It takes a math degree to park your car
by guitry
If you know what a venn diagram is , you are one of the few who can park a car and feel reasonably sure you will not be fined by rapacious city administrators. As you anxiously scan the street for a spot to park and eventually slide in carefully between two driveways, you note that a utility pole placed 30 feet away partially hidden by tree branches is festooned by a multitude of plackards placed vertically one above the other. These signs will read as follows: “No parking except by permit between six p.m. and 8 a.m. daily”, “No parking on Thursday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. street cleaning”,” No parking on Monday, Friday , Saturday, tow away zone; holidays excepted”. There is also an additional sign placed so high, it takes binoculars to read it. A venn diagram is composed of intersecting circles each of which is labeled allowing you to see which sections are common and which are not. If you are adept at a) constructing them, and b) reading them, you have a fair chance of parking without incurring a stiff fine. The greedy city administrators are aware that this ability is not common and shamelessly rip-off the public. Is there an answer to this raid on your pocket book? Yes. Insist on a law allowing only one condition for legal parking such as “Parking allowed only on Wednsday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.”
