Random Good Advice
I’ve always gotten a lot of advice. Much of it was good advice. Advice in the morning. Advice in the evening. Advice from friends, family, co-workers, salesmen, law enforcement officers, politicians, etc. As I say, over years and with hundreds if not thousands of repetitions, much of it was good… I suspect that I could lock myself in a sensory deprevation chamber and, somehow, they’d find a way to give me advice.
Of course, the fundamental problem with advice is that, if you are capable of decerning the good advice from the bad advice, you really don’t need advice.
Having said that, I note that we are bombarded with advisory messages today. A favorite example is that of gas stations…
Gas stations used to have two signs at every pump with big lettering that you could read from the next county: 1) NO SMOKING, 2) TURN OFF ENGINE. OK, I’m standing about 10 feet above several tanks each holding several thousand liters of a voltile liquid giving off explosive vapors. I can understand the encouragement to minimize ignition sources. Today there is a small essay on every pump with lettering about the same size as the one used in credit card agreements. No smoking, turn off engine, turn off cell phone, I said no smoking, only persons 16 years and older should operate this equipment, it is unlawful and dangerous to dispense gasoline into unapproved containers, will you please, for the love of god, stop smoking, place all containers on ground before pumping gasoline, operators must remain at the pump during operation, put that thing out, etc.
As if the length and complexity weren’t bad enough, the relevancy of the advice is no longer an issue. PEI has investigated hundreds of refueling fires and flare-ups. We have not documented one single incident that was caused by a cellular telephone.
http://www.pei.org/static/
So, what’s to be done? How do we pick through the chaff to find the truth in all the warnings and cautionary advisories thrown at us?? Good luck, I have no intention of advising anyone on this matter…
Of course, the fundamental problem with advice is that, if you are capable of decerning the good advice from the bad advice, you really don’t need advice.
Having said that, I note that we are bombarded with advisory messages today. A favorite example is that of gas stations…
Gas stations used to have two signs at every pump with big lettering that you could read from the next county: 1) NO SMOKING, 2) TURN OFF ENGINE. OK, I’m standing about 10 feet above several tanks each holding several thousand liters of a voltile liquid giving off explosive vapors. I can understand the encouragement to minimize ignition sources. Today there is a small essay on every pump with lettering about the same size as the one used in credit card agreements. No smoking, turn off engine, turn off cell phone, I said no smoking, only persons 16 years and older should operate this equipment, it is unlawful and dangerous to dispense gasoline into unapproved containers, will you please, for the love of god, stop smoking, place all containers on ground before pumping gasoline, operators must remain at the pump during operation, put that thing out, etc.
As if the length and complexity weren’t bad enough, the relevancy of the advice is no longer an issue. PEI has investigated hundreds of refueling fires and flare-ups. We have not documented one single incident that was caused by a cellular telephone.
http://www.pei.org/static/
So, what’s to be done? How do we pick through the chaff to find the truth in all the warnings and cautionary advisories thrown at us?? Good luck, I have no intention of advising anyone on this matter…
posted by Minotaur at 9:13 AM
1 Comments:
You should never breathe at gas pumps. Don't move at all, either.
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