Doc was the first one in at the Mule Barn truck stop this morning, so he got to pick, and he chose the round table instead of the philosophy counter. If you asked him why, he couldn’t tell you, but some days are just round table days, while others lend themselves to counter proposals.

In 15 minutes the round table had a quorum of homespun philosophers, practical jokers, and scientific greatness.

“Puts me in mind,” said Bert, “of the time we were in the mountains and I was suddenly surrounded by a mountain lion.”

“So what did you do about it, Bert?”]

“I died, of course.”

Cracker packets flew. While Bert was returning the packets to the packet container, Herb picked one of them up and examined it.

“Stealth,” he said.

“What’s that, Herb?”

“Stealth. These cracker packets, I mean. Just have a look at them. See how they are designed, so that the crinkles on the flat side are just crinkly enough so the radar won’t bounce back a strong signal? And of course if the packets are flying sideways, there’d be no discernible bounce at all.”

“Stealthy cracker packets?” said Doc.

“Well sure. You noticed how each of us was able to make a direct hit on ol’ Bert there? He had no warning. Design is everything, isn’t it?”

Cracker packets flew once again. Good thing Herb’s radar was turned off or we wouldn’t have scored as many hits as we did.