Oh, the young at heart.

[Redcrown]

I was on a walk about, in a sculpture garden in the middle of town. Old guy, big DSLR, looking professional. Three girls came up to me, 18 to 20 somethings, and asked if I could help. Their camera would not take a picture when they pressed the shutter button. T'was a Canon Rebel with a kit lens.

I used it, and sure enough, it wouldn't fire. Short version: it's would not fire because it would not auto focus and it would not auto focus because the lens was toast. Took me several minutes to figure that out, but when I finally tried to manual focus, the lens was stiff, irregular, and made a grinding noise. Then I noticed an abrasion on the front edge. It had been dropped on a hard surface. I cranked that lens back and forth several times, but no joy. It would not free up.

So I said, "bad news", and explained the problem. The girls' eyes glassed over. I had forgotten that young people don't want to understand a problem, they just want someone to make it go away. I handed the camera back to one of the girls and told her to look in the viewfinder and see that little flashing circle in the bottom right corner, which tell that it can't focus.

She held the camera at arms length to see the LCD. Obvious she did not know what a viewfinder was. Then I pointed to the focus ring and said, "turn that". She did, but I could tell it was her first time, so she had no idea what was normal.

So I put the camera in manual focus mode and told them they could keep shooting, but had to manual focus. They seem delighted. All they wanted was pictures and didn't care how they got them.

[Blue439]

I quite see the type. Young, yes, certainly, but also without too many neurons to rub against one another and make sparks up there inside the skull... One sees quite a number of them. Luckily for the future of the human race, some are brighter. 

[Rob C]

I quite see the type. Young, yes, certainly, but also without too many neurons to rub against one another and make sparks up there inside the skull... One sees quite a number of them. Luckily for the future of the human race, some are brighter. 

And just as fortunately, some are not!

;-)

Rob

[Blue439]

And just as fortunately, some are not!

To each his own. I'd rather stick with the former.

[Blue439]

Coincidence: I just read this morning an article in a very serious French weekly newsmagazine (Le Point) about how scientists have found, especially in the US, but in the Western world in general, that children's and young adults' IQ is on a decreasing trend. This is attributed to endocrine disruptors and other such chemicals that are in the products we use and eat, and that supposedly have consequences from within the mother's womb and on.

[RSL]

Baloney! It's all because of TV.

[JNB_Rare]

I ran across someone of my generation (retired) standing outside her car looking very frustrated. As I approached, she asked if I might help. "I keep pressing the button, but the car doors won't respond, and I'm locked out". I suggested she try the key in the lock.

Different people, different strengths. I have diagnosed, torn apart and fixed computer systems (including complex software issues) with no formal training. I'm totally useless when it comes to many mechanical things – even the simple cars of yesteryear. I know how to use a screw driver. But I've learned from experience that, if I lie on my back underneath something, I should think very hard about which way to turn in order to tighten or loosen. 

[DeanChriss]

I quite see the type. Young, yes, certainly, but also without too many neurons to rub against one another and make sparks up there inside the skull... One sees quite a number of them. Luckily for the future of the human race, some are brighter. 

A client of mine recently hired a couple of just-graduated computer engineers who I occasionally work with. I didn't expect much from these "kids" who are fairly stereotypical of their generation; always plugged into their phones with earbuds, seem to wander aimlessly staring at the screens, and sit in dark offices. It turns out that both of them are brilliant, and after getting to know them I find they are as level-headed as anyone ever was at 20-something. Their ways are quite different than mine but I suspect that's a good thing. I have come to think this sort of diversity in the workplace makes it more fun, more interesting, and leads to better ideas and more productivity. Young people have at least as much to offer as did my generation, though their typed English in emails tends to be awful.

[Rob C]

To each his own. I'd rather stick with the former.

The former is indeed for marrying, but the other can be lots of fun for brief periods too: so much less demanding.

