The Lawyer. And the Blonde.

Hugh Jorgen, our Left Coast Bureau Chief, is himself of jurispru- dential extraction.

Funny. He doesn't look jurisprudential.

He is not pictured here.

He's a good ole boy.

Who needs to avoid long flights.



A lawyer and a blonde woman are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game. The blonde is tired and just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and closes her languid eyes to catch a few winks.

The lawyer persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun.

"I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me only five dollars. You ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I pay you $500."

The blonde is wide awake. She agrees to play the game.

The lawyer asks the first question.

"What's the distance from the earth to the moon?"

The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a five-dollar bill and hands it to the lawyer.

Now it's the blonde's turn. She asks the lawyer: "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"

The lawyer cackles maniacally, pulls out his $5000 laptop replete with every bell and whistle known to man, hits all the search engines at once, sits back and with a small, self-satisfied smile, awaits the answer.

Nothing.

He snaps up the the Airphone and tries everyone he knows. Nothing. He hacks into The Library of Congress. He sends e-mails to every smart person he knows.

Nothing. Nada, rien, nichts, zipadeedoodah.

After three houses of searching he is crushed, defeated, depressed.

He wakes up the blonde and hands her the five c-notes.

The blonde takes the $500, tucks the money into her decolletage and goes back to sleep.

The lawyer is near apoplexy with not knowing the answer.

He wakes her up and says: "Ok, Ok! What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"

The blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer five dollars and goes back to sleep.