That is the EnglishE "later" meaning "later today".
In NorthernIrelandE "later" means "again (sometime)", that is, "sometime in the future". It took me a while to adjust to that when I, an Englishman, came to live in NI.
> That is the EnglishE "later" meaning "later today".
Do you think so? The usual thing there is "later this week", "next month", "some time this century" (see, say, the Bloody Sunday enquiry).
I think you're absolutely right - as the page has now changed to say that they have retired to consider their verdict (and intend to take several weeks about it).
As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*. -- Mark Brader, Toronto | "The time to make up your mind about people m...@vex.net | is never." --The Philadelphia Story
> A South Korean woman is celebrating after passing the written > exam for a driving licence - on her 950th attempt.
> After four years of trying, 68-year-old Cha Sa-soon finally > managed to secure the 60 out of 100 points needed to pass the > test.
I'm fairly certain that when I got my license in Illinois, if you failed any part of the test (written or behind-the wheel), you couldn't try again for another week or two, and if you failed three times, you had to wait a whole year before trying again.
-- Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |The mystery of government is not how 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |Washington works, but how to make it Palo Alto, CA 94304 |stop. | P.J. O'Rourke kirshenb...@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572
>That is the EnglishE "later" meaning "later today".
>In NorthernIrelandE "later" means "again (sometime)", that is, "sometime >in the future". >It took me a while to adjust to that when I, an Englishman, came to live >in NI.
Your NI meaning is the standard one hereabouts in the south east, and nearly everyone says it as an alternative to "au revoir" or "goodbye". It can mean either. This puzzled me when I first moved south. Where I grew up "see you later" always implied later today. -- Robin (BrE) Herts, England
>>That is the EnglishE "later" meaning "later today".
>>In NorthernIrelandE "later" means "again (sometime)", that is, "sometime >>in the future". >>It took me a while to adjust to that when I, an Englishman, came to live >>in NI.
>Your NI meaning is the standard one hereabouts in the south east, and >nearly everyone says it as an alternative to "au revoir" or "goodbye". >It can mean either. This puzzled me when I first moved south. Where >I grew up "see you later" always implied later today.
It crossed my mind after pressing Send that I might have generalized excessively with my reference to EnglishE.
> As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice > test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by > chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it > less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some > questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*.
If there are hundred questions. Just because there are 100 points to get, that doesn't mean that there aren't only 20 questions worth 5 points each. -- Online waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk development version: http://canalplan.eu
>>> Woman passes 950th driving test >> As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice >> test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by >> chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it >> less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some >> questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*.
> If there are hundred questions. Just because there are 100 points to > get, that doesn't mean that there aren't only 20 questions worth 5 > points each.
In that case, if I haven't misread the back of my envelope, it's better than one in 4096. So the chances of fluking in your first 950 attempts ... well, I haven't worked out that bit, but the chances seem pretty good.
When I was going for my driving test, many long years ago, someone else was doing the theory test with the aid of an interpreter. "With the aid of" is exactly the right description, because it was obvious that the interpreter was supplying all the answers. Meanwhile, we poor buggers who had to pass the practical test kept having to come back. I met people who were there for their tenth test. I passed after three attempts, which was considered pretty good; nobody could remember anyone managing it in under three attempts.
-- Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page.
> > As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice > > test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by > > chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it > > less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some > > questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*.
Nick Atty:
> If there are hundred questions.
Didn't check the numbers, did you? The article, or one of the articles about this woman, said there were 50 questions, and my computation was based on that. -- Mark Brader, Toronto | "I don't _want_ people using Linux for ideological m...@vex.net | reasons. I think ideology sucks." -- Torvalds
<pe...@pmoylan.org.not.china> wrote: > When I was going for my driving test, many long years ago, someone else > was doing the theory test with the aid of an interpreter. "With the aid > of" is exactly the right description, because it was obvious that the > interpreter was supplying all the answers. Meanwhile, we poor buggers > who had to pass the practical test kept having to come back. I met > people who were there for their tenth test. I passed after three > attempts, which was considered pretty good; nobody could remember anyone > managing it in under three attempts.
