#38348
brianpr
Flatchatter

    As regards the butterfly theory, perhaps this explanation of the phenomenon will help. A soldier in the German Army stands in a trench in 1918. A bullet zips over his head, just missing him. Now, if the machine that loaded the gunpowder into the cartridge that fired that bullet had loaded two grains less gunpowder, the bullet would have travelled at a sightly lower trajectory and gone through that soldier’s head, killing him. The soldier was a certain Corporal A. Hitler, who survived the war and went on to be rather famous.

    The point of the story is that it is possible, in some circumstances, for very minor actions to have major ramifications down the track.

    The frog in the kettle? See it every day.

    Great column, Jimmy T!