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Old 01-07-2013, 02:25 PM
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Disbelief - shaking my head

Here's one for the 'how stupid' files. I've been shaking my head about this all day.

It's mid-year break here at uni and it's pretty quiet around the place. So today when I was in the food hall there was only me and the bloke who runs the store. I commented that the bread knife I was attempting to cut my bread roll with was equally sharp on both edges (ie the 'sharp' edge is no better than the back of the knife). He said they couldn't have them any sharper for safety reasons and that he had seen a student hold a bread roll in their hand and cut it with a knife while talking to someone and so slice their hand open. I suppose I wasn't too surprised.

He then went on to tell me they used to have an open griller but had to remove it. Some student wanted a grilled sandwich and so made the sandwich, wrapped it in grease-proof paper, put it in a paper bag, put that in a plastic bag and then put the whole lot in the griller !!! This is someone who has passed exams to say they are smart enough to go to uni! Us tech staff often comment about how brains doesn't always equal common sense (we see it in both students and academics) but I've never heard of such a stunning example before. I'm trying to imagine what he/she was thinking - if they were thinking at all. The only thing I can think of is that every time they have had a grilled sandwich handed to them it has been wrapped in paper and a plastic bag. I just hope it wasn't a science student.
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:42 PM
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multiweb (Marc)
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I did hear last week from my dentist that the admission level in UNI right now is bottoming out. I guess it's part of the PC BS. No good or bad kids. Just various levels of 'satisfactory'
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:43 PM
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Perhaps they only wanted a small sandwich, so expected it to shrink like we used to do with chip packets back in the 70's.

Or perhaps (as you expect) they were a moron.

Cheers,
Jason.
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:56 PM
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We had an "electronics technician" ?. He was given a simple job to test a batch of capacitors for shorts. Half an hour later he brought them back and said they were all shorted.

He worked on a metal topped bench and his way of testing was to press the meter prods onto the capacitor ends on the bench!

Barry
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Old 01-07-2013, 03:15 PM
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Just part of the devolution of our species....
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Old 01-07-2013, 03:16 PM
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I went to Dicksmith in carnes hills last year and asked a young girl if they had any USB extenders. She said US what? So I turned around and went to BIG W instead.
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Old 01-07-2013, 03:25 PM
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I went to a tool shop around these parts (not Bunnings), and asked the counter jumper where their fractional metric drill bits were.... the blank look suggested I explain further - you know, drill bits like 3.2/3.3/3.4mm etc, sorry, drill bits only come in half mm increments.... he didn't believe me when I said I actually do own several of such bits.... after thinking I could of got that pearl of advice from Bunnings, I went elsewhere....

Don't get me started about AppleStore 'geniuses'.....
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Old 01-07-2013, 04:04 PM
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apples now theres one , I walked up to the bar and asked the publicans wife what apple cider they had as a I couldn't quite see into the fridge behind the bar because someone was getting a couple of beers out.

She looked at me blankly and said we don't sell apple cider ,fair enough I said , then the fridge was clear again and theres the 3 types of strongbow right there , lots of them , I said yes you do I'll have a dry strongbow thanks ,she looked confused and said strongbow isn't apple cider to which I said what is it then ,She became quite cranky when she couldn't think of an answer and growled its "strongbow",I didn't show her whats right on front of the label
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:02 PM
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These threads full of dab hands of experience despairing over the ignorance of youth, I shakes me head. We'll all be rooned. Except t'was ever thus, and still here we are. Old people forget that they used to be young, and young people forget that they'll ever be old. Oh, when I think of all the things I didn't know when I started out in all the many realms of life. And astronomy not least of all. Good judgement comes from experience, so they say, but experience comes from bad judgement. Still, I wouldn't want someone to find out about plastic sandwiches by experimenting on my griller. And I do think that people — all too often oldsters more than the young — are too quick to disbelieve the existence of things of which they've never heard (fractional metric whatevers). So who wouldn't, when given a choice, want the world to be a kinder, more ingenuous place? But aren't apprentices still instructed by their prickish supervisors to go down to the hardware for a "long weight"? So here we are, stuck with skepticism triumphing over naivete because older, knowledgeable people have sometimes chosen to be bullies and orangutans. Oh, yes, certainly credentialed employees ought to know a thing or three about testing capacitors on metal benches (not that I would), but if they don't, it's surely the fault of someone older and wiser who for whatever reason scored them a pass that they didn't deserve. Say what you like, I won't ever blame anyone for anything if they've never been properly shown. The obligation of us all, the mission of humanity no less, is to make life better and easier for the generation coming after. War, for that reason, remains the great moral failure of everyone too old to fight. And the end game for humanity is surely the ability to wish for anything, anything at all, and to have it immediately, instantly. When a group of young hunters returned from slaying their first wooly mammoth with stone tipped spears, I'm sure that somewhere in a corner of the cave there was an old guy declaiming, "In my day... None of this stone stuff, you couldn't kill a wooly mammoth in the old days without at least someone ending up dead. You youngsters don't know how good you've got it..." When the bell tolls for humanity it'll be because some old dickless wonder is yanking on the sally.
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:02 PM
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I love the sales people that don't have a clue about the products they are selling.
Years ago went to a computer store to buy some bit of hardware, can't remember just what.
The sales guy is standing there watching me as I pick up a box and slowly and carefully read all the info printed on the box, front, back, top and bottom.
I then put it back on the shelf and asked the guy some question about the thing that was not written on the outside of the box.
He imediatley picked up the box and started to read what I had just read.
I asked him if he thought I could not read or did he just think I was an idiot.
He gave me a blank look so I left and bought it somewhere else.

