Well Wishes

Say what you want about my friend Al, but you can't fault his good intentions...


Al: Let's go to the wishing-well again.

angry doc: Er... for what?

Al: I want to make a wish for that charity that's having a fund-raiser this weekend; I hope they'll raise lots of money to help all those poor people.

angry doc: You know wishing-wells don't really work, don't you?

Al: Sure they do! Why else would people build them?

angry doc: There's no plausible reason why throwing a coin into a well should influence how well a charity does, especially since that charity does not get the money from the well.

Al: Ah, but remember the last time I wished that charity well, and they raised a few million dollars in donations?

angry doc: Yes, but that was because they had a fund-raiser that weekend. You can't know that it was your wish at the well that made them raise all that money. Besides, remember that time you wished the other charity well, but they got investigated and was suspended from raising funds for a few months instead?

Al: I can't say I do. Or maybe it was because I didn't throw enough coins into the well.

angry doc: That's an interesting theory. How do you suppose to find out just how many coins would be enough?

Al: Lend me a thousand bucks.

angry doc: Why?

Al: I'm going to get a thousand dollars worth of coins so I can throw them into the wishing-well to see if that's enough to help that charity raise funds.

angry doc: Er... if you are so keen to help that charity why don't you just give the thousand dollars to them instead?

Al: You're not much into science, are you?