The other day I was listening to a lesson and the person speaking used
the word ineffable.
I actually have a look that one up! Ineffable means too great or
extreme to be expressed or described in words, or not to be uttered. As
I read more about the word it's been used for things that are
indescribable and can't be expressed in mere words. Usually it was
associated with talking about God. But other things can be ineffable
also.
Another definition expanded on it saying it caused so much
emotion, especially pleasure, that it cannot be described. Ineffable
joy or beauty beyond description.
And as I read all these definitions and descriptions of things that
are too overwhelming to be expressed I started laughing.
One of the things that I enjoy is a play on words. And I started
thinking about how in today's society if someone used the word
ineffable in a show or a video or a podcast they would probably use it
to mean something that can't be messed up.
Do you get it? We've gotten to a point where it's common to hear the
F bomb and if you don't hear it it seems weird. We've even shortened
it so that in polite company we can say will "that's effed up". And so
for something to be ineffable I could easily imagine somebody thinking
that it can't be screwed up.
For all of its complications I love the English language! Even
when it's effed up like this.
Sunday, September 25, 2022
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Six Flags vs Disney ~
I recently went to the Six Flags Park in the city that I live near.
My wife and I try to go there each year and enjoyed taking our kids
and other people's kids with us when we went to Six Flags. Now that
all of our children are grown she and I go there alone to ride roller
coasters and be together. It's fun!
Six Flags has never been one of those top-ranked experiences where everything is perfect and beautiful. There are always rough edges, the people seem to be regular people and even some not so regular people. And the shiny parts of Six Flags at least for me tend not to overcome the rough edges.
This year I noticed that Six Flags has gone cash less. They have big signs up saying if you expect to buy anything in the park convert your cash to a card here. My wife and I talked about it and that have a feeling that because the higher minimum wage workers to work at Six Flags they had to deal with a lot of fast. Having no cash drawers and all terminals probably reduces that theft a lot as well as reduces the money that they have to spend on securing their own facility from their own people.
Technology has reached the point that the drinks and drink bottles that Six Flags sells have chips in them and instead of having someone staff a drink station and just refill bottles they have automated drink stations and if your bottle doesn't have the chip the drink does not flow. That's a cool use of technology but it does give me pause.
One of the rough edges that I noticed that was really disappointing to me was stickers stapled to the end of boards of wood. They had refurbished one of the wooden roller coasters in the park. And not just the roller coasters but all the surrounding walkways that have wood decking material and such. While I stood waiting for my wife at one point I noticed that about half of the boards that made up the walkway leaving the roller coaster still had the yellow pressure-treated wood label stapled to the end of the board. It made for a very tacky and unpolished feel. And my immediate thought was "Disney would never tolerate that!" I read a couple of books about Disney and have been to Disney a couple of times and the Magic Kingdom has very strict guidelines for the people to help maintain the magic. I read in one of the books that Disney employees are given a test they don't even know they're in where they are walking and if they walk by a piece of trash and do not pick the trash up and throw it away they are fired. I don't know if that's true but it is a wonderful philosophy that I wish more people and not just companies but individuals would take up as a way of life.
Six Flags was fun. I got beat up by the roller coasters and enjoyed way-overpriced junk food and drinks. The best part was being with my wife, who I love dearly. And I love having fun with her!
Six Flags has never been one of those top-ranked experiences where everything is perfect and beautiful. There are always rough edges, the people seem to be regular people and even some not so regular people. And the shiny parts of Six Flags at least for me tend not to overcome the rough edges.
This year I noticed that Six Flags has gone cash less. They have big signs up saying if you expect to buy anything in the park convert your cash to a card here. My wife and I talked about it and that have a feeling that because the higher minimum wage workers to work at Six Flags they had to deal with a lot of fast. Having no cash drawers and all terminals probably reduces that theft a lot as well as reduces the money that they have to spend on securing their own facility from their own people.
Technology has reached the point that the drinks and drink bottles that Six Flags sells have chips in them and instead of having someone staff a drink station and just refill bottles they have automated drink stations and if your bottle doesn't have the chip the drink does not flow. That's a cool use of technology but it does give me pause.
One of the rough edges that I noticed that was really disappointing to me was stickers stapled to the end of boards of wood. They had refurbished one of the wooden roller coasters in the park. And not just the roller coasters but all the surrounding walkways that have wood decking material and such. While I stood waiting for my wife at one point I noticed that about half of the boards that made up the walkway leaving the roller coaster still had the yellow pressure-treated wood label stapled to the end of the board. It made for a very tacky and unpolished feel. And my immediate thought was "Disney would never tolerate that!" I read a couple of books about Disney and have been to Disney a couple of times and the Magic Kingdom has very strict guidelines for the people to help maintain the magic. I read in one of the books that Disney employees are given a test they don't even know they're in where they are walking and if they walk by a piece of trash and do not pick the trash up and throw it away they are fired. I don't know if that's true but it is a wonderful philosophy that I wish more people and not just companies but individuals would take up as a way of life.
