The beginners dilemma

Yes, real Duct tape is aluminum foil tape, not aluminum -colored- plastic/fabric tape.

On my bicycle I use chain wax, great stuff!

My "friend" needed to borrow my bike to fetch a puncture kit for his, so he took mine.

Came back, says "Your chain was squeaking, I lubed it with WD-40"

I was not happy

On the OT,

Since I was a child I have seen most people reach a certain age where looking words up in a close to hand dictionary becomes near-impossible. It's an attitude. Once you finish school, you become a completed adult. From there, looking things up is like admitting that you are not. And yes, I got told the "finished high school, know everything that matters" spiel many times back in the days.

Now we have the internet. Someone can be online asking for help and given links to fully prepared sites chock full of perfectly good and often illustrated explanations that they don't have to get off their... seats... to access, they still demonstrate a failure to even begin to absorb as much as a few terms.

"Here's a plate of food" gets "I can't use a fork, knife or spoon. Feed me.".

I'm happy to say that I have been able to help people not at all like that. If they get stuck and you give them a little help, they figure it out and get going.

It's the others that get me.

But as I note, this is nothing new. It's just that with easy net access we have idiots where we did not before.

GoForSmoke:
On the OT,

Since I was a child I have seen most people reach a certain age where looking words up in a close to hand dictionary becomes near-impossible. It's an attitude. Once you finish school, you become a completed adult. From there, looking things up is like admitting that you are not. And yes, I got told the "finished high school, know everything that matters" spiel many times back in the days.

Now we have the internet. Someone can be online asking for help and given links to fully prepared sites chock full of perfectly good and often illustrated explanations that they don't have to get off their... seats... to access, they still demonstrate a failure to even begin to absorb as much as a few terms.

"Here's a plate of food" gets "I can't use a fork, knife or spoon. Feed me.".

I'm happy to say that I have been able to help people not at all like that. If they get stuck and you give them a little help, they figure it out and get going.

It's the others that get me.

But as I note, this is nothing new. It's just that with easy net access we have idiots where we did not before.

Google and wikipedia are dangerous things...

Hi, my step daughter (now 25yo) came out of primary school (years 0 to 6) and still did not know what clockwise and anti-clockwise WAS!!! (Digital time taught)
Also she would take time to even work out 6 times 7, then when asked immediately after it, 7 times 6, she would take time and work it out AGAIN!!!! (They never had to memorise multiplication tables or anything,)

Tom...... :slight_smile:

So major politician material then? Might rule the country some day?

TomGeorge:
Hi, my step daughter (now 25yo) came out of primary school (years 0 to 6) and still did not know what clockwise and anti-clockwise WAS!!! (Digital time taught)

My father taught me "Turn to the right to make it tight." That works...until you find a left-handed thread!

Also she would take time to even work out 6 times 7, then when asked immediately after it, 7 times 6, she would take time and work it out AGAIN!!!! (They never had to memorise multiplication tables or anything,)

They're taught to rely on calculators, but if they miss-key, or use the wrong formula, they'll never know they've got the wrong answer!
Earlier today I wanted to convert US$42 into pounds Sterling. I know that $1 is approx. £0.65. Being lazy, I fired up the calculator and entered 42/0.65. Woops. That can't be right! Face-palm! I meant 42 * 0.65. Would any one who had not been taught basic arithmatic have spotted that or would they have assumed the first answer was correct?

cyberteque:
On my bicycle I use chain wax, great stuff!

Ditto. Soak in solvent. Wash with soap and water. Apply the wax.

TomGeorge:
Also she would take time to even work out 6 times 7, then when asked immediately after it, 7 times 6, she would take time and work it out AGAIN!!!!

That has Left-Brain Fixation stamped all over it.
Too much emphasis on FOCUS which is what schools have done ever more since long ago.
When kids don't get out to play and interact with the world, it makes it worse.
When focus gets all the praise then that is what gets developed.

GoForSmoke:

TomGeorge:
Also she would take time to even work out 6 times 7, then when asked immediately after it, 7 times 6, she would take time and work it out AGAIN!!!!

That has Left-Brain Fixation stamped all over it.
Too much emphasis on FOCUS which is what schools have done ever more since long ago.
When kids don't get out to play and interact with the world, it makes it worse.
When focus gets all the praise then that is what gets developed.

RSA ANIMATE: The Divided Brain - YouTube

Where Focus = lack of lateral thinking (How else can I do this?)

You know how you can be stuck on a code bug, get up for a break and see what you didn't when you get back? That is precisely because of fixation where the conscious "knows" the lines are right even when they're not.
If you get too good at focus it takes longer breaks to shake it off. And yes, that can get worse.

GoForSmoke:
You know how you can be stuck on a code bug, get up for a break and see what you didn't when you get back?

It's the elves (or not)...

Hmmm I've been digging a basement under my house for years ... Didn't find any elves....... I probably live on the wrong place..........Should I move??????
LOL

Jantje

Hi, you need to goto a place called the SHIRE, find a big guy called GANDOLF and lttle guy, FRODO, they will get your elves for you, may take a while though, it involves a ring I hear.

(Don't be surprised if they look familiar to you, actors they get everywhere...... :~)

Tom.......(Not far from the SHIRE except for a little bit of water called "The Tasman Sea".. :slight_smile:

Jantje:
Hmmm I've been digging a basement under my house for years ... Didn't find any elves....... I probably live on the wrong place..........Should I move??????
LOL

Jantje

You haven't dug deep enough... :slight_smile:

Henry_Best:

Jantje:
Hmmm I've been digging a basement under my house for years ... Didn't find any elves....... I probably live on the wrong place..........Should I move??????
LOL

Jantje

You haven't dug deep enough... :slight_smile:

I know. I hit kwelm and I couldn't handle that. 8)
Jantje

Hi, I won't be digging in my back yard, if I go right through to the other side of the earth I'd come out in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Tom..... :slight_smile:

TomGeorge:
Hi, I won't be digging in my back yard, if I go right through to the other side of the earth I'd come out in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Tom..... :slight_smile:
http://www.antipodr.com/

That's a shame - the usual advice in response to the question "When should I stop digging down?" is "When you smell feet".

It gets kind of hot long before that. I knew some coal miners. The way it's described, I wouldn't be surprised to see graffiti saying "Dante was here".