Bakery Miracle

"Bakery Miracle"*

*An overweight business associate of mine decided
it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took
his new diet seriously, even changing his driving
route to avoid his favorite bakery.

One morning, however, he arrived at work carrying
a gigantic coffeecake. We all scolded him, but his
smile remained cherubic.
 
"This is a very special coffeecake," he explained.
"I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning
and there in the window was a host of goodies.
I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, 'Lord, if
you want me to have one of those delicious
coffeecakes, let me have a parking place directly
in front of the bakery', and sure enough," he
continued, "the eighth time around the block, there it was!"

*****************************************************

"A Cynical Bet"*

*Two mathematicians were having dinner in a restaurant,
arguing about the average mathematical knowledge of
the American public. One mathematician claimed that
this average was woefully inadequate, the other
maintained that it was surprisingly high.

"I'll tell you what," said the cynic, "ask that waitress
a simple math question. If she gets it right, I'll pick up
dinner. If not, you do. He then excused himself to visit
the men's room, and the other called the waitress over.

"When my friend comes back," he told her, "I'm going
to ask you a question, and I want you to respond 'one
third x cubed.' There's twenty bucks in it for you."

She agreed. The cynic returned from the bathroom
and called the waitress over. "The food was wonderful,
thank you," the mathematician started. Incidentally,
do you know what the integral of x squared is?"

The waitress looked pensive; almost pained. She looked
around the room, at her feet, made gurgling noises, and
 finally said, "Um, one third x cubed?"

So the cynic paid the check. The waitress wheeled
around, walked a few paces away, looked back at the
two men, and muttered under her breath, ..plus a constant."
Received on Sat Dec 5 11:54:25 2009