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2004 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Tree felling best left to pros

2004 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

In my home town of Richmond, Virginia, there is a man named Dr. Peter Martin. He holds a doctorate in physics, rather remarkable that he seemed to have forgotten his education on this day. Dr. Martin wished to fell a large tree, presumably in his front yard. To prevent him from mistakinly releasing the rope that was used shift the center of gravity of said tree in the appropriate direction, he came up with the wonderful idea of tying the rope around his waiste. Apparently he misjudged the lean of the tree, because after they sawed through the last cut in the trunk, the tree fell in the opposite direction as was intended. Being tied to this tree, Dr Martin was launched about 150 feet, as I hear it, and landed in the top of the tree after it fell to the ground. Astonishingly, he was injured, but not killed. I personally believe this is richly deserving of an honorable mention, although verification may prove difficult- as it did not make the news. It was, however, laughed over in the break rooms at phillip morris research and development for a number of years, and my father personally knows this man. The story was brought to my attention when I began cutting trees professionally. Perhaps you could find the actual man-

Submitted on 07/21/2004

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: personal account

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bill said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
Without verification his name would have to be removed. We have had interesting stories about people forgetting the laws of physics while dealing with trees before - this is the first I recall involving somebody holding a doctorate in Physics.

Charles said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
I'm going to go along with Bill here. We cannot edit these stories as they proceed along to the slush pile, all we can do is mention that this story is unverified and probably unverifiable. But a physics degree should include some basic mechanics...

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Urban Legend
After rereading the story several times (to try to make some sense out of it), I finally decided that it's too much like several urban legends that we've had in the past.

Glen said:
Neutral: Personal Account
this is actually funny - a physics professor and forgeting that gravity isnt a good idea its the LAW. however theres also the failure of the proffesser to know that the tree had a mass greater than the proffessor so I say keep it.

Tracy said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
Definitely needs verification before being submitted as a true HM

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2004 Slush Pile

Tree felling best left to pros

2004 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2004 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance