A very tall young englishman went to live in a monastery in ireland, to learn to be a monk.
He got used to the life after a while, but there was one thing he just couldn't bear. His feet were always cold.
You see he was so tall that when he lay on his bunk at night, the blanket (and there was only one) just wouldn't stretch as far as his toes. Finally the old monk in the cell next door, said to him: "you'll need to be cutting a yard of your blanket off of the top, and be adding it to the bottom"
Cut a yard off the top and add it to the bottom?!
The Englishman thought the old Irish monk must be barmy.
What do you think ?
Originally posted by Jay Peatea A very tall young englishman went to live in a monastery in ireland, to learn to be a monk.
He got used to the life after a while, but there was one thing he just couldn't bear. His feet were always cold.
You see he was so tall that when he lay on his bunk at night, the blanket (and there was only one) just wouldn't stretch as far as his toes. Finally ...[text shortened]... t to the bottom?!
The Englishman thought the old Irish monk must be barmy.
What do you think ?
he cuts it of in the shape of a triangle, then sews it back on the
other end, and moving the blanket a bit diagonally, thus making
the total length enough to cover him from head to toe.
How about cutting the blanket using an old carpenter's trick (question)? Let's say the man is 6 ft tall, and wants at least a 6 ft blanket to give him some head room and comfortable feet. However, his blanket measures 5 ft x 3 3/5 ft (a reasonable size, and the reason for this tricky number will become apparent). Now viewing the blanket from the sky, and with the blanket oriented so the top runs 3 3/5 ft across and 5 ft down, he could cut the blanket as follows:
1) Make a vertical cut at the top of the blanket one-third of the way in from left, stopping halfway down the blanket (a vertical 2 1/2 ft cut).
2) Continuing from the first cut, make a horizontal cut one-third of the way across the blanket (a 1 1/5 ft cut).
3) Continuing from the second cut, make a vertical cut the rest of the way down the blanket (a 2 1/2 ft cut).
Now, rearrange the left most piece just cut but moving it down and to the right so it joins up with the other piece. Sew them together, and now you have a blanket 7 1/2 ft long and 2 2/5 ft wide, plenty of length to cover the feet and wide enough to cover the guy provided he sleeps on his back. The reason I chose those tricky numbers is to get the proper area. The area of the cut piece is (1 1/5 ft) x (2 1/2 ft) + (2 2/5 ft) x (2 1/2 ft) = 9 ft2 = 1 yard. If you tilt the blanket 90 degress, this yard could be said to come off the top.
Suppose the blanket is 5 feet wide. He cuts off a 3x5 foot piece from the top, and sews it onto the bottom but rotates it 90 degrees first. The blanket is now 2 feet longer though at one end it's only 3 feet wide; which is enough for the feet.
Originally posted by AThousandYoung Suppose the blanket is 5 feet wide. He cuts off a 3x5 foot piece from the top, and sews it onto the bottom but rotates it 90 degrees first. The blanket is now 2 feet longer though at one end it's only 3 feet wide; which is enough for the feet.
Hmmm, an effective solution and quite a bit simpler than mine...
Originally posted by AThousandYoung Suppose the blanket is 5 feet wide. He cuts off a 3x5 foot piece from the top, and sews it onto the bottom but rotates it 90 degrees first. The blanket is now 2 feet longer though at one end it's only 3 feet wide; which is enough for the feet.
Yes this is the correct solution that I was expecting, but PBE6's solution is better because of the neatness of the resewn blanket.🙂
Originally posted by Jay Peatea Yes this is the correct solution that I was expecting, but PBE6's solution is better because of the neatness of the resewn blanket.🙂
Oh yeah!!! <thrusts pelvis in a sexually charged manner>
Oh yeah!! You like that? Want some more?
Yeah!! Yeah!! YEAH!!!
The mystery of the monks cold feet
22 Aug '05 21:45
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