Howdy, starved readers! I suppose all of you have pondered whether I'd fallen in a hole and failed to escape for nearly three months... but I've just been preoccupied with other matters. I do apologize for my neglectfulness.

As a way of saying "Sowwy"... I am posing the following personal take on an Internet tidbit. After a lengthy read, I'm sure your hunger for my abstract and twisted view on matters will be sated for the time being. Have no fear. As subject matter pops its little head to the surface, I'll be there to scoop it up... over-analyze it... and rant about it on here for your amusement. I entitle this entry...

= = = The Kasoa & St. Ives Paradox = = =

There are two riddles that have been circulating on the internet for several years, now. Both are similar in their makeup and in their supposed solution.

The first one deals with a man headed to Kasoa; (there are actually two versions of this one)...



Version 1--

A man was traveling to Kasoa
At the bus stop, he met a man with 7 wives
Each wife has 12 sons and 12 daughters
Each daughter of the man's wife had 4 sons and 7 daughters
Each son of the man's wife had 7 sons and 4 daughters
Each grand daughter had 4 friends
How many people got to kasoa?



Version 2--

A man traveling to Kasoa met man with 7 wives.
Each wife had 12 sons and 12 daughters.
Each daughter had 4 sons and 7 daughters.
Each son had 7 sons and 4 daughters.
Each granddaughter had 4 friends.
How many people are going to Kasoa?

The next one deals with a man who meets a traveler headed for St. Ives;

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

((SPOILER ALERT)) Traditionally, the answer is "1"… assuming that only the narrator is traveling either to Kasoa or St. Ives.

However, being the sort of person that I am, and never holding with popular Lemmingistic acceptances, (I came up with that term – don’t you love it?) I propose the following twist on the bus stop version of the Kasoa riddle.

Background:

- Kasoa is a small town in Ghana, a country in West Africa. Transportation within rural Africa typically consists of school buses for mass public transit. The average school bus has a maximum of 24 seats, each with the capacity of seating 2 persons. So, it could safely be assumed that (with all occupants seated) the total capacity of an average bus in the Kasoa region would be 49 (48 passengers + 1 driver).

- Africa, as a whole, has accepted the practice of Polygamy for centuries. So the premise behind the narrator meeting a gentleman with 7 wives is not unheard of.

If a large group of people is located at a bus stop, then it can easily be assumed (citing their obvious family relationship) that all of them are traveling to the same destination. So, due to the fact that we now need a complete tally of the man's family, ­ we shall calculate his posterity.



A man was traveling to Kasoa

At the bus stop, he met a man with 7 wives
(husband + 7 wives = 8 adults)

Each wife has 12 sons and 12 daughters
(7 wives x 24 children each = 168 children)

Each daughter of the man's wife had 4 sons and 7 daughters
(12 daughters x 11 grandchildren = 132 grandchildren)

Each son of the man's wife had 7 sons and 4 daughters
(12 sons x 11 grandchildren = 132 grandchildren)

Each grand daughter had 4 friends
(12 daughters had 7 girls each = 84¡­ and 12 sons had 4 girls each = 48
So, 84 + 48 = 132 granddaughters x 4 friends each = 528 friends)

How many people got to Kasoa?

Ok,­ let's make a tally:

8 adults
168 children
132 grandchildren + 132 grandchildren = 264 grandchildren (total)
528 friends
=========
968 people comprise this man's family at the bus stop.

Now, noting that each of the daughters and sons would need a corresponding spouse to produce their sons and daughters,­ one might wonder where these individuals have wandered off to? Perhaps they are all visiting the bathroom facilities? If we hypothetically toss a spouse in for each son and daughter of the multiply-married-man, then we arrive at an additional 168 spouses. (7 wives having 12 male and 12 female children -- each one needing a spouse)

968 "listed" people
168 "unlisted" spouses
=====
1,136 people total

Now,­ we can take this figure and these individuals and arrive at some very thought provoking observational hypotheses;

1) This man is obviously filthy rich, extremely well-endowed… ­or both.

2) The seven wives and husband are very fertile and enjoy a robust libido. This has obviously been passed down through their genes.

3) While procreation is not a stumbling block for this family¡­ travel arrangements must be a nightmare!

4) Trying to utilize public transit to ferry 1,136 people at one time demonstrates a horrid lack of good judgment.



Remember the bus information from above? The average school bus can accommodate a maximum of 48 passengers and 1 driver (seated). Therefore, this family of 1,136 people divided by 48 passengers per bus = 23.67 (rounded up to 24) buses needed to haul this family.

