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Post by the light works on Oct 11, 2017 13:34:38 GMT
one of our local urban legends has to to with the fact that our early natural gas meters were dependent on gravity being consistent in order to work properly. as in: if you loosened the fittings, you could turn the meter upside down and the dials would turn backwards. the legend is that there was a man who made a habit of doing this in order to get free gas; and one month he forgot and left it upside down too long - so the meter, which give 5 digit readings, and the reading for the month is subtracted from the reading for last month in order to get the usage - showed a slightly lower number on the end reading than the start reading. - so the gas company charged him for almost 100,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Essentially daring him to tell them the reading was wrong because he had been systematically stealing gas. The "Turn upside down" exists here, but, different. ***Caution do not try this at home*** as if I need to say its dangerous?. But anyway, Gas meters "Dont work like that", they now have an anti-slip brake that prevents them turning backwards. But the "Upside down" part is turning them that way to reverse the flow of gas, attaching the in to the out and the out to the in. Enter me to a scene at a home one time, middle of summer, baking hot, all the heating running full blast and windows open, cooker running, and gas fire lit. They were due a meter reading, and they had "Forgot" that the meter was tampered with, therefore, they had to burn some gas before the meter got read?. These were not exactly good friends of mine, and ceased to be any kind of friend of mine shortly after, because I dont condone stupidity like that?. Especially when they asked me if there was anyway I could turn their electricity meter upside down in the same way. Erm, its A/C, alternating current, it flows one way and then the other, "Thats not how it works". They asked to to explain how it did work then, and, to my eternal shame no, not shame, surprise, I heard myself saying "I aint exactly sure on that" I did, but, no way in hell would I be trying to educate them two bozo's on how to steal electricity?. They were eventually "Caught". Or so I heard... the below is what I was told. Simply by their next door neighbour noticed a "spike" in his own electricity usage, so asked landlord [rented property] to investigate, as when he pulled all fuses, his meter was still spinning?. The landlord checked all wiring, and found a tap into the wiring on the feed to that meter... between meter and fuse box...which led into the next property... These and many other urban legends myths get re-circulated in different names and cities, every now and again, it seams stealing of the power company is as common as it is dangerous. Trying to feed a whole house of a bit of wiring from one 13amp extension lead?. erm, can we say "Fire risk". I have heard no end of stories of how people have stolen electricity, they go from the absurd to the truly clever. the two that stick most in my mind are of the one who the power company spent months trying to prove he was stealing electricity, when he had, at the beginning of it all, switched from electric heat to gas. the other was a story the first lineman I worked with told me one day while we were replacing a meter. a nice little old lady had called because her electric stove wasn't working like she thought it should. so he had her meter out of the socket, and was checking connections and voltage and such when she yelled ou the window that it was "heating just fine, now." He looked at her, and looked at the meter, and stuck it back in the socket, and put the seal on it, and made a note in his diary to keep an eye out for her name in the obituaries so he could come back and figure out how somebody had bypassed the meter - but not until after she was no longer there.
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Post by silverdragon on Oct 12, 2017 7:31:55 GMT
I actually agree with that Greg. No one was as amazed as me when I went north of 130, What me?. a Truck Driver?. Ok, so yeah, I used to be a landlord as well, and have done a few technical jobs in the past, spark, 'lec-tec-air-radar for the Rif-Raf, HVAC, Programmer, so maybe I needs a little more "Smarts" than the rest, but I sat a exam for that iq thing and mostly I found it booring as hell and more a case of being able to do some simple logic tests than anything else, the ones I could understand that is, they do like to throw in a few that just completely baffle you. I score well on pattern recognition, but, yeah, years of chasing code looking for syntax errors, you kinda get that?.
By the way.
Me and being slightly dyslexic?.
I will NEVER say I am fully dyslexic.
The reason is, scanning lines and lines of code to spot something like the missing part of a open close parenthesis such as the {quote}[xyz]{quote} and spotting the missing " / " in that that would produce Dead easy for me?. So why cant I spell sequential parenthesis without having to slow down and get at least one hint from spellchuckler who laughs at my attempts?.
Bleh?.. I have conditional dyslexiz, the condition is it works when I dont need it to?. And no one sees the irony there and laughs at it more than I do, so folks, feel free to make jokes about it, FFS, I do?.
As for a common sense test. If your taking a person for a whole day to check their IQ, than hows about we start with a simple "Change the wheel on that car" type can you manage basic engineering mechanical tests. You could do it in "VR" if there is a problem with mobility, its the act of can you show the logical steps rather than the result, so "VR" go to the boot, open it, check for tools, and you got a few points there for knowing that the wheel and the tools are unusually in the boot?. And then add on a few points extra for not being freaked out by VR in the first place.
