Re: What have you learned in your old age that you feel should be taught to high school students?

That's where I'm leaning, which means the entire class can be taught inside the classroom like most of the other classes are.

I would think there should be a chapter each on each "thing" kids need to know about (perhaps homes, vehicles, measurements, debugging, PCs, etc.).

In each chapter I would think it could dive down into the "systems" involved such as the cooling system for a car, or the plumbing system for a house or the electrical system for a computer.

Repair starts with debug. Debug ends with isolation of the failed component. But debug starts with understanding the systems & isolation of the failure.

Without understanding of the system, there's no repair possible unless we teach the kids to just throw parts at the problem.

Admittedly, a _lot_ of cars are fixed by people throwing parts at them! :)

My first Chrysler was a New Yorker which, as I recall, had reverse threaded lug bolts on one side, but normally threaded lug bolts on the other.

Nobody told me this. After doing the one side, I wrenched off two or three before I realized "something" was very wrong on the other side.

There were no "warning labels" in those days. :)

This is a good observation, where we could add a systems approach to how basic electronics work also (sci.electronics.repair).

Reply to
knuttle
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Usually only one part fails, so all you need to do is debug to that. But most people think debugging is harder than it really is, IMHO.

It's because they have the mentality of throwing parts at the problem. Instead of the mentality that should be taught which is to debug it first. a. Understand how the system works b. Segregate the system into testable components c. Isolate the one component that has failed

Replacing it is (usually - but not always) the easy part.

How many times have you seen someone ask on s.e.r how to fix a non-functional microwave and someone invariably claims you should replace the diode, without even explaining to that person how to debug if it's actually that diode?

How many times have you seen someone ask on r.a.t how to fix an overheated cooling system and someone claims you should replace the thermostat (without even explaining to that person how to debug to see if it is the thermostat)?

How many times have you seen someone ask on a.h.r how to fix a non starting electrical pump motor and someone tells him to replace the capacitor?

How many times have you seen someone ask how to fix a sputtering engine and someone claims you should pour seafoam into it (without even debugging)?

How many times has someone said their car wouldn't start and someone else immediately tells them to replace the battery or alternator (without debug)?

This almost complete and total lack of debug is pervasive everywhere.

While a _lot_ of things get fixed by "throwing parts" at them, I agree with you that "debugging is more complex" than just throwing parts at a car.

A classic example of where people throw parts is when they don't understand the system which is why debug starts with (a) understanding the system, and debug ends with (c) isolating the bad part.

What I was taught in the fifties was the process of debug is three steps. a. Understand b. Segregate c. Isolate

What I see people do instead is a single step (which might be three steps). a. Replace b. (If that didn't work) Replace (something else) c. (If that still doesn't work) Replace (another part)

You see this all the time with ABS related debug where they replace each wheel sensor or the ABS control modules or even brake components without first isolating the problem to the failed component.

Rarely is more than one component failed, right? That's a good question though to ask, philosophically speaking, on debug.

How often in your experience has the problem you're trying to fix been caused by multiple failed components?

Reply to
knuttle

That's a good quote where the threads you speak of are filled with either the rabit Democrats being completely ignorant of anything science related, and at the same time the rabid Republicans being just as completely ignorant that getting the highly modified genetic material injected into your arm causes your cells to explode making the spike protein which your body treats both as a "toxin" and an "antigen" - which is what the immune system eventually (a few steps down in the process that they don't understand) create short lived antibodies to (and other immune components, as the immune system is freaking complex by all accounts).

Perhaps a simpler way to summarize the politicized science problem set is

Rabid Democrats: It's your body my choice Rabid Republicans: It's my body my choice

Normal people: It's a difficult decision given the risk of death is almost zero (it's 99.8% likely you won't die in the USA overall and 99.9998% likely to survive if you're a child aged from 5 to 11 in the USA from October 2020 to October 2021 according to the CDC's own figures).

The science shows that most people (well more than half) don't even get any symptoms even as almost all of those people who are immune to the disease are seropositive (which is the case for _many_ immunities such as those to the common cold or the flu). Some, paradoxically, aren't even seropositive even as the virus itself has a relatively high human transmissibility.

However, enough of actual science. Nobody seems to care about the science.

Certainly science isn't what the rabid {Democrats,Republicans} care about though. They only care about the politics.

So far it seems _all_ the rabid {Republican,Democrats} are ignorant of the science (quite a few, frankly, are rather stupid - which can't be cured).

The end result though is a politicized scientific experiment. Rabid Democrat: I'm scared shitless of a disease so do what I tell you to! Rabid Republican: I'm scared shitless of the government so I don't trust you!

Reply to
knuttle

If that was true, how do you account for the Texas Republican abortion laws?

You just make up stuff to suite your agenda at the moment.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

That’s what 'Arlen' always does.

