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Narrator:

I am one of your typical first world citizens. I got my hobbies, but nothing too special.

I hate cleaning. I find it boring, and a chore. And I hate it even more, when I have to do any amount of cleaning right in the middle of my hobby!

It was a long time ago, and I was in a bar with friends. I got drunk rather quickly. I remember one of my friends saying a bizarre story about people jumping from their balconies. But when someone that was already falling grabbed another that was ready to jump, then they became another copy of the same person.

....Anyway. The good part is, that due to this thing, which I remember rather unclearly, I am now able to do my hobby without interruptions for cleaning!

What is the true story behind the narrators' fuzzy thoughts?

Edit: same person -> another copy of

Edit2: There are two main points. The balcony fall stuff, and the cleaning stuff. I remember the first, but have forgotten the second.

Tip:

Science

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6 Answers 6

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The narrator kept having to clean

His or her glasses

The friend in the bar was explaining

the process of stimulated emission. A person (electron) on a balcony (higher energy level) is grabbed by another person (incident photon) and [the released energy] becomes a copy of that person (second photon, identical to the first).

This is the principle behind

Lasers, and corrective eye surgery

Afterwards, the narrator

No longer needs his/her glasses, and can carry out the hobby uninterupted.

But what was the hobby? It must obviously involve

Wearing glasses, so maybe something requiring good eyesight?

and could possibly involve

Glasses steaming up?

So I'm going to guess at

Stamp collecting, using hot water / steam to help remove the stamps from the paper envelope

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  • $\begingroup$ You are correct! As stated, I don't remember the hobby exactly - but your 4 points totally cover the answer. $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Sep 13, 2019 at 9:39
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the tick mark! I was hoping the hobby part would ring a bell with you, maybe someone else with personal experience of the problem can come up with an alternative to that part of the puzzle. The only other thing I can think of is (rot13) oveq jngpuvat (ovabphynef znex tynffrf) $\endgroup$
    – Fillet
    Commented Sep 13, 2019 at 9:49
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My guess is...

The narrator is speaking about the "True Story", The matrix.

So, the citizens hobby..

Hacking (as Neo)

In reference to the cleaning..

Working as a "clean" programmer, data cleansing etc

People jumping from their balconies..

The "agents" as they become someone else, taking over the body code.

The citizen then...

Departs the matrix, allowing him to join anytime he wants and be in control, effectively hacking all the time.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling.SE! Can you explain why you believe this is the correct answer? How does it match the riddle? $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 7:40
  • $\begingroup$ Nice guess, I think the "People jumping from their balconies.." part might fit into when Neo wakes from the Matrix and looks around viewing the pods humans are kept in, before being flushed down a tube, and collected by the Nebuchadnezzar $\endgroup$
    – Karm
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 8:03
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to puzzling! Good try....not the correct answer though. You started on a tough one... $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 12:38
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This is a stretch, but are you talking about

Memory management in computer programming?

I hate cleaning.

This is a common sentiment among developers who have had to do manual memory management. A necessary activity when doing the "fun" hobby of developing. And if you don't do it, you have problems

I remember one of my friends saying a bizarre story about people jumping from their balconies.

"People" could be unused resources in program that are dumped by some other application (a "garbage collector")

But when someone that was already falling grabbed another that was ready to jump, then they became the same person.

The free'd resources become re-usable and can be re-purposed, "becoming" a new resource

The good part is, that due to this thing, which I remember rather unclearly, I am now able to do my hobby without interruptions for cleaning!

With "garbage collection", the developer is free to develop without having to worry about cleaning up unused resources.

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  • $\begingroup$ Not the intended answer, but very creative! $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Oct 17, 2018 at 15:37
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Could the friends have been

using a metaphor for marriage?

And the narrator

ignored the implications of the 'jumping off a balcony' part and got married anyway, and his spouse handles cleaning during his hobby?

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  • $\begingroup$ Nope, it's not that. $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Oct 17, 2018 at 15:37
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Your hobby might be

Dancing

And your solution is

To attach mops and dusters to your limbs so that you clean while you do your hobby.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ What about the story? $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 11:44
  • $\begingroup$ Thought it was just a metaphor for having two things going at once $\endgroup$
    – Jay
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 11:47
  • $\begingroup$ Ohh. I see. Still, not the answer. $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 11:47
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Could the hobby be

masturbation

When he fell off the balcony,

he fell with another woman and became a woman

Therefore, he doesn't need to clean up in the middle of his hobby because

women don't ejaculate after orgasm

A stretch, but maybe?

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    $\begingroup$ This.. is.. kinda.. $\endgroup$
    – athin
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 6:14
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ kinda...not the answer $\endgroup$
    – George Menoutis
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 15:40

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