HPM%S1-A@sri-unix.UUCP (10/07/83)
From: Hans Moravec <HPM@S1-A>
>From "Through the Looking Glass (and what Alice found there)" by Lewis Carroll
(aka Charles Dodgson), copyright 1896, chapter 5 (Wool and Water) about
sixth page:
conversation between Alice and the White Queen
"... Let's consider your age to begin with -- how old are you? '
I'm seven and a half, exactly.
You needn't say 'exactly', the Queen remarked. I can believe it
without that. Now I'll give you something to believe. I'm just
one hundred and one, five months and a day.
I can't believe that! said Alice.
Can't you? the Queen said in a pitying tone. Try again: draw a
long breath and shut your eyes.
Alice laughed. There's no use trying, she said: one can't believe
impossible things.
I daresay you havn't had much practice, said the Queen. When I was
your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've
believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!
There goes the shawl again!"Haynes.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (10/07/83)
I don't have my "Alice" here at work, so I can't find the original reference, but the phrase "believe seven impossible things before breakfast" is from "Through the Looking Glass". (Blush... I SHOULD be able to remember it off the top of my head. I'll turn in my Lewis Carrol fan club pin at the door.) -- Charles
greep@SU-DSN@sri-unix.UUCP (10/07/83)
The White Queen used this phrase.
"I can't believe *that*!, said Alice.
"Can't you?" the Queen said in pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long
breath, and shut your eyes."
"Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said, "one *can't*
believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I
was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes
I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
This is from the chapter entitled "Wool and water". - greepshebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs) (10/12/83)
Believing six impossible things at once is sometimes necessary
for debugging, so you can find the seventh thing that explains it all...
stan ("Rarely debugs before breakfast") the l.h.
utah-cs!shebs