Reply to
John

And sometimes it's an informed decision... Pull the Keihin jug or pour a slug of SeaFoam into the tank and see what happens. No more sputtering, decision loop complete.

Reply to
rbowman

Yeah, I'm starting to have a little deja vu all over again.

Reply to
rbowman

Most people who are rabidly political, like you appear to be, are too stupid to understand what I'm going to say below, which means I'm wasting my time because you likely don't have anywhere near the required intellectual capacity to comprehend what I'm about to explain to you.

You're not only ignorant. You're also stupid.

But let's assume you were simply ignorant. OK. Let's go.

  1. The situation: The rabid Democrats essentially want to take away your right to own a gun while the rabid Republicans essentially want to take away your right to have an abortion.
  2. The history: Essentially, the right to own a gun was enshrined in the Constitution, just as the right to have an abortion was enshrined in the Roe v Wade decision.
  3. The rationale: It's impossible for me to explain to you and other idiots like you the rationale of the founding fathers, but suffice to say it's probably the most discussed topic in American history _why_ the founding fathers put it as the number two amendment (just after free speech) in the Bill of Rights.

We are not going to hash it out here, so we can just point to what the Supreme Court has determined which is that it stands as a right that everyone can own a gun and we leave it at that (since Usenet isn't the place to change what the Supreme Court already decided long ago).

Likewise with what the Supreme Court decided on abortion. They decided it was a situation of medical privacy. Is it? Who cares. It's what the Supreme Court decided and we have to leave it at that since they decided it was her body her choice long ago.

  1. How they play those games: Given we have two rights, one which the rabid Democrats want to take away from us, and one which the rabid Republicans want to take away from us, the question is whether you recognize _how_ they each go about trying to take away our rights?f

Clearly you're too stupid to recognize _how_ they go about trying to take away your rights, but most people of average intelligence and above can easily see that they can't go frontal on them.

  1. Why can't they go frontal? They can't go frontal because that is too strong a "fortress" to defeat directly with a frontal attack. That is, the rabid Democrats can't go frontal against the Bill of Rights and the rabid Republicans can't go frontal against the "right to privacy" any more than the Germans could go frontal against the Maginot Line.
  2. So what do they do then when they can't go frontal? They chip away at the walls.

One by one, they make laws which _all_ reduce your protections under the Bill of Rights and under Roe v Wade. Every one of those laws chips away at the right you have today to own a gun and to have an abortion.

Neither side gives a shit about the Constitution. Neither side gives a shit about the Supreme Court.

The rabid Democrats will chip away at your right to own a gun until that right no longer exist. The rabid Republicans will chip away at your right to have an abortion until that right no longer exists.

Neither side cares _how_ they chip away at your rights. They just chip away any way they can get away with.

Reply to
knuttle

rbowman snipped-for-privacy@montana.com wrote

Knuttle has been around for decades. But this John guys is brand new.

You do realize who this "John" is you're speaking with, don't you?

Rod Speed Blocko Michael Trew Jim Joyce Dean Hoffman lkpo John

They're all one and the same. And more.

Reply to
Mayayana

What does all those smoke particles do to the super expensive cats?

Reply to
knuttle

You got that right Arlen Nut-All. You wasted your time.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Plonk.

Reply to
knuttle

Sheese, I get plonked for being honest. Not fair!

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Religion. Real shame those people can't separate religion from politics. You'd think that they'd be smarter. Once you allow a god to tell you what you should do all limits are off.

Reply to
The Real Bev

...that one can't fix Stupid.

My family and I are vaccinated.

Because we are not stupid.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Reply to
Peter W.

Neither am I. We got our shots in March, and the booster in September.

Reply to
Fox's Mercantile

Yeah I've had the original two shots and the booster. I've also had my Polio, Scarlet Fever, Typhoid, Smallpox, and other shots that were required for travel, staying a healthy adult, or being a child of the 50s...

A friend of mine has mild polio, he got it as a child in Asia - shots weren't available there at the time.

I'm not an idiot about shots - although the jury is out on other things...

John :-#)#

Reply to
John Robertson

The cat adopted me; the only cost is cat food and he's happy with Friskies. Oh, you meant catalytic converters? Let me explain a Harley's exhaust system. I've got one set of mufflers with tabs near the end so if a cop shoves a stick it he will think there are actually baffles.

The Toyota is the only thing I have with a cat. I've had three of the same model and never had fuel problems so no need for SeaFoam. I don't use the 'injector cleaner' snake oil either.

I use Stabil in the tanks of the stuff that will be down for the winter but I've had long debates with myself over whether it's necessary.

That's another interesting discussion -- how much of the snake oil actually has a beneficial effect. STP oil or gas? Marvel Mystery Oil? Bar's Stop Leak. I have used Bar's with some success but it was in a '62 Dodge D100. I don't think I'd use it in anything made in this century.

Reply to
rbowman

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