Re: "bicycle-shaped object"


"Donald Gillies" <gillies@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:fjvvii$ea4$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Peter Howard" <bbrover109@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

I'd have thought that fifty book reports at twenty cents a word was
outstanding pay.

I think the kid is a little saavy and knows that the bike is not worth
$3,000, if it ever was. Probably, its worth half of what you paid for
it, new. By your own calculation, that's only 10c/word.

Reminds me of a time in my life when I was building stitch 'n glue plywood
dinghys to order for use as yacht tenders. Lookers would come and say "Why,
I can get one of those for half the price in Sydney/Melbourne/Perth." I'd
say "Great! Can you pick me up half a dozen next time you're down there?"
This is Australia, where we have one domestic trike manufacturer
(Greenspeed) and any others are imported. Because they are both scarce and
costly they do tend to hold their value well in this country, if you can
find one for sale. The kid liked the trike and what I was really trying to
do was have him find out what books are good for using the only such machine
within 500 miles as bait. He's always asking me questions, the most recent
being "How do atom bombs work?" but is highly resistant to the notion of
finding out for himself. As one of the weekly tasks I'd have settled for
having him find out how something works and explaining it to me from notes
he'd made. In an age of high speed broadband he wouldn't even have to bestir
his skinny ass to go down to the local library.


Also, 52 book reports x 300 words is a lot to ask of anyone. It's
probably 3x what is asked of him by any given school teacher in any
given school year! If he bails out after 20 book reports, he has
nothing!!

300 words is only half a printed A4 page!
If he'd bailed after 20 reports I'd have rewarded his sincere effort, like
giving him 40% of the trike by weight.


If you asked for 15 book reports of 1000 words each, you might have
gotten some traction ...

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA

Unfortunately, at present this kid can't be motivated and won't learn. A few
weeks ago I was doing some MIG welding (making a very solid and bulletproof
truing stand).
The kid turns up and says "Can I do some welding?"
"Sure," say I. "Nip home first and put on some boots, long sleeves and long
pants."
When he demurred at this onerous imposition, I explained why they were
necessary.
He then proceeded to tell me I was totally wrong about ultra-violet
radiation and hot slag and how he welded all the time at his Dads business
without using proper safety equipment.
What he actually wanted me to do was drop everything so he could run through
twenty dollars worth of wire and gas supplied by me, learning nothing and
producing nothing except a lot of exciting noise, sparks and fumes.
When he's interested in learning a new skill, then he can weld.

Peter H
Grumpy kid-hating old prick.





.

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