The latest installment in "As the Bunsen Burns"
MacGyver came by my office today to talk to me and, while there, he relayed a new second-hand story about Wile E. Coyote. As it happens, MacGyver has a friend who works for the company from which Wile E. purchased his new instruments. This friend of MacGyver had to come to our fine institution to help Wile E. set up his instruments. MacGyver found out she was here after the fact. Since he didn't see her at the conference we attended recently, he called her and left a message in which he good-naturedly ribbed her about not stopping by when she was in town. His friend called him back and gave him the story on her visit. It's a classic.
Our local sales rep called Friend of MacGyver and told her that he needed her for a job. He picked her up at the airport and didn't tell her where they were going. She figured out the destination on the way, but he still didn't specify the lab. She didn't know who she was dealing with until she walked into the lab and saw Wile E. Now comes the fun part of the story: Friend of MacGyver has a long history with Wile E. His "new" setup is identical to what he had at his former institution - located just down the road from Friend of MacGyver (FOM). FOM had to make frequent visits to Wile E.'s lab in order to hep him run his instrument. Now, recall that WEC is an expert on said instrument, right? For an analogy, imagine that WEC's instrument is a refrigerator with an in-door water dispenser and that said dispenser required a filter change at least once a month. FOM had to travel to WEC's lab every time he had to change the filter for the water dispenser. It finally got to the point where she set things up and said, "Push this button to make the instrument work."
![Twitch :twitch:](./images/smilies/icon_e_twitch.gif)
Now, to put it into another context, I performed this same task for Road Runner's instrument while Bar Minion was on vacation. It took all of 10 minutes. Wile E. Coyote is completely incapable of doing it for himself. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the person that The Boss views as the expert on this particular instrument.
In summary, as I told MacGyver, Wile E. Coyote is actually even more incompetent than we thought. I didn't think that was even possible.
![9F :9f:](./images/smilies/devil9f.gif)
Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
-- Albert Einstein