Anyone found shop staff that have supposedly finished high school that can't calculate change?
How do these people get out of school with no arithmetc skills, it's not like you need calculus to make change.
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:10 PM
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it happens both ways... I like it when people come in to buy ink for their printer and either they don't know the model of their printer or the number of the cartridge or both.

I tell them to buy all of the cartridges and sell the wrong ones on eBay ... no one falls for that. they usually ring home and find out, but it is funny. who goes to buy something without knowledge any more? .... a lot of people!

matt
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  #12  
Old 01-07-2013, 05:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miaplacidus View Post
These threads full of dab hands of experience despairing over the ignorance of youth, I shakes me head. We'll all be rooned. Except t'was ever thus, and still here we are. Old people forget that they used to be young, and young people forget that they'll ever be old. Oh, when I think of all the things I didn't know when I started out in all the many realms of life. And astronomy not least of all. Good judgement comes from experience, so they say, but experience comes from bad judgement. Still, I wouldn't want someone to find out about plastic sandwiches by experimenting on my griller. And I do think that people — all too often oldsters more than the young — are too quick to disbelieve the existence of things of which they've never heard (fractional metric whatevers). So who wouldn't, when given a choice, want the world to be a kinder, more ingenuous place? But aren't apprentices still instructed by their prickish supervisors to go down to the hardware for a "long weight"? So here we are, stuck with skepticism triumphing over naivete because older, knowledgeable people have sometimes chosen to be bullies and orangutans. Oh, yes, certainly credentialed employees ought to know a thing or three about testing capacitors on metal benches (not that I would), but if they don't, it's surely the fault of someone older and wiser who for whatever reason scored them a pass that they didn't deserve. Say what you like, I won't ever blame anyone for anything if they've never been properly shown. The obligation of us all, the mission of humanity no less, is to make life better and easier for the generation coming after. War, for that reason, remains the great moral failure of everyone too old to fight. And the end game for humanity is surely the ability to wish for anything, anything at all, and to have it immediately, instantly. When a group of young hunters returned from slaying their first wooly mammoth with stone tipped spears, I'm sure that somewhere in a corner of the cave there was an old guy declaiming, "In my day... None of this stone stuff, you couldn't kill a wooly mammoth in the old days without at least someone ending up dead. You youngsters don't know how good you've got it..." When the bell tolls for humanity it'll be because some old dickless wonder is yanking on the sally.
Speaking of yanking on the sally.....

Anyway.... I was buying some printer ink last week....
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Miaplacidus View Post
These threads full of dab hands of experience despairing over the ignorance of youth, I shakes me head. We'll all be rooned. Except t'was ever thus, and still here we are. Old people forget that they used to be young, and young people forget that they'll ever be old. Oh, when I think of all the things I didn't know when I started out in all the many realms of life. And astronomy not least of all. Good judgement comes from experience, so they say, but experience comes from bad judgement. Still, I wouldn't want someone to find out about plastic sandwiches by experimenting on my griller. And I do think that people — all too often oldsters more than the young — are too quick to disbelieve the existence of things of which they've never heard (fractional metric whatevers). So who wouldn't, when given a choice, want the world to be a kinder, more ingenuous place? But aren't apprentices still instructed by their prickish supervisors to go down to the hardware for a "long weight"? So here we are, stuck with skepticism triumphing over naivete because older, knowledgeable people have sometimes chosen to be bullies and orangutans. Oh, yes, certainly credentialed employees ought to know a thing or three about testing capacitors on metal benches (not that I would), but if they don't, it's surely the fault of someone older and wiser who for whatever reason scored them a pass that they didn't deserve. Say what you like, I won't ever blame anyone for anything if they've never been properly shown. The obligation of us all, the mission of humanity no less, is to make life better and easier for the generation coming after. War, for that reason, remains the great moral failure of everyone too old to fight. And the end game for humanity is surely the ability to wish for anything, anything at all, and to have it immediately, instantly. When a group of young hunters returned from slaying their first wooly mammoth with stone tipped spears, I'm sure that somewhere in a corner of the cave there was an old guy declaiming, "In my day... None of this stone stuff, you couldn't kill a wooly mammoth in the old days without at least someone ending up dead. You youngsters don't know how good you've got it..." When the bell tolls for humanity it'll be because some old dickless wonder is yanking on the sally.
Similar, dry grass, camel dick......, been to Gagebrook lately?
(translation: "Like hay duuuude"),

