Deals.Woot

I don't think that's evidence of stupidity; it's merely an indication that they're unfamiliar with how things work.

An example: when my son was about four I asked him at dinner if he wanted a little salt on his potatoes. He said, "No,it's not hot." (Oddly enough, my kid sister had once given the same answer when she was about four.)

Sound stupid? No. It was a perfectly logical answer based on what the kid saw frequently: an adult would taste something on his plate, comment "that's hot!" and then add a little salt and/or pepper. The adult was testing for seasonings and merely commenting about the hotness, but the logical assumption for the child was that hot+salt=cooler/edible. Not stupid, just not enough understanding of the adult's process.

Neither of your anecdotes indicates stupidity on the part of your friends. On the other hand, I sense a lack of awareness on your part about how people learn, but that's probably just from my limited knowledge about you.

No but I can down vote it!

@jeffrjohn: The real difference is that you evidently don't grasp the concepts of stupid, intelligent, experience, or education. Or analogy, for that matter.

As Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Clarke's statement applies to many kinds of situations and individuals, not just to advanced technology. There's no such thing as "molding a mind" in the context in which you used it. There's only experience and education. With some notable exceptions, evidently.

I'm curious as to why you're so very insistent that these two people were/are "stupid," given that one apparently finished high school while the other became an engineer.

You're familiar with The Princess Bride? Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

@jeffrjohn: You're quite right. I was out of sorts today and let a simple discussion get out of hand. Please accept my apology.

What makes you think he killed the battery in that manner? It might not have started whether the lock issue was present or not. Subfreezing temps require an adequate battery in good shape.

Messing up a jump isn't really stupid, if you don't know what you're doing. If you do know, then it's a stupid mistake, sure, but everyone makes mistakes.

The pepsi girl was stupid, though. ...But high schoolers are stupid.

@kamikazeken: Looking at the story he did ask for help. I don't know about you, but when my car is the working battery involved in a jump- I do it all myself. It's a one man task, anyhow. In cases where I am working with someone, I always check their work if I'm not confident in their ability.

I'd say guaranteeing success and safety by supervising would have been the not stupid thing which saved the day.

@jeffrjohn: Yeah, but a "dead" battery usually isn't completely drained. It just doesn't have enough juice to start the car or sustain high energy draws such as headlights. Usually a cabin light can still illuminate for a while. After 5 or 10 minutes it will dim out, once it can't get enough power. Same deal with the locks. Just used that last bit of charge until the locks didn't have enough power. He probably needed a new battery or one that would provide sufficient CCA for the car to start.

@jeffrjohn: Just a clarification: when I apologized for letting my comments get out of hand, I didn't intend to suggest that I was apologizing for what I'd said. I meant -- and still mean -- all of it; it would simply have been better to let you continue tilting at windmills on your own.