Pure Drivel

You may have seen Heather's blog post last week about her books lists or this post she did of an excerpt. She's been reading Steve Martin books lately and sharing some funny things with me. I'm so very excited because my family got tickets to see Steve Martin perform in July!

Here's an excerpt from his book Pure Drivel that Heather shared with me. He's so funny!

Schrödinger’s Cat
A cat is placed in a box, together with a radioactive atom. If the atom decays, a hammer kills the cat; if the atom doesn't decay, the cat lives. As the atom is considered to be in either state before the observer opens the both, the cat must thus be considered to be simultaneously dead and alive. - Erwin Schrödinger's Cat Paradox, 1935

Wittgenstein's Banana
A banana is flying first class from New York to L.A. Two scientists, one in each city, are talking on the phone about the banana. Because it is moving in relationship to its noun, the referent of the word banana never occupies one space, and anything that does not occupy one space does not exist. Therefore, a banana will arrive at JFK with no limousine into the city, even though the reservation was confirmed in L.A.