Date : Sun, 21 Nov 2010 15:00:12 +0000
From : jgh@... (J.G.Harston)
Subject: [OT] Who'da thought...
Rick Murray wrote:
>>> You *do* know how to do lights'n'levels don't you?
>> errr....
...
> Oil level, Coolant level, Brake fluid, Fanbelt
> Tyre pressure, Lights, Tracking
Ooooh!!!! Show me tell me. Yeah, done that.
> Tyre pressure
That one was the test question, and reading up on it beforehand I was
thinking: but surely I'd look in the manual, not try and remember all
this 1.6mm 3/4 tread no bulge stuff? Do'h. Good job I had read through
it beforehand :)
> Get a mechanic to set your tyres to the correct pressure, then take
Exactly! How do you do X? Get a chap in.
Before doing a Sheffield-Tarland run I check all lights and stuff, and
then take the car - fully loaded - to the garage to top up the tires
and fuel tank.
> is to use a brick. Also, test the indicators and hazards separately. It
> might seem pointless (it's the same yellow lights), but it allows you to
> check the contacts.
My instructor was puzzled when I didn't test the indicators by just putting
the hazards on, and I said, well, that just tests the hazard switch, it
doesn't test the indicator switch.
> It is a good idea to get the cambelt checked by a mechanic when you take
> ownership of a car, and then at LEAST every 25,000 miles (many will do
> twice that easily, but some cheaper-made cars are best changed).
The Rover did 1200 miles per year before I started using it. It's now done
4200 miles since May. ;)
>> Have you ever read Starship Troopers?
> Saw the film.
The book's better. About half of it covers cadet training and ethical
instruction instead of the 0.2 minutes of the film.
> Not so different from the infamous "It's not what your country can do
> for you... it's what you can do for your country".
"Remember your responsibilities as a citizen for the conduct of local,
national, and international affairs. Do not shrink from the time and
effort your involvement may demand."
> I assume, therefore, if the state declines people the right to
> citizenship, they will be granted immunity in jury duty and if military
> conscription should it ever occur, plus would not have to pay any
The whole point of the service-gives-citizenship ethos in ST is that
state service is voluntary, conscription is unacceptable slavery, if
a country needs slave soldiers to fight its battles it doesn't deserve
to survive.
> non-VAT taxation beyond local taxes for the upkeep of the place they live?
As ST concentrated on the military option of state service it didn't go
into much detail of other state service options and state financing and
suchlike. I'm sure I could find out if I could track down some of the
various academic studies and fanwork.
>> Another of Heinlein's lines was along the line of: never trust a
>> government when the only qualification to vote is being able to breath.
> My thinking along those matters is to take the first four words and
> discard the rest...
LOL!!!
>> "Something like solving a simple quadratic equation, a high school
>> level test."
> I call unfair on that. [dyscalculia]
...
> but I completely
> fail with "what's the number in the sequence?" type questions, except
I can do the maths and geometry based one, but fail on the language ones.
House is to Rabbit as Bungalow is to.... wtf????
> Then again:
> Gillian McKeith has performed how many bushtuckers?
> Name Cheryl Cole's husband?
> Lady Gaga is male or female?
> Will there be a Queen Cammie?
That's not intelligence, that's knowledge. Asimov wrote a good short story
about the flaws of somebody with enhanced memory confusing the two.
--
J.G.Harston - jgh@...