Follicular folly
Too much off the top.
Today's problem is from the Hindu Kush (that's what the book says). It's about some local ordinance about neat hair (I'd be so dead; my hair is professionally messy; show it a comb, and it laughs to scorn). A hairdresser gets the contract to do all the cutting, but he runs away for some reason. The text says that the hairdresser wasn't allowed to cut the hair of anyone who normally did it themselves or his hands would be cut off.
This sounds like a damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't problem. The thing is, he cuts his own hair, but the law says that anyone with messy hair after six months will be executed. (I've heard of a trim, but this is silly.) Either way, the hairdresser can't win. His friends can't do it because amateur hairdressers aren't allowed. Even a second hairdresser (which violates the paradox – sort of) couldn't solve the problem without falling foul of it as well.
Obviously, the law was devised not so much by the Style Police of the Hindu Kush as by bunch of idiot politicians who didn't think too hard about such a half-witted piece of legislation.
Today's problem is from the Hindu Kush (that's what the book says). It's about some local ordinance about neat hair (I'd be so dead; my hair is professionally messy; show it a comb, and it laughs to scorn). A hairdresser gets the contract to do all the cutting, but he runs away for some reason. The text says that the hairdresser wasn't allowed to cut the hair of anyone who normally did it themselves or his hands would be cut off.
This sounds like a damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't problem. The thing is, he cuts his own hair, but the law says that anyone with messy hair after six months will be executed. (I've heard of a trim, but this is silly.) Either way, the hairdresser can't win. His friends can't do it because amateur hairdressers aren't allowed. Even a second hairdresser (which violates the paradox – sort of) couldn't solve the problem without falling foul of it as well.
Obviously, the law was devised not so much by the Style Police of the Hindu Kush as by bunch of idiot politicians who didn't think too hard about such a half-witted piece of legislation.
Comments
And what was that about idiot politicians? Sounds like every politician to me.
"Idiot politicians" is a little tautology in which I like to indulge myself once in a while.