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		 A few years ago, a friend of mine bought a house in Concord, MA. This house  
was old, pre-Revolutionary, maybe 250 years old.  
Soon after he bought it, he was rummaging around in the cellar, which was  
very primitive, and he unearthed an antique bottle with a cork in it. As he  
was admiring it, the bottle slipped out of his hands and shattered on the  
flagstones! And this huge genie took shape and said, "You have one wish."  
(One wish, mind you.)  
My friend was understandably nervous. "Well," he said, "I have this longing  
to visit a certain place-this isn't my wish yet. I'm first trying to figure  
out the rules-and that place is Hawaii. The stickler is that I get terribly  
seasick and I can't bear the thought of flying, so I can't just let you  
transport me to Hawaii-I'd never be able to get home!  
"So this is what I want, if it's possible: Build me a bridge to Hawaii so I  
can just drive over and drive back."  
"Allah be praised!" says the genie. "Do you realize what an undertaking that  
would be?! Some of the pylons would have to be more than two miles deep! We'd  
have to allow for trans-Pacific shipping and be able to withstand mid-ocean  
storms, not to mention all the permits! Isn't there anything else I could do  
for you?"  
"Let me see," says my friend. "Could you give me the wisdom to understand  
women?"  
The genie sighed. "What do you want? Two-lane or four-lane?" 
		
		
		
		
		
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