Proof of concept

Proof of concept - Songs of innocence and of experience

Douglas Spencer

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Proof of concept	[Aug. 27th, 2006\|11:17 pm] Douglas Spencer
I've just told someone a joke that could only possibly be funny to other mathematicians. Now, some unstructured and valueless research is called for. First the data collection phase: Poll #808170 Jokes which are only funny to a few people Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None. Participants: 17 Please tell me a joke that could only possibly be funny to those familiar with [insert discipline of choice]. View Answers Please be so good as to tell me what you'd have to know for this joke to be funny. View Answers Please tick this box so that others can see how many people have answered thus far. View Answers Tick! 17(100.0%) In a couple of days, I'll do another poll with these jokes and "Did you get it?" ticky boxes.
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Comments:

From:

flick
2006-08-27 10:22 pm (UTC)

Bah. I was *so* about to send an email saying 'you don't want him to explain the joke... really....'

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From:

dougs
2006-08-27 10:33 pm (UTC)

I'm now very tempted to tell another joke, but if I do I think she'll be short with me.

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From:

steverogerson
2006-08-27 10:24 pm (UTC)

What was the maths joke?

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From:

dougs
2006-08-27 10:27 pm (UTC)

You'll find out when I do the second poll.

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From:

captainlucy
2006-08-27 10:26 pm (UTC)

I'm just wondering how many times people will write the joke I just told...

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From:

watervole
2006-08-28 07:57 am (UTC)

You need to grab Richard when you next see us and ask to see the text of Ian Stewart's 'Mathematics of Discworld' lecture. (Several people enjoyed it so much that Ian kindly emailed them a copy of his slides for the lecture)

It is chock full of jokes that only a mathematician will get and some of them are excruciatingly funny. They're pitched really high. Richard and Henry spotted some that went over my head.

It's essentially a long argument that starts with the known fact that light moves very slowly in Discworld and attempts to work out the speed of twilight.

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