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 This is a true story...

 Back in the late 1950's my father, an electrical engineer, was one of three
 people doing research at MIT for the space race, primarially focusing on the
 computers to be used in the space capsules.

 One day a professor that all three engineers knew fairly well stopped by.
 The professor (also an engineer) had previously shown only passing interest
 in the work that they were doing.  This day, however, the professor spent
 half an hour with my father asking all sorts of questions about what he was
 working on.  Afterwards the professor went to the two other engineers and
 spent time with each, asking similar detailed questions.

 After the professor left, the three got together and discussed this strange
 visit.  It didn't take them long to realize that the professor was going to
 give a lecture on the research they'd been working on, and it took less time
 to discover which class this lecture was intended for.  Determined to spice
 up the lecture, they dropped everything and ran over to the lecture hall
 where the class was about to start.  They got to the class and sat down in
 the back before the professor arrived, determined to ask him all sorts of
 questions that he couldn't possibly answer.

 When the professor walked in he stopped for an instant after noticing the
 three engineers sitting in the back.  He walked up to the podium and
 immediately began his lecture:

 "Ladies and gentlemen, I promised you that today I would bring you all up to
 date on the latest developments in our research involving putting a man in
 space.  Well, I'm pleased to announce that I've done even better than that.
 Today I have with me the three engineers who are heading the project, and
 they will each be speaking for twenty minutes on their respective areas of
 focus."

 Luckily my father was called on last, giving him 40 minutes to compose his
 lecture...

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