[klondike mary] that sinking feeling

[klondike mary]

The moral of this story is: Never trust the lives of three people to half an inch of anything.
But what is the story?

Note: No lives were actually endangered in the making of this puzzle, though they might have been in different circumstances. The danger was more of humiliation than anything else.

[wunderland]

Is something relevantly half an inch long? tall? wide? thick? is it the hull of a boat?

[klondike mary]

Is something relevantly half an inch long? tall? wide? thick?this is it the hull of a boat? No, but you are sort of on a parallel track.

[wunderland]

Is it a solid object? or part of one? made of metal? wood? glass? fibreglass? plastic? rubber? cloth/fabric? ceramics? paper/cardboard?
Is it part of a vehicle? part of a building?
Is it a barrier? with three people on one side? and something dangerous on the other? Was it built to function as a barrier? Was it built to protect people from something?

[klondike mary]

Is it a solid object? As in, something that can be touched, etc., Yes. or part of one? made of metal? wood? this glass? fibreglass? plastic? rubber? cloth/fabric? ceramics? paper/cardboard?
Is it part of a vehicle? part of a building? no to both.
Is it a barrier? with three people on one side? and something dangerous on the other? Was it built to function as a barrier? Was it built to protect people from something? No. Bit of a FA.

[GalFisk]

Is it a tree? A tree branch? Is the wood alive? Was it made to be half an inch thick by a human?

[klondike mary]

Is it a tree? A tree branch? Is the wood alive? No.Was it made to be half an inch thick by a human? or humans, yes

[TDGperson]

Is there an object that is half an inch thick? Did it break? Fail to perform its intended purpose?

[klondike mary]

is there an object that is half an inch thick? Did it break? Yes to both. Fail to perform its intended purpose? Failed to perform the task it was being used for, if not its usual intended purpose.
Is that confusing? Good!

[TDGperson]

Is it this? https://storiestogrowby.org/story/sima-guang-breaking-vat-chinese-stories-english/

Did the half an inch thick object have water on only one side of it? Is it used to contain something? Is it shaped like a container? wall/barrier? rope?

[klondike mary]

Is it this? https://storiestogrowby.org/story/sima- ... s-english/
Cute story, but no. This is a IRL story - at least in my RL, which may be kind of weird!
Did the half an inch thick object have water on only one side of it? Is it used to contain something? Is it shaped like a container? There is no liquid involved, and it is not a container. wall/barrier? This is sort of OTRT, only on a different track.rope? No.

[klondike mary]

Second thought: Perhaps I should have answered 'yope' to wall/barrier, because that was the intended purpose of the thing in question - but it was being used for something other than its intended use.

[wunderland]

Is it a door?
Is its shape approximately a prism, with bases half an inch apart? If so, are those bases: triangles? squares? rectangles? parallelograms? regular polygons? circles (which would make it a cylinder rather than a prism)?
In how it is being used in the puzzle, is it oriented horizontally? vertically? diagonally?

[klondike mary]

Is it a door?No, but a door might be used for this purpose, so keep exploring.
Is its shape approximately a prism, with bases half an inch apart? If so, are those bases: triangles? squares? rectangles? parallelograms? regular polygons? circles (which would make it a cylinder rather than a prism)? Neither a cylinder or a prism.
In how it is being used in the puzzle, is it oriented horizontally? this vertically? diagonally?

[GalFisk]

Is it a gate? Does it have holes? Buoyancy relevant? Did it relevantly break? Come loose? Open? Fall? Burn? Was it tasked with bearing a weight? I water invovled at all? Did people fall?

[klondike mary]

Is it a gate? No.Does it have holes? Knotholes, yes, but not holes you can see through.Buoyancy relevant?No. Did it relevantly break? Yes!Come loose? Open? Fall? Burn? No or n.r. to all. Was it tasked with bearing a weight? YES.I water invovled at all? Not at all.Did people fall? Yes.
GalFisk

[GalFisk]

Was it used as a bridge? Was it a plank? Was it horizontal? Were people on it?

[klondike mary]

Was it used as a bridge? Strictly speaking, no, but it did 'bridge' a gap.Was it a plank? No but explore. Was it horizontal? Were people on it? Yes to both.

[JenBurdoo]

Was it made of planking? Did people travel over it?

[trebor]

Was the thing being used as a sled?

[wunderland]

Was it used to cover a hole in the ground? Or in a floor?
Was it a wall panel?

[GalFisk]

Was it made from plywood? Did it break because it was weakened? Overloaded? Damaged? Was one person on it? Two? Three? Four? Five? More?

[klondike mary]

Was it made of planking? Noish Did people travel over it? No.
JenBurdoo

[klondike mary]

Was the thing being used as a sled? Not surprising a Canadian would think of that, but no
trebor

[klondike mary]

Was it used to cover a hole in the ground? No. Or in a floor?
Was it a wall panel? Could have been used as either, but not in this case.

[klondike mary]

Was it made from plywood? YES Did it break because it was weakened? Overloaded? This. Damaged? Was one person on it? Two? 2 1/2Three? Four? Five? More?
GalFisk

****************SPOILER***************
When we were expecting our second child, my husband & I were engaged in putting an addition on to our house. While sheetrocking the ceiling, he enlisted me (7 + months pregnant) to hold up one end of a 4' x 8' sheet of sheetrock while he begin to nail from the other end. To do this, he had made a temp scaffold of a sheet of plywood across two sawhorses. So I got up there and was holding the sheetrock over my head, when the plywood began to crack beneath my feet. He jumped off, and I sank s l o w l y to the floor. Since the descent was so slow, and was from a height of less than two feet, no harm was done, but I resigned as carpenter's helper on the spot.
I don't remember how he finally got the job done - another thing I have blotted out of my memory - but eventually it was accomplished.
It should be noted that at this point I (we) oughtweighed hiim by several pounds, and that is why the plywood began to crack from my side.