Tuesday 10 October 2006

the more I find out the less I know...

As I've mentioned, I'm on a course all week this week. It's largely based around statistics and things, so it could easily have been deathly dull, but actually it's been relatively interesting so far. Plus, at the end of it all, I will get to call myself a "Green Belt Practitioner" or somesuch nonsense, which will apparently look good on my CV - assuming I ever get round to writing one.

And, naturally, this course also has the enormous bonus of keeping me away from my day job for a few precious days. I've been checking and answering my emails sporadically, but I've so far resisted the temptation to pop back to my desk at the end of the day to see how things are going, and instead have just gone straight home.

I imagine they'll be managing without me just fine... but then again, I'm certainly managing just fine without them too. I fired an email at my boss during my lunchbreak yesterday about the lack of news on my promotion. Today I received the reply: she wants to see me when the course is over to give me an update on the whole situation. I have two thoughts on this:

1) She's so interested in me that I've had to chase her before she thought to give me an update
2) I'm not expecting to hear I have been promoted - more excuses and more reasons why I'll have to wait.

Fuck'em. That's my new motto at work. Fuck'em. Whatever she says, I'm going to make damn sure she knows that I'm pissed off.

Anyhow.

I've a question for you:

Why are round manhole covers preferable to square ones?

I was asked this question this morning on my course. Apparently it's a question used in the recruitment process of a major international IT company. It's not a trick question, so what do you think?

---

Oh, and the pizza yesterday was an American Hot, and it was lovely thanks.

11 comments:

  1. Um... Manhole covers are fucking heavy and to put a square one in you have to get it in right which could mean a lot of jiggling. Round ones will fit any which way.

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  2. Round ones can't fall through the hole - with a bit of jiggling you could get a square / rectangular one through.

    I must confess i had some help with this...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover

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  3. correct, but I can't believe quite how brazenly you cheated!

    ST

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  4. ..plus if that answer is true (or indeed all that important), why aren't they all round?

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  5. any funnier (albeit perhaps less factual) answers?

    I like the one about them being round because Manholes are round.

    ST

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  6. I think it's because round is natural. Feel it. It's circular. It's like a carousel. You pay the quarter, you get on the horse. It goes up and down and around. Circular. Circle. With the music. The flow... all good things.

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  7. Round ones can't fall in - square ones could fall through the hole on the diagonal.

    Do I win another t-shirt, with something about statistics on it?

    *demonstrates her anova one-inch-punch*

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  8. A green belt practitioner? Is it a karate course?

    I knew the manhole cover thing, and I didn't cheat: I know all manner of useless crap.

    Also, the holes underneath them are normally round. So it makes sense.

    Or perhaps it's so Wayne Rooney doesn't mistake it for a giant piece of toast and try to eat it.

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  9. Manholes are round so that accident-prone tradespeople can't injure themselves as they go down the manhole to the 'orrible mess below (since people are basically rounded).

    And since manholes are round, manhole covers then have to be round or else the top bit (that the manhole cover fits into) would have to be cut bigger than the manhole or else the cover would fall through and/or not be water/odour tight.

    This is probably not true, but it amuses me and makes sense to my brain. :)

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  10. Well, The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_247a.html) suggests this: "Anyway, it seems to me that round has got to be the shape of choice. That said, we don't have any definitive statements on this subject from the Manhole Cover Research Institute. We cannot entirely discount the possibility that the covers are round because someone at the dawn of modern civil engineering discovered he could draw them by tracing around the outside of a penny. But good enough for now."

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  11. Obviously, man hole covers are round so that, when required, Super heroes can fling them at bad guys as you would a frisbee or a discus. Square ones would not offer the correct aero-dynamic properties & could result in the villian making a successful escape.
    Obviously.

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