Tredennick (was: u-370 is not a recoded 68000 (was: IBM 5100))

From: vrs <vrs_at_msn.com>
Date: Fri Aug 20 11:40:29 2004

> > Those supposedly "international" symbols in the car are confusing, too.
>
> Well, now you got me going .. so stupid signs saying some
> text in some language are better than symbols? I'm talking
> about the weired way that 99% of all signs in the US are
> written text. Beside that reading them takes way more time,
> isn't it especialy stupid in a country baesed on emigrants,
> of whoom most can't even read their native language?
>
> I mean, except for some realy ninor quirks, I can go almost
> everywhere on the world and perfectly recognize the speed
> linkit, no stop znoes, and whatever without speaking a danm
> word of that language... except of course the US...

Well, there *is* still only one official language here...except I think in
California.

But really, I think the problem is that no-one explains the damn pictograms.
There is a driver's manual to explain the road signs, but nothing explains
those goofy symbols on the dash. I have had cars literally for years before
I understood what the airflow control symbols in them were trying to tell
me. (Yes, I could have looked under the dash and figured it out, but it is
a non-critical system, so why bother?)

It is not even that it is important to understand the symbols. It is more
that they are supposed to be *easier* to understand, but aren't. Little
squiggles with some particular orientation might mean "heat" to you, but
when I look at them, I can't tell if it means something will blow air on me,
or what.

I suspect that it really comes down to what you are used to. When I was
young the words "heat" and "air" were on the knob, and never quite made the
transition, I guess :-).

Of course, I'd also avoid driving in a foreign country (if at all possible)
until I was darn sure I knew the local rules and lingo anyway. Especially
anywhere they drive on the left. (It would make me nervous as hell to drive
a deadly weapon around, with a fair chance of making a mistake with it, and
then to not even be able to explain myself to the locals.)

    Vince
Received on Fri Aug 20 2004 - 11:40:29 BST