Sorry individual, I can't agree with you there. Intelligence has nothing to do with flying a plane, or driving a car. It takes a certain kind of manual dexterity, & perception, rather than any mental ability. I knew some pretty dumb fighter pilots, back in the day.

This is one statement where Poirot will have to agree with me, as I still hold a Bathurst lap record I set in 1967, & was pretty good at getting the old Sea Venoms down onto HMAS Melbourne before that, so intelligence is not a prerequisite.

Actually dexterity is one thing that interests me in this context. I can drive & fly pretty well, but my writing is dreadful, & I am hopeless with a tennis racket. My lady was runner up in the NSW ladies tennis championships as a teenager, & can do a great job on the helm of a yacht in a howling gale, but is very average with a car.

So why is it that all ladies are so good with the little buttons on a mobile phone. I can get 3 at once with the little micro phone my daughters gave me.

I see your point on electronic gadgets Poirot, but can't agree they are the same. The computer is something we use when we have spare time. The mobile is used to be in constant communication, really quite different things.

Actually, it's interesting, Hasbeen.

While I still maintain that the PC and the smart phone are part of the same phenomenon - internet communication. The sheer mobility and convenience of smart phones seem to have morphed into a real tool to communicate...almost an extension of the mind, wherein moment to moment thoughts and dalliances are broadcast to whoever is there to receive them.

I bought a smart phone a while back, but was infuriatd by the small keyboard, spellcheck, etc, so have reverted back to a simpler phone, which suits me as I don't use it all that much.

You have to remember that smart phones are used more these days for accessing the net, reading, communicating online than they are for making "phone calls".

Dexterity,
Hasbeen,
Cheers for that, it's the word I was actually looking for rather than intelligence. Would you believe this is the first time I have heard this word after navigating my bit of intelligence around the english language over 40 years.

Glad to oblige Indy.

Now all we have to do is instill a little verbal dexterity into Tony Abbott, & we will have it all.

Hasbeen,

I assume you were a RAN pilot.
When was that?
Sea Venoms go back aways. You are showing your age if you flew them.
The modern airliner/military aircraft is pretty high tech these days. Many pilots hold degrees as a matter of course.
Take it easy.

SD

I personally know a lady that flies a Spitfire, in UK. It participated in the D Day landing and latter was converted to a 2 seater trainer. Saw a TY show recently about the lady pilots that delivered planes of all sorts around the UK, during WW11.