True story:
In 1954, when I was not quite 19, I bought my first car from my cousin, with the proviso that he was to help me get my driver's license. After he gave me some time at the wheel (no learner's permits in those days) he drove me down to the courthouse in the French Quarter and dropped me off. He took the car to run some errands while I took the written test.
I went in, got the test, filled in the answers, and handed it to the clerk. Without looking at it, he wrote "100" at the top and tossed it into a bin. Then he had me look at a couple of colored rectangles on the wall and tell him which was red and which was green.
That out of the way, another man took me out for the driving test. We went down to curbside and waited for my cousin to return with the car. It being August in New Orleans it was unbearably hot and humid, and my cousin wasn't in sight, so after about five minutes of that the tester asked me how to give a right turn hand signal. I demonstrated. Then he had me demonstrate a left turn hand signal and a stop hand signal. He wrote "100" on the test form and we went back in and I was given my license.
They don't call it "the Big Easy" for nothing.
Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where I really learned to drive.
-- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
In article <nvgcf5pdp4jqugej6gf9bhe85lb8eak...@4ax.com>, tony cooper <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>On 8 Nov 2009 02:23:34 GMT, "John Varela" <OLDla...@verizon.net> >wrote:
>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where >>I really learned to drive.
>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have >not done so.
To the contrary, they are surprisingly successful at it. Massachusetts the lowest motor-vehicle fatality rates in the nation, both per capita and per VMT.
-GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft woll...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:55:50 +0000, Garrett Wollman wrote: > In article <nvgcf5pdp4jqugej6gf9bhe85lb8eak...@4ax.com>, tony cooper > <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote: >>On 8 Nov 2009 02:23:34 GMT, "John Varela" <OLDla...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where I >>>really learned to drive.
>>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have not >>done so.
> To the contrary, they are surprisingly successful at it. Massachusetts > the lowest motor-vehicle fatality rates in the nation, both per capita > and per VMT.
That's because it's full of people from away who are smart enough to stay off the roads when the Massachusetts drivers are out.
-- Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes: > Mark Brader: >> > As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice >> > test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by >> > chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it >> > less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some >> > questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*.
> Nick Atty: >> If there are hundred questions.
> Didn't check the numbers, did you? The article, or one of the articles > about this woman, said there were 50 questions, and my computation was > based on that.
No I didn't. So there!
It's an interesting thing to think about. If it is a multiple choice there are going to be some (probably not that many) questions where the answer is obvious, and a bigger number where one or two of the answers are obviously wrong.
I have neither the stats, nor the energy, but I strikes me you could work backwards to get some idea of how many like this there could be.
Of course, we also don't know how many people there are who have taken the test that many, or even more, times and still failed. She should be a one in 100 case herself. -- Online waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk development version: http://canalplan.eu
>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where >>I really learned to drive.
>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have >not done so.
Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its antiquated roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are signs at all, without hitting something. --
Regards,
Chuck Riggs, An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE
Chuck Riggs <chri...@eircom.net> writes: > On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:08:06 -0500, tony cooper > <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>On 8 Nov 2009 02:23:34 GMT, "John Varela" <OLDla...@verizon.net> >>wrote:
>>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is >>>where I really learned to drive.
>>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have >>not done so.
> Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its > antiquated roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are > signs at all, without hitting something.
Yeah. Their driving is truly wondrous to behold. The last time I was in Boston, a couple of years ago, our cab driver jumped the median and drove nearly a block down the wrong side of the street before turning into our hotel just before the oncoming traffic arrived.
-- Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |"It makes you wonder if there is 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |anything to astrology after all." Palo Alto, CA 94304 | |"Oh, there is," said Susan. kirshenb...@hpl.hp.com |"Delusion, wishful thinking and (650)857-7572 |gullibility."
>> Mark Brader: >>> > As I was just saying in another newsgroup, since it's a multiple-choice >>> > test the obvious question is what is the probability of scoring 60% by >>> > chance. If there were four answers offered for each question, I make it >>> > less than 1/6,000,000; if only three, it's about 1/10,000. But if some >>> > questions had only two possible answers... *hmm*.
>> Nick Atty: >>> If there are hundred questions.
