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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 10:50:54 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Mar 30, 2020 10:50:54 GMT -5
And when a diesel fuel spill combines with a gasoline fuel spill like in a freeway accident it's Katy bar the door and run for the hills. Have I mentioned that I've developed a sure-fire (literally, you might say) method for lighting the fire pit? I keep a 5 gallon fuel can filled with a 50/50 mix of Diesel and waste oil. That is used for the foundry. When lighting the fire pit, I pour a generous measure (maybe a pint or so?) of that mix over the wood. Then I pour a small measure (maybe a cup or so) of gasoline on top of that. Stand a "safe" distance upwind with a stick match and let fly. The first time, I over-did the gasoline and got an impressive "WHUMP!" accompanied by a glorious fireball. That was last Halloween. My favorite part of that was my neighbor informing me of multiple reports on NextDoor to the effect of "What the HELL was that!!!! ??!!!!!" I've since learned a better proportion for the fuel mix, so chaos is minimized. Now, what was that again about things I don't know? And you're incredulous about your PHD friend?
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 10:55:39 GMT -5
Post by fauxmaha on Mar 30, 2020 10:55:39 GMT -5
And you're incredulous about your PHD friend? What part of "safe distance" don't you understand?!?!? I'm talking at least six or seven feet.
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 10:55:50 GMT -5
Post by aquaduct on Mar 30, 2020 10:55:50 GMT -5
And when a diesel fuel spill combines with a gasoline fuel spill like in a freeway accident it's Katy bar the door and run for the hills. Have I mentioned that I've developed a sure-fire (literally, you might say) method for lighting the fire pit? I keep a 5 gallon fuel can filled with a 50/50 mix of Diesel and waste oil. That is used for the foundry. When lighting the fire pit, I pour a generous measure (maybe a pint or so?) of that mix over the wood. Then I pour a small measure (maybe a cup or so) of gasoline on top of that. Stand a "safe" distance upwind with a stick match and let fly. The first time, I over-did the gasoline and got an impressive "WHUMP!" accompanied by a glorious fireball. That was last Halloween. My favorite part of that was my neighbor informing me of multiple reports on NextDoor to the effect of "What the HELL was that!!!! ??!!!!!" I've since learned a better proportion for the fuel mix, so chaos is minimized. Now, what was that again about things I don't know? Well, obviously now you do. Skin in the game.
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 10:59:56 GMT -5
Post by Cornflake on Mar 30, 2020 10:59:56 GMT -5
I shouldn't get indignant. I'm the guy who once drove away from the gas pump and heard a horrible wrenching sound. The nozzle was still in my tank. My Jeep was fine but the gas pump was somewhat trashed. I went in to tell the store clerk about it. He said it happened fairly often and he wasn't interested in getting my name or phone number.
I'm not defending myself but around here, gas pumps must have automatic shut-offs. Because of that, lots of people start the pump and go inside to buy beer or cigarettes or whatever.
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 11:13:47 GMT -5
Post by dradtke on Mar 30, 2020 11:13:47 GMT -5
I shouldn't get indignant. I'm the guy who once drove away from the gas pump and heard a horrible wrenching sound. The nozzle was still in my tank. I did that once. My only defense is that I was still in high school. That's the time when you do a lot of stupid things.
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 11:17:51 GMT -5
Post by fauxmaha on Mar 30, 2020 11:17:51 GMT -5
I shouldn't get indignant. I'm the guy who once drove away from the gas pump and heard a horrible wrenching sound. The nozzle was still in my tank. My Jeep was fine but the gas pump was somewhat trashed. I went in to tell the store clerk about it. He said it happened fairly often and he wasn't interested in getting my name or phone number. I'm not defending myself but around here, gas pumps must have automatic shut-offs. Because of that, lots of people start the pump and go inside to buy beer or cigarettes or whatever. Good point. Although I would say there's a difference between a simple mistake made out of a moment of forgetfulness, and one made out of not knowing any better. Which is to say, you weren't surprised to learn the hard way that failing to return the nozzle didn't work out well, while my friend was genuinely surprised to learn that failing to attend the pump turned out badly.
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Post by david on Mar 30, 2020 11:55:00 GMT -5
At a young age I learned that I should not use my teeth to compress the black powder in a homemade firecracker.
I suspect that much "common sense" is a result of past mistakes. Growing up on a farm, around animals and heavy equipment, I gained a lot of common sense:
Don't assume a friendly horse won't buck, don't turn your back on a billy goat, don't pull the bottom bale from a tall wall of hay, don't slam on the brakes on a windrower with the header up while going downhill, stand far back when the manure spreader comes by . . .
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Post by david on Mar 30, 2020 13:04:45 GMT -5
I also was at a gas station when a guy left his car unattended. I would guess about 20 gallons flowed onto the concrete and pooled around the pumps. The guy that overflowed the area left, having some disagreement about who should pay for the gas since the auto off switch failed. The only employee was overwhelmed with other work. My friend and I stayed for about an hour keeping customers away and spreading sawdust type material until the gas mostly evaporated.
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 13:11:56 GMT -5
Post by epaul on Mar 30, 2020 13:11:56 GMT -5
I have had pump shut offs fail. On the farm and at the station. I was nearby in both instances. (when I informed the station that pump #3 failed to shut off, the kid at the counter said, "oh, yeah, we knew that. It's been sticky lately."
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Truth
Mar 30, 2020 13:22:13 GMT -5
david likes this
Post by TKennedy on Mar 30, 2020 13:22:13 GMT -5
I learned the hard way never remove the tags from your mattress.
