What the hell is a Photogrammetrist?

[MJAmok]

Andrew

Just in case you thought no one was looking....

Is that a real occupation or did you get it as a clue in Balderdash?

[cdh]

new one to me too

photogrammetrist

.

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Andrew

Just in case you thought no one was looking....

Is that a real occupation or did you get it as a clue in Balderdash?

Michael,
You made me your Michael's Welcome Wagon Victim of 2005. Are you going after Andrew for 2006?

[MJAmok]

Mr. Not-So-Newbie anymore:

Actually, I really was trying to make Andrew feel welcome. Sorry if you missed that.



Secondly, now that I have apologized to you for the ill timing of my checkbook quote and suffered the wrath of friends and others for my lack of manners (odd coming from this bunch, honestly), and now that you have more experience with racing, I ask the following:

If you had $100 to spend to learn to go faster, you should probably buy a book. But, if you had $1000, would you buy more books, or a day in a racecar? What if you had $10,000?

Your query was "what books would be beneficial to a beginning road course driver?"

Do you disagree that there is a more important book than the checkbook?

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Mr. Not-So-Newbie anymore:

Gee, Michael, a bit edgy? On the scale of driving experience, I am still very much a newbie.

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Actually, I really was trying to make Andrew feel welcome. Sorry if you missed that.

I did not miss your attempt to make him feel welcome. My point has to do with your method. Last fall I ventured into new waters, posted something innocently enough, and almost immediately felt like I was harpooned. Andrew is new to TJR, he posted some info (including his occupation), and he was met with "Is that a real occupation or did you get it as a clue in Balderdash?" Do you greet prospective clients that way? I put myself in Andrew's shoes, felt the harpoon again, and made my comment.

How about this as an alternative: "Hi Andrew and welcome to TJR. There are a bunch of great people who use this site, and they all have an interest in auto racing. Their backgrounds, however, are fairly diverse. I noticed that you listed Photogrammetrist as your occupation, and I am curious as to what that involves. In any event, welcome to the group."

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Secondly, now that I have apologized to you for the ill timing of my checkbook quote and suffered the wrath of friends and others for my lack of manners (odd coming from this bunch, honestly), and now that you have more experience with racing, I ask the following:

If you had $100 to spend to learn to go faster, you should probably buy a book. But, if you had $1000, would you buy more books, or a day in a racecar? What if you had $10,000?

Your query was "what books would be beneficial to a beginning road course driver?"

Do you disagree that there is a more important book than the checkbook?

Money is incredibly important in this hobby. But simply spending a lot of money (or having it available to spend) at the beginning of taking up this hobby is not necessarily the most important thing or the best use of resources. I have seen plenty of guys buy the latest golf equipment or take a bunch of lessons and be no better off than they were before.

For many people (me included), funds are not relatively unlimited. Signing up for a lot of instruction, a full season of Skippy racing, events other than the Skippy series, and so forth is not an option. If a fat checkbook were truly the most important book, then it would be a non-starter for me and likely many others.

There generally is information that is important to know about nearly any topic (be it racing, finance, cooking, or gardening). People write textbooks to convey this information. Some textbooks are better than others. My question was in the context of someone completely new to the technical side of car racing. Where could I go to get this information in written form and maximize the quality of presentation.

You chose to make a jab. For someone with your goals, ambitions, and talent the checkbook likely is the most important book. You apparently have enough resources to sustain a pretty high level of participation in the activity, and I do not begrudge that one iota. More power to you. I wish that I had more time and money for this activity too. So for the seasoned driver, one with a lot of skill and experience already, the checkbook is king. But not necessarily for the beginner.

Enough on this topic.

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

How about this as an alternative: "Hi Andrew and welcome to TJR. There are a bunch of great people who use this site, and they all have an interest in auto racing. Their backgrounds, however, are fairly diverse. I noticed that you listed Photogrammetrist as your occupation, and I am curious as to what that involves. In any event, welcome to the group."

Sorry. The Garden Society website has moved.

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

There generally is information that is important to know about nearly any topic (be it racing, finance, cooking, or gardening). People write textbooks to convey this information. Some textbooks are better than others.

Yes. Even dull subjects like credit cards are the subject of textbooks. In fact, I've written one of them. But, I have never advised a client to read my book as a way to improve as an operator of a card portfolio.

No one said you can't have fun racing without spending money. But, if you want to progress, it takes money.

Ask the next Skippy instructor you see what they think.

[Carl Lopez]

For an unbiased, unjaundiced, perspective, I think books....thousands of books....(available at fasterbooks.org) would be preferable to tiring, anxiety-producing, and potentially expensive, track time. But thats from a Photogrammetristic point of view.