Sorry everyone, Tasmanian humour

Momma, if the chiggers found out I said this !

Gawd, I'll have to move to Bridgy

No more wine... No more wine.... No more wine
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:33 PM
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They're probably not 'stupid' - instead they might have had all the basic things in life 'done for them' by others during their whole life up to that point. It might be a sign of having been spoilt (and thus lazy) in learning some basic skills in life. And/or they simply have no concept for cooking - again, a real sign of laziness in my book. Sorry to be harsh, but I have little time for people who don't have basic cooking skills. Fox
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:35 PM
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Define "basic"
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:52 PM
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They're probably not 'stupid' - instead they might have had all the basic things in life 'done for them' by others during their whole life up to that point. It might be a sign of having been spoilt (and thus lazy) in learning some basic skills in life. And/or they simply have no concept for cooking - again, a real sign of laziness in my book. Sorry to be harsh, but I have little time for people who don't have basic cooking skills. Fox
I agree they're not any stupider than we were. Maybe they lack curiosity and innovation. Technology and information availability are so overwhelming some kids are literally bogged down in social media. Numbing effect. They're not driven. Their world is their iPhone. They don't even look up when you address them. No social skills whatsoever.
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Old 01-07-2013, 05:58 PM
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Define "basic"
Can boil water?
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Old 01-07-2013, 06:14 PM
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I know a lot of academics, mostly Ph.D.s, from a lot of different institutions and nations and they're often much the same: A belief that their training, skills and experience in the narrow confines of their highly specific area of research in their particular field makes them equally knowledgeable in all things.

This doesn't apply to every academic, obviously. Many are as humble as they are intelligent, and an absolute delight and pleasure to work with. But there's no shortage of insufferably arrogant types who will instantly dismiss out of hand the opinions of anyone without a doctorate.

And for the record, I would rate the general intelligence of the majority of that type of person as quite low. They are responsible for some of the stupidest things I've ever heard, or seen done. It's one thing to be preeminent in some very obscure and esoteric field of study; quite another to be the smartest man or woman alive, as so many of them appear to believe of themselves.

Quote:
A freshman knows he knows everything. A sophomore knows he knows nothing. A Ph.D. knows everyone else knows nothing.
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Old 01-07-2013, 06:15 PM
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I can't comment on Astral's (OP) exact situation re the sandwich on the griller there. But it might not be as cut and dried as you think.

When I was at college in the 70's, we would go down the pub at lunchtime and get a toasted sandwich along with our drink. When the toasted sandwich was brought to us, .. wait for it ... it was always still in the plastic bag that it had been grilled in.

Seriously! And I can't say what the plastic felt like before it was put under the griller, but by the time the cooked sandwich was handed to us, the plastic was quite brittle but could still be pulled off in one piece easily enough.

I could be that the student in question had previously been served this type of sandwich, either in the UK or elsewhere in Oz - who knows.

Just my 2c - but I am still appauled by the sheer ridiculousnes (is that a word?) of the nanny state we live in these days generally
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Old 01-07-2013, 09:47 PM
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Ahhh, the joys of the ignorance of youth .


"........... — all too often oldsters more than the young — are too quick to disbelieve the existence of things of which they've never heard (fractional metric whatevers)."

If the life one's led hasn't exposed oneself to such things as number drills, letter drills, BSP thread (parallel), BSPT (taper), and Lord knows how may other "mysteries", then those of us that have been "blessed" with a familiarity in these "Black Arts" should know better than to look down upon the uninitiated regardless of their age .


"...........I know a lot of academics, mostly Ph.D.s, from a lot of different institutions and nations and they're often much the same: A belief that their training, skills and experience in the narrow confines of their highly specific area of research in their particular field makes them equally knowledgeable in all things."

I wouldn't highlight Ph.D.s., although you may be right...........I've known too many (professional) tradesmen working in the "service industres" eg: builders, brickies, etc., who have experienced this from especially teachers, lawyers, etc., and I won't even go into my own experiences
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