What's Your Forte of Knowledge in this Hobby?

samparfitt posted:

I've done this a few times

Before/after:

And I spiked rail to wooden ties using miniature spikes totaling 1500' of track (Not counting my other two basement layouts: a hobby boarders on the insanity!).

Wow! Now that 's a forte! (Or is that two of 'em.)  Wow.

FrankM

That's one engine, before and after.  Over the last 40 years, or so, I've probably done a 100, or so.

Here's a few more that I've painted:

You learn something every day. I thought forte was something the Indians attacked.

Jack of all hobby skills, but master of none.

You want a precise answer, you need to ask a precise question.

There is bad grammar, which is a minor annoyance to those of us who either need to use precise English in their jobs or just enjoy the beauty of language as a hobby, and then there are those folks whose writing is just a disaster. It stems from people writing as they think, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness mode. Some of the posts here and on other fora that I visit are almost impenetrable. The lack of punctuation, correct spelling and logic often are so bad as to render the messages entertaining, yet virtually unanswerable. 

To, two, too.

There, their, they're.

Yup, they sound alike. Nope, they don't mean the same thing.

By the way, the word in question means strength, has come to mean -- in common usage -- a person's area of expertise, and is not pronounced "fortay." 

My general area of expertise is how to make electrons into pennies.  My more specific area is telephony and electrical controls. My great love is railroads in any form, and model railroading allows me to practice both my vocation and my avocation.

I'm with you, Arthur. That stuff just jumps out at me. It's like no one takes time to read what they have written. You didn't even mention apostrophes (Day's to York). OK, I'm done; back to the original topic.

I think a big problem is that you continually see so many of the same errors that some people become accustomed to it and tend to repeat what they've seen.

John, I thought the "real upstate" was where I spent 4 years in school...13676.  Two seasons: winter and July 4th.

Even Upstaters call that "North Country".

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

John, I thought the "real upstate" was where I spent 4 years in school...13676.  Two seasons: winter and July 4th.

I hope you are including 13077 in the authenticity zone.

Gi-raffes! 

Mitch

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

You want a precise answer, you need to ask a precise question.

There is bad grammar, which is a minor annoyance to those of us who either need to use precise English in their jobs or just enjoy the beauty of language as a hobby, and then there are those folks whose writing is just a disaster. It stems from people writing as they think, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness mode. Some of the posts here and on other fora that I visit are almost impenetrable. The lack of punctuation, correct spelling and logic often are so bad as to render the messages entertaining, yet virtually unanswerable. 

To, two, too.

There, their, they're.

Yup, they sound alike. Nope, they don't mean the same thing.

By the way, the word in question means strength, has come to mean -- in common usage -- a person's area of expertise, and is not pronounced "fortay." 

My general area of expertise is how to make electrons into pennies.  My more specific area is telephony and electrical controls. My great love is railroads in any form, and model railroading allows me to practice both my vocation and my avocation.

 

 

I guess my background and expertise is similar, I started out as a language teacher (English and romance languages,) went broke and drifted into electrical engineering where I specialized in large magnetic machinery (motors and transformers) for about 35 years. Spent the tail end of my career marketing large electrical equipment.

As far as O-Gauge railroading goes, my strength is in electrical power and circuits. Not a guru with all that bit and byte stuff, but I can fake it.  

I also enjoy writing, and keeping tabs on the 'postrophe police.

I fell justified in calling my area Upstate. There are over 170 business listings in Rochester alone with Upstate in their name. Rob is not too far away and also included.

John H posted:

I fell justified in calling my area Upstate. There are over 170 business listings in Rochester alone with Upstate in their name. Rob is not too far away and also included.

I was born in Buffalo and lived in Binghamton and Rochester before moving to Connecticut to seek my fortune. Basically, "upstate" has always meant anything outside the seven counties of NYC and Long Island. To one from NYC, moving "upstate" is akin to moving to Russia, it is a strange place they don't care about far, far away....

I must confess that I have a friend from Brooklyn who is rather hard core, he insists that anything north of King's Highway is "upstate."

Paying more for trains than they're worth!

