Can you get your Private Pilot's license in just 48 days?

  • Thread starter timejim
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In summary, the conversation revolved around discussing unique talents and abilities. Some people shared their talents, such as being able to lick their elbow or recite the alphabet backwards while drunk, while others discussed their talents for impersonating professors or growing long hair. The conversation also touched on the idea of using one's talents for good or for criticism, and some shared their ability to see the faults and shortcomings of others and themselves objectively. Ultimately, the conversation highlighted the diversity and uniqueness of talents and the joy that comes from sharing them with others.
  • #1
timejim
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If I did something, does that mean you can too? Or can you do something that no one else can do or has tried to do? Let's see, tell us what you did or can do that is special or unique. Let's see what talents are out there.

Here's what I did:

From the start of my very first flying lesson until I had my Private Pilot's license, year 1962, was exactly 48 days.
 
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  • #2
I can lick my elbow.
 
  • #3
I can lick my own nose.
 
  • #4
I would tell you what I can lick, but it'd only make you feel ill
 
  • #5
I grew my hair long, down 'till my waist, will you?
 
  • #6
I can recite the English alphabet forwards AND backwards after downing 7 bottles of Heineken.

I can also work University-level Physics while drunk but I guess anybody can do that... :frown:

I can impersonate a good percentage of the professors at my college with amazing accuracy (I can do that both drunk and sober).
 
  • #7
I grew my hair long, down 'till my waist, will you?

Talk to my mother. She's against me having long hair and facial hair.

Even though I have a beard now and my hair is growing pretty long, it's hard to get by my mother.
 
  • #8
Talk to my mother. She's against me having long hair and facial hair.

I can sympathise. I managed to grow a 3 inch long beard over the summer. It didn't go down well with many people. Some just have no taste.

I keep trying for long hair, but I get sick of the mullet stage inbetween short and long hair. Any hair tips?
 
  • #9
Originally posted by Lonewolf
I keep trying for long hair, but I get sick of the mullet stage inbetween short and long hair. Any hair tips?

Yeah, that's the worst.

I've got shoulder length hair which I've had since high school. I am sick of it, but I'm afraid to cut it off because growing it out is so nasty (in case I change my mind).

What I did in high school was wear a baseball cap. All the time.
 
  • #10
One of my proudest moments in college was not in physics [though there were one or two] but in a political science class. While handing out our newly graded term papers, 1/2 the grade for the class, and then after asking who I was, and then announcing that I had the top grade in the class, the professor announced to everyone that I was scary. Funny, my mother used to say that.


Edit: OK, mom didn't really say that... I think she used other words that the PF editer wouldn't allow.
 
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  • #11
I can eat, do homework, talk on a phone and get on to the internet at the same time!
 
  • #12
I can sing the following song vivace:

I am the very model of a modern Major General,
I've information ve-ge-ta-ble, animal, and mineral,
I know the Kings of England; I can quote the fights historical,
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order catagorical.

I am very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomiel theorem I am teaming with a lot of news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypoteneuse.

And I can write a washing bill in Babylonic Cuneiform,
And tell you every detail of Caratucus' uniform,
In short; in matters veg-e-ta-ble, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major General.

etc...
 
  • #13
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
I can sing the following song vivace:

I am the very model of a modern Major General,
etc...

So can Side-Show Bob.
What else you got?
 
  • #14
Originally posted by one_raven
So can Side-Show Bob.
What else you got?
Your boats not even in the water and you're accusing me of sandbagging?
 
  • #15
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Your boats not even in the water and you're accusing me of sandbagging?

Why deprive someone with no unique talents of his own the hollow joy of bringing down the achievements of those more talented than he?
 
  • #16
Originally posted by one_raven
Why deprive someone with no unique talents of his own the hollow joy of bringing down the achievements of those more talented than he?
I won't. Instead I will offer you this song to use as the description of your talent:If you listen very carefully, I'll tell you what I am.
I'm a genuine philanthropist,
all other kinds are sham.
Each little fault of temper,
and each social defect
In my erring fellow creatures
I endeavor to correct.

