Monday, April 28, 2008

Stuffed Logic



From the baking instructions for Papa Murphy's Stuffed Crust Pizza.
If you are not going to bake the pizza within 1 hour, it should be refrigerated. Remove pizza from refrigerator at least one hour prior to baking.

If we follow these instructions, and refrigerate our pizza if we are not going to bake it within one hour, but remove it from the refrigerator at least one hour prior to baking, we will never be able to bake our pizza!

It is not possible to leave a stuffed pizza out of the fridge for at least one hour while simultaneously baking it within one hour.

Papa Murphy's instructions create a chronological contradiction.
Reductio ad absurdum, QED.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

doesn't exactly one hour fit both criteria?

Steve said...

I don't know if "within one hour" means "< 1hr" or "<= 1 hr".

If it's the latter, then exactly one hour fits both criteria.

2fs said...

I think the estate of Douglas Adams should be notified.