Branching Out - Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things - page 100

DID YOU KNOW?
THERE ARE 16,777,216 PATHS THROUGH THE GARDEN.
“Only 16 million? That's nothing!” Laurie said. “Userland had millions of millions of mil-
lions .”
ONLY ONE PATH PER VISITOR.
“That's okay. I want to get through here quickly.”
ONLY ONE VISITOR PER PATH.
“Isn't that the same thing?”
NO.
“I wonder which path is the shortest,” Laurie said. The next sign answered her question.
ALL PATHS ARE THE SAME LENGTH.
“Then how do I know which one to take?” she asked.
CHOOSE WISELY.
That's when she came to the first fork in the path. Each fork had its own sign. The left-hand
sign said
THINGS
and the right-hand sign said
IDEAS
Laurie had seen a lot of Ideas lately. A simple Thing would be a nice change. She took the
left-hand path. A minute later she came to the next fork. The signs there said
FAMILIAR THINGS | STRANGE THINGS
“I've seen a lot of Strange Things lately, too,” she said. “I'll go for Familiar.”
YOUNG | OLD
“Um . . . Old!” Down the right-hand path they went.
INTERESTING | BORING
“That's an easy one,” said Xor. “Interesting.”
“You're not the one who has to climb rocks and cross scary bridges when we make Interest-
ing deliveries,” Laurie said. “But okay.”