's probably a better one lurking in
there somewhere. |
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He can draw the wrong conclusions if he wants. What you need is legitimate proof in order to prove that you set your alarm and everything went correctly as planned. What you need is an indoor Schrödinger video camera to capture the event as it is unfolding. Then your boss should be able to determine what happened by observing the delayed signal on the video camera screen. |
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or he could just ask the cat... cats only have 1 signal though, which is confusing because it's hard to tell whether they want to bite you or rub up against you. |
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/Therefore, your employer can never conclude that you have overslept - he can only be certain that you have woken and arrived for work./ |
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Well, yes, but that's true with a normal alarm clock. |
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I've often had days where I exist in a superposition of states, at once both awake and asleep. This normally takes place in the cubicle, though, rather than the bedroom. |
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would that be a Ford Cubicle? |
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//I thought it wasn't that bad an idea, but
there's probably a better one lurking in
there somewhere// That's exactly the
kind of assumption that got me where I
am today. |
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// fall on the tail of a cat // |
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Can it fall on the head of a cat ? Can it be a really big hammer ? PLEASE ? |
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[+] for the idea, too .... |
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