Author: John

Build knowledge // Improve the state of the universe for everyone // Repeat

Oh, also…

On By JohnIn aircraft, health, sociology, tbi, workLeave a comment

Like a phoenix, rising from its own ashes, I’ve metaphorically crawled from my own ashes and am now proudly doing something that is completely unlike the previous two careers that I’ve had… ehem…

I’m an actual 737 aircraft mechanic.

With everything that I and my family have endured over the past five-ish years, I’m kinda proud of that.

No, I don’t have my A&P licenses yet.

Yet.

They’re not at all required as a mechanic at an MRO. But that absolutely doesn’t mean I’m not going to get them. They’re just on hold with the timing of the whole offer/acceptance/start/onboarding with Boeing.

Words Mean Things, Part II

On By JohnIn aircraft, workLeave a comment

Another gem I’d encountered on one of the certification tests last night, contained several questions that were presented thusly:

Q) Is [some question], yes or no?
- True
- False

Clearly [some question] was an actual context-specific question.

I was, for a moment going to answer, in every case, True — because logical reasoning. Of course it’s “yes or no” provided some question was presented.

if [ <some test> ]
then
    <response>
fi

Or, because it’s “or”, we would use a boolean OR statement (the double-pipe, ||) and state it this way:

if [ <a question> ] || [ <the same question> ]
then
    <response>
fi

But social reasoning and compassion prevailed so I answered them.

  • True
  • False
  • False
  • True…

Words Mean Things

On By JohnIn aircraft, workLeave a comment

So I’m clicking through some certification documents and processes. One of them is a long preliminary explanation followed by a multiple choice exam. The topic is on Bend Radius for electrical wiring installations.

The first question was effectively: what is the definition of a bend radius?

A. The minimum angle…

B. The maximum angle…

C. The sharpest angle…

D. None of the above.

So, I click “D. None of the above.” Why? Because a radius (a distance from a point) isn’t an angle, duh.

But it’s marked wrong.

**sigh**

Edit: and then there’s the misuse and misapplication of commas.