Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Recalculations place it at 0.4999.

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peculiar low-tech trap

 stick a croissant under a box, tilted up on one side by a stick. pull a string tied to the stick when quarry bites. smart prey would quietly vote for the trap and then step safely off to the side.
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i am posting this idea for a friend of mine:

he wants to dig a really huge trench, so big that a big ship could fit in it. in fact, he wants to flood it and allow ships to float in it if they want.

curiously, he wants it to end up working, so that if you were on one of these ships, your experience of going from one end of the trench to the other, would be exactly like the experience of traversing it in the opposite direction. so if you didn't look at the ship's compass (or if it were operating as it does in the bermuda triangle), you couldnt tell if you were going left to right, or right to left.

he is adament about realizing this project somewhere south of costa rica where it's warm. he's kind of a weird guy, but very driven. (sorry i can't think offhand of a shorter way to describe his project.)

—gnormal, Feb 17 2001

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       I presume that he proposes to blot out the sky over this trench as well.
—centauri, Feb 17 2001
   

       I have tried this and it does work.
—benfrost, Mar 25 2001
   

       not wanting to make a fuss. just noticed this was filed in Public:Weapon. "but", i said to myself, "is a trap really a weapon?" of course not. (i blame the misfiling on my wheel mouse). so i moved it to Public:Transportation.   

       [and while im {still} here, i would like to reapologize for being unable to think of a shorter way to describe my friends project. sorry about that.]
—gnormal, Apr 14 2001, last modified May 29 2001
   

       This is like a physical palindrome, isn't it. Everything at each end of the trench looks identical, and each point from end to center is mirrored by an identical point on the opposite end. Could you have special ships which were also palindromic--a bow at each end, and precisely mirrored decks and rooms on each side of the midpoint? Identical twins for captains, one in the wheelhouse at each end of the ship? The best time to operate the trap would be when the weather is thickly overcast, perhaps. Get wealthy supporters of Dubya on board, tell them they're caught in a regressive time loop and can only get out of it by giving you immense cash "donations."
—Dog Ed, Apr 14 2001
   

       Make the trench a giant cul-de-sac. Or a giant traffic circle. Once a ship enters, close off the entrance.
—phoenix, Nov 05 2001
   

       Are you waiting for someone to say "Baked - the Panama Canal?" 'Cause I'm not gonna.
—snarfyguy, Nov 05 2001
   

       Apparently it's my day to wear the pedant hat:

1. "so if you didn't look at the ship's compass, you couldn't tell if you were oging left to right or right to left." A compass gives you the ordinal directions of NSEW or degrees thereof. "Left" and "right" are relative direction indicators, not determinable by compass. Regardless of where one is located, and what visual cues are available, one can tell left from right (assuming one knows what they mean).

2. "pull a string tied to the stick when quarry bites" Though your meaning is probably clear to most readers, gramamtically speaking you are instructing that the string is to be tied to the stick when the quarry bites. A more correct construction for this sentence would be: "When quarry bites, pull a string that has been tied to the stick."

3. If, as snarfguy has guessed, this is a puzzle, then it is not properly 1/2bakery material.

—quarterbaker, Nov 05 2001
   

       I get the feeling that the title, and summary of this idea have nothing to do with the material you wrote after that point.   

       I also get the feeling that the idea for posting this idea was somehow spawned throuh extreme irony, and dissatisfaction with the number of buns you've been getting.   

       Either that, or the whole posting is a trap, and I'll somehow die when I hit the "Ok" button. Tell your friend to watch out for the mosquitoes... if he's still alive down there.
—ye_river_xiv, Jan 23 2007
   
      
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