MADHATTER

Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?
Actually, this riddle is designed to be nonsensical, and according to its author, Lewis Carroll, he never intended for there to be any real answer to the question: “why is a raven like a writing desk?” The entire point of the riddle is that it has no answer, although numerous people have come up with creative interpretations of the riddle.
This question is posed in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in a scene with Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse at the famous Tea Party. Alice is informed that riddles are being exchanged, and the Mad Hatter asks “why is a raven like a writing desk?” The guests attempt to puzzle the riddle out, and several pages later, the Hatter admits “I haven't the slightest idea.” The scene is meant to illustrate the topsy-turvy world into which Alice has fallen, with the whole book illustrating how confusing the adult world seems to children. When Alice asks about why they are wasting their time with riddles which have no answer, she's really asking a larger question about adultsIn an introduction to a later edition of the book, Lewis Carroll addressed the issue, saying “Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!” In the original preface, “never” was spelled “nevar,” which is “raven” backwards


Alice is a pre-teen or even a young teen always being told what to doM how to live and so on, she hates it and like Dorothy and Oz, Alice longs for something different -- A place where she will fit in because no one expects anything of anyone and what you do expect is never so and vice versa. In a sense, she gets what she asked for, only to find that it's not what she wanted at all. So her trip to Wonderland causes the realization that she is prepared to be rational and conform to societal expectations for fear of finding herself as Mad as a Hatter.
If Wonderland is what she created in her mind, then a riddle would be a serious question. Since a serious question warrants a serious answer, then the answer should be nonsense. The only answer that makes sense and no sense is: Because in your mind it is so!

"The card or label on the Hatter's hat reads "In this style 10/6". "10/6" means ten shillings and six pence (or a half guinea), the price of the hat in pre-decimalised British money and acts as a visual indication of the hatter's trade. (There were 21 shillings to the guinea, 20 shillings to the pound and 12 pennies to a shilling ... thus 10/6 = £0.525.) With inflation, £0.525 in 1865 would be worth about £40.55 in 2002

some people pointed out that the tag on the hat may say 7016 if we look at it diagonally
july 16th is possibly significant?


this is the trailer for Alice in Wonderland,
[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMiCJefpn9Q [/youtube]
from 0:30, the Mad Hatter says "You're back!"

Just a thought!

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The mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. And here is why.
See my references to Lewis Carroll (suspect Aspie who wrote Alice in Wonderland)
And the Matrix, which has several references to Alice in Wonderland, and my own references to the Matrix and Aspergers.

You see Mercury was used in the process of curing felt in some hats, making it ipossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hatter making process. Hatter and mill workers thus often suffered mercury poisoning, causing neurological damage, including confused speech and distorted vision

It was not unusual then for hatters to appear disturbed or confused.....However, the hatter from Alice in wonderland does not exhibit the symptoms of Mercury poisoning, which include "excessive timidity, diffidence -

dif·fi·dent (df-dnt, -dnt) adj.
1. Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid.
2. Reserved in manner.

....increasing shyness, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, and a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive."

Now here is a nice quote from the Alice in Wonderland book......

"Alice sighed wearily. " I think you might do something better with the time,", she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."

" If you knew Time as well as I do," said the Hatter, "you wouldn't talk abou twasting it. It's him."

"I don't know what you mean," said Alice.

"Of course you don't!" the hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. "I dare say you have NEVER even spoken to Time!"

So I hope you see why I believe the Mad Hatter is the perfect avatar for someone with Aspergers.
Spooky about the similarities between Mercury Poisoning and Aspergers though.

"Anyone for a cup of Tea"