Then give them the hazard perception test for all drivers. Get them to spot potential danger points whilst driving.
And then....
Hey Greg, I have an idea. In that it YOUR idea. Why dont you start a thread for things you could put in for a basic common sense IQ test?. Who knows, this could go somewhere, even sell it to the people that do that IQ test as a more realistic basic knowledge start point?. The CS test could go global. I have no problem with helping out, and I am sure there are people here who got some good ideas to put in?.
Like show someone a room that has a patterned tiled wall, and get them to spot the one or two or more tiles that have been put on upside down?.
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Post by silverdragon on Oct 12, 2017 9:01:43 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41591394Well, Yeah?.. If the allegations are true.... Should he be stripped of all awards he has received in the past?. A Strong message that "This is not acceptable" needs to be sent to all artists and strong messages that the whole of the industry will support anti-sexist stance, and anyone found in breach of it will be outcast.
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Post by the light works on Oct 12, 2017 14:38:18 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41591394Well, Yeah?.. If the allegations are true.... Should he be stripped of all awards he has received in the past?. A Strong message that "This is not acceptable" needs to be sent to all artists and strong messages that the whole of the industry will support anti-sexist stance, and anyone found in breach of it will be outcast. part of the issue, for me, is, up until recently, this HAS been acceptable, and in fact, it has been much more widespread than most people want to admit. so what do we do about it, now that we have finally accepted that it is unacceptable? do we strip 50% of industry awards because people either participated or enabled the behavior? or do we make a clear statememnt while they got away with it in the past, it ends, now, and people with a history of it may find themselves outcast, and people who do it in the future may find themselves in jail?
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 12, 2017 19:10:28 GMT
Should he be stripped of all awards he has received in the past? If you found out Usain Bolt had stolen a bag of gummy bears when he was 10, would you take away all his medals? Yes, Weinstein needs to be punished and excluded, but the fact that he's a misogynistic prick doesn't change the movies he was involved in. Besides, those awards may have gone to him, but hundreds of other people worked on those projects as well and those awards say as much about their work as his. Do we really need to dump all over everything they've made, just because he turned out to be a sexist pig?
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Post by the light works on Oct 12, 2017 19:37:01 GMT
Should he be stripped of all awards he has received in the past? If you found out Usain Bolt had stolen a bag of gummy bears when he was 10, would you take away all his medals? Yes, Weinstein needs to be punished and excluded, but the fact that he's a misogynistic prick doesn't change the movies he was involved in. Besides, those awards may have gone to him, but hundreds of other people worked on those projects as well and those awards say as much about their work as his. Do we really need to dump all over everything they've made, just because he turned out to be a sexist pig? except weinstein appears to have done more than stealing a pack of gummy bears. it is a tough question and a valid one. what do you do to a guy who was a scumbag when it was acceptable to be a scumbag, and then tried to continue after it stopped being acceptable. it is the same tough question as whether quid pro quo sexual harassment is wrong if the terms are agreeable to both parties. or whether it is acceptable for a wife to make a sandwich for her husband if she chooses to. okay, I'm getting silly with this, but the point is, there is no easy answer for converting the film industry from the era where the casting couch was a meme, to the modern era where sexual harassment is wrong.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 12, 2017 20:28:25 GMT
You have to wonder how many women were never given a chance in Hollywood because they stood their ground and wouldn't play along with him, and other Hollywood scumbags. And if anyone thinks that there aren't others and that this puts an end to it has selective blindness. As far as the awards, let him keep them. They're nothing more than worthless POS anyway. Hollywood awards are just one group of scumbags honoring another.
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Post by the light works on Oct 12, 2017 23:08:55 GMT
You have to wonder how many women were never given a chance in Hollywood because they stood their ground and wouldn't play along with him, and other Hollywood scumbags. And if anyone thinks that there aren't others and that this puts an end to it has selective blindness. As far as the awards, let him keep them. They're nothing more than worthless POS anyway. Hollywood awards are just one group of scumbags honoring another. how many bad actresses/singers/etc became famous and how many good ones went nowhere because of that behavior.
