Living in Chicago I’ve had some interesting experiences. For instance, someone tried to mug me on the train. I survived unharmed and with the three dollars I had in my pocket. Luckily the mugger only wanted an iPod from me (the muggee) and I didn’t have one. I can only speculate that he had stolen someone else’s iTunes account information.

It took some not-so-gentlemanly banter to convince the mugger to move along. Had his assault on me escalated, he might have received a smack on the head with the maths text I was reading. I didn’t remember until later that you should never bring a maths book to a gun (or knife) fight. Imagine an analog of the game rock-paper-scissors called gun-knife-maths!

Last week I drove to Midway Airport. While stopped at a light I made a phone call and a man approached my car. He wanted money so I kindly signaled him to move along. He ignored my polite gesture, knocked on my window and yelled something unintelligible. I stared at him blankly. As he turned to go I noticed he was holding a cell phone to his ear. It all made sense. Apparently his cell phone company is over charging him too. He must have been yelling “Can your hear me now?”

There have also been a number of instances of indecent exposure (not by me) during my train rides to and from home; public urination seems to often happen around me or immediately preceding my arrival. So often, I’m beginning to believe that I am a superhero whose super power is inducing public urination. Admittedly, I need to work on better harnessing my power in case I have to battle a supervillain; it’s well known that most other super powers are deactivated by soggy (external) underwear and public humiliation.

Three months and counting, until I move to Cambridge, England. I wonder if my super power will work in the UK.

Update:

Rock-paper-scissors (RPS) is based on the non-transitive property: R > S, S > P but R < P. If RPS were transitive: R > S, S > P and R > P. Transitive RPS wouldn’t be much fun: rock always wins.

Similarly gun-knife-maths (GKM) should be non-transitive so that G > K, K > M and G < M. Correction to my original post: Bring a maths book to a gun fight but never to a knife fight.