>> Didn't check the numbers, did you? The article, or one of the articles >> about this woman, said there were 50 questions, and my computation was >> based on that.
>No I didn't. So there!
>It's an interesting thing to think about. If it is a multiple choice >there are going to be some (probably not that many) questions where the >answer is obvious, and a bigger number where one or two of the answers >are obviously wrong.
>I have neither the stats, nor the energy, but I strikes me you could >work backwards to get some idea of how many like this there could be.
Taking Mark's "by chance" in its strictest sense, the number where you could eliminate one or more wrong answers before proceeding must be assumed to be zero....r
-- A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this?
On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:48:48 -0800, Evan Kirshenbaum wrote: > Chuck Riggs <chri...@eircom.net> writes:
>> On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:08:06 -0500, tony cooper >> <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>On 8 Nov 2009 02:23:34 GMT, "John Varela" <OLDla...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where I >>>>really learned to drive.
>>>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have not >>>done so.
>> Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its antiquated >> roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are signs at all, >> without hitting something.
> Yeah. Their driving is truly wondrous to behold. The last time I was > in Boston, a couple of years ago, our cab driver jumped the median and > drove nearly a block down the wrong side of the street before turning > into our hotel just before the oncoming traffic arrived.
The cabbies certainly rank among Boston's most creative drivers, in a town known for creative driving.
-- Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
In article <hd70gm$tv...@news.eternal-september.org>, Roland Hutchinson <my.spamt...@verizon.net> wrote:
>The cabbies certainly rank among Boston's most creative drivers, in a >town known for creative driving.
That's because of the unwritten zeroth rule of traffic: "Taxicabs always have the right of way."
-GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft woll...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:22:06 +0000, Garrett Wollman wrote: > In article <hd70gm$tv...@news.eternal-september.org>, Roland Hutchinson > <my.spamt...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>The cabbies certainly rank among Boston's most creative drivers, in a >>town known for creative driving.
> That's because of the unwritten zeroth rule of traffic: "Taxicabs always > have the right of way."
Unless you are driving a car that is sufficiently beat up that even the taxicabs get out of its way. (We once had a beat-up Nissan sedan that was purchased second-hand for $600. Manhattan cab drivers gave it _extremely_ wide berth, figuring that it must be driven by a maniac and that they had far more to lose than we did.)
-- Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
> >>>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is > >>>where I really learned to drive.
> >>Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have > >>not done so.
> > Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its > > antiquated roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are > > signs at all, without hitting something.
> Yeah. Their driving is truly wondrous to behold. The last time I was > in Boston, a couple of years ago, our cab driver jumped the median and > drove nearly a block down the wrong side of the street before turning > into our hotel just before the oncoming traffic arrived.
My wife and I experienced something similar in Rome, the differences being that it was raining at dusk and we were still far from our hotel.
-- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
> >>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where > >>I really learned to drive.
> >Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have > >not done so.
> Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its antiquated
2> roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are signs at all,
> without hitting something.
Part of its old-world charm is that they never put up a street sign that tells you the name of the street you're on. All the cross streets, yes, but the main drag that you're on, no. At least, that's how it was 50 years ago. I've only driven a few times in Boston since we moved to Virginia in 1963.
What a blessing GPS navigators must be to drivers in Boston! Back in the '50s I could find my way by ground-level streets from South Station to Kenmore Square. I was quite proud of that.
-- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
>> >>Oh, and a week later I drove off to school in Boston, which is where >> >>I really learned to drive.
>> >Yet, so many operators of vehicles on the streets of that city have >> >not done so.
>> Are you joking me? Only excellent drivers can navigate its antiquated > 2> roads, with their surprise exit signs, when there are signs at all, >> without hitting something.
> Part of its old-world charm is that they never put up a street sign that > tells you the name of the street you're on. All the cross streets, yes, > but the main drag that you're on, no. At least, that's how it was 50 > years ago. I've only driven a few times in Boston since we moved to > Virginia in 1963.
That was originally done to confuse the Hessians, I suppose.
They put up signs on many of the main streets in time for the Bicentennial festivities in 1976, having perhaps concluded that the hostilities were safely over.
-- Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
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