Home  ›  Education  ›  Bridge of Death  ›  Lean Hogs  ›  Tar Heel, Every Two Seconds

LH · Lean Hogs ·Bridge of Death · Question 03 of 11

Tar Heel, Every Two Seconds

The scene

You are a Knight of the Round Table — a Launcelot, a Galahad, a Sir Robin, perhaps King Arthur himself — and your quest, as you shall shortly declare, is to seek the Holy Grail. The road requires crossing the Gorge of Eternal Peril. The only way across is the Bridge of Death. There stands the Bridgekeeper, an old man with a staff, who will ask you three questions. Answer rightly, and he waves you past. Answer wrongly, and — into the gorge you will be thrown. Good luck.

At the bridge

“STOP! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.”

, Gorge of Eternal Peril.

1Question the first

What… is your name?

“

Answer

State your name.

2Question the second

What… is your quest?

“

Answer

I seek the Holy Grail of trading.

3Question the third

What… is the average time between hogs coming off the kill line at Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant at full speed?

Smithfield’s plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, is the largest slaughterhouse on earth. Two shifts a day, 16 hours of active line time, 30,000 hogs processed from arrival to boxed cuts. The Bridgekeeper, standing at the end of the kill floor with a stopwatch, asks how often a new hog comes off the line.

Select one of the five answers below. Choose carefully, and accept your fate.