![]() |
wrote:
Alun L. Palmer wrote: wrote in news:1108745797.245365.147250 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com: Alun L. Palmer wrote: wrote in news:1108665611.010471.49400 @l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com: But emulating Sweden is OK huh? n3kip w3rv Sure, why not? BINGO: There it is. Old Europe. Sez it all. Not in your lifetime Alun. 'Bye. w3rv We have very different political views. OBVIOUSLY. I don't know how you would classify yourself, but by European standards you are very far to the right indeed, I'm a centrist Republican a la Sen. Arlen Specter, a member of a disapperaing breed. Sadly disappearing! Ted Kennedy is a right-winger by Old Europe standards. Yup. Welcome to America. as by no stretch is Sweden a socialist country. Blather. It's a country which uses it's outrageous taxes on it's few monster "capitalist" smokestack industries to hand out socialist entitlements to it's population on a scale unheard of in any other country. Entitlments being the heart of socialism in all it's forms. Sven the fender-hanger at the SAAB plant didn't "feel good" yesterday so he stayed home and watched the tube. No problem, he got paid anyway under Swedish law. SAAB plant payrolls are bloated by 20% percent per unit out the door vs. the U.S & Japan because 20% of the SAAB workers "call in sick" every day. Absolute fact. GM got stupid and bought SAAB mostly to save the marque otherwise SAAB would have died years ago but GM is now mulling a pullout to cut their losses. The outflow of capital from Sweden to other countries has been appalling, check out the numbers and why it's happening and what the Swedish government is doing to stanch the bleeding. The reason the whole thing didn't collapse right away was that the smokestacks are/were big exporters, bringing in hard currency. I can no doubt go ten blocks around the compass from here in the suburbs of Philadelphia and find more businesses with ten or fewer employees than you'll find in all of Sweden. Why is that Alun?? Could it be that Swedish socialist economics stifles entrepreneurial capitalism which is the engine behind the astounding growth of the U.S. economy for over two centuries? Of course it is. As for myself, I used to be a card carrying member of the Conservative and Unionist Party in the UK, but I freely admit that I have drifted leftwards since then, very likely as a result of seeing at first hand the huge social inequalities in the USA. Certainly there are social inequalities in the U.S. The original Constitution plus it's Bill of Rights guarantees equality in all elections and in all courts in this country and nothing more. Translates into a system in which the fate of individuals depends on what they freely choose to do or not do with their lives. Those who choose to be slackers suffer the consequences they freely imposed on themselves so of course we wind up with "social inequalities" galore. Equality of rights and opportunities - not equality of outcomes. Add in some other points about Sweden: Compared to the USA, it's tiny in both population and land area. Also virtually homogeneous (again compared to the USA). 'Diversity' means something very different in Sweden. Heck, they split with Norway after less than 100 years of alliance IIRC. It's relatively easy and simple for a community/society to 'work' if it's small and uniform. USA is neither, and never has been. By your leftist standards our system has too many freedoms. If it's called being a socialist to think that the ordinary working man should be able to get medical care without courting bankruptcy, then I suppose that makes me a socialist, but if you actually look in a dictionary, then you will see that I am not, and neither are the Swedes. See above. Health care is only one issue. Is W3RV's info about SAAB accurate or not? Should American industry work the same way? socialism // n. 1 a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the community as a whole should own and control the means of production, distribution, and exchange. Oh**** . . the second coming of Cecil and his friggin' dictionaries . .. ! 2 policy or practice based on this theory. socialist n. & adj. socialistic // adj. socialistically // adv. [French socialisme (as social)] "community as a whole" = "the government" Sure seems to fit! 73 de Jim, N2EY |
|
wrote in message ups.com... Alun L. Palmer wrote: [snip] 12 wpm random groups with 96% copy The US requirements for hams have never been anywhere near so stringent. The *toughest* they ever were was 1 minute solid copy out of 5 minutes - plain language. 5, 13 and 20 wpm. That's 20% accuracy! About 20-25 years ago, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice were added. Multiple choice exams are no longer allowed for element 1. It's too easy to guess the answer if you have even minimal copy. As I recall when I took my 20wpm, I was able to successfully deduce that the only possible answer out of the choices offered was Switzerland. The only letter that I had copied was the W. Some of us were too good at deduction and guessing. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
