Olive vectors

Here’s an interesting physics problem:

You have a flat plastic container full of virgin olive oil and one dozen jumbo green olives stuffed with feta cheese. The container measures 4×6x1.5 inches. The oil has been chilled to approximately 36 degrees, increasing its viscosity.

You drop the container from the second-from-the-top shelf of your refrigerator, at a height of approximately four feet. It strikes a solid maple floor on the tabbed corner normally used to open the container, bounces, then does a three-quarter turn. The lid opens as it rotates and the assemblage lands upside-down on a Tibetan wool rug with a pile approximately 1.25 inches thick.

Two olives remain in the container. Nine come to rest within a three-foot radius of the refrigerator. My question is, where did the 12th olive go?

–sigh–

Meaningful(less) art

So I’m in a gallery (not owned, managed or as far as I know displaying the art of anyone who reads this blog), looking at one particular (and very expensive) work, and a nice-looking fellow sidles up to me. “I love that one too. Doesn’t it just hit you? The sense of isolation, the rejection of modern materialism, the knowledge that all our aspirations eventually decay. He’s really making a statement of urban life, isn’t he? I have nightmares about this piece, it’s so powerful.”

We were looking at a chunk of frosted glass on a rusted steel base. So help me.

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