maxmanOr are you going to say even your bad days are good?
I'm saying that I'm good, with variance.
selectorIt's just that I have my good days and bad days.
So I suppose you're going to say that you are good at having bad days? Or are you going to say even your bad days are good?
I have avoided responding because it might make me sound conceited.
I am good at everything. It's just that I have my good days and bad days.
SeeYou190 nwsisu It is like me solving Sudoku puzzles. I hate doing the easy ones (as well as the ones too difficult for me to solve...). I am the same way with crosswords. If I can solve them I think, well, that was easy. If I cannot solve them I get frustrated. -Kevin
nwsisu It is like me solving Sudoku puzzles. I hate doing the easy ones (as well as the ones too difficult for me to solve...).
I am the same way with crosswords. If I can solve them I think, well, that was easy. If I cannot solve them I get frustrated.
-Kevin
Rich
Alton Junction
nwsisuIt is like me solving Sudoku puzzles. I hate doing the easy ones (as well as the ones too difficult for me to solve...).
Living the dream.
The word good is, in my opinion, quite a relative term. One can be good at everything, without being excellent in anything.
When one is perfectly good at everything, there is no challenge involved.
When there is no challenge involved, it becomes boring.
I am likely at the low end of skill level among the members on this forum. When building my layout, I often run into quite difficult challenges. When overcoming those challenges, I feel great satisfaction for the accomplishments.
So I don't think I want to bee too good at everything, I might lose interest in the hobby.
It is like me solving Sudoku puzzles. I hate doing the easy ones (as well as the ones too difficult for me to solve...).
maxman PM Railfan "Is there someone good at everything?" My wife says I'm perfectly good for nothing. Do I qualify?
PM Railfan "Is there someone good at everything?"
My wife says I'm perfectly good for nothing. Do I qualify?
I heard once that I was just good enough at everything to be dangerous.
When I first saw the title to the thread, I thought of Spike. My second thought was that Spike started the thread.
Lastspikemike You called?
You called?
LastspikemikeSure there's lots of less than perfect communication but compared to the monthly local club newsletter of not so long ago this is Aladdin's cave.
The only problem is that it's also like Gringott's where touching the wrong thing creates spasms of rabbit-hole "information", and a search on something simple often buries any useful signal in enormous noise.
Not that I'd want to go back to most of the early 'cyberspace' paradigms for organizing 'Netspace' -- but I miss being able, for example, to have a business' own Web site display natively in a Google search, rather than pages and pages of often years-outdated 'company information' from SEO-enhanced commercial 'rating services' Or be able to pull up a damn United States patent just by typing its number.
I loved the premise of Wikipedia when it started. I still do. The problem is in so much of the implementation, and the controversy, and the abuse of wiki privileges, so that weird or wrong information persists without effective editing and oversight. It has gotten to the distinctly Microsoftish point that I'm amazed when a Wiki page on some technical point is easily understandable, or a Wiki page on something railroad-related doesn't have whopper boner mistakes or grammar faults or typographical errors.
No, I don't have any way to make a better one, and no, I couldn't do a much fairer job than the folks doing it now. I'll confess that up front. But they themselves could do better...
LastspikemikeThe information on the internet is far less random being directed by sentient beings with a modicum of intellect substantially surpassing that of the smartest chimp. Not random.
I found it reasonably healthy to adopt "the net has a thousand lies" (which is a pretty good pun) as a rule about Internet information (remember Preston Cook's quoting EMD on the value of free information?) but there is the power of a first impression, or the desire to follow a positively-stated opinion as though it were as factual as assertive. That is not as much a problem if there is additional collateral, easily accessed, that is more informative -- and as noted there is an enormous collective wisdom that can always be revised in light of a 'better predictor' when better methods or thinking comes along. There may be arguments or distractions in some threads here, but the non-perversity of the forum universe tends to a maximum...
You know, there's another way to look at this. There is a kind of forum presence that does nearly everything well. It's analogous to the 'hivemind' at /. -- the collective wisdom and evidence and 'show-me' threads that can be looked through for best practices or methods whether you're a beginner or a self-perceived klutz or someone who is frequently, awfully wrong but learns from his every mistake. Sure, you may not have finger dexterity or eyesight, but if you wanted, you could bring someone in and tell them everything you wanted, and show them where to acquire or polish the skill, and get it done YOUR WAY, the right way.
And conversely for the non-perfectionists, this community is inclusive without any judgment of 'picking and choosing' interests: you'll get the same attention, consideration and regard from the very best skilled people in the hobby no matter what level you start ... or what interests are 'subsidiary' to others.
erosebudWhat's the key to giving me a better perspective?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
RR_MelNeed I say more?
Yes... What are you not good at? Everything you do amazes me!
MeNeed I say more? Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
PM Railfan"Is there someone good at everything?"
ROBERT PETRICKI think the internet has pretty much proven that to be wrong.
Absolutely true! there are many of out there proving it wrong.
