Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  - just another day tacked onto the regular 365...
JB>  Maybe with reference to velocity? You know, "Light
JB>  years/Leap year." But then, they might not
JB>  differentiate a leap year when calculating light
JB>  years... 


          Exactly.  Are we being asked to translate 1/365th into the
equivalent in decimals... bearing in mind that we have to do this with
pencil & paper in a moving vehicle, along with various other tasks...
or does the term "light year" take into account that the universe
operates on its own timetable regardless of what human calendars say??  The
mind fair boggles!  There's an example of why I didn't always do very well
as a student.  Before I could answer "correctly" I'd have to
figure out what sort of response the teacher was looking for... (sigh).



JB>  I think a worm will avoid contaminated dirt. Doesn't
JB>  take a rocket scientist. 


          Ah... but you'd have to figure out exactly what you were doing
wrong, and that requires intelligence.  So you weren't wearing your lucky
sweater when you crashed... does that count?  Some folks think it does. 
And they may have a point if wearing that particular sweater makes you feel
more confident....  :-)



JB>  Just when I thought you had some "wish fulfillment" or
JB>  whatever the shrinks are calling a "death wish" these days.


          No, I generally avoid dangerous sports....  :-))



JB>  Mom taught business ed at a vocational school for most
JB>  of her career. She started at a High School, and toward
JB>  the end, she spent some time at a teen pregnancy facility,
JB>  and again finished up at an old-money High School. She was
JB>  in charge of a lot of computer training, which surprises
JB>  me how little she is able to absorb about them. 


          Okay... that's useful information!  I imagine her reasoning style
may be similar to that of the average primary teacher, in some ways...
although she was teaching a different level... because of her chosen
subject area.  It seems to me that business ed is highly structured. 
There's little need for decisions of the sort one often makes in English
& music, e.g. where to put the adverb or which finger to use to produce
a certain note.  In both examples the answer may vary depending on the
context.  And the computer training was probably oriented more toward the
use of certain programs than toward the technical aspects.  :-)



AH>  As to the latter, I think she assumed a lot based on a
AH>  cursory inspection from three feet away!  She wasn't
AH>  the expert we'd come to see... he hadn't arrived yet.

JB>  Ahhh... Those types. "Know-it-all" kinda says it all?


          Yes, that's my take on it....  :-)



JB>  I knew what you were saying when I first read your
JB>  last post, but I was trying to understand the smart-
JB>  butt, and if she *might* have some expertise.


          I'd say that's to your credit!  I try to give such people the
benefit of the doubt & figure out what's going on in their minds too. 
I find it rather frustrating, however, when (for example) I think I've
found a delightful bit of family history & their immediate response is
to "correct" my perceptions.  It's almost as if they can't stand
to see anybody happy even for a moment... (sigh).



JB>  Too often their quest for superiority is rewarded,
JB>  but short lived.


          Uh-huh.  Sooner or later, I guess, others will catch on....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+