I know this is not a museum topic, but I thought this might be a nice
pick-me-up for monday. It was passed on to me by a friend at the University
of Arizona, who got it from a friend at Duke who SWEARS it really happened:
 
 
Introductory Chemistry at Duke has been taught for about a zillion
years by Professor Bonk (really), and his course is semi-affectionately
known as "Bonkistry."  He has been around forever, so I wouldn't put it
past him to come up with something like this.  Anyway, one year there were
these two guys who were taking Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of
the quizzes and the midterms and labs, etc., such that going into the final
they had a solid A.
 
These two friends were so confident going into the
final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chem final was
on Monday), they decided to go up to UVirginia and party with some friends
up there.  So they did this and had a great time.  However, with their
hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn't make it
back to Duke until early monday morning.
 
Rather than taking the final
then, what they did was to find Professor Bonk after the final and explain
to him why they missed the final.  They told him that they went up to UVa
for the weekend, and had planned to come back in time to study, but that
they had a flat tire on the way back and didn't have a spare and couldn't
get help for a long time and so were late getting back to campus.  Bonk
thought this over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the
following day.  The two guys were elated and relieved.
 
          So, they studied that night and went in the next day at the
time that Bonk had told them.  He placed them in separate rooms and handed
each of them a test booklet and told them to begin.  They looked at the first
problem, which was something simple about molarity and solutions and was
worth 5 points.  "Cool" they thought, "this is going to be easy."  They did
that problem and then turned the page.  They were unprepared, however, for
what they saw on the next page.  It said:
 
           (95 points)  Which tire?
 
************************************************************************
 
 
Robert O. Dahl
Interpretive Designer
8421 N. Via Tioga
Tucson, AZ 85704 Ph:(602) 797-4752
internetaddress:[log in to unmask]
              AOL: [log in to unmask]