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07 March 2010

Problem solving - Brazilian way

Rio de Janeiro still has a tram - a very old one, called Bonde, that goes to the historic district of Santa Teresa. It's mostly used by tourists but we took it anyway. It rides up the steep hills, around curves, and has to stop from time to time and the driver has to step off and fix something with some big iron tool. But then there was a car parked and the tram couldn't pass, just because of a couple of centimeters. The driver rang his bell for some time, without effect. Then somebody got off the tram and hit the car, hoping this would set off the car alarm (but it didn't). The driver continued ringing the bell and somebody entertained the passengers by suggesting the tram pass over the car. Fifteen minutes passed without appearance of the car owner. The tram driver phoned someone (I guess the traffic police or so), until somebody had a brilliant idea: to rock the car until it would move the 2 or 3 centimeters it took to make space. All the men instantly jumped from the tram with a big "wooohooo!" and started rocking the car to and fro. In less than two minutes the problem was solved, the car moved a few centimeters down the hill, it was out of the way and the Bonde moved on through Santa Teresa.

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