[macdod]

Hey Sy,

I think there is a really big market opportunity to sell Cialis on this site.

Donald

[arig]

Oh yeah Donald, that's just what some of these guys need. to be able to screw each other ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!

give em some viagra instead so they can only go for a few hours and maybe you will earn back your reputation as a thread killer.

[oldredracer]

Originally Posted by arig

Oh yeah Donald, that's just what some of these guys need. to be able to screw each other ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!
give em some viagra instead so they can only go for a few hours and maybe you will earn back your reputation as a thread killer.

Need I remind you that racing and drugs don't mix...except in this case it might keep some of us from being thrown from the car.

[birkmama]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

Gee, Michael, a bit edgy? On the scale of driving experience, I am still very much a newbie.

I did not miss your attempt to make him feel welcome. My point has to do with your method. Last fall I ventured into new waters, posted something innocently enough, and almost immediately felt like I was harpooned. Andrew is new to TJR, he posted some info (including his occupation), and he was met with "Is that a real occupation or did you get it as a clue in Balderdash?" Do you greet prospective clients that way? I put myself in Andrew's shoes, felt the harpoon again, and made my comment.

How about this as an alternative: "Hi Andrew and welcome to TJR. There are a bunch of great people who use this site, and they all have an interest in auto racing. Their backgrounds, however, are fairly diverse. I noticed that you listed Photogrammetrist as your occupation, and I am curious as to what that involves. In any event, welcome to the group."

I was thinking weather or not to post here but somehow feel compelled to. When this website was initiated its purpose was to serve as a platform for some of the SB racers/friends to extend the joys of racing and everything associated with it to beyond race weekends. Everything associated with it to a large portion related to ridicule others and general trash talk. I believe there was a clear sense of etiquette that was implicitly applied. Infractions were a rare exception and did not require public scolding. The site had and still has a self regulatory mechanism for that as could be witnessed in said checkbook thread.

I do acknowledge that since then the community has tremendously grown and the site is finding new purposes and continuously redefining itself, which is what it makes it so great.

But that should not be equivalent to limit it to a politically correct, superficial commodity which it might become if we resort to stereotypes and templates. To say the least that would not be my bag of tea.

If MJ ever greeted someone like you propose I would launch an immedate call to 911 assuming he had been forced at gunpoint. Same if Donald actually contributed something to extend a thread's life, DD posted something in 500 words or less etc. The site would lose a lot without authenticity. My main purpose of checking out the site is to see if MJ exposed himself somewhere offering me an opportunity to shed ridicule and caustic comments all over him.

Newbie you might be right, that there a bunch of great people, but I can assure you that these same people also can be a bunch of maniacs, materialists, megaegocentrics and other distorted sociable fallout products, myself included. Insofar the proposed greeting could be even seen as false advertising, which is clearly not in line with old or new TJR.com ethics.

[macdod]

Originally Posted by birkmama

If MJ ever greeted someone like you propose I would launch an immedate call to 911 assuming he had been forced at gunpoint.

Now THAT is funny!

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by MJAmok

Sorry. The Garden Society website has moved.

Good one.

[cdh]

from one maniacal, materialistic, megaegocentric, distorted sociable fallout product to another, well said Mama

What an apropos post for my 1000th

.

[WatertownNewbie]

Martin, thanks for your post (and I mean that). You may have noticed that I enjoy an occasional verbal joust, and in this case Michael and I engaged in a bit of one. My proposed alternative greeting was intentionally designed to be in sharp contrast to the style of Michael's, and I apparently succeeded. I knew at the time that it was a little overboard, but I was not so serious about the message itself as I was about the consideration of a different perspective.

There seems to be one point that has been lost throughout this thread. A bunch of TJR regulars have contributed, and the thread has been entertaining. But the one thing that has not occurred is a post from Andrew (on his occupation or anything else). Does anyone care about that?

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by WatertownNewbie

There seems to be one point that has been lost throughout this thread. A bunch of TJR regulars have contributed, and the thread has been entertaining. But the one thing that has not occurred is a post from Andrew (on his occupation or anything else). Does anyone care about that?

Not really.



ok, ok, I'm just kidding... kind of.

If I felt that I did something to scare someone off, I'd be disappointed in myself. If my post above really was enough to scare someone off, I'd be disappointed in them. If anything scared him off, it would most likely be the fact that we bickered like a bunch of school girls. (No offense intended toward actual school girls or MacDod) Truth is, if you look at his profile, Andrew hasn't been back since he signed up.

[macdod]