Dumberer and dumbererer

[Ace-Garageguy]

Funny, when the Internet first started to catch on, I figured it would make people want to be MORE literate..

Wouldn't that have been nice.

When television began to catch on, there was a lot of speculation among hopeful people that it would bring the world closer together and help foster understanding across all of humanity.

Unfortunately, all it really did was create a race of mindless-entertainment-addicted zombies with short attention-spans created by advertising breaks.

With the availability of the internet, idiots tend to posture as experts, re-posting the first results they find on Google as the gospel.

Actually KNOWING something through experience and sharing it in an honest attempt to be helpful is often looked upon as being a "show-off know-it-all'.

Even here.   

[MrObsessive]

Hi folks, been off-site for awhile. Missed y'all.

Funny, when the Internet first started to catch on, I figured it would make people want to be MORE literate..

Some comments I've seen on other boards (not necessarily here), I've found to be simply unreadable! The grammar and sentence structure is that bad! 

[High octane]

Some comments I've seen on other boards (not necessarily here), I've found to be simply unreadable! The grammar and sentence structure is that bad! 

Yes it is as I've noticed that for years, and a lot of people don't know that a person's name starts with a capital letter either. And of course looking up the spelling of a word with spell-check or even a dictionary is totally out of the question.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yes it is as I've noticed that for years, and a lot of people don't know that a person's name starts with a capital letter either. And of course looking up the spelling of a word with spell-check or even a dictionary is totally out of the question.

Capitalization, punctuation and contractions seem to be largely unknown...and the ones who write this way wear it as some kind of badge of superiority, calling out the ones who use English as it's designed the "grammar police". 

I've also noticed that the ones incapable of communicating clearly in their own native language are also largely the ones complaining about a lack of "good jobs", while they live in their parents' basements or collect government benefits.

So, if you're an illiterate moron who was too-cool-for-school, you ought to get 50 grand a year just for showing up?

Oh...silly me. I forgot...everyone's a winner. Make that whiner and you'll have it right.

[High octane]

50 grand a year just for showing up, yeah right. Just like the employees at McDonalds want $15 per hour and they can't even put the filet 'o fish in the center of the bun. Where I worked, if a person didn't make any progess in the first three or four days, they were "history."

[10thumbs]

50 grand a year just for showing up, yeah right. Just like the employees at McDonalds want $15 per hour and they can't even put the filet 'o fish in the center of the bun.

Many dudes here in old Germany at the many McD's, don't even know what a dang fish is.  They do grin though since the filets are without heads. 

Actually,  I kind of wonder if McD's know what a real fish is?  I read about the "pink slime" they call real 100% beef.  Well, it ain't.  Talking about the stuff that becomes a hamgurger patty.

By the way, I just realized my spell checker has disappeared after the last browser update.  Oh no.

[blunc]

Many dudes here in old Germany at the many McD's, don't even know what a dang fish is.  They do grin though since the filets are without heads. 

Actually,  I kind of wonder if McD's know what a real fish is?  I read about the "pink slime" they call real 100% beef.  Well, it ain't.  Talking about the stuff that becomes a hamgurger patty.

By the way, I just realized my spell checker has disappeared after the last browser update.  Oh no.

I think it really IS 100% real beef...beef lips, beef intestines, beef ligaments, and other kinds of beef by-products, otherwise they would not be allowed to make that claim.

I also think they will just say that the "fish fillets" are made from what they call "white fish". Most likely, if pinned down, they will probably tell you it's made from cod of some form.

[blunc]

I sometimes tilt at the windmill of proper nomenclature in the specs and work flow guides where I work.

There is an engineer here that has decided to use "carboy" just because he can't (or won't) spell the word "reservoir" or "container", I recently suggested he use the word "tank" and then he got snippy and substituted the word "firkin".

I decided it's not worth my time after that. This dingbat can't even remember to chain up bottles of compressed 100% hydrogen, I just hope I'm not around when his boobie-traps go off.

[MrObsessive]

I sometimes tilt at the windmill of proper nomenclature in the specs and work flow guides where I work.

There is an engineer here that has decided to use "carboy" just because he can't (or won't) spell the word "reservoir" or "container", I recently suggested he use the word "tank" and then he got snippy and substituted the word "firkin".

I decided it's not worth my time after that. This dingbat can't even remember to chain up bottles of compressed 100% hydrogen, I just hope I'm not around when his boobie-traps go off.

Yikes!

Getting things wrong as far as how they should be named or spelled can spell DISASTER where I work! Just goes to show the selfish nature of folks in the workplace. How hard is it to look something up to see how it should be spelled/named??

[blunc]

This is an R&D lab, you'd think anyone that has the title "engineer" (and most likely gets paid double what I get) would know or be able to figure out how to use thesaurus and/or spell check in a word processing program.., but maybe not.