To all their little weaknesses I open peoples eyes,
And little plans to snub the self sufficient I devise,
I love my fellow creatures,
I do all the good I can,
Yet everybody says I'm such a disagreeable man.

And I can't think why!

etc...
 
  • #17
I grew up on a farm, no other kids my age around, only my brothers. My brothers and I used to make weapons. Staff, bow, crossbow, sling, sligshot. We'd run around in the bush having war games, and fight with each other. Many bruises.

I could hit a chicken with my sling stones at a hundred yards. Yeah, it's mean, but I was just a little kid.
 
  • #18
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
I won't. Instead I will offer you this song to use as the description of your talent:
Actually, that is pretty accurate.

I am even planning to write a book telling everybody about their faults and short comings and providing convincing explanations why.
(to be fair, the last chapter is going to be aimed at me.)

I guess that's my unique talent.
The ability to aim the probe of my excruciatingly high standards and the judgemental opinions & constructive criticisms* that inevitably follow at myself objectively.


*Aren't all criticisms constructive in their own right?
 
  • #19
I can lodge my thumb at the back of my hand at a 90 degree angle. Not really a crowning achievement, but only two other people I know can do it.

I am also proud of the fact that I scored 7 out of 10 possible points for homework during the previous school term despite not having done ANY homework at all. :)
 
  • #20
Originally posted by recon

I am also proud of the fact that I scored 7 out of 10 possible points for homework during the previous school term despite not having done ANY homework at all. :)
Now that is talent.
 
  • #21
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
One of my proudest moments in college was not in physics [though there were one or two] but in a political science class. While handing out our newly graded term papers, 1/2 the grade for the class, and then after asking who I was, and then announcing that I had the top grade in the class, the professor announced to everyone that I was scary.
Isn't there always someone with a top grade? A dubious term, everyone got a C- and you a C?

I my physics high school class I once received a short tutor by the teacher when I had missed the first hour of class (had to visit the dentist). At the end he kindly told me I should ask more questions in class, I was too quiet.

At the exam a few weeks later I got full score, that should've teached him!
 
  • #22
I had full score at my college level Metabolism exam (the hardest course of all). I did it, can you?

Actually, I was one of the 10% that actually passed it (yes, it IS a hard course).
 
  • #23
Since we are on the subject, I probably should mention that I don't attend Calculus class (consequently not doing any homework) and yet still managed to score 100% on the final test, i.e. way higher than anyone else in the class (the 2nd highest score came in at 82% and subsequent scores were in the low 70's). More than half the class failed and one person pulled an amazingly low 6%.

Most of the people in my class learning Calculus are around 15 years old, and I think that they are a little too mathematically inexperienced to learn Calculus even though they are considered by the school to be among the mathematical elite (we were all selected based on our performance on a maths test all of us had to take at 14). At what age do people start learning Calculus in your country? Note that by people, I mean ordinary people because I know that there are plenty of you smart asses around here.
 
  • #24
What is calculus? 1+1=2? Probably somewhere in primary school :P
 
  • #25
Originally posted by Monique
I had full score at my college level Metabolism exam (the hardest course of all). I did it, can you?

Actually, I was one of the 10% that actually passed it (yes, it IS a hard course).
Actually, my teacher wasn't too happy with me, I think he thought I cheated in some way, WHICH I didn't :)
 
  • #26
I solved the "Albatross soup" riddle in less than a mintue.

Njorl
 
  • #27
originally posted by recon
At what age do people start learning Calculus in your country?
In Hong Kong, at about 15 years old, we have to choose whether we'll pursue our studies in science stream or arts stream. If you want to be in the science stream, you'll have to learn calculus in form 4 and form 5 (grade 10-11). If you are a science student but you really hate math when you're in forms 4 and 5, you can choose to be in "biology group" when promoted to form 6 and form 7 in which you can choose not to study pure math.
 
  • #28
Is alpha and beta type math a mainstream distinction?
 
  • #29
Originally posted by Monique
Is alpha and beta type math a mainstream distinction?
Um..I'm not sure what you mean by alpha and beta type math.
 
  • #30
It's Dutch lingo. Alpha is arts and Beta is science.
 
