Thanks to Clint Knutson and the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers to inviting me to emcee the 72nd annual awards banquet last night in Grand Forks.  It was a great time.

I started with a joke.  Not an old joke, mind you, a classic joke!  It was greeted with mild amusement and, I think, a smattering of applause.  (At least, that’s how I remember it.)  It may not have gotten the reaction it deserved.

I’d like to share:

A lawyer, a minister and an engineer are about to go to the guillotine.

The lawyer is first.  But, just as the blade of the guillotine falls, it gets stuck just above the lawyer’s head.

“It would be unfair to punish a person twice for the same crime,” the lawyer says.  “I should be set free.”

So, he is.

Next, it’s the minister’s turn.  But, the same thing happens.  The blade gets stuck just above the minister’s head.

“It is an act of God,” the minister says.  “I should be set free.”

So, he is.

Finally, it’s the engineer’s turn. The engineer says to the executioner “You know, if you’d put a pulley on that thing it would work a lot better.”