"Bob and Alice" why them?

FtlIsAwesome

Tell me, tell me! What thread was it?

Chi Meson

I use a workbook that goes over the other line, trying to use as many names as possible. One problem has "Andy, Mandy, Candy, and Randy"; another investigates the fish tank of Xiao Li; there's a pole-vault problem featuring Sergei Bubka; and the sky-diver Branco. After a while, you start missing Alice and Bob.

Ryan_m_b

Back during my school exams in the UK there was a massive drive for political correctness. Therefore all exam questions would feature a boys name, a girls name and an ethnic name.

"George, Stacey and Rajij went to the park..."

Null_

BobG

Okay, I understand who most of these people are, but who the heck is skydiver Branco?

I would have gone with skydiver "Dummy" Mahan. He presents a lot more opportunities for physics scenarios. Dummy Mahan's real name was Frederico Mesa, but his boxing name of Fred Mahan gave him better opportunities as a boxer in the late 20's. His nickname came from the fact that he was deaf and dumb. He fought for the welterweight championship a couple of times, but lost both fights. Along the way, someone had suggested that the pressure change created by skydiving might cure his deafness... and the couple times he tried it, it seemed to give him hearing for very short periods after the jump.

Which led to one of the worst hype events in sports history. Mahan would parachute from an airplane to cure his deafness with a bevy of reporters to record the miraculous event, which should get him into the news and increase the interest in his upcoming boxing match.

Unfortunately, the parachute failed to open.

BobG

I also think there should be at least one phsyics problem involving Ted throwing softballs from a 700 ft high skyscraper. (Ted Stepien threw softballs from a skyscraper he owned to celebrate buying the Cleveland Cavliers. Unfortunately, he failed to account for the wind and the softballs blew off course, smashing a car windshield, fracturing a man's cheek, and fracturing a woman's wrist. The ensuing panic resulted in numerous other minor injuries. The incident inspired one of the greatest TV episodes in history - the WKRP Thanksgiving episode).

Plus, there should be a physics problem involving soccer referee Nicole and 100,000 angry mirror wielding fans in an alternate history where Nicole actually has Liu Ling retake her penalty shot when goalkeeper Briana comes off her line early to make a save, denying the fans the opportunity to see Brandi rip her shirt off (i.e. - a replay of Arthur Clarke's short story "A Slight Case of Sunstroke").

lisab

Wow, he must have gone ballistic.

Chi Meson

I see what you did there.

lisab

rhody

Lisa,

As in terminal velocity ballistic ? hehe...

Rhody... sh.., now, where is that damn rip chord !!!

mankin2006

Oh man, that's gotta hurt

Jimmy Snyder

But easy to do. The only hard part is the ground when you come right down to it.

[itex]\copyright[/itex] 3970 BCE, Cain Adamson.

Cain was a very funny guy. In the words of Abel Adamson, "He slays me."

turbo

Jimmy, you are volcano-bait for sure!!

rhody

Lisa is trying to out do you, but you keep coming back with priceless gems... what say you (Saturday Night Live Lisa ?)

Rhody...

Jimmy Snyder

Like the majority of my jokes, that one's lifted. I just edited my earlier post.