Evaluating Gladstone's luck

[Stefan Diös]

Kristian Pedersen about Gladstone's unlikely luck:


>Being familiar with the obscenely huge numbers that
>arise in the branch of mathematics known as
>combinatorics, I would venture the guess that the most
>unbelievably lucky event happens to Gladstone in
>Barks' story about Hondorica: As I recall, Donald
>tears up a treasure map in twenty-odd pieces and
>throws it into the river. Whereupon the pieces
>rearrange themselves into a readable map a couple of
>hundred yards further down the river, where Gladstone
>is fishing.


Or how about the coincidence that two donaldists will, separately, reach 
the same conclusion from all these vast, huge, enormous sources of 
Gladstoneness? :-)

I smiled when I started reading your post, for I knew what my answer would 
be. I, too, spent some time thinking about this exact question about 20 
years ago. That was before Rosa, so I was mostly "limited" to the Barks 
stories. And I, too, was deeply fascinated by the torn Hondorica map 
floating together in the stream and decided that without any reasonable 
doubt, this must be it.

As far as I can remember, I never discussed this at length with anybody, 
and I'm quite certain I never put it in writing. But if I had, it would 
have been very similar to what you wrote here. Which also marks the first 
time I hear anyone else discuss it at all. Weird. Kristian, I didn't think 
I knew you, but if I know myself at all, I obviously know you, too!  ;-)




Stefan Dios
Malmo, Sweden