Motoring Discussion > Sitting on the fence. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k Replies: 9

 Sitting on the fence. - henry k
Who had a great plan but a small detail missed ?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20166317
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 1 Nov 12 at 21:00
 Siting on the fence. - Focusless
You have to admire their nerve!
 Siting on the fence. - -
I'd have admired them more if they'd practiced the straddle angle at ground level than at 15 feet up.
Is that what comes of smoking your own baccy.
 Siting on the fence. - Focusless
Well I did say nerve, not intelligence :)
 Siting on the fence. - Cliff Pope
>> I'd have admired them more if they'd practiced the straddle angle at ground level than
>> at 15 feet up.
>>
>>

No need even to practice it - just take a few measurements and do some trigonometry.
 Siting on the fence. - bathtub tom
>>No need even to practice it - just take a few measurements and do some trigonometry.

Get real! I'd have to think about that a bit before I could be sure of getting it right. A Mexican drug mule? No chance. I doubt if many people under fifty would even know what trigonometry is.
 Siting on the fence. - Crankcase
Not only under 50. Only the other night I mentioned sohcahtoa to Mrs C and she gave me look of total incomprehension, before going off and making a few surreptitious phone calls of which I only caught the words "sectioned" and "committal".

 Siting on the fence. - Runfer D'Hills
Back in the dark ages, among a few other things, I studied maths to Scottish "Higher" level. Sort of a fancy "O" level but not quite an "A" level. Did alright gaining an A pass. However, like many, I do wonder how much of that stuff I really needed to know. Indeed, as I'm painfully reminded when attempting to help my son with his homework, I've since forgotten most of it !

Sure the arithmetic and statistics elements were and have since proven very useful but I've never since found myself in a situation where I needed to even slightly remember how why or when to use a log table or a cube root.

What would have been useful would have been to have gained a basic understanding of accountancy and indeed maybe an introduction to the layman's use of a computer. The latter perhaps a little unfair as they were not something available at my school at that time. The really smart maths students were allowed to go for an hour or so a week to the nearby Edinburgh University to gain some computing experience.

I'm pretty sure I could still use a slide rule if pressed though, but to be fair I can't begin to imagine a circumstance in which I'd need to or indeed feel any great urges in that direction. Still have one somewhere in the box of "things which might come in handy" in the attic.

 Siting on the fence. - corax
What I find impressive is that something described as a 'fence' is so strong.
 Siting on the fence. - Zero

One did not need trigonometry, mathematics, risk assessments, testing or trial runs. Any sane person would look at the fence, look at the car, and go "Nah - no chance"

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