wrote in message oups.com... Mike Coslo wrote: [snip] clean up. The accident was related to a snow squall that blew up unexpectedly, and the excessive speed that the whole group was traveling at. While no charges were filed against anyone at the time, the families of the deceased are filing suit against the truck drivers *and* the companies they worked for. Hopefully the trucking companies have a good safety program. If someone was following too close for conditions, shouldn't they be liable? Since both my current and previous husbands are/were truck drivers, I tend to observe what trucks are doing on the road. Though I cannot speak for this particular accident, normally it is the CARS following the trucks too close for conditions. How can the truckers prevent that and the sometimes tragic consequences? Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
Mike Coslo posted on Mon, Feb 21 2005 4:31 pm
Alun L. Palmer wrote: Mike Coslo wrote in stuff sinpped for trying to figure out who said what.... most of Coslo-multi-quote-copying snipped as redundant Funny in a macabre sort of way, but hard to see the connection. Back when I originally made the "Jump frog jump comment, it was about people making an incorrect or bizzare conclusion from plain evidence. Retention of the morse code test for an amateur radio license is bizarre, outdated, with NO logical connection. Where people Might say that the No-Code technicians quit because The had a license that didn't have Element 1 as a test requirement. It would seem that those "who might say" that are PCTA! PCTAs have been insisting and insisting that the "no-code" Technicians would be expiring en masse 12 years after the 1991 creation of that class. They didn't! Sunnuvagun! Fact: The Technician class license number keep INCREASING! According to www.hamdata.com for 22 Feb 05, the Technician class is GROWING at an average rate of 27 per day! General class growth is about 2 per day, Extras about 5 per day. No-code detractors (such as "N2EY") used to say the Tech numbers were "meaningless since the Tech-Plus renewals were being tossed into the Tech category" and that was supposed to indicate the "meaninglessness." :-) Isn't so. Hamdata.com's latest tabulation (direct from FCC database, publicly available) shows that there are 723,551 individual amateur licenses (732,945 less 9,394 Club licenses). Of those, 290,874 are Technician class and 58,999 are Technician-Plus class. Very near 2 out of 5 individual amateur licenses are Technician class. From the hamdata tabulation of a year ago, Technician license growth was 9899 and Technician-Plus license decrease was 9521. The delta is 378 to indicate no-code Technician license minimum growth or at least 2 every 3 days. The chief of the numbers-game players ("N2EY") is still going to insist (if past is truly prologue) the no-code Tech numbers are "falling"...from some kind of inventive rationalization. :-) Since it isn't PC to show losses of any class but the evil no-coders (as AH0A does/did), he will continue to maintain the no-coder "loss" is "there." :-) If Tech+ classes were "upgrading" their license classes, then the no-code Tech numbers would be increasing even more! [sunnuvagun!] The sky has NOT fallen on the no-coders...except in the minds of the Chicken Little PCTAs. Paradigms were punctured and fell on those mighty instead... :-) |
"Dee Flint" wrote in
: wrote in message ups.com... Alun L. Palmer wrote: [snip] 12 wpm random groups with 96% copy The US requirements for hams have never been anywhere near so stringent. The *toughest* they ever were was 1 minute solid copy out of 5 minutes - plain language. 5, 13 and 20 wpm. That's 20% accuracy! About 20-25 years ago, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice were added. Multiple choice exams are no longer allowed for element 1. It's too easy to guess the answer if you have even minimal copy. As I recall when I took my 20wpm, I was able to successfully deduce that the only possible answer out of the choices offered was Switzerland. The only letter that I had copied was the W. Some of us were too good at deduction and guessing. Dee D. Flint, N8UZE That's how I passed. Never said I was any good at Morse, quite the opposite in fact. I found that 70% copy was good enough for 7/10 multiple guess. If there hadn't been multiple guess I would never have passed 20wpm, for sure. When you're asked was the operator's name Hank, Frank, Bert or Gert, and you copy _ANK you have got the 50/50 like on Who Wants to be a Millionaire on TV. The other trick that I assume still works is listening for .. ,,, (IS), which precedes every answer. Name is _____, Ant is _____. And another thing. Copy IS Y____ and you know that either the rig is a Yeasu or the antenna is a Yagi, and if you know how many characters came after the Y, you know which of those is right. I miss the beginnings of words, but I know that ____OOD is Kenwood. It's still Kenwood even if you miss the D but just copy the OO. I approached it like a crossword puzzle. I couldn't make a minute solid copy at 20wpm to save my life. |
Michael Coslo wrote on Feb 22 2005 9:58 am Alun L. Palmer wrote: 5wpm isn't very fast, but why is it required to operate phone? And there we have the crux of the situation, expressed in a simple question. If a person wants to operate phone, and that is it, then what do they need to do that? Nothing. The Citizen's Band is adequate proof of that So are all branches of the U.S. military operating on HF. So are all civilian aircrew flying long routes using HF. So are all private boat owners using HF. So are various other civilian PLMRS users on HF. Buy a rig, an antenna, and pay some people to put it up. Presumably the only requirement is to know how to read, talk and mash the PTT button. "Mash" the push-to-talk button? That means those owners have to know where to get the PTT control fixed! :-) The test requirements are there to give us some basic