Joke check

[nancylebov]

I'll probably get bumper stickers printed in red that say "If this is blue, you're driving too fast."

It's occurred to me that I could add another twist to the joke by having them printed in blue, but I'm not sure whether that version of the joke would be either comprehensible or funny. What do you think?

If you and a source of waves are moving toward each other, the waves seem closer together. Blue light has shorter waves than red, so if something red looks blue, you're closing on that bumper much too fast.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I like the original (printed in red). It's understandable to anyone who knows some high school physics, and easily explainable to anyone capable of understanding such (as you yourself do above).

The second twist would be funny in the hypothetical situation where the first joke became popular, as a followup.

Heh

[darius.livejournal.com]

The red version made me chuckle; I think with the blue version by the time I'd have finished deciding what the joke was it wouldn't be funny anymore (unless I'd already seen the red one).

[zenlizard]

Wonder how expensive it would be to print them in red & blue diagonal stripes running accross the letters of the slogan, just to really confuse people.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Thanks, all. It looks as though I'm pretty much going to have to enjoy that joke by myself.

Two-color printing would cost something extra, most likely, but not a devastating amount. The problem is that I'm going for legibility, and red and blue diagonal stripes isn't going to help with that.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Just checked the catalog. It would be fine as a button, too. In fact, it might be devastatingly funny to a segment of the audience as a button.

(Please remember I've been fafiated for about two years. and so even if you've been producing them as customs, I wouldn't have seen them on folks.) But we might get to Philcon or Darkover this year, and I'm setting myself a reminder that if it's not in the catalog by then, I should have it made up. (No, thanks. Not mail order. You can't tempt ME to spend the money I don't have now on stuff I can't effectively use until then. As much as I'd love to. Really. Um, okay, maybe just ONE little taste... :-)

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to nag you to order buttons right away, though I don't mind if you do. It's a kindness if you pre-order custom buttons a week or so before the convention, though.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

*nod*

If / when I know that we actually are going to one of the cons, I'll make sure to do (custom) orders from the running "I want that one" file. It will be a welcome switch from the usual "gee, what were those slogans I wanted, again" moments in the Dealer's Room.

Hope to see you at a fall / winter con, then!

[mneme]

Oooh.

"If this is blue, you are moving too fast" would work nicely as a button.

See you at whatever con you next make (unless it's Darkover, which I'm very hit-or-miss on).

I recall hearing this as "red shift",

[fixx.livejournal.com]

but I no longer recall if it works in both directions. If it does there is the potential for up to four bumper stickers of ever decreasing humor.

For example you could have:
1) a bumper sticker for the front of the car in red reading,
"If this bumper sticker appears blue, get the hell out of my way",
2) a bumper sticker for the front of the car in blue reading,
"If this bumper sticker appears red, call AAA",
3) an additional sticker for the rear of the car in blue reading,
"If this bumper sticker appears red, I've been abducted by aliens"

And that's on my first cup of coffee. :-)

Re: I recall hearing this as "red shift",

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

It does work in both directions. It's just that everything that's fairly distant is moving away from us (do we have bad breath?), and the farther it is, the faster it's going, so the amount of red shift is really useful for astronomers who are trying to figure out how old/distant what we're seeing is.

Afaik, there's nothing in astronomy where blue shift matters.