GNHLUG in 2008, a retrospective by the numbers

VirginSnow at vfemail.net VirginSnow at vfemail.net
Tue Jan 6 18:38:43 EST 2009


> Cc: gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
> From: Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net>
> Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:28:32 -0500
> 
> VirginSnow at vfemail.net writes:
> 
> >> From: Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net>
> >> Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:47:06 -0500
> >
> >> My question is this:
> >> 
> >>   What did his Administrator do to deserve being put in a box, and was
> >>   he (or she) ever let out?
> >
> > The Administrator in the Box both alive AND dead until the box is
> > opened, right?
> 
> One could assume that, yes.  But we presume, for sake of being a
> somewhat humanitarian group, that he did place a live Administrator in
> the box.  Therefore, we suspect the Administrator is still alive.
> Though, he (or she) could have since died.  
> 
> But, until we open the box, we won't know.  Therefore, you're right :)
> 

That "both alive AND dead" part was a reference to a famous thought
experiment known as "Schroedinger's Cat".  In the experiment, a cat is
placed in a box with a poison pellet released by the decay of a
radioactive atom.  Quantum physics tells us that the nucleus exists in
both the decayed AND undecayed states until observed by an outside
observer.  By extension, the cat should also be both dead and alive
until the box is open.  That's Schroedinger's Cat.

So, assuming being a system administrator is enough to potentially
kill you, the Admin would be both alive and dead until his boss opens
the box to check in on him. :)

> -- 
> Seeya,
> Paul
> 


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