exposure to elements of the hobby that are considered important by knowledgeable people. While there may be argument about how well the tests function for that purpose, there they are. Right...cast in concrete...protected by armor plate... forbidden EVER to change! [time no march on very fast for some...tsk, tsk] And what of people who only intend to operate phone QRP? The RF exposure questions are kind of a waste of time for them. Satellite operations? Just how many Hams do satellite operations? Why test on band allocations, we can look them up in a book. Why should a person have to do any basic electronics questions if they only want to buy a rig and antenna and operate phone? We can eventually argue away most of the test. Of course to all PCTA, eliminating the morse code test means "ALL tests are eliminated!" Oh, my. That old merry-go-round started up! I was able to overcome my own physical limitations and pass the darn thing. Your "hero of the American Amateur Corps" medal is being struck right now. Watch for the event's announcement in all leading news sources.... I don't advocate changing the rules because I had trouble with one of them. Right..."no gain, no pain." Not to mention NO GUTS to try eliminating it by lawful means like "democratic principles guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution." You wanted to buy into the old beliefs. You did it. Now you can have fun sneering at all who don't care to buy that. You're a "somebody" in a radio hobby activity! [applause, applause...] :-) The ARRL is proud of you. |
Jim, , wrote on Tues, Feb 22 2005 1:47 am
Alun L. Palmer wrote: wrote in news:1109009984.323422.143080 @o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com: 5wpm isn't very fast, but why is it required to operate phone? A couple of reasons: For the same reason hams have to pass written *theory* tests to use *manufactured* rigs with no critical tuneup adjustments. 1. The FCC decided it needed to test radio amateurs as part of their task of regulating all U.S. civil radio. 2. The VEC Question Pool Committee decides WHAT the questions are; FCC only specifies a total number and the percentage correct for passing. 3. Any other reason is meaningless... ;-) For the same reason hams have to pass written tests on VHF/UHF to operate HF, high-power RF exposure questions to operate QRP, etc. FCC doesn't mandate morse code skill as being necessary to operate about 30 MHz. Technician class licensees don't have to take morse code tests and they are banished to the radioland above 30 MHz. And because code is a big part of amateur radio, and a ham who doesn't know any just isn't fully qualified. " F U L L Y Q U A L I F I E D ! " G o t t a l o v e i t ! Olde tymers had to test for morse..."ergo," newbies have to test for morse code!!! Excellence in U.S. amateur radio is all about morse code ability!!!! "Real" hams are MORSEMEN! U.S. radio amateurs are the keepers of the living museum of morsemanship! [all other radio services have given up on morse code for main communications] Olde tyme hamme morsemen need playmates. Keep the test to subsidize the "CW" playground for the olde tymers! Screw the newbies to HF...MAKE them learn code to please the elitist olde tymers! |
Dee Flint wrote:
wrote in message oups.com... Mike Coslo wrote: [snip] clean up. The accident was related to a snow squall that blew up unexpectedly, and the excessive speed that the whole group was traveling at. While no charges were filed against anyone at the time, the families of the deceased are filing suit against the truck drivers *and* the companies they worked for. Hopefully the trucking companies have a good safety program. If someone was following too close for conditions, shouldn't they be liable? Since both my current and previous husbands are/were truck drivers, I tend to observe what trucks are doing on the road. Though I cannot speak for this particular accident, normally it is the CARS following the trucks too close for conditions. How can the truckers prevent that and the sometimes tragic consequences? The speeds were well over 70. A truck that was passing the line of traffic jackknifed and the rest is history. The police did not see fit to issue any citations. All were traveling over the speed limit, and when the storm blew up, they were waaayy too fast for the conditions. As for who is at fault, I have several times had to speed up to ridiculous speeds to not get run over by truck drivers who want to get a run for the next hill At speeds of 85 and more, they will get close enough for you to count how many bugs were caught on their radiators. I've seen a number of accidents where a truck has simply run right over the car in front of them I carry a CB, and I must say that there is an urban myth, believed by most truck drivers, that they *never* do anything wrong. What was especially funny was the time a truck jackknifed in front of a line of cars during a bad snowstorm - about 10 years ago - also on I-80, and by the time ten minutes had passed, the story passed around by radio was that a 4 wheeler had passed the truck, and cut him off, causing the jackknife. The offending 4 wheeler was never found. Not surprising to those of us who were close enough to see the accident happen! Truck drivers are professionals, and almost always much better drivers than those in the automobiles. But that doesn't mean they are never to blame. - Mike KB3EIA - |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:47 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
RadioBanter.com