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GLIM, Spring 1996, volume 2
Swarthmore College student publications (1874 - 2013)
1996-04-01
reformatted digital
against the tree, Gelahel regained his balance and began
pulling with all his might. The monster began swimming
away, and Gelahel let the reel go, until it reached the end.
Gelahel held on tight, and began pulling on the rod. The
fish yanked furiously, but was unable to gain any more
ground. Slowly Gelahel began to win the struggle, tugging
the beast towards him. However, he was using all his
strength, and becoming increasingly tired. The fish began
pulling him towards the water again. Coming closer to a
watery grave, Gelahel had to act fast. Now remember,
Gelahel was a champion runner, with the strongest legs in
all the land. Turning around, Gelahel began running away
from the shore. He used every inch of leg muscle he had to
pull himself back to land and the fish out of water. Slowly
he built up momentum and began to move. He pulled the
fish backwards. For what seemed like forever, Gelahel
pulled and tugged, until with one last step he pulled the
mighty beast out of the river and onto dry land.
However, the fish began to hop around furiously, des-
perately trying to get into the water. Gelahel tied the wire
to a tree, giving the beast no slack. The fish flopped until
his last breath of air, and lay dead, having lost a mighty
battle.
Gelahel, exhausted from the struggle, looked at his prey
from afar. Never before had he seen such a glorious fish. It
lay on the shore a good 100 meters long. He had never
seen a taller fish, this one being at least thrice Gelahel’s
height. Gelahel walked around the fallen monster. Was it
true? Had Gelahel really caught this fish? He pulled out his
tape measure and found out, sure enough, that the fish was
100 meters long. That meant Gelahel was the new king!!
All his friends verified that the fish was 100 meters long
and bowed to him, saying, “Long live King Gelahel!”
The custom was, that when the fish had been captured,
the new king must then take the fish and run with it all
over the kingdom to show that indeed he had the right to
the throne. Running was Gelahel’s forte, and so he got
beneath the beast, and with all his strength lifted it from
the earth and over his head. Then he ran, starting slower
than he was used to because of the increased weight.
Slowly he accelerated, till he was traveling at about .8 of
the speed of light. Thus he headed to the kingdom to dis-
play his prize.
All was normal in Fillovia. People were walking in the
streets, tending their farms, washing their clothes, doing
chores, and going about their lives. Then from the hills
came a mighty sight, a blur of a figure (all knew it to be
Gelahel, for only he could run so fast), carrying a huge
load on his back. He whizzed through the streets, by every
house and store. He ran past all the citizens who were out,
and straight to the palace. the king stood out in the court-
yard . He had seen Gelahel coming from far away and
wanted to time just how he could run. He knew that
Gelahel was the favorite of the town, and so wanted to
find a way to disgrace the runner. He’d heard Gelahel brag
that he could run from the borders of the kingdom to the
palace in 3 Fillovian clicks. The king never believed it,
and wanted to see for himself. So, when he saw Gelahel
come from the border, he started his clock. 5 Fillovian
clicks later the runner arrived at the palace, and ran by. As
he ran the king saw that he was carrying a large fish, and
heard people behind shout, “Hail, King Gelahel, defender
of Fillovia!”
“What?!” screamed Besalumuel. “Stop that! I am king,
not him!”
“Can't you see,” said one of Gelahel’s followers,” that
he has caught the biggest fish ever? We saw it and mea-
sured it. The fish is 100 meters long.”
“No it’s not!” retorted Besalumuel. “I saw it go by, and
it was clearly no bigger than 50 meters long. My fish was
75 meters, so I am still king.”
At this point Gelahel came back, after leaving his prize
in the royal fish vault, to assume the crown. “Besalumuel,
1 am king now. I caught a fish 100 meters long.”
“T saw the fish,” replied the king,” and it was only 50
meters long. What’s more Gelahel, you have claimed that
you can run from the outskirts of the kingdom to the
palace in 3 clicks. I clocked you, and it took you 5 clicks,
see,” and he showed him the timer.
“Clearly your timer is broken, Besalumuel,’ responded
the runner. “I always wear my timer, and I started it at the
outskirts, and here, it shows 3 clicks.”
“Gelahel, I am the king, I have caught a fish 75 meters
long. Do you doubt my intellect? Clearly you are a liar. You
are trying to usurp my throne, with lies about a 100 meter
fish, and you question me saying you run at 3 clicks.
Guards, take him away!”
Some of the king’s guards began to move forward, but
the citizens stepped in the way. “You shall not take him.
He is the king. We measured the fish, and it was 100
meters long.”
“Guards, take them all away!” shouted the king. It
seemed as though a great battle was going to break out,
and perhaps it would have been the downfall for blessed
Fillovia. Now, fortunate for all, a young lad by the name of
Dan stepped out from the crowd. He was known for being
a very bright boy, having studied many things which most
Fillovians did not understand.
“If it please your majesty, I think I understand what is
going on here,” said Dan.
Besalumuel had always been very fond of Dan, as he was
the only Fillovian who seemed to truly enjoy the king’s
parties, and he was also a vegetarian.
“What do you mean, Dan?” said the king. “What is
there to explain?”
“Well, your majesty,” began the boy, “It is actually very
simple why this misunderstanding has occurred. If ] may be
permitted, I would like to explain it to you.”
“Okay, Dan, but then I will have these people dealt
with,” Besalumuel answered.
“After I have spoke, you do what you see fit, your
Majesty.”
With that, Dan walked to the center of the group and
pulled out a small chalk board. “Now, it is well known,”
began the boy, “ that Gelahel can run at .8 the speed of
light. Do you agree with that your majesty?”
“Yes, I do,” he said. “I have myself measured it as such.”
“Very well,” continued Dan. “Here | will draw a space-
time diagram,” and he started drawing on his chalk board.
“Here is the light line, which has a slope of 1. Here is
Gelahel’s world line, with a slope of .8, since his velocity
is .8 the speed of light. Does everyone agree so far?”
GLIM, Spring 1996, volume 2
Swarthmore College student publications (1874 - 2013)
1996-04-01
reformatted digital