At dinner last night...

[Dave Mundt]

Funny you should mention this. Just this last weekend, I was going to try and progress some of the cleanup around the house, so, after "PM"ing the chainsaw sharpener, I pulled the chain off the Stihl, and got it all tweaked up. Needless to say, I was pretty puzzled as to why it only produced fine dust and smoke when I tried cutting into the Maple trunk on the front lawn. I thought, since I had adjusted the grind a bit, that I had screwed something up, and ruined the teeth. However, of course, when I looked at it, I saw that *I* had put it on backwards! After a quick shot to the forehead with the Klown Hammer, I hiked up to the workshop, swapped the chain around, and, was quite pleased with the way it chewed through the thick maple, producing a nice spray of chips... Sigh. Measure twice, cut once. Dave Mundt

[nospambob]

[Robert Galloway]

I've knows a number of very bright people who recite to themselved "righty tighty, lefty loosy" every time they approach a screw or bolt. The reason is that they didn't grow up playing with mechanical things, they seldom encounter them now and it hasn't become "second nature". I know a number of people who don't have the problem whose IQ is probably not over 85.

rhg

Larry Jaques wrote:

[Robert Galloway]

I've knows a number of very bright people who recite to themselved "righty tighty, lefty loosy" every time they approach a screw or bolt. The reason is that they didn't grow up playing with mechanical things, they seldom encounter them now and it hasn't become "second nature". I know a number of people who don't have the problem whose IQ is probably not over 85.

rhg

Larry Jaques wrote:

[Doug Miller]

"Didn't grow up playing with mechanical things." That's it in a nutshell.

I know a lawyer, very bright guy, who decided to redo his kitchen himself. He actually did a decent job of laying linoleum and installing cabinets from the Borg, but when he did the plumbing.... well, he somehow managed to miss the concept that fittings on PVC pipe needed to be glued, and thought that a press fit was adequate. The results were entirely predictable (except to him).

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

[RB]

Undoubtedly he would look with disdain on a plumber who tried to practice law.

RB

Doug Miller wrote:

[Norman D. Crow]

's alright, I've seen some *plumbers* who couldn't seem to get the joints right either!

[Tom Veatch]

I've always considered "common sense" to simply be the ability to use reason and logic to draw the "proper" conclusions from a set of observations. Which leads me to the conclusion that blind adherence to rules, precedents, and "zero-tolerance" policies is both illogical and unreasonable.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[Kevin Singleton]

Maybe, but, what's the alternative, and is it really any better?

Kevin

[George]

Except, of course, others' expectation is that you will obey the rules. Their health and life often depend on it. Society is founded on it.

C> I've always considered "common sense" to simply be the ability to use

reason and logic to draw the "proper" conclusions from a set

rules, precedents, and "zero-tolerance" policies is both

[J. Clarke]

The problem is not with rules, precedents, and policies, it's the blind adherence and zero-tolerance parts that are the issue. Sometimes violating the rules is the right decision and zero tolerance wastes everybody's time on trivia.

[George]

Change it, don't violate it.

Fabric of society, its manners, customs and laws. Alternative is called anarchy. Not to mention the confusion as you are confronted with an endless number of decisions. Is this the day to steal my neighbor's car? Was yesterday really retail fraud amnesty day, or can I get the money back for the two radios that kid stole? Should I blindly comply with that stupid yield sign when I need to get to my tennis lesson, and that truck has all day ....

[Chris Richmond - MD6-FDC ~]

Agreed, but...

I don't think anyone would argue with these rules being valid. Its the stupid ones that need to be fixed. My kid's high school has a zero tolerance drug policy. That includes asprin, cough drops, etc. All this does is piss intelligent people off and remove any responsibility and decision making from school administrators. It effectively neuters them and reduces their value. Maybe we should now pay them less because those kinds of decisions are made for them? Is that "the right thing?"

Chris

[George]

Change it or abide by it.

By all means do not teach your child that it's all right to define the law in personal terms, or demean the teachers/administrators for following the rules that _you_ through your representatives, the board, have given them to follow.

I'm in EMS, and when one of the kids had an allergic reaction in class, I took the reprimand for giving Benadryl rather than waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Broke the rules, but was willing to take the consequences. That's what "civil disobedience," should be about.

[J. Clarke]

It's not that clearcut.

"Is this the day to steal my neighbor's car"? Well, let's see, you kid got into your shop and managed to cut his hand off with the circular saw. You try to stop the bleeding and you only succeed in slowing it. You went to call 911 and found out that the phones were out. You tried to rush him to the hospital and your car wouldn't start. Your neighbor's car is sitting in the driveway but your neighbor is not home. What do you do? Do you let your kid bleed to death or do you steal the neighbor's car and rush him to the emergency room?

See the problem with blind obedience and zero-tolerance enforcement?

[J. Clarke]

I'm sorry, but you neither changed the law nor abided by it, so why do you advocate that others behave differently? Is it "do as I say, not as I do"?

[Robert Galloway]

You're right. But... we got too much of that disdain stuff. If you want to be your own lawyer, more power to you. If you get bad results, those are the breaks. (I'm not a lawyer, by the way). A lot of us get a great deal of enjoyment out of mechanical work around the house, maintaining the car, doing our own plumbing and wiring. I overhauled my first one cylinder engine when I was about twelve. I overhauled a Model "T" engine in high school shop and used it to run a hammer mill to grind alfalfa. I don't do plumbing and wiring to beat the professional out of a buck. I do it for recreation. I don't golf. I don't watch football on TV. There have to be a lot of folks enjoying the mechanical trades judging by the number of mags and TV shows aimed at helping them along.

bob g.

got to go now, the Reagan Memorial stuff is > Undoubtedly he would look with disdain on a plumber who tried to > practice law. > > RB

[Robert Galloway]

Give me a break. Don't enact it in the first place. Most of us don't have the time and resources to change everything some putz bureaucrat sees fit to inflict on us. Most of us have to content ourselves with ignoring them and trying to stay below the radar. >

Big difference between anarchy and being choked by regulations. The nature of the human, put in a position of authority is to try to dictate every aspect of his fellow human's life. This must be guarded against at all cost. When guarding has failed, a little civil disobedience is bound to occur.

Not to mention the confusion as you are confronted with an > endless number of decisions.

Be reasonable. Steal your neighbor's car? Do we have to make a big decision every day as to whether this is a good idea or not? The ten commandments kind of follow the golden rule. Most OSHA regulations are a lot more opaque and in my opinion, obtuse.

George wrote:

[Robert Galloway]

George, why don't you give an e-mail address so this non woodworking discussion can be taken out of the newsgroup? It doesn't belong here.

bob g.

George wrote:

[Kevin Singleton]

I've never met a school administrator that I believed was capable of making a reasoned, fair, intelligent decision. He's a school district employee, not Solomon.

Kevin