I thought you guys would appreciate this?

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Hayden, Frank  
Sent:	Wednesday, May 23, 2001 12:44 PM
To:	Murphy, Ted; Port, David; Gorny, Vladimir; Hagelmann, Bjorn; Zipter, Rudi; Schultz, Cassandra
Subject:	Couldn't resist

A man flying in a hot air balloon realised that he was lost. He reduced height and spotted a man below. He shouted down: 'Can you help me? I promised to meet my friend half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.' The passer-by shouted 'You are in a hot air balloon hovering 30 feet above a field. The field is located at 40 to 41 degrees latitude and 59 to 60 degrees longitude'. The balloonist thought for a few moments and replied: 'You must work in risk management.' 'Remarkable,' said the passer-by. 'How did you work that out?' 'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you've told me is undoubtedly correct. However, I haven't the slightest clue what to make of it and the fact is that I'm still lost.' The passer-by gave him a knowing look and replied: 'Why didn't you tell me you were a trader?' The balloonist looked amazed and said: ' How did you work that out?' 'Simple,' replied the passer-by. 'You don't know where you are or where you're going. You've made a promise that you've no idea how to keep and expected me to solve the problem. Having done as you asked, you're in exactly the same situation as you were before we met, but now, somehow, the whole thing's my fault.'