needed skills

Been reading a lot of Tales from Tech Support, as well as other videos about Reddit posts.

I've noticed a ubiquitous problem that I first noted in second or third grade. People can't read something out loud.

Oh, they can "read" it. But what they say is *not* what the text says. They change words. Usually to some other word that they *think* is the same thing, but isn't. Other times it's a *completely* different word that only shares a few characters.

Some people go as far as "hearing* things this way. That it's, they are told X, and "hear" Y.

An example from one of the tech support stories was the tech telling the guy he needed to clean out his mailbox and the guy hearing it as "wash the computer". "Clean" and "wash" do *not* mean the same thing!!

More commonly this sort of thing comes up when the tech asks the person what the error message on the computer is. What they tell you is paraphrased, usually *badly*.

Now, I don't expect end users to know all the "technical terms" (though they really should know the difference between a monitor and a computer for just one example). Details *matter* with many, MANY things in modern life.

But people *really* need to be able to read back the *exact* wording on an error message. And to read the *actual* instructions on the screen or on a page *without* rewording them.

Yet even back in grade school I noticed folks misreading stuff when asked to read a passage from a book aloud. And the teachers rarely said anything about it.

Yeah, being able to get across the gist of something in your own words usually (but not always!) indicates that you understood what you read.

But we *really* need to start teaching people that young that details matter. When asked to *read* something aloud, you need to read what's written. Not give your interpretation odf the text. If you are asked what it *means* that's a different situation.

The concept that *details matter* needs to be taught. As well as the concept that there are times when you should *not* paraphrase things. Especially when some asks you to read back something that they can't see but you can.

Maybe also spend more time on the concept that different words really do mean *different* things. They don't exist just to be fancy or something. Synonyms *do not* mean the same thing. They have *similar* weirds, but they aren't the same.

Crimson and burgundy are *not* the same color even if both can be called "red".

these skills would prevent *(so* many problems and misunderstandings...

Gizmo design

I'm playing with an idea fir a gizmo for stories, and figured I'd try to get some "user feedback" on the design.

The device is a "water purifier". That's what they are sold as, though they do have other uses.

Their first appearance was donations to isolated medical clinics in third world countries. They later started being sold in such areas and slowly spread.

They are about the size & shape of a mid-size tower case for a computer, but turned sideways. The front has two vertical recesses. It comes with a pair of pitchers with tight fitting lids. They are different shapes. (I'm thinking that the recesses have a sliding cover for when the pitchers aren't going to be in them)

One (for input) fits in the left hand recess. The inside is basically square but with the corners and edges rounded with about a 1 cm radius). This is to make it easier to clean. No corners for things to catch in.

The second (for output) only fits in the right hand recess. Its inside is cylindrical with a hemispherical bottom.

Both hold one liter. Extra pitchers are cheap.

If switched on, a power light goes on. With no pitchers in place in a pair of rectangles in the area between where they would go light up around the edges. The rectangles are next to the slots for the pitchers.

The one on the left flashes red. The one on the right flashes blue. When you place an empty output pitcher in the in the right, the outline of the rectangle quits flashing and stays steady.

When you place an empty pitcher in the input side the outline of the rectangle goes red.

If you put something in the input pitcher and then put it in its slot, The rectangle flashes solid red, and then if their is any water in the contents it turns solid green. Then a button lights up (with an icon?). If you press the button the rectangle flashes again and then the top of the green rectangle starts turning red. And the same time the hollow blue rectangle next to the output pitcher starts turning blue from the bottom.

As the water is removed from the input side, the rectangle has the red process down until the rectangle is solid red when all the water has been extracted.

The blue output rectangle will fill from the bottom as the water is extracted. It won't go solid blue until the pitcher has a liter of water in it.

When the input rectangle is solid red, the start button goes out, and you can remove either pitcher.

If you remove the input pitcher, you can put another one in and repeat the process until the output pitcher is full. At that point the start button goes out, and the blue output rectangle is solid blue and flashing. You can remove the output pitcher and transfer the water inside to another container.

The water inside is chemically pure and sterile.

The leftover stuff in the input pitcher is dry unless there were liquids other than water in it. Solids, silt, mud, etc and dissolved substances are a powders (again unless there were other liquids in there) if animal or vegetable material was in there it looks the same, except the water is gone.

The input will even works with minerals that contain "bound" water. Though in that case, the rocks may change appearance or crumble due to the missing water.

Oh yeah the contents of the input pitcher while still contain any infectious material that there originally, but it'll be dehydrated. That will kill most organisms, but won't affect viruses, prions and some spores.

That's one reason for having multiple pitchers. You can use one pitcher for chemically or biologically hazardous materials, and others for things like foodstuffs you want to dry. And yes, someone early on discovered that if you put beer or wine in the input pitcher, what got left behind was mostly alcohol and flavorings. :-)

Oh yeah, if there's anything in the output pitcher when you place it in its slot, the blue rectangle outline will keep flashing until you replace it with an empty one.

And you can remove a partially filled output pitcher when the input pitcher needs changing.

Likewise if the output pitcher is full and the input pitcher display still shows some green.
you can replace the full pitcher with an empty and and press the start button again.

So, any suggestions for changes or questions about how it operates?

note: they are your classic "black box" system. *What* they do is known. How to operate them is known (and hopefully very obvious). *how* they do it is not known