One morning while attending University, I found myself frozen with frustration before my dresser. Sitting on top of my dresser were two broken watches. On my wrist was another that I had been pounding, trying to get it to work. It didn't and I wasn't. What was it about me and my watches? Suddenly, as I stared at those watches, from the depths of somewhere, came "matter plus time plus chance equals an ordered working . . ." What if . . . I took all three broken watches apart (which in itself soon became more than my brain could handle) and put them back together again? I might, by time and chance, get one new working watch. It would be pure chance if I even got it back together.
 

After a day or two of futile effort (I was finding out that time plus my brain was only adding up to more and more extra parts), "matter plus time plus chance equals order" wasn't working. That's when it came to me. I was the problem. My brain was in the way. True chance didn't have a way to work as long as I was playing with the parts. "Matter plus time plus chance" would do the work on it's own.
 

I had a hard time finding that machine that shakes and mixes paint. The fellow at the hardware store told me he used his every day. When I asked about just using it at night, he wanted to know why and then just laughed. I bet they laugh at all great men of genius. This was going to work. The fellow at Home Depot was more helpful and ordered me a mixer from his supplier. Wow! I could have bought a new watch for that price. But I was into it now. I was going to prove "matter plus time plus chance" could supply me with a working watch.
 

I plugged the machine into my already overloaded outlet and brushed the parts of all the watches into an empty paint can. I hoped I had not lost any of the parts. But why worry? "Matter plus time plus chance" could overcome that. Now, I know I cheated a little bit by using electricity and man-made parts but it was still a good experiment; it would prove something. After I got the parts in the can and pounded the lid tight, I placed the can in the jaws of the mixer, clamped down and hit the switch. What a noise! I knew my roommate could not, would not, sleep with that going on all night. I could just run it during the day while we were out, but, hey, this was a small price to pay for science. I found the larger price was paid when we had our friends up to the room. We had to explain the whole thing. It took me quite a while to get out all the details. Charles just said: "he's nuts." That hurt!
 

One thing worried me. How would I know when to open the can? Would it be fair to open the can and then close it again and continue? Would that be doubting my theory? Yes, my theory; I was into it now. I believed I was destined (by time and chance) to succeed and therefore would somehow know. Sure enough! One day the sound from the can changed. Instead of a lot of tiny sounds tumbling together, it sounded more like larger "thunks." It was time to open the can and prove to myself and the world forever that order would come out of chaos without any help (except the many parts and of course the man-made machine and electricity)! I opened the can and yes, you guessed it, to this day, I am wearing this beautiful watch which keeps perfect time and has never needed repair.
 

You don't have to believe all this if you don't want to. It is just one example of how "matter plus time plus chance" produced an unbelievable result. You still don't believe? Well, because it is science, it can be reproduced. Try it in your own lab. Parts and procedure are written out below. One suggestion: be prepared to be tried and tested. There will be times when you will doubt if it will ever work. Oh, and put the experiment in your basement or at least as far from your bedroom as possible.

-Take any three broken watches.
-Disassemble them into single parts.
-Place all the parts into a paint can and seal the top.
-Shake the can any way you want.
-When you have evidence that something has changed, open the can and take out your new watch.

** What you may learn could be worth more than life.