I was just thinking about creativity and how people foster it, encourage it etc., etc. And how in this instantaneous communication age ideas travel at the speed of light. And then I remembered the joke.

How fast can joke travel?

Years ago when I was at uni I made up a joke. It's so long ago I can't even remember it now but it had some very specific elements to it. I told the joke to some friends at a dinner party and then forgot all about it. I moved to Australia and about 2 years later someone in Australia told me my own joke! I was staggered. I remember it was the same in all the specifics so it was unlikely someone else had come up with the same ideas - not impossible of course, but unlikely. And I wondered about all the steps it had passed through to travel 13,000 miles and 2 years to come back to me like the proverbial boomerang. Wouldn't be a bad device for a story. Maybe I'll get round to it one day...

What about today?

If it took the joke two years all those years ago how much quicker now with instant messengers, voip, email and blogs? Does anyone know? Has anyone tried it? If I become super creative and think up one I'll try it out and let you know.