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Petty Things That Get On Your Nerves...


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Another thing I'd like to add to the list of stupid inventions are these ridiculous verbal and numerical reasoning tests that I have to do at an interview tomorrow. They're written by morons and are a total waste of time.

For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they work like this: you get given a paragraph of text to read and then they ask questions on it. Normally they make a statement and you have to decide whether---based on the text alone---the statement is true, false, or that there isn't enough information to decide either way.

As an example of just how stupid they can be, and the complete and utter lack of logic the writers display, here's an example of one I did as practice last week. It was a paragraph about some medical research and something to do with some protein. The relevant bit of the text said "this protein is man-made".

The question/statement says:

"Based purely on the information in the question alone, decide whether the following statement is TRUE, FALSE, or CANNOT SAY".

"This protein was made by a man"

So, clearly, being a creature of logic, I said "cannot say", because "man-made" means "made by humans" and doesn't exclude women from having done it.

Stupid writers "proper" answer? "True". I s**t you not.

It actually makes me really angry that my prospects of getting a job depend on being able to answer these stupid things... :angry:

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Another thing I'd like to add to the list of stupid inventions are these ridiculous verbal and numerical reasoning tests that I have to do at an interview tomorrow. They're written by morons and are a total waste of time.

For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they work like this: you get given a paragraph of text to read and then they ask questions on it. Normally they make a statement and you have to decide whether---based on the text alone---the statement is true, false, or that there isn't enough information to decide either way.

As an example of just how stupid they can be, and the complete and utter lack of logic the writers display, here's an example of one I did as practice last week. It was a paragraph about some medical research and something to do with some protein. The relevant bit of the text said "this protein is man-made".

The question/statement says:

"Based purely on the information in the question alone, decide whether the following statement is TRUE, FALSE, or CANNOT SAY".

"This protein was made by a man"

So, clearly, being a creature of logic, I said "cannot say", because "man-made" means "made by humans" and doesn't exclude women from having done it.

Stupid writers "proper" answer? "True". I s**t you not.

It actually makes me really angry that my prospects of getting a job depend on being able to answer these stupid things... :angry:

I think you wrote 'I CANNOT SAY' solely to be pedantic and you've cut your nose off to spite your face. Surely you must have known the answer they would be looking for?

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I think you wrote 'I CANNOT SAY' solely to be pedantic and you've cut your nose off to spite your face. Surely you must have known the answer they would be looking for?

I'm not being pedantic. I'm using only the information contained in the passage and the rules of logic, like the f**king instructions said! :angry: How are you meant to work out the answer they're looking for if the rule tester doesn't follow the rules?

Edited by Uncle Psychosis
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If it specifically said "made by a man" then surely the correct answer would be I CANNOT SAY.

Personally I think you've cleverly and correctly identified the trick, although there's always the risk that you can be too clever... <_<

Edit: Having read the post again and understood the last part, I can see you were too clever. I would likely have did the same. Hard lines.

Edited by vikingTON
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Okay, the context of this complaint may make people think I should be concentrating on the more important matter at hand, as the Lockerbie bombing was a very significant thing, but anyway, I was watching a documentary on the bombing, and specifically Al-Megrahi's conviction.

They came out with this statement towards the end:

"Megrahi is being held in Greenock Prison, in Glasgow."

What the f**k? I've also heard Greenock described as a suburb of Glasgow on television before. We're 30 miles away!

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Just got round to registering for the new Thistle forum. It's worse than the old one- the first thread I read was about "swearing filters" and why they are important and that people shouldn't try and get round them by using "fúck" and things like that- anyone doing so will have the whole post deleted.

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Just got round to registering for the new Thistle forum. It's worse than the old one- the first thread I read was about "swearing filters" and why they are important and that people shouldn't try and get round them by using "fúck" and things like that- anyone doing so will have the whole post deleted.

If you don't like it, don't use it :rolleyes:

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ah nuts, I dont know much about it but i hope the treatment works and she can continue to live a healthy life :(

From what I know of it, it's just the symptoms which can be treated and the illness itself can seem to come and go (remissions and whatever the opposite of that is, when the symptoms come back after a period without them, can't remember the word!). It can be quite debilitating at times.

Hopefully your friend's symptoms aren't too bad Rowan and she can get relief from them either with or without treatment. Rotten news.

And Fudge - :(. Do something about it if you can!

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