On Friday 19 October 2007, Jacques B. wrote: > As for Karl's knowledge/expertise and accomplishments in other areas, > I don't doubt it. It has never been discussed because it is > ultimately not relevant. Had I not done a little digging into Karl's area of expertise, I would find him quite annoying to the extreme (and I did, in fact, for some time). Now that I know where he's coming from, I only find it slightly annoying. I find the backlash against him far more annoying than I find him. > Because that does not automatically make him > knowledgeable or an expert in the topics he is discussing on this > list. Of course. But what I found is that I don't think he considers himself an expert at all (correct me if I'm wrong, Karl); he's just trying to help in the way in which he's used to helping. I am no expert auto mechanic either; however, I found a trick in removing and installing the power steering lines on a 1987 Ford Taurus that I bet is not in any of the manuals; should experienced auto mechanics automatically dismiss my attempts at describing a serious timesaver just because I don't use the 'correct' terminology? (I did this myself; I didn't have a particular factory tool to remove one of the things the manual said I had to remove; it took me twelve hours to get the first line off without removing the hard-to-remove part, but fifteen minutes later I had the second line off, and both new lines on once I found the trick. A dealer mechanic told me I was crazy, that there was no way. I told him that I'd be glad to show him how I did it; he ridiculed the description of my method and said that it could not possibly work; so I went down and demonstrated to the assembled technicians at the dealership; jaws dropped when I did both lines in thirty minutes, and me not a mechanic....) Being an expert does not automatically make somebody right; not being an expert doesn't make someone wrong, either, even if the terminology isn't 'correct.' Correctness only counts if it is for communicating the concept; correctness just for correctness' sake is simply pedantic. -- Lamar Owen Chief Information Officer Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute 1 PARI Drive Rosman, NC 28772 (828)862-5554 www.pari.edu