There was a show on about the same time as "Myth Busters" began that analyzed urban myths. Not as entertaining as Myth Busters, but much more analytical.
They did a segment where they calculated how long it would take a million monkeys to pound out one of the short stories by Steven King. I think it was Word Processor of the Gods, but not sure.
Their math team calculated it would take millions of years just for that one work, and they pointed out that before the monkeys did this they would have created over one billion copies that had just one typo, and dozens of copies that were perfect except that they had the names of the main characters wrong.
They also said they would produce at least three versions in different languages before they did it in English.
SeeYou190 I suppose that given the endless expanse of time and space, eventually the answer will be yes.
I suppose that given the endless expanse of time and space, eventually the answer will be yes.
There used to be a saying along the lines of " . . . a million monkeys pounding on a million typewriters would eventually turn out the entire works of Shakespeare." I think the internet has pretty much proven that to be wrong.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
PM RailfanAs ANY odds in the universe will tell you, that answer has to be, yes, there's atleast one person who is good at everything, in the grand scheme of all of us.
I will even go so far as to say that there must be a model railroader that is good at all aspects of model railroading. It is just not me.
"Is there someone good at everything?"
-As ANY odds in the universe will tell you, that answer has to be, yes, there's atleast one person who is good at everything, in the grand scheme of all of us.
And as this forum is proof (all the threads with pics for example), there are 'many' of us who are good at 'alot' of things.
Further down the line, 'most' of us are good at 'something'.
Lastly..... there's all the 'other' hobbys in the world which could never compete with this one. This one has all the other hobbys in it. To be here, your atleast good at 'one' thing! And thats all that counts.
Happy New Year,
PMR
OvermodI don't care if the thread's old -- it's still relevant
You know, sometimes if you start a new thread, someone jumps in and says we already discussed it, but if you bring up an old thread sometimes that same person will jump in and say "necro-thread" again.
I too gave up caring a long time ago. I like old threads.
I was not here in 2016.
LazersWeekend Photo Fun and Show me Something
Mine too. Those are two of the "meat and potatoes" threads in the forum.
Lazers It doesn't matter if a Modeller posting photos and text, isn't good at everything. I accept it for what it is. A picture paints a thousand words and there is always something there to learn from.
I agree, bare track on plywood showing off a car, loco or structure is fine by me.
Hi Kevin, I'm glad you found this post because I always feel that Modellers as well as Model R/R Products improve over Time, which itself - waits for no man. It has been interesting to read comments from 5 years ago. Bit like a Time-Capsule.
Money was mentioned and whilst it cannot guarantee many things, it could buy me time in that I could pay for DIY or decorating - whilst I get on with building my MRR, - if only.
For me, my bug-bear is that my Knowledge of, Interest in, Enthusiasm for and thus Ability at - Joinery, is 9 below 0. A quick way of saying I'm no good at it. I would have employed a Joiner to do a professional job, if I could have afforded.
But IMO, the parameters I have listed have a bearing on how good you are at something re your mind-set to it.
Weekend Photo Fun and Show me Something - are two of my favourite topics. Long may they continue. It doesn't matter if a Modeller posting photos and text, isn't good at everything. I accept it for what it is. A picture paints a thousand words and there is always something there to learn from. Paul
"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".
I don't care if the thread's old -- it's still relevant, and some of us may not have been here in 2016.
I think the idea is like Napoleon Hill's "every day in every way I try to be better and better" -- and a forum like this one is the right place to be able to 'pick and choose' what skills you might want to become expert in, and read the kind of advice and be steered to the right kind of sources or inspiration that you best learn from.
I note that even the relative 'gods' of model railroading here are enthusiastic to teach and show what they know to everyone. And that is a wonderful thing to experience.
Weekend Photo Fun. That's what made me a better modeler. I look at the photos that guys and the occasional gal have done, and realize that most are no different than me, but they've got more practice, and they have the will to get up from their computers and try.
My early modeling left much to be desired, but I always ask myself, "Is this good enough for Weekend Photo Fun?" If not, I'm likely to go back and keep improving it until it is. Along the way, I pick up new materials and techniques that help me along.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
This is the only hobby (I know) where there are a number of things to learn.
Carpentry, track laying, electricity wiring, model making, scenery etc.
To me the thing is to remember it is a hobby. How deep you wish to be involved in it, is up to you. Do you want to run only certain trains in a certain timeframe? Are you a person who runs what you like? Are you somewhere in between like me? Who cares? Nobody but you. (And I emphasise that.)
Whatever you do, enjoy the journey. It is enjoyable. Mistakes will happen, it is part of life. Learn from them. Maybe you might not be perfect at everything, but You will have a lovely layout.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Nobody is good at everything but you can be as good at anything as you want to be by first educating yourself and putting what you learned into practice.
When it comes to our hobby I am comfortable doing anything other than electronics. That being said, once I get reading and learn I will be comfortable with doing that as well.
The most important thing is to never be intimidated by anything, grab the unknown and know it.