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Post by millring on Mar 30, 2020 13:34:59 GMT -5
I learned the hard way never remove the tags from your mattress. I guessed from the prison tats.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,910
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 13:29:57 GMT -5
Post by Dub on Mar 31, 2020 13:29:57 GMT -5
I shouldn't get indignant. I'm the guy who once drove away from the gas pump and heard a horrible wrenching sound. The nozzle was still in my tank. I did that once. My only defense is that I was still in high school. That's the time when you one of the times when we do a lot of stupid things. <fixed>
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Post by fauxmaha on Mar 31, 2020 15:06:03 GMT -5
And as an aside Jeff, I've been thinking a lot about some of your old posts (most likely lost in the mist now) lately with COVID and what all. They were the one's about religion essentially being codified heuristics that encode ancient truths whose wisdom may be lost in the fog of history. See, sometimes I do learn shit. I spent some time last night noodling on that again. Haven't revisited the subject in my mind for a while. There are things that are "true". And there are things that are "false". But there are also things that are false in a literal sense, but if you treat them as true, you will gain an advantage. We know that "All guns are loaded" is not literally true. You could take a pistol, remove the magazine, pull back the slide, verify there is no ammunition in the chamber, and set it on your table. At that point, knowing that no one else has touched it and it has never left your sight, you can confidently declare "That gun is unloaded". If Jeff Bezos walks into the room at that moment and says "Nice gun! Is it loaded?", you'd answer "No, it isn't". If Bezos then said "I think it is. In fact, I'll bet you ten billion dollars that it is loaded" you'd confidently take the bet, and his money. But the "truth" says it is loaded. If Bezos walks into the room and says "Nice gun! Can I look at it?" you will pick it up and conspicuously go through the process of verifying that it is not loaded. After you hand it to him, assuming he is educated in the ways of safe gun handling, he will himself verify that it isn't loaded, even though he just watched you do it. And even if he isn't so educated, when you observe him failing to verify that the gun is in a safe condition, you will admonish him to do so. If he objects ("Dude! I just watched you check it!"), you will tell him "All guns are loaded". I don't recall when I learned "All guns are loaded", any more than I recall when I learned "Never leave a gas pump unattended". Just one of those things I learned. But here's where I (finally) get to the interesting part. I saw a clip of Sam Harris discussing this very thing. What I noticed is that he used a seemingly trivial difference in phrasing. Instead of describing the "truth" as "All guns are loaded", he said something like "If you treat all guns as loaded, you will come out ahead." So I find myself asking if there is a difference between "AGAL" and "IYTAGALYWCOA" and I think the answer is yes. I think AGAL has what you might call a metaphysical component that IYTAGALYWCOA strips away, and the intersection of that metaphysical component with what we know about human psychology matters. If you convince yourself that AGAL is literally true, it will have more utility than if you skip the convincing and just go with IYTAGALYWCOA. Or so it seems to me. Anyway, my banker just called so that's it for the moment.
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 15:24:21 GMT -5
Post by millring on Mar 31, 2020 15:24:21 GMT -5
If you convince yourself that AGAL is literally true, it will have more utility than if you skip the convincing and just go with IYTAGALYWCOA. I'm not sure. I'm trying to think this out as though "loaded gun" is a metaphor and see if this is true. I don't think it is unless you include "until you prove otherwise". Without that, there is no utility.
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 15:26:45 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Mar 31, 2020 15:26:45 GMT -5
You lost me at LSMFT.
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 15:39:19 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Mar 31, 2020 15:39:19 GMT -5
OK, if you accept the "watch the gas pump" what do you say about Michael and Keleren's incident of driving though an intersection with a green light and getting broadsided by some guy running a perpendicular red light? FAST ! Certainly we are confronted with traffic lights multiple times every day. Many more than gas pumps. Yeah, we rely on peripheral vision a lot unconsciously. And that helps us. But even then are we vigilant enough to spot somebody that's gonna run a light? Or somebody that's going to come across the median and hit us head on?
We all make compromises in our daily lives towards safety. We accept some of societies "safeguards" as absolute, without even knowing it. There's an old adage that goes something like; if you pick up a frying pan that's hot and burn yourself, you'll never pickup that pan again without remembering that incident. So somebody impressed upon you the Leave no Pump unattended edict. Maybe your dad. Maybe somebody told you a story. Maybe you watched "Bullet" and figured it out for yourself. So, you always remember that. But it's just one of countless many things that we could/should be wary of in a complex world of human/machine/dangerous interactions.
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 15:48:44 GMT -5
Post by fauxmaha on Mar 31, 2020 15:48:44 GMT -5
I'm not sure I'm following.
I'm not asserting that if you observe "the truth", nothing bad will happen to you, but that's what it sounds like you are saying I'm saying.
Unless I'm missing something.
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 15:58:15 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Mar 31, 2020 15:58:15 GMT -5
I was talking more about your earlier discussion dissing the PHD for this particular lapse of safety concern. And how we accept hundreds of such assumptions every day without knowing it.
I'm still trying to figure out what you're saying about truth.
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Post by fauxmaha on Mar 31, 2020 16:10:43 GMT -5
I was talking more about your earlier discussion dissing the PHD for this particular lapse of safety concern. And how we accept hundreds of such assumptions every day without knowing it. I'm still trying to figure out what you're saying about truth. So am I. One thing I think is generally heading the right direction is to say something like: In our age, we conflate "truth" with "factually correct". But a better way of saying "true" is "in alignment with its intended purpose".
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Truth
Mar 31, 2020 16:20:17 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Mar 31, 2020 16:20:17 GMT -5
Probably every age conflates truth with factually correct; at least to the extend they (we?) can know the facts. Absolute truth always being out of our reach, like the rabbit the Greyhounds chase.
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