Typical Modern American Mindset

[gareth19 (imported)]

oh good great maker and all that exasperative commentary...

Here's the quote. It's rather famous for its biting wit.

Nancy Astor: “Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”

Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”

Actually, in a parliamentary debate, a frustrated Nancy Astor exclaimed, "Oh, Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put arsenic in your coffee!" To which Churchill replied "And if I were your husband, Madam, I would drink it."

Far better was John Wilke's reply to Lord Sandwich's reproof in Parliament: "Wilkes, you will either die on the gallows or of the pox [syphilis]"

"That must depend on whether I embrace your lordship's principles or your mistress."

[janekane (imported)]

I have long been satisfied with the view that the limit boundary of human stupidity is immensely greater than the limit boundary of the totality of all possible existence and non-existence added together.

Am I proof of that, or am I not stupid enough yet?

[Paolo]

I wonder if Churchill knew how to use a garden hose and hand-pump?

I still can't get over it. The power's out and we can't figure out how to get liquid out of an underground tank...

[A-1 (imported)]

I wonder if Churchill knew how to use a garden hose and hand-pump?

I still can't get over it. The power's out and we can't figure out how to get liquid out of an underground tank...

Don't forget, the gasoline in that underground tank is probably laced with a good dose of sea water. It may be a little rough on your fuel injectors if you don't make sure you separate it...

[A-1 (imported)]

I have long been satisfied with the view that the limit boundary of human stupidity is immensely greater than the limit boundary of the totality of all possible existence and non-existence added together.

Am I proof of that, or am I not stupid enough yet?

No, you are not stupid... and we try to accept all for who and for what they are...

In the mean-time, enjoy Howard Gardner's concept of the 7 kinds of intelligence...

(http://professorlamp.com/ed/TAG/7_Intelligences.html)

The Seven Types of Intelligence

Psychologist Howard Gardner has identified the following distinct types of intelligence in his Multiple Intelligences Theory ("MI Theory") in the book "Frames of Mind." They are listed here with respect to gifted / talented children.photo of Howard Gardner from www.ed.psu.edu

1. Linguistic Children with this kind of intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing crossword puzzles.

2. Logical-Mathematical Children with lots of logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories and relationships. They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments.

3. Bodily-Kinesthetic These kids process knowledge through bodily sensations. They are often athletic, dancers or good at crafts such as sewing or woodworking.

4. Spatial These children think in images and pictures. They may be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles, or spend free time drawing, building with Leggos or daydreaming.

5. Musical Musical children are always singing or drumming to themselves. They are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss. These kids are often discriminating listeners.

6. Interpersonal Children who are leaders among their peers, who are good at communicating and who seem to understand others' feelings and motives possess interpersonal intelligence.

7. Intrapersonal These children may be shy. They are very aware of their own feelings and are self-motivated.

MI Theory teaches parents and educators to look for signs of innate precociousness in children and then to help develop them.

When asked for advice on how parents could rear successful children, Gardner replied that we should not try to make our children good at what we ourselves were good at, or what we ourselves were not good at. Gardner says that our job is to help our children become who they are supposed to be, not what we think they should be. Some parents find it difficult to follow this course.

Since publishing his original list of seven intelligences, Gardner has added Naturalist and Existential to bring the total number to nine Intelligences.

(some text from Bill Allen, photo from http://www.ed.psu.edu)

All of Howard Gardner's best books on multiple intelligences are on sale at Amazon:

You may now go and find yourself...

[transward (imported)]

I suspect, however, that there are far more than "Seven Types of Stupidity.". Just watch the political ads.

Transward

[BossTamsin (imported)]

I wonder if Churchill knew how to use a garden hose and hand-pump?

I still can't get over it. The power's out and we can't figure out how to get liquid out of an underground tank...

Much as I hate to do this, I can think of a few reasons why gas station owners aren't likely to go this route...

1) Sadly, things like OSHA are probably still in force, and having an employee run a 'jury-rigged' pump distributing a toxic and carcinogenic (not to mention highly-flammable/explosive) substance would probably cause a lot of issues.

2) How do you measure exactly how much is being pumped out and into the car/truck/jerrycan? Remember, you have to be as exact as possible. If you're off by a couple cents a gallon either way, you're either shut down by the authorities, or bankrupt.

3) Have you seen most gas station employees recently? Hell, most customer-service employees. I don't trust most of them to count change back to me correctly with the register working, nevermind work out how much I owe for that 5 gallons of gas, plus tax, etc. And of course, then you have to trust your employees to count everything accurately, without the electronics (and cameras) to help encourage honesty.

4) If they're without electricity, might that also mean the time-lock/whatever safe is also out of commission? Without a secure place to hold the day's takings, that gas station might start getting plenty tempting round about closing time.

[Dave (imported)]

There's a few practical things to consider about gas stations.

A) the tanks are sealed against rain or ground water. The new tanks are lined to prevent leaks. They are at least 10 feet down and the size of the largest pickup truck you've ever seen .... highway tankers are a 10,000 gallons and that's the size one of those big tankers you see on the highway. They can be anything from 6,000 to 10,000 for that matter.

a') I have a 6,000 gallon water tank that I use for water and it was huge to see when they came to bury it in the ground. The side of my house is 30 feet long and they dug longer than that and as deep as the house is high (15 feet) ... The water company's pickup truck was smaller than the tank... It was a huge hole in the ground. A small gas station has three of those 6000 gallon tanks hidden underground

B) gasoline is sold by volume (gallons) and any pump works by volume. Even hand pumps work by volume.

C) When my father and brother operated gas stations, both had stories of people smoking and holding the lit cigarette while pumping gasoline.

D) At a regular gas station, the pumps are hooked into the lights so the pumps can't be turned on in the dark and drained without notice.

E) most self serve stations are all electronic for credit card approval. Tough to do without power.

F) ATM's are electronic. So are most bank tellers and .

[Paolo]

At least here, each underground tank must have a manual stick reading done each morning to check for water with a color-shifting paste. If the stick can go down the hole, so can a hose. You pump the gas into a can rated for "X" gallons and bill them for that amount. Cash still exists, last time I checked.

And IE, you're right.

Most owners are too fucking stupid to employ any common sense.

[Paolo]

Oh, and A-1, we used to have this problem.

The gas-drop opening on tanks MUST be vapor and water tight to comply with millions upon millions of stupid EPA regulations that also contribute to higher gas prices.

If sea water is getting into their tanks, then they are in violation of code for having "leaks".

I worked in the business for over 15 years. I know these things, and I would imagine that things have only gotten tighter in regulations and more stupid as well - not any more loose and sensible.