  • #31
Originally posted by Dimitri Terryn
It's Dutch lingo. Alpha is arts and Beta is science.
ah, so it isn't main stream? yeah, so the alpha math is more focussed for people going into economics and stuff, while beta math is more for the scientists.
 
  • #32
Originally posted by Monique
Is alpha and beta type math a mainstream distinction?
I understand what alpha and beta type math are now, can you ?
Here, arts students have to study math while science students have to study both math and additional math. It is additional math which teaches us calculus.
the alpha math is more focussed for people going into economics and stuff, while beta math is more for the scientists.
Yep, beta math is for science students while alpha math is for arts students.

Ok, back to the topic of this thread. :smile:

One of my proudest things is I've never failed in any tests and exams in my life, not a single one, while non of my classmates has this "clean record". I remember when I was in form 5, we were taught integration. In the few integration tests, only a few classmates survived and got a pass grade in every integration test while I got full mark nearly every time. I even got bonus marks for optional questions, which were harder. So I scored something like 34/30 or 32/30.

In fact the reason why I did so well in integration at that time is that I had already taught myself integration before my teacher taught us.
 
  • #33
Originally posted by Monique
Isn't there always someone with a top grade? A dubious term, everyone got a C- and you a C?



Uh oh, someone finally figured me out.
 
  • #34
Originally posted by timejim
If I did something, does that mean you can too? Or can you do something that no one else can do or has tried to do? Let's see, tell us what you did or can do that is special or unique. Let's see what talents are out there.
I GOT IT! Finally something worth timejim's question

As 18 yr olds most people go on beach vacations, I went into the Italian Alps (the Dolomites) for an adventure.. One of the excursions was making our way down a river which had cut its way through the mountain. Wetsuit on, helmet on, knee and arm protectors and a harness for the repelling.

It started out easy, dip yourself under in the melting water of the mountain: *COLD*! We started walking through the river, just a foot deep: this is easy, I thought. Then it started to get narrower, the stream faster and the water deeper, the mountain was rising on our sides. Soon we were managing our ways over rocks, swimming through canyons etc.

Oh, did I mention that a week earlier a group of Swiss people had died on a similar exurcion not far from where we were, when the water suddenly rose due to a rainstorm? (this was back in '99) Yes, you must've heard that story.

Ok, so I was swimming my way through canyons and gorges.. long story short: I repelled my way down waterfalls, jumped off clifs into caves, slides my way down natural slides into caves, all that was on my mind was to get out of there: it was more demanding than I had thought.

So a few hours later we come to this huge cave with an opening in the wall, nothing but sky in that opening. "This will be the end of the adventure", they said. Actually it was the beginning of an adventure.

Down behind that opening in the cave was a 50m (165 foot) drop, down which the waterfall made its way down, and we soon to follow. Already very cold and tired, I was picked second to go. I still can't imagine that I made it down in a controlled manner.. in my mind I accidentally fell down that cliff over a hundred times :S

With my light stature I had to walk my way up to the opening through the stream without any safety rope, up to the person who would secure me. For her to secure me, I had to stand up and thus abandon all my safety grips, since all there was to hold on there was.. nothing. Finally I was secured to the line that goes down the waterfall.. what a security.. so at that time I was on my own.. first you stand upright, since that is where the line is, and start moving to the edge (which isn't an edge, since it is round), which was very slippery due to the algue (and I was wearing shoes without a profile).. the trick at that point is to get out of the stream of water, since the force will sweep you off your feet, so I had to move to the side, not an easy thing when you are just holding on to a rope on a slippery slope 50 m above the ground, trying to move against gravity.. somehow I managed and started making my way down, at some point you are forced back into the stream, ofcourse I lost my footing and couldn't get it back, so for the rest of the trip had a waterfall coming down on my helmet (I can tell you by experience, it comes down harder when it falls longer) so I had to create my pocket of air by tilting the head, how claustrophobic.. finally the force of the waterfall was too great, I looked down, put my feet against the wall, pushed, let go of the rope and flew down the last few meters :)

So: I made it down 50m (165ft) through a waterfall after a long canyoning adventure, can you?
 
  • #35
Actually a picture to go with it :) there is an instructor standing in the opening, and someone is coming down.
 

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