The very worst type, and they can cut across the two categories, is the one that orders something - a drink, for example - and sits looking at it until the ice melts, and then wants another one because the ice has vanished. I'm not making this up: had a model do that. No, I can't remember how I dealt with it - possibly by making a joke out of it - but the sense of someone trying to exploit a work situation and expenses was very strong. Didn't like that attitude at all. We never worked together again.

Rob C

[Blue439]

I've just had another example of today's average level of awareness, culture, intelligence, whatever you want to call it. It took place on Flickr, a site I've left years ago (I am now on Ipernity) but on which I retain adminship over a couple of groups I am attached to, including the "National Geographic" one.

This guy posts a nice picture of Malta's Azure Window, a gigantic stone arch thrown over the Mediterranean on the coast of Gozzo. Malta's iconic landmark. After having stood there for tens of thousands of years, it suddenly collapsed into the sea last week, during a storm. I figured the guy had posted his picture to the National Geographic group to commemorate and I posted a comment deploring the loss of a great wonder of nature. There were many comments before and after mine, and how many do you think were about the disappearance of that gorgeous sight?

Exactly zero. Neither the original poster, nor the many that commented made any mention of it. All the comments were "faves" or those pre-digested comments that you copy/paste because you either can't spell or are too tired to type your own.

I felt very sad for the Azure Window that didn't get much for an epitaph.

[Rob C]

I've just had another example of today's average level of awareness, culture, intelligence, whatever you want to call it. It took place on Flickr, a site I've left years ago (I am now on Ipernity) but on which I retain adminship over a couple of groups I am attached to, including the "National Geographic" one.

This guy posts a nice picture of Malta's Azure Window, a gigantic stone arch thrown over the Mediterranean on the coast of Gozzo. Malta's iconic landmark. After having stood there for tens of thousands of years, it suddenly collapsed into the sea last week, during a storm. I figured the guy had posted his picture to the National Geographic group to commemorate and I posted a comment deploring the loss of a great wonder of nature. There were many comments before and after mine, and how many do you think were about the disappearance of that gorgeous sight?

Exactly zero. Neither the original poster, nor the many that commented made any mention of it. All the comments were "faves" or those pre-digested comments that you copy/paste because you either can't spell or are too tired to type your own.

I felt very sad for the Azure Window that didn't get much for an epitaph.

As I lay on my back this morning at breakfast after the first mug of tea, with my drops in my eyes, I half-heard a guy on the news channel talking about the Internet and trying to get it back to what it had been meant to be, rather than the mess of crap and commerce that it now is. I suspect it was one of the original brains behind the system who was speaking, but as my eyes were firmly closed to retain the fluid, I didn't find out.

In retrospect, that reminds me of how odd a news channel really is in the way it displays news: you get a visual message of someone speaking or doing something, and that's inevitably coupled to a moving strip of printed information at the bottom of the main image. That strip of writing can either be directly related to the visual deal, or not. If it's not, and you start to read rather than to watch, your mind (well, mine) gets drawn deeply into the written message at the cost of the visual one, and you eventully wonder what the hell the one had to do with the other.

Fortunately for me, I'm no sports fan, but just imagine for a moment that you are a golf enthusiast - okay, I know that's difficult - and as that famous guy skillfully taps the little ball and it rolls magnetically across the lawn towards the little hole, bingo! the whole moment vanishes behind a wall of writing about football. That whole climactic moment of pure, unadulterated intensity and passion as ball goes into hole is lost to you for ever. Maybe you might sue for consequential damages?

Rob

[32BT]

In retrospect, that reminds me of how odd a news channel really is in the way it displays news:

There is trouble in paradise.

Newsanchor: "Let's tune in to our reporter on location, we've spared no expenses to get him there"

Reporter on location resides in makeshift studio in front of a bluescreen with a relevant location picture projected: "yes, there are unconfirmed reports of trouble in paradise!"

Newsanchor: "thank you for this in-depth additional information."