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 12, 2017 23:26:28 GMT
If you found out Usain Bolt had stolen a bag of gummy bears when he was 10, would you take away all his medals? Yes, Weinstein needs to be punished and excluded, but the fact that he's a misogynistic prick doesn't change the movies he was involved in. Besides, those awards may have gone to him, but hundreds of other people worked on those projects as well and those awards say as much about their work as his. Do we really need to dump all over everything they've made, just because he turned out to be a sexist pig? except weinstein appears to have done more than stealing a pack of gummy bears. it is a tough question and a valid one. what do you do to a guy who was a scumbag when it was acceptable to be a scumbag, and then tried to continue after it stopped being acceptable. it is the same tough question as whether quid pro quo sexual harassment is wrong if the terms are agreeable to both parties. or whether it is acceptable for a wife to make a sandwich for her husband if she chooses to. okay, I'm getting silly with this, but the point is, there is no easy answer for converting the film industry from the era where the casting couch was a meme, to the modern era where sexual harassment is wrong. My point was, does taking his awards away from him change anything? It's not exactly like he'll go poor and hungry because he's missing a couple of Oscars and it won't undo what he's done. If you really want to hit him where it hurts, get all the women he harassed to file law suits and make him pay up. And BTW, sexual harassment was ALWAYS wrong! It just used to be accepted, but "accepted" is not the same as "right".
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 12, 2017 23:30:34 GMT
You have to wonder how many women were never given a chance in Hollywood because they stood their ground and wouldn't play along with him, and other Hollywood scumbags. Yeah, we probably missed a lot of talented people on that account. And got a lot of hacks who were willing to play along. And if anyone thinks that there aren't others and that this puts an end to it has selective blindness. True. Just look at the whole Bill Cosby thing. And Jimmy Savile in the UK. How many are out there that we haven't heard about? As far as the awards, let him keep them. They're nothing more than worthless POS anyway. Hollywood awards are just one group of scumbags honoring another. Agreed and besides, like I said, it didn't just take that one guy to make those movies. If they were actually worth the awards they got, hundreds of other talented people worked on them and those people don't deserve to have their work tarnished because of him.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 12, 2017 23:40:04 GMT
If you really want to hit him where it hurts, get all the women he harassed to file law suits and make him pay up. And BTW, sexual harassment was ALWAYS wrong! It just used to be accepted, but "accepted" is not the same as "right". I'm sure there will be many lawsuits, but in the older cases, there is a statute of limitation. And I believe this goes way beyond what one would normally call sexual harassment. This is more along the lines of a sexual predator using sexual slavery and forced prostitution. Yes, the women could have said no, but when you are a young girl and your life's career is being threatened if you don't comply, that's more than harassment. As far as I'm concerned, there is no punishment that is too severe for this kind of slime of humanity. And the idea of OK, I admit I was a scumbag and I will head off to Europe for two weeks of anti-scumbag therapy, is an absolute joke. After 50+ years of being a scumbag, you will always be a scumbag and you will die a scumbag.
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Post by the light works on Oct 12, 2017 23:55:05 GMT
except weinstein appears to have done more than stealing a pack of gummy bears. it is a tough question and a valid one. what do you do to a guy who was a scumbag when it was acceptable to be a scumbag, and then tried to continue after it stopped being acceptable. it is the same tough question as whether quid pro quo sexual harassment is wrong if the terms are agreeable to both parties. or whether it is acceptable for a wife to make a sandwich for her husband if she chooses to. okay, I'm getting silly with this, but the point is, there is no easy answer for converting the film industry from the era where the casting couch was a meme, to the modern era where sexual harassment is wrong. My point was, does taking his awards away from him change anything? It's not exactly like he'll go poor and hungry because he's missing a couple of Oscars and it won't undo what he's done. If you really want to hit him where it hurts, get all the women he harassed to file law suits and make him pay up. And BTW, sexual harassment was ALWAYS wrong! It just used to be accepted, but "accepted" is not the same as "right". it is wrong by our standards, but our standards are more enlightened than our forefathers. it used to be okay to own other people if they didn't have the right skin color. - or in some places, even if they did.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 13, 2017 0:34:02 GMT
it is wrong by our standards, but our standards are more enlightened than our forefathers. it used to be okay to own other people if they didn't have the right skin color. - or in some places, even if they did. I don't believe this kind of behavior was ever OK by anybodies standards. It's was ignored by too many people that could have done something about it but had too big a stake in the game and didn't want to rock any boats. And it looks like these people that didn't want to rock the boat weren't just in Hollywood. It appears to go pretty high up in some news media and maybe even in politics. And I'm not talking about some politician taking a campaign contribution from him. There appears to be some that were going out of their way to cover for him. Including some prosecutors in the NYPD.