So, I've ultimately arrived at the following conclusions...

1) A person who can support 1,135 family members does not need to take a bus...

2) The ACTUAL answer is­ 1,160 people headed to Kasoa…
((that’s 24 buses carrying 1,136 passengers + 24 drivers + one astounded man))

I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this evaluation of the facts and can now argue against the answer of "1" with more authority... now knowing what I know. ~chuckles~

Until next time, kiddos!!

In the immortal words of Gen. Douglas McArthur... "I have returned." Albeit 6 months since I last reared my ugly head, I haven't forgotten about this blog or my slightly warped readers. Well, technically, you have to be warped to find any entertainment from warped sources. I'm a warped source... ergo you must be warped readers.

Ok, enough with the warping and blah blah blah. I know what you're chomping at the bits for. Yes, I know what you crave. You want to see me delve into my darker side and verbally disect some "thing" or some "one" who has caused me to develop an eye tic or similar malady, due to the utter stupidity of their actions.

Well, wait no more. Yet ANOTHER series of fine commercials has caught my attention and caused pain to my cerebral synapses. Ah yes, the media. A never-ending source of the worst in marketing strategies. Today's little journey of angst has to do with disclaimer paranoia, and the loss of responsibility.

-= Disclaimer Paranoia & The Loss Of Responsibility =-
These days, there seems to be an overpowering sense that mass marketing has either been sued to the point of, figuratively, backing into a hole with their teeth bared. Or, based on the incompetence of our legal processes and what can be "sidestepped" or "loopholed", they feel legally vulnerable and in need of some sandbagging for any potentially devastating legal flood.

All of this will tie into Common Sense, later... but for now, just bear with me.

Have you ever been sitting on your comfy couch or favorite cushy recliner... and some commercial comes on TV that depicts actions or products doing what anyone with the I.Q. of a 3 year old would know are quite impossible? Sure, we all have. Maybe a tire commercial where the guy drives up the side of a building? How about a talking lizard that sells insurance? Or, perhaps a pickup truck that can pull a locomotive...on the tracks.

Yet, for some reason, these people feel compelled to include phrases like:

"Not indicative of actual vehicle capabilities"
"Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt."
"Dramatization"
"Slow Motion Used"
"Images Are Simulated"

Are these actually necessary?? I'm sorry, but they're not. Honestly, if you have to tell me not to drive my truck off a cliff, or wipe up a spill with the cat. Or, if I need someone to explain to me that an average car can't drive underwater, then I require more help than a few small words at the bottom of my screen can provide.

Seriously, people. The reason they put them there, as we all know, is the same reason that McDonalds had to start putting "Danger: Liquid may be hot" on the sides of their steaming, hot, coffee. It's there, so that utter and complete morons won't stupidly spill it on themselves and then have the audacity to utter "Ow! That's hot! Why wasn't I warned?!? I'll sue!!" We all need to line up with our hands out.. and have idiots like that just place their face against the first palm and then begin to run down the line. Talk about your Cluster-DUH!!!!!

So....

A) because we have morons who can't use common sense, and realize what can and can't be done.

B) because any frivolous lawsuit with no actual merit can get passed through the courts these days without intelligent judges seeing them for what they are and tossing them out.

C) because there are idiots who just LOOK for reasons to imitate something and then end up getting hurt or killed because they lack the most rudimentary sense of realism.

... we have to endure things like; "This is a dramatization". Here's a revelation!! If it's on TV, 9 times outta 10... it's gonna be some kind of "dramatization". And thank goodness for that... because "reality TV" sucks.

Just once... JUST ONCE... I'd like to see some cosmic justice here. How bout... "Professional Driver Shown. YOU are NOT a Professional Driver." At least that sounds better. ~shrug~

"Results my vary".... oh... really, Einstein?? In a world of constant change and unreliability, you're telling me that your product, procedure or service might deviate from an exacting, predictable result when subjected to non-identical consumers?? Glooooory beeee.... How much of an UBER-duh is this?!? That's like these stupid diet plan commercials and medical procedures for weight loss on TV. They're always taking the "Results not typical" people. What we want to see are the “typical” people. I mean, seriously. The "typical" user is indicative of what can actually be achieved while utilizing this product or service. There are always going to be those who naturally respond or even accel with certain treatments. But using these to represent what can be achieved, while feasible, is somewhat of a half-truth. But the media tends to live off of half-truths, in their attempt to sell something.

That seems to be where we are these days. Wading through a swamp of half-truths and marketing traps... all in the name of commerce.

So, until next time.... take care.