Six Flags was fun. I got beat up by the roller coasters and enjoyed way-overpriced junk food and drinks. The best part was being with my wife, who I love dearly. And I love having fun with her!
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Still spinning ~
Holy David Post
When I was in training as an Air Traffic Control Specialist the training was mentally draining. We were learning things about air traffic control and the rules that we had to use to keep airplanes separated from each other. Under many many different situations.
I remember being nervous as I thought through the daily puzzles that were presented to me. I understood that if I didn't figure it out and pass them I would lose my job. And so I was pretty motivated to figure things out.
The nervousness came out in different ways though. I got quiet. I studied a lot. Although I didn't really understand what I was studying I still studied the rules and made index cards with identifiers and flipped through them. Beat myself up for not knowing things faster.
I remember being in the non-radar lab and doing a puzzle. Old retired controllers were usually the trainers. And so all these older guys that came up in the 1950s and 1960s were in there teaching us non-radar rules of separating aircraft. As I puzzled through each problem part of the challenge was to do strip marking correctly. Each aircraft has a flight strip with an identifier, the type of aircraft that it is with its airspeed and ground speed, which are different, altitude, fix posting along his route to tell me where we were thinking about where he was, his route of flight, and other information. As we controlled airplanes we were supposed to mark on the strips that we had communication with the pilot, when he had passed certain points in the sky, and write down the clearance that we had given him and whether he had reached it or not. Especially altitude.
My nervousness in the lab would come out with the pencil that we had to use. We used double-ended pencils - one end was black and one end was red. Black was used for things that actually had happened and were real, red were things that were planned or warnings or things that we had not done yet.
Once I started figuring things out I would sit there during the problem and fidget. I didn't know what to do because there was time in the problem before the disasters that were presented to us as puzzles came up. So I would review my flight plans and make sure that I had done all the things that I need to do. And as I reviewed this information and puzzle through things I would hold my double-ended pencil in my right hand and spin it around inside my fingers. Not like you see in Top Gun where Iceman is making his pen go through his fingers like a magician with a coin. I would make a hoop with my fingers and thumb and and hold the pencil there in the circle and spin it around like it was inside a hoop.
One instructor just thought that was hilarious! He would laugh and say "I can tell that you're thinking too hard because you're spinning your pencil." And then he would laugh and joke with the other instructors that he had never seen anybody else in his life do something like that with their pencil or pen.
What I find interesting is over 30 years later I still do that. If I have a pen or a pen shaped device in my hand and I am not actively using it I will catch myself spinning it around in my fingers and thumb while I think and ponder.
I guess that means I'm consistent! Pretty funny...
When I was in training as an Air Traffic Control Specialist the training was mentally draining. We were learning things about air traffic control and the rules that we had to use to keep airplanes separated from each other. Under many many different situations.
I remember being nervous as I thought through the daily puzzles that were presented to me. I understood that if I didn't figure it out and pass them I would lose my job. And so I was pretty motivated to figure things out.
The nervousness came out in different ways though. I got quiet. I studied a lot. Although I didn't really understand what I was studying I still studied the rules and made index cards with identifiers and flipped through them. Beat myself up for not knowing things faster.
I remember being in the non-radar lab and doing a puzzle. Old retired controllers were usually the trainers. And so all these older guys that came up in the 1950s and 1960s were in there teaching us non-radar rules of separating aircraft. As I puzzled through each problem part of the challenge was to do strip marking correctly. Each aircraft has a flight strip with an identifier, the type of aircraft that it is with its airspeed and ground speed, which are different, altitude, fix posting along his route to tell me where we were thinking about where he was, his route of flight, and other information. As we controlled airplanes we were supposed to mark on the strips that we had communication with the pilot, when he had passed certain points in the sky, and write down the clearance that we had given him and whether he had reached it or not. Especially altitude.
My nervousness in the lab would come out with the pencil that we had to use. We used double-ended pencils - one end was black and one end was red. Black was used for things that actually had happened and were real, red were things that were planned or warnings or things that we had not done yet.
Once I started figuring things out I would sit there during the problem and fidget. I didn't know what to do because there was time in the problem before the disasters that were presented to us as puzzles came up. So I would review my flight plans and make sure that I had done all the things that I need to do. And as I reviewed this information and puzzle through things I would hold my double-ended pencil in my right hand and spin it around inside my fingers. Not like you see in Top Gun where Iceman is making his pen go through his fingers like a magician with a coin. I would make a hoop with my fingers and thumb and and hold the pencil there in the circle and spin it around like it was inside a hoop.
One instructor just thought that was hilarious! He would laugh and say "I can tell that you're thinking too hard because you're spinning your pencil." And then he would laugh and joke with the other instructors that he had never seen anybody else in his life do something like that with their pencil or pen.
What I find interesting is over 30 years later I still do that. If I have a pen or a pen shaped device in my hand and I am not actively using it I will catch myself spinning it around in my fingers and thumb while I think and ponder.
I guess that means I'm consistent! Pretty funny...
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