I fell justified in calling my area Upstate. There are over 170 business listings in Rochester alone with Upstate in their name. Rob is not too far away and also included.

NYS has no legal / official definition of what "Upstate NY" means.
As has already been posted, those from NYC or Long Island seem to think that anything north of New York City is upstate. New York State has 62 counties. Over an official NYS website listing those counties they have 11 filters with names like "Hudson Valley" and "Greater Niagara".  None of those filters are labeled  "Upstate".
I'd be surprised to learn those filter labels are anything official.

Norton posted:

Exactly!

Procrastinating 

Being a complete failure and having such great forum members to precisely point out my failures, shortcomings, grammatical errors, and all other mistakes I make. I am so happy to keep all of them so very busy.

Captaincog posted:

Being a complete failure and having such great forum members to precisely point out my failures, shortcomings, grammatical errors, and all other mistakes I make. I am so happy to keep all of them so very busy.

Ain't that the truth?   and unfortunately this may lead to a person not posting anything.

C W Burfle posted:

I fell justified in calling my area Upstate. There are over 170 business listings in Rochester alone with Upstate in their name. Rob is not too far away and also included.

NYS has no legal / official definition of what "Upstate NY" means...

If it's more comfortable for you, I'm actually in the Finger Lakes! East of Canandaigua Lake, west of Seneca Lake, north of Keuka Lake.

Don't worry. The people about whom we are complaining aren't reading this thread. They're busy inventing new ways to obfuscate.

Thomas,

   I guess you could say I know a little about Tin Plate Trains, I was schooled by a man who really knew Lionel Tin Plate.

Steve however probably has even a wider knowledge base than I do.

PCRR/Dave

I findses that the more I learnses, the less I knowses.

Firewood posted:

I findses that the more I learnses, the less I knowses.

And the wiser you becomses. 

I've probably forgotten more than I care to think about.  Been playing with trains "officially" over 40 years.

Fred

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

By the way, the word in question means strength, has come to mean -- in common usage -- a person's area of expertise, and is not pronounced "fortay." 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forte

Jerry

Hmmm, lets see, fixing K-Line SuperSnap O72 switches and wasting time on the Buy/Sell/Trade forum?

I think the Chicago Bears 'forte' is trading every player but Jay Cutler.

The morer I claim to was right, the greatester the odds that something will say I will be wrong. I no claim a forte, too easier to attack. 

Probably Postwar Lionel and Atomic Motors.

11/2 inch Scale live steam, MTH DCS to a certain extent, and fixing smoke units

Hey you Upstate guys! I am a Flat Lander from Long Island.

I do enjoy doing repairs on AF and other S gauge trains and although I am not an electronics guru I really enjoy the TMCC/Legacy part of the hobby. I do TMCC installs in S gauge. I also like to try building electronic projects, especially if they work.

Ray

For some strange reason, I've always been into electrical and mechanical tinkering.  Had trains since birth. At age 3, I was re-wiring extension cords and Christmas lights.  At age 8, (1962) my parents gave me a Montgomery Ward 3/8" electric drill.  A freakin' electric drill in the hands of an 8 year old. I can see the millennial parents going apoplectic if you brought this up today.  Still have it. Guess it's no different from teaching 5-6 year olds how to responsibly handle their first firearms.

Anyway, I was young enough to not worry about collectibility of trains, so I'd take them apart to see how they worked just for curiosity's sake. Yup, some things were broken, but the educational value was retained.

In my 20's, I was taken under the wing of a Lionel Service Station owner who taught me how to repair and restore PW trains of all types.

While I love the current state of the art, I guess that my forte' remains PW.

DennyM posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

My forte is ignoring all the grammar police.

Me too. I use bad grammar just to annoy the grammar police.

That said, it is amazing how many people appear to have slept through 4th grade English classes. 

That said, it is amazing how many people appear to have slept through 4th grade English classes. 

It's even more amazing how many people are lacking manners.

Buying new trains 

Dave Warburton posted:

Spending money on trains. As in too much of it. I hold a PhD in that category and nothing else.

I have the same degree, and have also done extensive post-doc work in the economics of buying high and selling low.