Circular Reasoning
2000 Darwin Award Winner
Confirmed True by Darwin
Confirmed True by Darwin
(1998, London) A £200,000 fine was levied against a construction
firm for the deaths of two workers. The two 28-year-old men, reportedly
experienced in their work, fell 100 feet after drilling a hole
through thick concrete without realizing they were standing in
the center of the circle. Neither was wearing a safety harness
to arrest his 8-story plunge.
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Submitted by: Jim
Anscombe, Tony Whyte
Reference: The Times of London
COMMENTS:
Bernard W. Joseph, mathematician: "How could they stand in the center of the circle? If it's a fly-cutter, you would have to keep jumping over the revolving arm. If it's a core cutter, you can't fit inside the tube. This is hard to believe.
Russell Styles: They could have been cutting a noncircular hole in a slab with a diamond saw. Such a hole could be easily large enough for two people.
Bernard: "Any floor of that sort would use reinforcing rods. They would have had to not only chop out the concrete, but also cut the rebar. I still think that it's mechanically improbable.
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