Hurricane in New York City
StoryIllustrationAnalogy★★★★A man living in Long Island, New York, made a mail order for a barometer. How excited he was when the mailman brought him the expected package.
He quickly opened it and hung it on the spot he had prepared for the instrument. But as he looked at the mounted apparatus, he became dismayed.
The readings pointed to weather conditions for a hurricane. Taking it off the wall, he shook it and tapped it to see if the instrument would correct itself. “This thing is not working,” he said, “Hurricanes don’t happen in New York.”
Shaking it once more and tapping it, he hoped that the jarring would cause the needle to get loose. He concluded it was futile. They sent him a malfunctioning instrument. Angry and left with frustrated expectations, he put the thing back in the box and drove to the post office to ship it back.
While at the post office, the winds gave evidence that the barometer was right, and shortly thereafter the storm struck.
The point
A man receives a barometer reading 'hurricane' and dismisses it as faulty since hurricanes don't occur in New York, only to be proven wrong when the storm strikes.