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Post by the light works on Oct 13, 2017 0:54:08 GMT
it is wrong by our standards, but our standards are more enlightened than our forefathers. it used to be okay to own other people if they didn't have the right skin color. - or in some places, even if they did. I don't believe this kind of behavior was ever OK by anybodies standards. It's was ignored by too many people that could have done something about it but had too big a stake in the game and didn't want to rock any boats. And it looks like these people that didn't want to rock the boat weren't just in Hollywood. It appears to go pretty high up in some news media and maybe even in politics. And I'm not talking about some politician taking a campaign contribution from him. There appears to be some that were going out of their way to cover for him. Including some prosecutors in the NYPD. or were benefitting from the same behavior.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 13, 2017 1:21:40 GMT
I don't believe this kind of behavior was ever OK by anybodies standards. It's was ignored by too many people that could have done something about it but had too big a stake in the game and didn't want to rock any boats. And it looks like these people that didn't want to rock the boat weren't just in Hollywood. It appears to go pretty high up in some news media and maybe even in politics. And I'm not talking about some politician taking a campaign contribution from him. There appears to be some that were going out of their way to cover for him. Including some prosecutors in the NYPD. or were benefitting from the same behavior. In fact, the head of Amazon's original content studio, Roy Price, was just suspended for sexual harassment claims. I have no doubt there will be others. Many others.
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Post by the light works on Oct 13, 2017 1:45:42 GMT
or were benefitting from the same behavior. In fact, the head of Amazon's original content studio, Roy Price, was just suspended for sexual harassment claims. I have no doubt there will be others. Many others. "the times, they are a changin'"
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 13, 2017 8:11:26 GMT
I'm glad this is getting attention and something is being done about it, but I wonder how many decades will go by before it becomes acceptable for men to accuse their female harassers and abusers...?
No, there are probably not as many of them as there are male counterparts, but they do exist, there are more of them than you think and their victims aren't taken seriously at all.
If you ask me, sexual predators - no matter their gender, color or creed - are some of the worst abominations of the human race and none of their victims should ever feel overlooked!
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Post by silverdragon on Oct 13, 2017 10:52:23 GMT
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41591394Well, Yeah?.. If the allegations are true.... Should he be stripped of all awards he has received in the past?. A Strong message that "This is not acceptable" needs to be sent to all artists and strong messages that the whole of the industry will support anti-sexist stance, and anyone found in breach of it will be outcast. part of the issue, for me, is, up until recently, this HAS been acceptable, and in fact, it has been much more widespread than most people want to admit. so what do we do about it, now that we have finally accepted that it is unacceptable? do we strip 50% of industry awards because people either participated or enabled the behavior? or do we make a clear statememnt while they got away with it in the past, it ends, now, and people with a history of it may find themselves outcast, and people who do it in the future may find themselves in jail? Yeah, I would go for that, but add in that any prosecutions for that kind of behaviour that come to light, should be dealt with, by rescinding memberships and stripping awards. Outcast them to a place where they will never work in that field again. Will you loose some serious professional talent on the way?. Yeah, sure you will, deal with it, in about six moths, they will have dealt with the numerous applications to fill the gap with fresh talent, and things will continue on even better than before. This is like the farmer with the field, now and again, he has to run the plough down it to fig up the trash and replace it with good stuff. Yeah there will be some changes, but changes for the good, and those that go, good riddance?. They dont give the rest of them a good name after all did they?. Oziris wrote Yes it does. The public humiliation is probably nothing compared to what he put certain people through. But its a step in the right direction, a public demonstration, "This is not acceptable" The public stripping of awards will also be an "All invited" event where those who thought they got away with it will be wondering "!Who is next"... Guaranteed to put a halt to it immediately, and expose those who still think they are above the laws?. GTCGreg Exactly, toss them on the scrap heap and be done with it, clear their office, and let someone who deserves to be there do that job. Publicly making it known they are a scumbag will at least warn other people who didnt know yet how awful they are, especially those just starting in the business. Its a bit like putting a guard rail around a deep excavation, some can see the hole, some may need to be told?.
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Post by the light works on Oct 13, 2017 13:34:17 GMT
ALL that talent can be replaced, and probably more easily than they would like to claim.
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Post by the light works on Oct 13, 2017 13:37:03 GMT
I'm glad this is getting attention and something is being done about it, but I wonder how many decades will go by before it becomes acceptable for men to accuse their female harassers and abusers...? No, there are probably not as many of them as there are male counterparts, but they do exist, there are more of them than you think and their victims aren't taken seriously at all. If you ask me, sexual predators - no matter their gender, color or creed - are some of the worst abominations of the human race and none of their victims should ever feel overlooked! one of the inherent challenges in that is there are men who think they WANT to be "predated" and you will never convince them it is a bad thing.
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