Mrs. Todd's Shortcut
"'Do you know, Homer, that a man wrote an article in Science Today in 1923 proving that no man could run a mile in under four minutes? He proved it, with all sorts of calculations based on the maximum length of the male thigh-muscles, maximum length of stride, maximum lung capacity, maximum heart rate, and a whole lot more. I was taken with that article! I was so taken that I gave it to Worth and asked him to give it to Professor Murray in the math department at the University of Maine. I wanted those figures checked because I was sure they must be based on the wrong postulates, or something. Worth probably thought I was being silly -- 'Ophelia's got a bee in her bonnet' is what he says -- but he took them. Well Professor Murray checked through the man's figures quite carefully. . .and do you know what, Homer?'
'No missus.'
'Those figures were right. The man's criteria were solid. He proved, back in 1923, that a man couldn't run a mile in under four minutes. He proved that. But people do it all the time, and do you know what that means?'
'No missus,' I said, although I had a glimmer.'
'It means that no blue ribbon is forever,' she says. 'Someday -- if the world doesn't explode itself in the meantime -- someone will run a two-minute mile in the Olympics. It may take a hundred years or a thousand, but it will happen. Because there is no ultimate blue ribbon. There is zero and there is eternity, and there is mortality, but there is no ultimate.'"
Great story from Stephen King's Skeleton Crew.
'No missus.'
'Those figures were right. The man's criteria were solid. He proved, back in 1923, that a man couldn't run a mile in under four minutes. He proved that. But people do it all the time, and do you know what that means?'
'No missus,' I said, although I had a glimmer.'
'It means that no blue ribbon is forever,' she says. 'Someday -- if the world doesn't explode itself in the meantime -- someone will run a two-minute mile in the Olympics. It may take a hundred years or a thousand, but it will happen. Because there is no ultimate blue ribbon. There is zero and there is eternity, and there is mortality, but there is no ultimate.'"
Great story from Stephen King's Skeleton Crew.
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