<p>Mr. Standish announced that there would be a fire drill this week, and that no one would know in advance which day it would occur.</p>
<p>It could not occur on Friday, because that would mean that Thursday would have come and gone without a fire drill, and so everyone would know that it must occur on Friday. But that would violate Mr. Standish’s statement that no one would know which day it would occur. Therefore, Friday was out.</p>
<p>That means Thursday is the last possible day of the week the fire drill could occur. Now suppose that Wednesday comes and goes without a fire drill. That leaves Thursday or Friday, but we’ve already eliminated Friday, so that leaves just Thursday. But then everyone would know it would happen Thursday, and Mr. Standish said that no one would know! So Thursday’s out, too.</p>
<p>By the same reasoning, Wednesday would be out. And Tuesday. And Monday. Logically, therefore, the fire drill could not possibly happen, because no matter which day it occurred, everyone would have known in advance.</p>
<p>And yet, Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., there was a fire drill. And no one knew in advance.</p>
<p>That’s because you could “eliminate” possible days only by working backward from the end of the week. But of course in reality time actually advances only forward from the beginning of the week, so prior to the drill ruling out any given subsequent day was not possible.</p>
<p>I just love that little “uh no” that some people put in front of their replies that translates as, “I am condescending to you because I think you’re stupid, and now I shall enlighten you.”</p>
<p>I’m comforted by the knowledge that, if you were really in a position to condescend to me, you would know that there should be a comma between “uh” and “no.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, of course Thursday was only out if the fire alarm did not occur on Wednesday (or earlier). It’s a recursive argument. Try to stay with us here.</p>
<p>^^^ Wow!! Talk about condescending… I didn’t get that all from the previous poster, mantori. Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed, or what?</p>
<p>Mr. Standish likes to have complete control over the timing of his fire drills, and he does not take kindly to second-guessing. Don’t blame me. I’m just the messenger.</p>
<p>Mr. Standish gets to pick the date and time for fire drills, and probably tries to get as many of the required number for the year out of the way as quickly as possible. If he averages one per week from the first day of school, he can be done for the year by early November. It will drive the teachers mad, but at least the kids will be waiting for the all-clear in relatively warmer weather.</p>
<p>Those pesky Code Red (armed intruder in the building) and Code Blue (armed crazy in the neighborhood) drills are called in randomly from the central office and no one will know when to expect them, not even Mr. Standish. This year, will he insist that the teachers have the kids put their cell phones on vibrate, or will he let them call each other from one room to the next as long as they are “quiet about it”?</p>
<p>And, let’s hope that this year when the Tornado Drill is practiced, that someone has figured out where to put the kids so they really are not near ANY windows, unlike last year when Mr. Standish had the 11th graders lined up in that corridor with the picture windows facing the inner courtyard of the school…</p>
He got the fire drill at an inconvenient time ;)</p>