Ayash wrote, regarding my tale of my previous life: > And, what do you mean by that? Please explain.
Hi Ayash, It was a ~joke~ that shows what a silly question the professor appeared to have asked. Jokes about professors in graduate school are kind of like jokes about bosses and management in industry. Sorry if I didn't clearly indicate that, or if you took it as an offense. Certainly no offense meant. Jokes aren't usually funny when they have to be explained, but I'll try to explain anyway, since you asked.... ~Of course~ there's a third, fourth, fifth, ..., day in the July calendar. Doesn't matter whether you're looking at the calendar in the US, or in India, or in Antarctica. I suppose it was funny because the way this young professor asked the question, it ~sounded~ as though he was unaware that the rest of the world counts days just the same as the US counts days. Naturally, his real question was not whether there is a fourth calendar day in July in India (the graduate student's country of origin). His real question was actually whether there is a national holiday in India in which citizens celebrate national sovereignty. He certainly realized that such a day probably did not take place on the fourth day of each July, but that's not how the question came out of his mouth. So it was funny. Gopal (the graduate student) thought the question was hilarious, and this was actually one of my and Gopal's favorite stories from our days together working for this particular professor. I haven't seen Gopal in many years now -- I think he went back to India. OK, now I owe you a better (hopefully) story. Let's go back to the same laboratory of the same professor. One hot summer day in this lab, one of the vacuum pumps stopped working because an AC electric motor driving the pump failed. We needed to repair the pump quickly, but that would take too much time. I made the apparently bold suggestion that we could get a replacement motor much more quickly, then I'd install the motor myself. The professor would have to pay for this motor (perhaps US $250) out of his research grant, and since he really didn't have any mechanical aptitude himself, he didn't know if we'd run into any unexpected problems. He reluctantly agreed to purchase the motor, and then in the most whining and pathetic tone of voice, he suggested: "Why don't you look in the pump manual and see if it says if the repair will be hard." He returned a short while later to see what I had found by reading the manual. I replied: "Don't worry. The manual said that the repair will be tedious, but it won't be hard." Hope the explanation helps. I guess I won't quit my day job and become a comedian just yet. ;-) Cheers, Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