I constantly get slapped in the face by illogical things in my work place done by people that should know better.

I have an unfortunate lack of respect for some of the senior staff/coworkers, exhibited incompetence tends to do that to me. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by blunc

[Ace-Garageguy]

I sometimes tilt at the windmill of proper nomenclature in the specs and work flow guides where I work...

Getting things wrong as far as how they should be named or spelled can spell DISASTER where I work! ...

Two of the younger guys who work at one of the shops I subcontract to don't know the essential differences between "soldering", "brazing" and "welding" and had never even heard of "oxy-acetylene welding"...even though there is a gas-welding rig in the shop.

I certainly don't expect your basic man-in-the-street to know this (though my father had made me aware of the differences by the time I was 10), but people whose job description includes "forming and joining metal" really ought to understand these things in detail.   

They've both been doing hands-on car stuff for over 10 years....and I would think that would be sufficient time for these relatively common concepts to sink in.

There are also important basic concepts about the function of internal combustion engines (that would have been taught thoroughly in a high-school vo-tech "mechanic" course when I was a kid) that these guys just don't know. Understanding the basic theory of operation of an IC engine is absolutely essential to correctly diagnose things that don't have onboard computers (and some that DO). Both of these guys are clueless when it comes to older cars as a result, and resort to the classic throw-parts-on-it-til-it-works approach.

And they're both ASE certified.  

It can be disheartening.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I constantly get slapped in the face by illogical things in my work place done by people that should know better.

Yup. I could go on for pages and pages about things I've encountered in both the car repair and modification business, and the general aviation repair and maintenance business that defy belief.

[cowboy rich]

I think it really IS 100% real beef...beef lips, beef intestines, beef ligaments, and other kinds of beef by-products, otherwise they would not be allowed to make that claim.

I also think they will just say that the "fish fillets" are made from what they call "white fish". Most likely, if pinned down, they will probably tell you it's made from cod of some form.

it's exactly what you said its beef renderings, for the U.S. Market it is shipped to China, processed and brought back because Imported products don't have to meet the same standards as domestic.

[10thumbs]

I think it really IS 100% real beef...beef lips, beef intestines, beef ligaments, and other kinds of beef by-products, otherwise they would not be allowed to make that claim.

 

....and these animals were fed c.r.a.p.  Those that go to McD's and other places like this eat really junky stuff that is defo not good to eat.  I don't believe a word of 100%, but some are able to strectch laws and regulations to fit their own use, big time.  I don't believe a word of this junk, and refuse to spend a cent there.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Much as the idea of what McD's is selling usually turns me off, I do still occasionally (and very rarely) go there to get a taste of the past. There's something about the flavor of their little cheeseburgers that you can't get anywhere else (probably those eyeballs and intestines). And those extra-greasy steak-and-cheese bagels for breakfast...pure heaven.  

"I'll have two random-cow-part sandwiches made on processed-to-unrecognizable-white-flour buns (add a yellow-chemical slice of cheese-like substance), a large side of deep-fat-fried potato-like starch sticks, and a large cup of carbonated brown sugar-water please".

Yum.

[MrObsessive]

McDonald's food (especially after I've lost 110 lbs) makes me absolutely ill now! A couple bites of the "Chicken McNuggets" and I'm throwing out the whole order it tastes so bad to me.

[cowboy rich]

Much as the idea of what McD's is selling usually turns me off, I do still occasionally (and very rarely) go there to get a taste of the past. There's something about the flavor of their little cheeseburgers that you can't get anywhere else (probably those eyeballs and intestines). And those extra-greasy steak-and-cheese bagels for breakfast...pure heaven.  

"I'll have two random-cow-part sandwiches made on processed-to-unrecognizable-white-flour buns (add a yellow-chemical slice of cheese-like substance), a large side of deep-fat-fried potato-like starch sticks, and a large cup of carbonated brown sugar-water please".

Yum.

that is funny! Do we finally have truth in advertising?

[Ace-Garageguy]

McDonald's food (especially after I've lost 110 lbs) makes me absolutely ill now! A couple bites of the "Chicken McNuggets" and I'm throwing out the whole order it tastes so bad to me.

You're obviously not using enough sauce to cover the taste of the beaks and feet.  

[MrObsessive]

You're obviously not using enough sauce to cover the taste of the beaks and feet.  

[cowboy rich]

You're obviously not using enough sauce to cover the taste of the beaks and feet.  

I am certain I DO NOT want to know what goes into the "sauce"

[10thumbs]

I am certain I DO NOT want to know what goes into the "sauce"

Rich, as the add states, all 100% beef.  Lots of juice in a big bull.  Blood, guts, urine,  poop and jizz too. Hey, it all goes down the big McD and friends drain too.

Any fast food hamburger lovers here?

