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Sitaram
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Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 1079
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 Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:55 pm Post subject: The Farmer and the Astronomer |
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| Sitaram wrote: | A simple farmer lived beside a mountain upon which was built a great
observatory housing a powerful telescope. The farmer became quite
curious to know what the astronomer was doing each night as he
entered the observatory. The farmer would sometimes quietly enter
the observatory to see what the astronomer was doing. But all the
farmer could ever see when he entered was the astronomer seated in a
large chair, motionless, peering into one end of the enormous
telescope. Of course, the farmer did not understand what a telescope
is, but thought it to be simply an enormous pipe.
One day the astronomer was walking by the farmer's house and noticed
the farmer seated on a stool, peering steadily down a long piece of
broken drain pipe. The astronomer became curious and asked the
farmer what he was doing. The farmer replied, "Oh, I am tired of
being a farmer and wish to become an astronomer like you, and
sit comfortably all night long peering into a pipe."
The farmer mistakenly assumed that the object of the astronomer's
attention was an object, namely the telescope. The farmer did not
realize that the telescope is simply a tool to focus upon something
very distant and obscure in order to make it appear closer and more
clear. |
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