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[Rick Moen]

On Wed, Jan 7, 2015 at 11:14 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
> I haven't heard the ancient joke about the smuggler.

Modern version:


So, there is this border guard.   One day, he sees a guy crossing the
border on his bicycle, with two huge bags hanging over his shoulders.
The guard pulls him aside for questioning.

"What's in those bags?", the guard asks.  "Just sand", the guy
replies.  The guard opens up the bags, and -- oddly enough --  sees
that is seems to be just sand, and so lets him go.

The next day, the guy comes back on his bike, and again has two big
bags over his shoulder.  Again, the guard pulls him aside.

"What's in those bags?" the guard asks. "Sand"  The guard opens the
bag, searches very thoroughly, and finds absolutely nothing but sand.
He then checks everything else about the suspect, top to bottom.
Nothing.

Over the next decade, this scenario repeats, over and over. The border
guard knows something is up, and tries ever more sophisticated methods
to figure it out.  Dogs, chemical testing, magnets, everything.  He
never finds anything the least bit illegal, even though he's obsessed
with the case.

Finally, the border guard retires.  All his friends and co-workers
throw him a big party at a restaurant across the border.  While at the
party, the guard sees the suspect.  The guard hails him:  "Hey, it's
good seeing you here again.  I'm having my retirement party, right
now", the guard says to him.  "Congratulations, I just retired this
week, myself", the suspect says.  "Oh really, what job did you have?"
"Smuggler."

"I knew it!  Well, you completely got away with it.  Now that we've
both safely retired, please tell me; I'm really dying to know.  What
were you smuggling?"

"Bicycles."