Well, remember, StaberindeMk2, this is a board for fighting ignorance, and while riddles with actual clever answers might be fun to test one’s mental muscles on, this one doesn’t actually seem to be such a puzzle. Worse, we’ve actually had people ask this very question in GQ, implying that some people don’t understand the fallacy of this kind of question.
It doesn’t appear to be amusing or clever, unless your book has some new, hilarious, and not scientifically misleading take on this tired old joke. So we’re asking for the answer because the joke ran its course, flopped, and now we’re trying to see if there was every anything to it in the first place. There are no shortage of ‘riddle’ threads and ‘quizzes’ that appear in MPSIMS, but not ones that don’t acutally have an answer, or that have the potential to confuse people when their ignorance needs fighting.
The fact of the matter is, the concept of “unstoppables” and “immovables” doesn’t make any sense to anyone who’s taken high school mechanics, so the riddle probably doesn’t make as much sense as even the author thinks it does.
This is MPSIMS, kids, so if you want to insult one another, go to the Pit. And I’m looking at you, StaberindeMk2 and Trunk.
Furthermore, StaberindeMk2, stop playing so damn coy. If you just wanted to read everyone’s wacky guess as to the answer of your riddle, you should have started this thread in IMHO. But since you didn’t, and since it’s here, stop stringing everyone along and post the book’s answer. Otherwise, this thread is fairly useless and will end up living in Locksville.
Your post seemed to be being snarky when I read it, if not I apologise. The book is “Walking on Glass” by Iain Banks, and while its a decent book its not his best work but he is in general an excellent author and very highly recommended. Most especially his sci-fi stuff published as Iain M. Banks, which is my favourite of its genre, full stop.
I wasn’t being coy, and I only defended myself when attacked first.
As I said, I started what I thought would be a fun and entertaining thread, left for a few hours and came back to see people posting silly answers (which is fine) and one person asking for the correct reply to which I jokingly replied, using a smilie to make sure people didn’t think I was being serious, fully intending to give the answer when I came back and thinking I was acting in the light-hearted nature of the thread so far. I then left for a while and came back to see myself being attacked for no real reason that I could see. I didn’t give the answer after my first joke reply because I was suddenly being insulted and aspersions cast as to why I even started the thread and that I was taking some sort of perverse pleasure out of stringing people along which wasn’t the case but the longer it went on the harder it was to back down especially as I didn’t think I was in the wrong.
You’re the mod and I accept your judgement but thats my side of the story, it was not my intention to be coy or cause trouble but it became difficult to simply post the answer when people were being unreasonable, insulting and demanding. My post history, what little of it there is, should show that I’m not a troll or intentional troublemaker.
If that’s the case, then I apologize for my post, but your post did not come across as lighthearted, but instead condescending. Tone is hard to convey in text, and I don’t think yours came through at all. Not really your fault, and maybe I over-reacted, but your post really rubbed me the wrong way. Probably the “smartarse” line was what pushed my buttons, as it came across as distinctly superior.
Anyway, the whole thing’s not worth the grief. Pax?
Sure, no problem. As I said in a post above I think wires got crossed somewhere, what I intended and what people were reading seemed to be two entirely different things. It happens, no hard feelings. As you say its hard to convey tone in text.
I’m not American so perhaps calling people “smartarses” has a much more serious meaning there than it does here (it was intended to be the equivalent of “I’m surrounded by comedians!”), I’ll bear that in mind, humour doesn’t always translate well, especially when written.
an unstoppable force and an immovable object can not exist in the same universe as an unstoppable force assumes infinate energy, and an unmovable object assumes infinate mass.
Physics, i hate it but it makes me look smart. Too bad my old room mate told me this
