Which would apparently make me born stupid and ignorant- see, it still
works.

Again, flames are a troll's delight. Why indulge them?
True stupidity implies a lack of processing power upstairs.
Why chastise someone who is limited in this way? Ignorance
is a simple lack of knowledge (I do know the differerence,
but sometimes defer to common usage, which often does not
differentiate between similar, but distinct adjectives), but
not all folks fill their knowledge buckets up at the same rate.

Berating those who are a little slower to acknowledge reality
(and yes, a flaming death on the highway is a definite reality)
probably doesn't do as much to convey the reality as it does
to reveal the poster's character.

A while back, I saw a post on another forum. As I read it,
I laughed so hard that I blew my beer right out my nose,
and had to spend a while cleaning my keyboard. Seems he had
a 300D that wouldn't shut off, and he had gone to the local
auto parts store, where they disconnected not one, but BOTH
battery terminals, to no avail. The poster clearly had no
knowledge of diesels, the mechanical nature of the fuel
system in his car, and even less knowledge of basic electricity
(both terminals?). Thank goodness some of those reading
(those who weren't laughing too hard to type) gave the guy
a clue. Politely. He fixed his problem, he may or may not
still be stupid, and he's a little less ignorant. And in
_my_ book, that's a good thing.

Cheers,

Conrad

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 17:41:26 +0000, canoli wrote:

Granted. My contention is that while there are some die-hard
gearheads in this forum, who have black diesel oil running in
their veins, and who appreciate the art of engineering in the
Benzes, there are those who bought a Benz for other reasons,
and who may be just a bit clueless about things mechanical.
And, again, it is a tribute to current engineering that it is
actually possible to treat a car as an appliance these days.

Look at it this way. Computers are sold as appliances these
days, "Just stick the key in and go". Yet they are complex
devices, with many many hundreds of software components. I've
been in the computer business for over 25 years, which in terms
of hardware and software evolution far outstrips the evolution
of the automotive industry in the last 75 years.

There is one company which has consistently released some of
the poorest, least reliable, most security-oblivious software
I have ever seen. In excess of 99% of all viruses I have ever
seen victimize this company's software. This company has been
accused and convicted of sleazy business practices in multiple
courts on multiple occasions. Yet most of the readers of this
forum are still running some version of Microsoft Windows.

Again, this is because of the "appliance mentality" that this
is even possible - but let me ask you; do you know how to
restart your print spooler? Do you know why DCOM and RPC
are just stunningly bad ideas when run on a machine connected
to the Internet? Or do you just blindly drive around the
Internet with your front wheels wobbling?

To my mind, and in my experience, this defies all "logic",
simple, basic or otherwise. But I have to realize that this
is not genetic knowledge, like breathing and suckling.

All I'm saying is that Ben may be mechanically clueless,
but he, and anyone else reading this forum, may be better
seduced into the rewards of properly caring for and maintaining
his Benz by a little courtesy than by name-calling. And if
he's a troll, a polite answer will drive him out of the group
faster than any other strategy - unless you enjoy feeding
the trolls.

Cheers,

Conrad

Actually the Australian wines are getting quite nice these days.  
Excellent quality and decent prices too.

I have never been too impressed with german wines personally.  Although
I do like the ice wine I had in the Mosel valley...

Marty