h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well looks like I may have to revive my CDT skills afterall... how easy is it to retain as a plumber or electirtion ?

Some well thought-out responses and a good deal of material too think upon.

I guess what I was really trying to get at is that 'intelligent' people often appear to me as elitist and attempt to make themselves superior simply because of their elevated knowledge.

My father was a newspaper editor and highly intelligent. He knew that his views and his reporting of events could 'persuade' certain segments of the population to behave in certain ways, given certain circumstances.

He also believed that *everything* could be fixed with Sellotape(TM), whether it be a leaking pipe or a rotten door frame. He was totally impractical and didn't understand one end of a hammer from the other.

He also believed that my choice of career was below me and that I should have done better.

Guess what? I consider that I've done better than him.

foool; he'd have been alright if he'd used gaffer tape, there isn't much that cna't be fixed with gaffer tape

In New Zealand we use #8 wire

I once fixed* a faulty laptop power supply with tinfoil, an elastic band and some gaffer tape.







*Please note: "Fixing" things in this manner can (and has) lead to electrocution, burns to the hand and a broken laptop.

Klugos.



I did a coinage!!!!

Yes but what does it mean?

Kluge. noun

a software or hardware configuration that, while inelegant, inefficient, clumsy, or patched together, succeeds in solving a specific problem or performing a particular task.

Kudos. noun

Acclaim or praise for exceptional achievement.

Klugos. noun

Acclaim or praise for an exceptionally inelegant, inefficient, clumsy, or patched together software or hardware configuration.

Ta da!

They are one and the same thing.

E=mc2 is as useful in the right circumstances as knowing the 3:2:1 ratio for mixing concrete.

Infact when you look at them they each have the same number of symbols.

That one was arrived at through theorising and the other through practical testing makes no odds. Both required intelligence Eisteins is obvious but working out that making samples of mixtures with different ratios and testing them for their suitability for the job is an example of intelligent behaviour. Just as knowing how to hold a pen and write down your thoughts is an aspect of intelligence we like to label practicality.




Id really like to hear about this spiritual intelligence andhow people can tell that other people are lacking in it.

Practicality I would say is good for doing things you already know how, intelligence is good for finding out ways of doing new things. Though what exactly you mean by practicality I don´t know.

Personally, every time I lose an argument from now on I'm going to tell the other person that they just can't understand, because they don't have the spiritual intelligence. Instant win!

I find that spotting the emotionally undereducated a long way off solves plenty of problems. Is this an example of intelligence or practicality?

I do know what you mean about shows of intelligence (i.e. exact instant recall of which part of which book you read x, y or z in) becoming argument winners regardless of another's viewpoint, if theirs is unsubtantiated by someone else's published thoughts...

In the horse world you often find it's the other way around. Unless you have 25 year's experience under your belt, have been paid to do other people's horses, have done it for free for the love of the job and have either won a lot (but only in certain areas) or have lost out a lot on principle and other examples of practical experience, all the intelligence, book learning, intuition and logical thoughts on the matter are entirely diregarded and you are seen as a jumped-up fool for ever considering that brains can overcome history and tradition... 'recieved wisdom' is the bane of my horse-world life!

I wonder if this is a case for intelligence over practicality

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7687600.stm

Full marks for practicality, zero elsewhere.

I dunno. It was probably tempting to paint *over* the car, but rather than get done for criminal damage/vandalism, they went around it to point out to the driver that they were being an ass. Generally speaking there's plenty of warnings not to park in areas that are going to be resurfaced and we dont know how many times they tried to do this job but couldn't because of people ignoring the warnings.

I'd have been temptes to do this, too!

I wouldnt.

Unless you are'nt used to working for the council you wil know that they will drag you back in to put stuff like this right.

It was just sheer mental laziness no to stop take a picture as evidence of what was happening and phone your superiors or the council department to explain the problem and ask what you should do next.

It makes me sick that I worked with people who were such pig ignorant idiots.

So when genuine mistakes because of over sight or due rapidly cahnging circumstnces crop up your good work is overlooked under because of the shadow cast by this sort of shite.

Its sort of why I left the council.

They were going to have to go back one way or another, and people's willful ignorance can be downright infuriating when you're out there just trying to get your job done. I work for the Post Office, I know all about people being pig ignorant and not caring about the fall-out.

You're kind of assuming they actually put some warning signs up there Robyn (although they might have). Click on the two related stories on that article, you might find that's a false assumption

I'm trying to assume there's more *in general* to the story... Nobody but the people involved will know the reasons and the circumstances. The person with the parked car may have been in hospital having an unexpected operation and therefore been unable to move their car, there's hundreds of possibilities!

This just smacks of more than sheer idiocy to me, that's all.

the guy operating the machine was probably some un-educated dweeb on work experience and was told

"just do the lines to the end of the street, i'll meet you at the other end, I'm just off to the bookies"

slow men, at work

>>I work for the Post Office, I know all about people being pig ignorant and not caring about the fall-out.<<

I used to work for them as well and I know exactly what you are talking about: Father Christmas and the posting of actual letters to him.