I have to write though, there was this hamburger place in my home town.  Like postage stamp burgers in a wimpy and soft bun with some fried, diced onions on top.  Had a couple of pickle slices too.  They had great chili too.  The fries were pretty good.  I miss the taste, rather have it than any other chain junky burger.   This one;

Yep, I'll have a hafl dozen with some fries and a small coke.

[blunc]

And they're both ASE certified.  

It can be disheartening.

 

Sounds like ASE certification standards have gotten a bit loose.

Or maybe they only passed the ASE tests for computerized vehicles.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Sounds like ASE certification standards have gotten a bit loose.

Or maybe they only passed the ASE tests for computerized vehicles.

All it shows is that just because you studied the prep materials and can pass the test, you don't necessarily have a firm grasp of the material and what it all MEANS...or know how to apply it.

I've encountered the same phenom in A&P (airframe and powerplant) federally-licensed aircraft mechanics I wouldn't let change a plug in my lawnmower.

The whole concept of multiple-guess testing, also prevalent in ordinary schools, doesn't really evaluate how well you UNDERSTAND the material, only how well you take multiple-guess tests on it.

While ASE certification is better than no proof whatsoever that a technician has at least SOME knowledge of what he's doing, it's absolutely no substitute for formal hands-on training like used to be available in some good vo-tech programs.

And again, unfortunately, there are good programs and programs that suck.

i've seen high-school "mechanics" courses in days past where the students sat around smoking and talking while the "instructor" wasn't even present. I've also seen programs where the class actually fixed cars and had extensive diagnostics lab work.

And I have worked alongside graduates from some of the aviation certification mills that guarantee everybody will pass. Some of these charge upwards of $30,000...and some of the graduates I've known were just plain dangerous.

 

[Joe Handley]

Sounds like ASE certification standards have gotten a bit loose.

Or maybe they only passed the ASE tests for computerized vehicles.

I know a body guy that has referred to some ASE techs as "Parts Changers", as in, the computer tells them to change a part, and they do, until it's fixed or the computer is stumped.  He told me that after I told him about an experience with one at the HTU I worked for that was supposed to be a fantastic mechanic according to another customer that happened to be a friend of this tech.  Apparently he came in to get a receiver pack for his nitro powered R/C truck and we sold him one (not me, think I may have been on lunch at the time), problem was though, the plug on the truck's on/off switch was just different enough that the plugs wouldn't interchange without some modification, or better yet, just replacing the on/off switch with one that has the plug that the battery had and is still an industry standard for this application at the time I changed jobs this summer. Had he gotten home and realized that the plugs were different and called the store (and hopefully got me), we could have figured out the problem on the phone and he could have returned the battery and could have stuck with 4AAs or sold him the switch that had the correct plug that would have been an easy, plug and play swap.  Instead, he cut the plugs off the battery and the factory on/off switch then used wire nuts to tie the battery to the switch......which didn't work, and because he butchered things, we couldn't send it back to Hobbico or Horizon (can't remember which dist. we got the battery from) as defective or resell as new, we wouldn't take it back.  He kept insisting it was our fault because we sold him the wrong part/not enough parts, but couldn't get through to him that if he had stopped, called, and told us what the issue was when he found it, I could have made sure all the right parts were there to put on the truck and even help put it together (maybe a 20min job) right on the counter!  Yes, there would have been a return trip anyway as well as maybe a few more dollars in parts, but nothing would have been chopped up and the truck would have been up and running that night! 

After the experience with that customer, knowing that he is supposed to ASE certified, yet did this, I started to wonder what would he do if he worked on something like my Cherokee and run across a typical issue, like a bad Crank Trigger Sensor.  Say, perhaps he had the parts department hand him the part for the wrong model year, would he start hacking things up to try and make an early, AMC-Renault-Bendix EFI Crank Trigger that would have worked on one of Dad's XJs work with the wiring harness on my later, Chrysler OBD2 EFI XJ?!

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I know a body guy that has referred to some ASE techs as "Parts Changers", as in, the computer tells them to change a part, and they do, until it's fixed or the computer is stumped.  He told me that after I told him about an experience with one at the HTU I worked for that was supposed to be a fantastic mechanic according to another customer that happened to be a friend of this tech....

...After the experience with that customer, knowing that he is supposed to ASE certified, yet did this, I started to wonder what would he do if he worked on something like...(you name it)

I'm glad you chimed in, Joe. You understand the problem perfectly.

And I'm certainly NOT saying ALL ASE or A&P licensed mechanics are bad...but a substantial number of them are worthless, no matter WHAT certs they have (even the ASE "Master" certification).

It's the same problem that New York City Schools have when 80% of their graduates can't read.

Article here:    http://www.educationviews.org/80-of-nyc-high-school-graduates-cant-read/